The latest swap was a Fall themed swap. I decided to use the disappearing 9-patch block from an earlier tutorial in my swap. The fabric I chose reminded me of all the beautiful foliage I remember when I was growing up in NW Pennsylvania.
I decided to make 2 additional blocks and make a table runner. Easy, right? Well I thought so. Enter Murphy. I allowed plenty of time to make the table runner. Then a few other deadlines snuck in. Such is life. Then, WHAMMY! I was bending over, trying to add basting pins, and I threw out my back. No sewing for me. Ouch!
I went to the doctor, and rested my back. I was so worried I wouldn't have my swap ready in time. After about 4 days my back started feeling better. Time to quilt. I decided to give my table runner a little modern flair while practicing my FMQ (free motion quilting). What do you think? Is it too much?
I chose a different FMQ patterns for each section. All the large squares had a meander pattern, the small squares a concentric square, etc. I began quilting, when Murphy struck again. I turned the runner over, to check my stitches, and lo and behold there was a huge fold in the backing fabric! Ugh! Time for the seam ripper. I really like all the quilting, but it took such a long time.
Finally, I was ready to bind the runner. I decided to try the easy binding method. I trimmed the batting and folded the backing fabric to the front to make the binding. I should have known that anything that said it was "easy", was too good to be true. Good ole Murphy again! As I was trimming, I accidentally sliced a small hole in the binding. I had to decide if I wanted to cut it off and add a traditional binding, or try to patch it. Luckily I could patch it. Whew! What an ordeal! I hope my swap pattern likes it. Maybe if I send her a lot of chocolate she will forgive me. ; )
Thanks for letting me share my story. Please leave me a comment. I would love to hear your stories!
Have a crafty adventure today!
Anni
