I finished the binding on this one today. I think I will call it "SNAFU".
It began well enough. I bought a jelly roll (it has been so long ago that I no longer remember the designer or the line) and made the top in pretty short order. Then I decided to hand quilt it; I pin-basted it and began stitching away. Now, with Houston weather, you do not often want a lap-full of quilt, but I was making pretty good progress in the evenings while watching television. That was maybe 2.5 years ago. Then in August of 2009, the kitten Louis came into our home. His first weekend I closely watched him to make sure he knew where the litter boxes were. From time to time I would put him in a box but he would promptly jump out. This quilt was neatly folded on the seat of 'my' chair. The adorable kitten Louis jumped on the chair & I thought "oh how cute, he is going to nap on my quilt" but, no, he was not going to nap on my quilt, he was going to pee on my quilt. And since he had not relieved himself for about 24 to 36 hours, he really had to GO. So in spite of quickly snatching him up, he pretty well soaked the quilt -- the pin-basted quilt. I had to drape it outside so it could dry, then I hastily (and not very carefully (it smelled of cat pee)) machine-basted it, removed the safety pins (checking for rust spots -- that is one problem the quilt dodged) and put it in the washing machine. So for 2 years I have been quilting on this ragged-looking quilt and finally put the last stitch in about a month ago.
I stitched on the binding, *trimmed the seam*, and began stitching the binding down. Then I kept seeing these really short, loose quilting threads -- about 0.5 inches, sometimes even less. Yikes! I was blaming this on Louis as well; I thought it happened when I was pulling out the basting stitches. I was in the final stretch with the binding when I thought "I TRIMMED the seam!"! I CUT OFF my anchoring knots -- that is why the quilting stitches are coming out!
Now I would love to continue to blame this on Louis, he won't know, he's just a cat. But I am afraid I am going to have to own this one -- along with the other bone-headed mistakes I have been making recently.
To quote one of my blog friends, "MEH!"
In other news, I'm very close to finishing my Habitat challenge top -- it is a bright one!
6 comments:
Oh dear! What a story! I can't imagine what I'd have done if a cat drenched a pin basted quilt. You've done so well to finish it! I really love your challenge quilt!!
"Meh" indeed! Glad you finished it though it is a lovely quilt! I'm not really keen on cats, more of a dog person myself.
That challenge quilt looks great! Love the bright colours and the design :)
What a fun story. Hope you can repair the threads. Geesh! It's a beautiful quilt, nevertheless. And I love your new quilt!
I am so in love with that block! I usually think applique is tacky, but you really changed my mind here! That is just perfect!! Hope to see more of it!
That poor quilt!! It has been through so much, but still it has come out beautifully! Love to see some close ups of all that awesome hand quilting.
it's a lovely quilt, nonetheless. and i love how your challenge quilt turned out - can't wait to see it in person!
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