Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Update on our Rascal and Hand Quilting

We were with DD#3 and hubby dark and early this morning at 6:15 UGH!! Kara had her Tonsils and Adenoids removed. All went well, she and Mommy just left after some recovery time with Nanny. Kara has had a terrible time since she was born with ear infections, the Dr's wanted to wait until she was 3 years old before doing surgery. We have high hopes this procedure will end all her ear/hearing problems. After a month they will be retesting her hearing then begin speech therapy to catch her verbal skills up.
The hand quilting is coming along. My stitches seem to improve with each setting, Thank Goodness!! This is a photo of the stencil I am using for the inner boarder. I used my Cricut for the flower template on the blocks. Sure is nice to use what I had on hand instead of spending money. Our local quilt store suggested using the "Pilot FriXon" fine point pen for marking the quilt.This pen is Sew much better than anything else I have used!!!
Hope this quilting and markings show up OK. Once the quilting is done you just run a hot dry iron over the stitching and like magic the pen markings are gone. It really did work!!! Both of my local quilt stores RAVE about this pen and have had NO complaints from customers however.....I was looking on line last night and have seem review that if you put the quilt in the freezer the marking will come back. Hummmm. I don't expect to be storing quilts in the freezer nor do I think anyone who I would give one too would find the freezer the best place for storage but maybe it could be a problem if used in super cold weather. For now until I see any problems this will be my go to pen.
The cost of starting yet another obsession was pretty low. Here is the breakdown
 
Quilting hoop - After using coupon at a big box store $9.99 DO NOT use an embroidery hoop!!
 
Quilters Betweens Needles - Pack of 25 cost was $5.99 I am sure they would be cheaper at the big box store now that I know what I am looking for
 
Thread - Mettler hand quilting thread, with coupon at big box store around $5.00
 
FriXion Marking pen - Can't remember maybe $5.00
 
Bee's Wax - Maybe $4.00
 
Scissors - Already had
 
Needle pulls - Little blue flower looking things, $3.99 They work great worth every penny
 
Open quilting thimble - Maybe $15.00 This is my 3rd thimble :( the others just didn't work for me, so far so good with this one.
 
After a sleepless night worrying about Kara and her Mommy I am ready for some down time. The plan is to sit for a few hours to rest my sore body and mind. The reality is I will be fast asleep as soon as I get snuggled on the couch! Ha
 
 
We are having yet another rainy day, this pattern just won't let up. The news has finally updated our floods. They are not 100 year floods but 500 year floods. No wonder everyones gardens are not doing a darn thing. HIGH hopes that the tropical storm messing around south of FL won't be headed in our direction this weekend!!!
 
Have any of you taken up a new craft/project that cost a heck of a lot more than you would have imagined? I was really afraid hand quilting would turn out to be one of those endless spending deals, SEW happy I was wrong!!

5 comments:

  1. Glad it all went well, poor baby. My brother had the worst time with ear infections and throat infections for so many years, finally when he was 8 I think, they removed his tonsils. What a great improvement.

    Beautiful hand quilting, you are so talented :)

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  2. Good that the operation is over and went well. Hope this helps her problems! Your quilting is wonderful. That pen sounds like a real winner. I agree, who would put a quilt in the freezer? LOL

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  3. Hoping Kara has improvement as well as the surgery went. I was 4 years old before I had it done. Now with allergies I still have a congested ears much of the time.

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  4. Have you ever found that the frixion pens leave a white line on dark fabric? I left the ink on the dark fabric for a long time (months probably) and ironed it to remove, and it left a white line behind. I didn't try washing the piece but I assume this wouldn't wash out. Thoughts?

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