My attempts at quilting have not been super successful. I am talking more traditional quilting where you make blocks and sew the blocks together. It makes me angry that I can not seem to understand how to make those blocks work together. Because of this, I keep trying to quilt.
I decided my next quilt would be this Moda Compass Quilt. I picked it up from Modern Textiles a while ago. I love the simplicity of it. A few triangles and squares, and you are done. Except, when you cut the triangles the wrong size.
BUT, other than that, it was very easy to put together. I dare say I got the top done in 30 minutes.
Adding the arrows and directions were easy. However, I had a little problem with my fusible. For you NON-sewing folk, fusible is the sticky interfacing that holds fabric in place. It’s like making a big sticker with fabric. I kept melting it somehow.
Once I figured out my fusible, I went to iron on my arrow and my iron spit junk out all over my WHITE fabric. Seriously, IRON! Give a girl a break.
Now, it’s time to quilt. I played around with a few patterns. I now understand why a knee lifter is a quilters best friend. Non-sewers, a knee lifter is a metal bar that allows you to lift the pressure foot up without having to take your hand off your quilt. It allows you to turn corners easily and hands free. It’s a great tool, now if only my quilting was ANY good. It isn’t. I rip.
I decide it’s best to stick to the basics and just quilt one line around the shapes. I get all these puckers. WHY?!?!? I think it has something to do with not basting it down enough. I should spray baste. Next time. For now my Compass Quilt is going to have puckers. I have lost all desire to fix it.
I take the rest of the day off. Ones emotional state can only take so much. The next step is the binding, and we all know how I feel about binding.
ANDREA+BINDING=MANY GLASSES OF WINE AND TEARS.
I have my binder tool attachment and I am feeling hopeful.
Wrong. I have yet to properly work my binder tool attachment.
I do not fix ANY of it. It is an “AS IS” quilt. It turns out that 11 year old boys do not care if you have puckers or terrible binding.
And neither do I.
Cheers!
Andrea
