A Hunter Star block quilted freehand without rulers - around the ditch instead of "in the ditch". Most folks don't know - that I was unceremoniously removed from a career I loved due to circumstances that I did not create - nor could I control. No, I wasn't unruly - but I have been known to to be determined. I'll follow the rules (if I have to), but it always helps to know why those rules are in place. I was disappointed to say the least to have to leave my career - but I am a woman of action - and so I switched gears, turned a corner and returned to a love of mine - quilting! Luckily - a door opened for me to start long-arm quilting. I did first make a purchase of a longarm quilting machine - but a store owner noticed my enthusiam and asked me to work a longarm in one of her stores for customers. I fell even more in love with quilting - very quickly. AND THEN COVID. Stores closed. Customers dried up. Now what? Well some folks know that I can be a bit of a risk taker. Sometimes it gets me into trouble. Other times it pays off - but I'm always willing to give something new a try! So, I decided to dive deeper into longarming - without the lessons. Sink or swim. And swim I have! I began watching videos and practicing - including doodling to get muscle memory for curves, feathers and other designs. I began also using rulers with my machine - curved ones, straight ones, combining them to make designs of all kinds. And then I saw it. A video where the operator of the longarm was using a curved ruler and then for the sake of speed - ditched the ruler and just began doing short curves - without any guides, lines or aids to keep the sewing even. Well I may be a little off my rack - but I decided to go rogue - and get Un-rulery! I ditched the slow curve ruler, and began focusing on where I wanted to sew (or go) instead of watching where I was going. And it paid off! Instead of traditional stitching in the ditch and following an exact line - I sew freehand and it has liberated me! Sewing outside the box you might say! Now most of my quilting is done without rulers - even a lot of straight lines! It has cut my quilting time in half - and the quilts I do now really end up looking quite spectacular! And so you can say - I am definitely "Un-Rulery" and well so are the quilts that come off my rack!
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With Hallowe'en coming - I thought I might add a little gore to the blog! Muuah-ha-ha-ha! This week I sold a queen sized quilt I had on the site - but the client wanted it increased to king size. Nooooo problemo..... Well it took a little blood, sweat and tears I must say. But in this case it is reversed. Tears, sweat and blood.
Next, came the re-attaching and the re-sewing of the binding. That's when I saw it. Noooo.....!!
Yeah. Well... I was feeling so confident about the out come of the alteration - until I saw it. (insert eye roll, expletives and stomping of feet here) Every 6-8 inches, here and there, I saw little brown marks. And some red ones. Then a big red blotch. NOOOOOOO! Blood. Spots Streaks. Blobs. From the hundreds of pins I added and pulled out while quilting or attaching pieces. I looked at my hands and - no, I wasn't bleeding. But apparently I had at some point. You know its kind of funny. I swear - ask me to test my blood sugar with a pin prick and you cannot MAKE me bleed. But I see a quilt and my blood starts a pumping! I don't notice that I prick my fingers, or hands, or crunch my knuckles. I don't even notice stubbed toes - but I see a quilt and I bleed. Without pin pricks. Or so it seems. I get so pre-occupied with what I love to do - pain and blood are not apparent. One example in point, a month ago, I was quilting and heard a bang and looked and saw the needle was broken. "Well darn it. How did I do that?" I began looking for the needle on the quilt to remove it before I changed the needle - but couldn't see it. Well you guessed it. Yeah. I found it. In my finger. No pain. But you shoud have seen me jump to remove my hand so I would not bleed on the quilt. (I hadn't) But what if I had? Would the quilt be ruined? All that work - and one small accident could ruin hours and hour of work! No. A vampire once told me to ward off vampires, use garlic. But to remove blood stains - use hydrogen peroxide. Apply with a Q-tip. Blot and it will dissappear. Like magic. Oh yeah baby! And so... I did. So there was just sweat and tears in this quilt! Removing the blood was actually very easy! My mom has often told me that any kind of creative needlework is "in my blood" - only that it skipped a generation. According to her she cannot sew to save her life! Little does she know the learning curve I have had. Oh the pain - and blood it it took to get here! (Pass the hydrogen peroxide!) |
AuthorMandie Eddie Archives
November 2025
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