Tag Archives: Mistakes

Pillow Fight…QUTI of my first stipple!

Posted on by
Reply
Email

It was time to expand my horizons! Linda entrusted me with the use of the beautiful Eva Bernina.  I wanted to use the last of the special pieces of my dad’s old clothes to make a few early Christmas present pillows.  To complete the pillow top, I wanted to do my first stipple.  For a girl who is often too uptight and worried about doing things the “right way”, this was a great experience. To stipple, you really have to loosen up and let it flow. Linda helped me to use her stipple stencil to chalk out my path, we did a little stipple practice on some scraps and then I was on my way.

So much fun! To be honest, I ended up not following my stenciled path which is obvious to anyone who looks too closely at the pillow but I found my groove after a bit and I love the way it looks.  In the middle of my stipple, I did hit a bit of a snag…ok, a big snag, when I broke the needle on Eva Bernina.  Yikes!  Linda, being the wise, patient teacher that she is, didn’t blink an eye, she changed out the needle in no time flat, and I finished!

I so enjoy quilting because it makes me push myself to learn new techniques every day.  What a great model for our children in the pusuit of being life long learners.  I’m off to create some Christmas gifts now…

Cheers,

Kelly

 

Oh, seam allowances actually DO matter!

Posted on by
1
Email

A 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, what’s the big difference? I’m sure many an amateur quilter has thought the same and proceeded with sewing their pieces together with little care for those careful measurements etched into our machines.  It only takes one sad experience of piecing something together and then realizing that major repair will need to be done thanks to your ego. Hello seam ripper!  Really my favorite tool at this point.  Ok, maybe not my favorite tool (I’m in love with the rotary cutter!), but it’s the tool I spend the most time with.

My advice…slow down, enjoy the process, care about the details, and pay attention to your seam allowance. 

Cheers, Kelly

“Honey, I ruined your Tommy Bahama shirts”

Posted on by
4
Email

Wait, wait, let me explain!

We went through a Dave Ramsey money management course and we were on a roll. Brian, my husband, and I started cutting our spending habits left and right. It was invigorating!

Here is where it gets interesting. I figured we were spending too much on dry cleaning and that I could be a “good wife” and start to wash and iron Brian’s work shirts. I figured I would not only feel like a righteous wife, we could save a bundle on our dry-cleaning budget.

Well, in Hawaii, business professionals wear aloha shirts and my husband loves his silk, Tommy Bahama shirts. He has collected many over the years and I must say he looked dapper in them. “Looked” being the operative word.

I wash my first batch in the delicate cycle, hung dried them… off to a good start, I thought. Well, kinda. Feeling righteous, I decided to overachieve and iron them as well. I sprayed my first panel and ugh… I stained the shirt!

I thought, oh it must just be this color of shirt, so I moved to the next one. You would think I would learn with the first $150 dollar shirt, but no…

The next one stained as well. Geez! Yep, it was confirmed that I wasn’t the domestic goddess I thought I was. Duh! I should have stuck to banking!

Back to others… So I learned not to spray the shirts first and kept laundering the others. Yes, my drive to complete all of his laundry resulting in over $1,000 in damage since “NOTE TO ALL” these silk shirts don’t launder well and all changed their shape. Oh, by the way, yes… these sequence of events all happened under a sober state (maybe this is where I took a wrong turn…)!

With my tail tucked, I shared the disaster with him.  Yes, he is such a loving man that, yes… we are still married today!

So, I decided to “make lemonade” so to speak! I took my first cut, which was my most expensive cut to date! Then, I kept cutting and cutting, and check this out! So, since I took the process challenge, here is my half finished, $1,000+ quilt rows… It makes me nervous-what will I back it with? How will I launder it? Any ideas would be welcome. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Cheers, still married Linda