Thursday, June 28, 2012

reunited and it feels so good


I'm not sure what's going on with me but sewing has still been sporadic at best lately. But I'm staying busy and happy so I guess that's what counts. I do have a project to share with you, though! It's an oldie but a goodie - my newly quilted Flea Market Fancy Wonky Log Cabin quilt.

You've seen this before, right? So why am I showing it to you again? Well, this one has spent the last two years in hibernation while until I finished the very tedious job of unpicking all of the horrendous quilting. I made this quilt at the very beginning of my sewing career, before I had any idea of what I was doing. I jumped right in to my precious FMF stash and started slicing and dicing. I still love the piecing of this quilt top but when it came time to do the actual quilting it was a mess. I free-motioned it on an old cheapo Brother and let me tell you, the stitched were ugly and uneven. After I got my Bernina 44QE and quilted my first project I couldn't even stand the sight of this one, so the ripper came out. Little did I know what a job I was in for!

Anyways, I thought this would be useful information to share with any of you who have a quilt lying around that you love but detest the quilting on. Unpicking a million little stitched was not the most fun I've ever had, but the end result was worth it.


I left the binding and backing in place and just pinned every so often as the stitched came out. When I was finally all done, I FMQed the original stipple but this time with pretty, even stitches in the correct tension. After a spin in the washer and dryer, VOILA! All the little holes from the original quilting disappeared and the makeover was complete! 

This one is back in regular snuggling rotation.



In other news, someone just turned one year old! Check out the cake moustache! Olivia is getting sweeter every day.





14 comments:

  1. Wow, you are FAR more patient than me! Good for you for unpicking and salvaging something so pretty. Speaking of pretty....a year old already?? How time flies!

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  2. Cake moustache!! Love it. And you are a very patient woman to unpick all of that quilting and binding. I'm impressed! It's worth it. Your quilt is beautiful.

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  3. Wow, thanks for sharing. It is a beautiful quilt.

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  4. Glad your re-do was such a success after all the effort. Happy Birthday to Miss O!

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  5. Olivia is adorable! And that is a beautiful quilt!

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  6. I am so happy that you did this! It is totally gorgeous. I agree totally worth it.

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  7. I have ripped a quilt or two myself. I even have one right now that I am un-picking. It IS totally worth it even though it is a pain in the tush. I'm glad you are happy with yours now. It looks fabulous!

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  8. oh she's a cutie!
    and wow -- amazing on the unpicking... seriously. :)
    (and I'm impressed this is one of your early quilts... mine aren't quite so cute) ;)

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  9. i never would have thought to completely unpick quilting, even though i have several quilts (cough cough) that i probably should have redone. but the finished product looks absolutely beautiful!

    and happy birthday to your little olivia! one of these days we will get these babies together!

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  10. This is still one of my absolute favorite FMF quilts. Good job making it your favorite again, too! And a Happy Birthday again to Miss Olivia! She is such a dolly baby and I'm glad you allow us to gawk at her from afar.

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  11. So glad you powered through and unpicked/requilted! It's so pretty! And hello sweet cute Olivia! Hope your birthday was swell! Also, cannot believe you're one already!!

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  12. No way....not a year already!
    Good for you with your makeover! It's gorgeous, but you're right, it had good bones!

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  13. Way to take charge and tackle that quilting retrofit! It would have been such a shame to pack it up forever. It's a great quilt!!! Love little O' moustache - that's hilarious.

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  14. Thanks for showing us your quilt again. You have inspired me to unpick my first ever handpieced quilt that I ended up machine quilting instead of hand quilting as originally planned - I was working to a deadline for my local guild's bi-annual exhibition. It has always bothered me that I did not hand quilt it, so now I am going to do it. Wish me luck.

    Olivia is cuter than ever. Belated birthday wishes to her - she looks like she was enjoying her cake!

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