False Start

Good morning, my friends. It was a fairly easy-going day yesterday...at least, it started that way. There was almost nothing on my to-do list. I don't know about you, but I tend to work better under pressure. When I find myself with too much time on my hands, it ends up as wasted time. It's a little like giving a kid a dollar and telling them they can pick any candy bar they want. There are so many choices, it's difficult to make a decision. And so when I find myself with free time, I can't decide what to do with it. Weird, I know. Hopefully not as weird as...oh, never mind.

Okay, so I did my morning things, took a shower, and got dressed. As I was leaving the bedroom, I looked across the hall to my office, which is where my mid-arm machine lives. I could see the New Mexico Kitchen quilt draped over my chair, and I said to myself...no time like the present. As a reminder, this is how the quilt looks.

And this is the fabric on the back:

Okay, and so my first stop was to decide on some thread colors. It was an easy choice to pick black for the bobbin thread. And it so happens I already had a black bobbin in the machine, and the associated spool sitting on the bobbin winder. It was almost like the universe was speaking to me.

I still needed to choose a thread for the top. I'm kind of sold on this variegated thread for the sashings and the borders, although I might still change my mind.

As for the quilting, I'm thinking of quilting some chile peppers in the sashings. As I've said before, I can't draw worth beans, but I'm pretty good at copying if someone else will draw it for me first. So, I went searching online for "line drawings of chiles." I came up with several examples...most were too detailed for my purposes. I'm not looking to do anything fancy. Also, it needs to be something that will work both vertically and horizontally. When I saw this one, it looked like it would work. Most importantly, it seemed simple enough for even a bad drawing person like me.

So I threaded the machine with the variegated thread on top and black in the bobbin and pulled out one of my practice pieces. This was the first one I stitched.

Okay...not bad! So then I tried stitching a line of them. Right away, I did the second one wrong. The change of direction goes toward the bottom of the pepper like the green arrow, not around the top as I've done it where the blue arrow is pointed.

So, I started again now that I had my directions calibrated, and the next line went more smoothly. 

Okay, so I was satisfied with that part of the process. Next, I needed to figure out what I wanted to do in the blocks. They had me a little bamboozled. Each block is brightly colored, and they're all different. They're also heavy with applique. I don't like stitching over applique because it leaves holes. Also, it's distracting, in my opinion. And so I could only figure to outline the applique. And then, what color? I didn't want to be changing thread colors and adjusting tension for every single block. That would likely drive me insane. And so I went with a neutral thread...this variegated tan.

And then I stitched the first block, and I really did not like that thread color at all. I was kind of okay with what I was stitching, but the tan thread was too bright. You can best see it around the word "Red."

So...bummer. I decided to take it all out, and I spent the rest of the afternoon...like five hours...carefully picking out those threads. It was right next to the applique, and so I had to be very careful not to cut any of the top-stitching threads. Also, I was trying very hard not to cut any of the woven threads from the fabric. As you might guess, it was a long and frustrating afternoon. I'm still not finished. It's all out except around the word "Red," and so I expect I'll spend about another hour on it today before I can start again. And when I start again, it will be with a monofilament thread on top. I don't know why I didn't do that from the get-go. Live and learn.

The only other sewing I did yesterday was to stitch enough on the left side of the Girls' Getaway block to decide to move my hoop to the east.

There wasn't much to stitch in that first part, but now we're talkin'.

And since I spent the whole day taking out quilting stitches, I didn't make any more progress on my "Spices" quilt. It's still right where I left it.

So, for sure, I'll spend some time on that today. If I do any quilting, it will be the last thing on my list. For now, we've already had our Sunday morning pancakes. Slow-stitching is next. And this being Sunday, I'll be linking up with

Also on today's to-do list...mopping the floor. I don't know which I dread more, mopping or unsewing those quilt stitches. It doesn't really matter. Both need doing, and so that's where I'm headed. But first, slow-stitching. It's like an oasis in the Desert of Undesirable Tasks.