Last week my inner Martha and the Queen of Procrastination have been battling over who could persuade me to take on a few projects– or not. Martha won–this time. I found a piece of fabric printed with cute little boy and girl teddy bears in my craft closet and decided it would make a perfect quilt for our new great-grandson. I just had to figure out how to finish the quilt on my sewing machine which is something I've never done.
I schlepped myself to the nearest fabric store to buy matching thread and some blue satin binding to complete my first quilt in years. I stacked the quilt layers on my table and pondered what to do next. I sometimes use spray-on glue for the layers but hesitated to use it on my great-grandson's quilt, so I ordered special safety pins and a gadget that makes pinning and unpinning easier. I didn't use them this time, but I am a sucker for handy, dandy gadgets that clutter up my sewing space.
I watched a couple of videos on marking designs on a quilt which might have been a mistake. Hint: Never use a butter knife to make deep impressions on fabric that's been stored away for years. The next option was a water-soluble ink pen. I made a crisscross pattern on the top and prayed the ink would come out in the wash. Even though I used a large clear plastic ruler my ends still didn't match, so I have some very wonky lines crisscrossing it. How does that even happen?
I sewed along the lines as closely as possible, but I was about as successful doing that as I was drawing them. Next came the binding. Simple, right? Not for me. I pinned it to the quilt, which was not quite square, and was doing okay until I got to the corners. The first three corners weren't too hard but when I got to the last one–the one that attached the end pieces and the corner–I had a little trouble. (Okay, a lot of trouble.) I must have watched that video a dozen times trying to understand what the lady was doing, gave up trying to follow her, and just winged it. I pinned the binding to the quilt, started sewing, and discovered I put it on wrong. Did you know there's a front side and a back side to the binding? I do now. It didn't help that my zig-zag stitch would either catch the front of the binding or the back but rarely at the same time. I don't think he'll care what it looks like. He just needs to know that his nana made it with love.
That's it, Martha, I quit. Until the next time I get Delusions of Competence.