Sunday, March 04, 2018

Financial Year End and all that jazz


I hardly did any quilting this week with the financial year end and stock taking.

I however had the Bernina technician all the way from Johannesburg to fix some issues on my long arm, so hopefully better days ahead and I’ve also been asked to quilt another striking quilt by a fellow quilter.  With all these interesting happenings I had to abstain and focus on the reality of being in business.  Murderous!

When I finally got around to spending time on the long arm, I experienced every problem in the book.  My ruler foot, obviously mass produced and one that slipped through inspection, is so off center it is just not true.  The needle ends up being anywhere but the center, then my take up rail still gets stuck on the frame at a certain point but unfortunately this only happens occasionally, so I’ve been unable to proof this when the clever people are around.

The quilter whose quilt I am doing decided on a grey thread and a white sheet for the backing, what a moral destroyer for any new long arm quilter.  One sees every little mishap, every little curve that went haywire and every stitch defect. I might never quilt with a sheet and contrasting thread ever again.  If the thread perfectly matches the sheet, it can be considered but then it should match the top as well.  I really have to force myself not to look at the back as then I will simply phone the quilter and say I can’t do this.

Fortunately I had amazing feedback, just when I was about to cry and give up totally, from none other than the very amazing Patricia Heinrich Hechler from the FB page The Threadworks Factory, which kept me going, ignoring the back, as not part of my responsibility.  Also a huge thank you to Kathy Rogers who told me that fixing quilting problems or choices about thread or backing was not my job.  Believe me, anyone out there not doing long arm quilting, the price they charge is worth every minute of their time, you have no idea what goes into quilting on a frame.  Bleeding fingertips covered in plasters and tears threatening to appear any moment are just some of the emotional/physical pain I went through up to now.

But… not wanting to end this post in total negativity, is this not the most stunning quilt top and named so appropriately “shimmering triangles”.



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