HELP! My Sewing Machine Spit at Me!

It was a really productive weekend. I made a total of 12 Crumb blocks for a UFO and worked on borders for my Ravelry Friendship Star Swap quilt, also a UFO. I didn't start ANYTHING new! (Aren't you proud of me? I'm feeling supremely virtuous!)

Divine intervention came when I was SUPPOSED to be making dinner last night, but wasn't...

My sewing machine went THUNK! and spit a piece of metal out at me. This is NOT a good sign! I think it was tired of all the sewing I was doing this weekend. Couldn’t it have just SAID that, instead of spitting metal at me??? :o(

Here's how it happened:

I was happily sewing along, to finish ONE MORE BLOCK, when I ran out of bobbin thread! (Isn't that ALWAYS the case?) I stopped, pulled the bits off, and forgot that I was out of bobbin thread... so I started sewing again.

Apparently, the machine then pulled the top thread down and it wrapped around the bobbin casing and jammed up the machine. (That’s where a THUNK! sounded…I think.)

It was good and truly jammed so I removed the bobbin casing and tried to ease the machine into submission. It was having none of THAT! (Maybe this is when it went THUNK!) Then it proceeded to spit a piece of metal at me! Can you IMAGINE???

Great! Just great! I was really getting into the habit of working on my UFOs, too. :o(

I suppose I'll have to find something ELSE to do while my machine goes on VACATION!!! (I may even have to resort to QUILTING, rather than PIECING - I use a different machine for that.)

Updates to follow...

Surprise!

I meant to get back to you sooner, but I've been distracted by my knitting. Please forgive the fact that I've kept you in suspense for more than a week.

Here's what I wanted to show you. It's what I saw when I went looking for my quilt at the quilt show. MY quilt, with a 1st place ribbon attached!!! I can't tell you how excited I am.

I can tell you, however, that when I saw my quilter (Quilts by Jan) I gave her a BIG kiss on the cheek! She then proceeded to ask if I thought it was worth the money that she had charged...

Of course, I said YES!!!

Quilt Show Ramblings

My local quilt guild has some amazing quilters among its ranks! We host a phenomenal quilt show every two years. When walking through the show, one quilt is better than the next and the one after that is even better than the last. You would be fascinated by each and every one. There are traditional quilts, art quilts, pieced and appliqued quilts. Colors and patterns abound.

This year I entered 4 quilts in the quilt show. Like always, I signed up to have them judged. I do that, not necessarily in the hopes of winning anything, but just to see what the judges have to say. Some quilters find entering their work in shows nerve-racking (at best) and absolutely excruciating (at worst), but I find it exhilarating. While the judges negative comments can sting, postitive comments confirm (or inform me of) the things that I do well.

I have friends who are "ribbon driven." They enter quilt shows expecting to win ribbons. They are sorely disappointed when/if they don't. I like to go in with a more positive attitude. I enter to share what I've been working on since the last show. Of course, I 'hope' to win a ribbon! (I'd be lying if I said I didn't.) The difference is...it's a pleasant surprise when/if one of my quilts is a winner.

This year, I entered as a professional since I make quilts for money from time to time. Although, quilting isn't my primary occupation the definition was a bit vague and I decided to err on the side of caution. This dashed my hopes of winning ANYTHING this year!

Are you a follower of my blog? YOU may have seen my show entries in a previous post. When I located my quilts, this is what I saw:

Oops! The camera is unavailable. I'll have to show you later.

Until then...Happy Quilting!

My 1st Finish for the Fall 2010 UFO Club

Butterfly in 3D - #3 (side view)
Originally uploaded by basketcasejoy

The (Ravelry) Fall 2010 UFO Club only began 14 days ago and we've had a number of finishes already. This session has 10 members and, so far, 4 have completed at least ONE quilt each. We're off to a good start!

Butterfly in 3D - #3 is fresh off the sewing table. It's the third in a series of butterfly quilts using the same butterfly print and an easy technique that I developed for making the 3D butterflies. It's my first finish for the Fall 2010 UFO Club.

This butterfly quilt is a bit larger than the last one. At 9" square, instead of the 8" square of the last quilt, I'm hoping that I didn't throw the balance off. Hopefully, the recipient will be pleased.

I plan on making these butterfly quilts until the fabric is all used up. I may even sell kits in my new Etsy shop. More on that later...

UFO Club - Fall 2010 - The List

Here’s my list for this session:

1. The Margaret Mystery
2. QE2 Goodbye Quilt
3. Hollis’ Iris Garden
4. Circle Denim Quilt
5. Black, White, & Red All Over

These were leftovers from the Summer 2010 UFO Club and can be seen in an earlier post.

Additional UFOs un-earthed after the Summer session began (shown from top to bottom, as listed below.):

1. Circle of Friends
2. Friendship Stars Rav Swap
3. “New” Green Batik Jacket
4. Crumb Quilt
5. QUILT Quilt
6. Purple & Green Coins
7. Patriotic Improv Jacket
8. Anne’s Butterfly Quilt (DONE!)
9. Patriotic (With a Twist) Donation (DONE!)
10. Teal, Turquiose, Burgundy Twist Donation

Yes. That’s 15 UFOs for this session. The scary part is…there are MORE!!!

I better get busy!

UFO Club - Summer 2010 - The Results

Eight members participated in the (Ravelry) Summer 2010 UFO Club. Those eight members churned out 21 quilts. Congrats! to the following finishers:

basketcase9702: 5 quilts completed
fidissimus: 1 quilt completed
MonsoonCalamity: 5 quilts completed
barbknits: 4 quilts completed
damascusannie:
liebschien: 1 quilt completed
IvyW: 3 quilts completed
needleb: 2 quilts completed

Thanks for cheering us on. We are now gearing up for the Fall 2010 - UFO Club. Watch for the List!

Loose-y Goose-y (Completed)

Loose-y Goose-y (Completed)
Originally uploaded by basketcasejoy

Another UFO, but not one on the list! I started the binding at my quilt bee meeting this morning and finished it on the way to the Carolina Longarm Quilt Show this afternoon.

I posted the bulk of this quilt's story when I finished the quilt top, but you may be intersted to hear that it took three times to get a good photo of the quilt. I also had to apply the binding THREE times before I got it applied properly. Oh, and you’ll never believe it, but all 3 of the people in our car won door prizes at the quilt show! Perhaps, the quilt needs a NEW name!

NAH!!!

Aside from the free-form Flying Geese featured in my design, this little quilt showcases a "new-to-me" pebble quilting design. The "pebbles" really add a textural element to the quilt!

In my last post, I shared my quilt called Flying to the Candy Dish. It was made of the same design, but what a difference fabric selection has on the overall feeling of a quilt! The finishing details are different in each quilt. Where I added machine feather stitching to that quilt, this one was finished using a satin stitch zigzag for the machine applique. That one had the geese on a black "path" in a field of color and this one has geese on a colorful "path' in a field of black.

Loose-y Goose-y was made as a Journal Quilt and measures 8" x 10'. Not the "standard" size the other quilts in my JQ series, but several friends have assured my that it's perfectly OK!

Thanks, quilting friends!