Ack! I snipped through my fabric!

Most of today was spent stitching out this one block, it’s large, 12 x 12 inches.  I am having so much fun combining these monkey motifs for this quilt!

I finished the block, and using my duck billed applique scissors to trim away the stabilizer, I still managed to snip through my background fabric!

I’ve added the text “snipped” and an arrow pointing to the spot where I cut through the fabric.  I’m hoping one of you geniuses out there can suggest a fix so I can make a repair, rather than having to redo the entire block.

It’s in the wrong place to applique a little bug… will fabric glue bond this down?

Update on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 5:42AM by Created by CJ

Thank you EVERYONE for the suggestions.  The snip is right above the top of the birds head, and within a 1/2 of the block edge, making it tough to add anything there, by the time I have a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

I did go ahead and fuse the back, and apply permanent fabric glue to the front, and the snip is completely undetectable, my only concern is durability.  In the end, I’ll probably redo the block.  Sigh.  LOL

Sunshine?

Yeah, lots of that in Arkanas, hot hot hot!  But I’m referring to my monkey quilt.  Do I need to piece a sun block and put it in the upper left corner?  It’d be big, a 12 inch block, as my “groupings” are all 12 inches.

It’s starting to come together, although at this point all the individual blocks and pieces are just stuck to my design wall.  I’ll get the center layed out and then design the border.

I spent the wee hours watering, it’s so dry here we are burning up!  Made a pot of beans and sausage (to become beans and rice tonight) and tossed it in the crockpot, my goal today is to finish quilting Jim’s Cappuccino quilt.  I got about halfway through it yesterday.

Update on Friday, August 13, 2010 at 10:47AM by Created by CJ

Oh I forgot to mention, you can now opt to have follow up comments sent to your email address, you’ll see the box to check when posting.  Previously, this option was only available to you if you registered on the site and were logged in.

Foot saver miracle!

I spent this morning using some of the experience I gained at the APQS factory cleaning my Millennium and making some adjustments, wonderful to feel comfortable doing so!  I fixed my thread cutter, which wasn’t working, adjusted my stitch regulator encoder wheels, and took off all the covers and did a thorough cleaning inside.  Yay!

I also got Jim’s Bali Stars quilt loaded, so I can get going on it. I would have started on it but I forgot what thread he said he wanted me to use.

I also assembled/added two new “toys” to my longarm.  The first and OMG what was I waiting for… a foot saver!

I don’t know if I can quilt sitting down or not, but this baby is worth its weight in gold for loading quilts if nothing else.

I brought back a set of Micro Handles from the APQS factory, and got those installed.

I also brought back the adaptors to add a batting bar to my frame.  Jim thought he could get a steel bar cheaper locally than buying the APQS bar, so I’m still waiting on it.  Could be awhile.  I should have just brought the darn thing home with us!  No shipping, it would have fit easily into the RV.

I’ve decided it will make better use of my limited space to have three rolls of batting under the frame, rather than have a free standing batting rack built.

A few new fabrics were waiting on our doorstep when we got home… it’s a good thing it didn’t rain since the UPS man left them there, and we don’t have a porch.

I’m sure these colors will display differently for everyone, but the top fabric is the most yummy looking eggplant colored batik, and the third one down is a gorgeous shade of smokey blue.

I stitched out another monkey design yesterday, no problems with the machine at all, whew!  Ignore the placement of the designs, they are on my mini design wall in no particular order, the ship I stitched out yesterday is over on the top right, is that cute or what?  I’ve decided I’m going to make a big “sun” block for the top left corner.

I don’t have a particular layout in mind yet, this one is just being winged.

Score!

The delivery guys showed up with my new cutting table promptly at ten o’clock this morning.  I had them back up to the garage and we unloaded it directly into my quilting area.  The table is awesome, but we got to chatting, and they asked if I ever quilted upholstery fabric.  I said that I hadn’t, but I certainly could!  They took my brochure and will call me whenever they have leftover upholstery fabric, which sounded like a fair amount!  Small pieces, but they would be awesome for crafts, totes, and even certain types of quilts.

The camera angle is awkard, but I took a few pictures showing the storage space in the cabinet.

The two front doors have quite a large area to put things in.  The drawer above them slides freely all the way through, so it can be accessed from either side.  I have my two big square rulers and a rotary cutter in there at the moment. 

 On the side, there is a small drawer up top with two small open shelves below.  The wine rackes in the front are completely removable. 

I called the French Seam over in Stuttgart, and will be driving up there tomorrow to drop my Bernina 830 off.  They do not do same day service, not a dealer in Arkansas that I’ve found does.  Oh well.  What’s a measly ten hours of driving?

I sewed a few more pinwheel blocks and a couple more smaller monkey designs, just playing around at this point getting a feel for the quilt.

I had a wonderful bali batik fat quarter in my stash that was just perfect for the dolphin… or whale… I’m not sure which it is actually.

I think I just have three more designs small enough to do on the 630, the others can’t really be split because they’re applique.