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Sunday, May 7, 2017

Picking but not Grinning...........and some fun with fans.............


"You can be drinking the wine today and picking the grapes tomorrow" --Jonathan Tucker



I spent more time the last two days trying to  do some free-motion quilting on the little Thomas Train charity quilt I'm working on for H2H......and spent a lot more time with my seam ripper doing a lot of picking instead......
for some reason my free motion foot just didn't want to cooperate......if it wasn't breaking the top thread it was having problems not pulling the stitches taut on the back side!  I even tried changing machines from my Singer to my old trusty Rockford but no luck.  I hadn't used my Rockford in so many years that it was all but seized up and needed oiling and "fuzz brushing" and even all that cleaning didn't make the FMQ any easier............I changed needles, re-threaded and still I had to pick out much of the quilting I did. 
Finally I decided to just order a new foot and see if that helps............I ordered the genuine Singer FMQ foot so it should be here next week and I'll try again....anyway here is the work in progress....I showed you the front on my last post....here is the back. (a little blurry)


I found a darling free train design for my embroidery machine at Thomas Sewing Center and added some "Choo-Choo" lettering together with a label...the FMQ is 3/4s of the way done so hopefully I can finish it off next week..........

I did get to play a little with my new Embroidery Machine.  I had purchased a Japanese Fan In-the-loop pattern that turned out rather small by the time I was finished..........you can see by the measurement on the cutting mat that it is barely 3x7 inches....it can maybe help fan a doll with hot flashes.......lol

But I was determined that I would make it work  for a real person so I used another of the beautiful Japanese patterns in the pattern bundle and then added my own design to make it a usable size.......7x10 inches! 
Here you can see the difference......

So now what did Mr. Tucker say about drinking wine today??? Don't mind if I do!   Cheers!






7 comments:

Maria said...

It's sew frustrating when your FMQ isn't going right and you need to unpick. Hope the new foot works..
Nice wee fan, love the " for a doll with hot flushes". LOL πŸ˜‚
The bigger one is great.
Bet you enjoyed your wine. 😁

Anonymous said...

Hi Ida oh what a pain your foot was playing up,very annoying.
Love your fans and you gave me a chuckle with the one for the doll,hope you have a lovely day my friend xx

Jo said...

If your thread keeps breaking try a larger size needle. Sometimes your timing can be a fraction out too that will cause skipped stitches, brokenn threads and uneven tension...

Hilachas said...

It's so frustrating when you can't get your machine to do what you want it to do. Maybe Jo's idea will help? Or the new walking foot? I like the back side of your quilt, so cute. The fans are so pretty and a usable size is even better.

Needled Mom said...

That un-sewing is never fun! When my thread breaks a lot I will run a line of liquid silicone down the spool in several places. I do love the cute embroidery with the fabrics.

Those fans are amazing. The detail.....wow. Loved the hot flashes comment!

Margaret Stickland said...

We all have that troublesome foot at times, I liked the advice that was given. I usually change the needle, thread oil defluff and hold my breath. Liked reading your back posts haven't been blogging over the last four years very much

Janet said...

I hate it when my machine doesn't cooperate with me!! I hope that it works better for you with the new foot. The fans are lovely!