Thwarted

I know that I was only supposed to buy one yard of fabric for the border for OBW 6. I found a suitable fabric within minutes of entering A Quilter's Garden.  I wandered around while Molly looked for her fabrics.  I wandered upstairs and found the sale items. I was doing very well until I saw this Philip Jacobs fabric. That was it. I bought all that was left on the bolt. Yes, almost 12 yards. Of course I will use it for another OBW.  I just won't be able to get to it right away. 
 

 I have a quilt ready to go and Molly will have one ready in less than a week.  Had I been able to start OBW 5 yesterday I might have been able to finish it by the time Molly is ready with hers. Alas, I could not. I ordered the perfect color thread from Linda's Electric Quilters, my go to for Signature Cotton Thread. The thread arrived last week but I had no occasion to use it until yesterday. When I removed the plastic sheathing from the cone (I did not use a sharp instrument to get that stuff off) I noticed that the perforations on the sheathing left residue on the thread and the thread was damaged. I tried to find some useable thread on that spool but the thread was deeply damaged. 

F#ck. I spent a few minutes looking for another source for the thread because I wanted it in a hurry. Once I calmed down and realized that no one could get me the thread quicker than LEQ could, I  emailed them and sent along this photo. Within an hour they had replied. "Dear Elizabeth, That is bad for sure."  I was offered credit or a replacement. The replacement is on its way.  10/10 I recommend them. 

I used zipper leaders on the Grace Frame I had eight years ago.  I decided it was time to install  zipper leaders on the Nolting. I have used Red Snappers and I have used pins to attach the backing to the frame. Red Snappers take up a bit of room in the throat, pinning takes up less.  Zippers will enable Molly and me (sounds wrong, doesn't it?) to switch out our quilts.  Brilliant (that's what the Brits say, innit? Oh I have been watching too much Graham Norton.)  

How does one attach the quilt back to the leaders? Yes, we could use pins. Why not use a chain stitch? It is no more cumbersome than pinning and certainly less dangerous. Simply stitch one side of the zipper to each end of the quilt back and Voila!

I did stitch a 6 inch wide leader to the zipper that attaches to the take up bar.  I suppose I could have stitched the zipper directly to the OEM canvas leader but I think that would have been tricky. I stitched a 6 inch wide leader to the zipper that attaches to the backing bar as well. That one is held to the OEM canvas leader with Red Snappers. I likely will stitch it in place eventually. 

 I don't know if the newer machines have chain stitch capability. I think it is a useful tool.  True, the chain stitch uses a lot of thread, but it is a good way to use up old thread. Maybe you don't have a lot of old spools lying around. I do. They came with all those machines I "rescued" during my SMAD phase. I haven't thrown out that old thread. Now I have a perfectly respectful use for it. 

For more about chain stitch adaptor for this machine check this out: http://mysewingmachineobsession.blogspot.com/search?q=chain+stitch. I had pilfered a Youtube of Aretha Franklin Singing Chain of Fools for the aforementioned post. That was not allowed and it has been removed by the authorities. I am sorry.

GOAL SETTING. One: Quilt Frame prep

I have had one goal lately: get the Bailey set up and stitching.  What is the Bailey?  It is a mid arm quilting machine created by Chuck Bailey of The Bailey Sewing Center in Leicester, NY.  http://www.baileyssewingcenter.com/test.html

I bought my 17Pro in 2010.  Just before I went wacko with SMAD.  It has been sitting and waiting for me to start my recovery.  I think I may be ready. 

Setting this up is a process.  I started by sewing zippers to the pink cloth leaders that you see in the photo.  This will enable me to more easily attach the quilt back and top to the frame.  The original design calls for pinning the back and top to these leaders.  Let me tell you.  That is a PITA.  I have done it and I don't want to do it again.  EVER.

Supposedly you can sew one side of the  zipper to the cloth leader and baste  the other side to the edge of the quilt, thus allowing you to zip the quilt on quickly to set up for machine quilting.  I thought about that and decided that I did not want to fragment the cloth of the zipper each time I removed the zipper from a quilt.  So I sewed the other side of the zipper to some narrower cloth leaders on Friday so that I could accomplish my goal for that day: get the practice quilt set up on the frame.

There are four rails.  Rail One accepts the quilt top, batting, and quilt back.  Rail Two holds the quilt back.  Rail three holds the quilt top.   In order to keep it orderly, I basted the top and back together in the sewing loft BEFORE I basted on the zipper.  Then I basted one zipper each  to the opposite edges of the quilt top and the quilt back.  I did this all in the sewing loft.  Far away from the quilt frame which is in the guest apartment over the shop (It's the only place the sucker will fit).

I traipsed out to the apartment just before dinner on Friday.   Steven was OOT so I did not have to worry about time.  The dogs could certainly wait.  I discovered, much to my chagrin, that I had sewn the zippers to the quilt backwards.  Luckily, I had basted them on. 

The dogs got their supper, but not until I had removed the zippers from the quilt top and back.  Then I got a bright idea.  Take a machine out to the GA (Guest Apartment) and make sure you do it right this time, Lizzy.  So I did.  I took Duane with me.  That's how I knew he had a dead spot in his motor.

OK.  Once I got the zip leaders all set up correctly I zipped the quilt on.  Worked great !  But something was wrong  It just didn't look right.  Something was backwards.   Intuitively I thought that the back should attach  to rail number three, one edge of the top to rail two and both back and top, with batting in between should attach to rail number one.  I was 33% correct. 

I got out the instructions and discovered my error.  It is counter intuitive, but the back attaches to number two, the top to number three and both attach to number one.  Surprisingly,  I did not swear.  I just ripped the zippers out and attached them correctly.

Rail number four (I bet you can figure out which one that is) will hold a roll of batting.  This is practice and there isn't much fabric so there isn't much batting.  Also, I would pay much more attention to getting out  those wrinkles a real quilt. 

I accomplished that goal with three hours to spare.  I celebrated.  Yessir I did.

Next goal: Service the Bailey.