Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Adventures in Stippling

See this little baby?


I found a free motion foot for my machine on Amazon for $3.75! The normal price is $20! I'm not gonna lie, I did a little happy dance when I saw that price. You see, my husband and I are on the cheap frugal side, so this really just made my day. I never really wanted to get into stippling because it really intimidated me, but recently I've been dying to try it! So I jumped right in.

That's a good thing, and a bad thing.

I was making a quilt for a friend's baby (who's shower is this Saturday), and I decided to have my first stippling go on that.

That's the bad part.

Unfortunately, either the tension was off, or I had a bad bobbin, but for whatever reason, the stitching on the back is not great. I did a little section, saw the bad stitching, so I took it all out, switched out my bobbin, and tried again. I only checked the back at the very beginning, and it was great! However, it didn't stay great during the whole stitching session. And I did kind of go a little crazy! I didn't know stippling could be fun! So I got carried away, and when I came to a stopping place, I turned it around and saw the yucky stitches again. I stitched WAY too much of it to want to turn around and tear it out.

So I came up with a scheme plan.

I failed to mention that I used some out of print Heather Ross fabric for this little quilt (and it is
little), and I had kind of started falling in love with it as I was working on it, so when I realized how bad the back was, I thought instead of ripping all of that stitching out, why not just keep this one, and give it to Kendall for a doll quilt? I already had the idea to make both of my girls doll quilts for Christmas anyway, and this is just getting a head start.

Right?

Yeah, that's it!

When I showed Kendall the quilt, her reaction just solidified my scheme new idea. She gasped and said, "Good job, Mama! Give me five!"

By the way, me getting to keep this quilt is the good part...I think...Right? Is it good to keep something you intended to giveaway?

Sure, why not!

So it won't be a perfect little doll quilt, but it will be super cute. And she loves it already. And this is one less thing I have to do for Christmas (I do plan on actually giving it to her at Christmas).

Now I just need to figure out what's causing my stitching to go bad, and finish the quilt. In the meantime, here's a little peak at what it looks like.


By the way, I realize I have a long way to go in my stippling skills, but I'm happy with what I've done, and I'm eager to do more!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Kell. Score on the $3 foot! I had the same problem with my stippling & I called my friendly sewing machine shop & I was told that I needed to increase my tension. I adjust mine to +2 (not sure what type of settings your machine has).

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  2. I think it's awesome especially for your first time! I like keeping things that I do for the first time. You will be an amazing quilter soon and be able to look back and smile seeing how much you've learned and grown. Keep it up! I love free motion quilting!

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  3. I love how it turned out! I'm so glad you're keeping it...I mean, KENDALL is keeping it. :o)

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  4. I think it looks great! Sorry you have to keep it:)

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