New threads....

Betsy's (crazy) Quilt front

I've finally finished it!  Betsy's (crazy) Quilt.  I've learned a lot on this quilt.  I always learn a lot when I quilt or sew almost anything --mostly from my mistakes and challenges.  That's good, I suppose, but this quilt almost drove me crazy, therefore the name.  I had a lot of trouble as you might have read about here.   But, but, but!  I found me a solution.  I thought my trouble was the sticky adhesive I used for the basting, and it might have been part of it, but then I found some new threads.  I never thought that new threads would make a difference, but WHAT a difference it made!  I was researching free-motion (FM) quilting and found this very informative site, The Free Motion Quilting Project.  She also sells a few tools that are very helpful for FM quilting so when I read that thread can really make a difference to FM quilting, I thought I would give it a try.  The new thread came in the mail today.  I immediately loaded my machine and started in with all my hopes tied up in thread.  And it worked!  It worked like a dream.  I was so thrilled that I began FM-ing all the white space in the quilt.  Even though the FM lady said to load the bobbin with the same thread as is in the top, I didn't.  I thought, "How will I ever use up all this crappy substandard thread?"  So I kept on filling up my bobbin  with cheap junk Coats & Clark and ended up using one and a half spools.

What kind of fabulous thread did I eventually use?  Isacord.  I had never heard of it, but I'm sold on it now.  Especially if you are going to do FM quilting where the needle goes up and down, up and down, so many times that it can really chew up the thread.  I don't consider myself  a "quilter."  I've made a few quilts and I like to make a few, but I'm no expert.  At.  All.  But I do have fun making quilts for my loved ones now and then and I like learning new things.  So what I've learned since doing my only two FM baby quilts is this:  use good thread, clean your machine before and after, use a heavy needle (14 or 16), and try to have fun because FM quilting is something that you get better at with practice.  I'm grateful that my littles won't mind that their quilts are "practice quilts" and imperfect. 

 

Betsy's (crazy) Quilt back

I really didn't intend on making the backside of the quilt out of this busy print that is part of the Moda Wing It fabrics, but when I saw it, I just loved it.  It has little bees in it.  I was going to use the same white background as the front, but ran out and then found the busy print.  I had already pieced the zig-zag  piece to add to the back, so I added it at the bottom.  I'm a bit disappointed that the back fabric shows through the front, but I can't change that now.  Again.... I'm just glad Miss B won't mind a bit.