Well, y'all, I finally finished the quilt before our daughter's big day. I don't know what I was thinking when I made it with 624 four-inch squares. I knew I wouldn't be able to do a freemotion quilting design because, not knowing what the heck I was doing when I made it (what a surprise), several of the squares would definitely wrinkle if I tried that so I thought to myself, 'Why not decorate every other square with its own little design?' Because that was a dumb idea, that's why.
As usual, I didn't plan a design before I got it positioned on my sewing machine. I made some (ugly) designs on the center squares and thought I'd fan out from there. That was mistake No. 1. I moved to the end of the quilt, picked a corner and started again. That was mistake No. 2. What the heck was I going to put in the remaining 308 squares? Mistake No.3 was getting the brilliant idea to trace around cookie cutters. The problem here was being able to see the marks. Some of the fabric was too dark to see where I'd drawn the lines.
Sewing seems so simple, doesn't it? My stitches were way too small because I needed to adjust the thread tension which is something I don't think I've ever done or given any thought to. I found I probably needed to purchase a different bobbin holder that regulates the tension for my new machine. Why wouldn't they just include one in the first place? Whoever heard of such a thing? I hadn't.
I consulted a couple of my granddaughters for ideas on what I could do to fill up all those squares. They gave me a few suggestions but that still left me with a couple hundred more to go. I decided writing in first names, birthdates, anniversaries, and a few Bible verses as well as the cookie cutter designs was a good place to start. I also had to remember to pull my bobbin up through the top when I started which is something I had never done before. I guess this is something seasoned quilters already know. See, I'm still learning. The hardest was trying to regulate my stitch length using the movement of my hands. Most of the stitches look like regular sewing ones instead of the little bit longer ones I'd see if I were still able to hand sew my quilts. If I tried that now my hands would definitely not cooperate hence the need to purchase a new machine.
This, too, is a learning quilt just like my 'fruit stripe gum' quilt so please don't look too closely. The only thing I have left to do now is sew on the fabric tag that says “Quilted it with love and minimal swear words,” (just kidding) and attach the binding I still have to make. Wish me luck.