Wrestled to the finish

     I can't believe all the trouble I had with quilting Pixel Chain (Cluck Cluck Sew). Finally after a lot of trials, consults with the dealer, changes, prayer and tears, got it finished and bound. Now it is ready for a quilt referral to a recipient. 

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The quilted roll up

Tension woes

      I don't mean global or economic tensions, but longarm tension issues. For the past month I have been plagued by tension issues on my longarm. I have tried everthing I could think of, but the thread keeps shredding making progress slow and painful. I have had Pixel Chain on the machine for over a month and it is not done. The tension seems inconsistent and wandering. I have tried new needles, pre wound bobbins, self wound bobbins, Glide, Masterquilter top threads, PremoSoft, Glide 60, Decobob in the bobbin. Clean, polish and clean some more. I may have to ante up and have my dealer come in from a distance to give some assistance. I love to quilt, but it is not going well. It is very wearying.
     I have gone back and forth with emails from my dealer and the last suggestions from her greatly minimized the shredding (using the same thread top and bottom and changing the tension setting on the bobbin case to 225- Towa Gauge), but I got the quilt off the longarm. I loaded another on and will start over again hoping that it is resolved.

Much clearer

      This past week, my right eye cleared a lot, so I decided to go ahead with the surgery (cataract and glaucoma) on the left. This time, there were no cloudy, foggy obstructions. Just clean colors and sharper vision. The right eye still has a bit of cloudiness at times, but is improving. Still doing all those burning eyedrops, but I started to drive today. I have to hold off bending over and doing anything strenous until next week. I was able to sew and sew.
     I was able to web the Pixel Chain and put it up on the wall. At first, it didn't grab me, but as it has been up and it got sunny outside, I really like it. I think I may put a white strip border on it to hold all the seams instead of just binding it. I would need bigger backing though. It is about 69" x 63" now.

     Another thing I have been doing is using a small graph paper notebook to draw ideas, projects, things I see so I can refer back to them and not lose all those small pieces of paper I jot notes down (sizes, websites, construction). Color pencils and glueing in printouts so I can find and use the information is a real treat. I hope I can keep it going. I have used artist sketchbooks for my paintings for years, I don't know why I did not think of this earlier instead of random scraps of paper.

Ready to web- but when?

      I have two quilts that are ready to web and finish. However, I cannot see to do the seams accurately. My eye has not improved since surgery last week. I still have fog and no clear sight. I see the doctor in two days and lots of tears later. I have put off surgery on the other eye that was supposed to be in a week.

Magic Circles, from 10" squares I cut

Pixel Chain

It's a cut- Pixel Chain

      I have had a Kaffe jelly roll for a while that MSQC got me with. I decided to make the Pixel Chain quilt. Cutting everything up was time consuming and I did it while I did not have access to a machine. Now it is all cut, and I used some freezer paper to lay the first blocks out on. I am trying to figure a way to chain piece these somewhat so it does not take me forever.

      I will try to chain piece the top and bottom row and then the next two identical rows. Having all the pieces on the freezer paper helps to keep everything organized.

All bagged up and cut

15 more Block 1 to go, then Block 2