DebJ

My red hat quilt top turned out really pretty, I am very happy with it. My sister Judy said she thought my sister Joan will love it. :-) Well now I quilting it starting in the center & so forth. It was sandwiched at quilt group with the help of some of the other ladies. :? All seemed fine. The quilting started out okay but then I quickly start having trouble with it bunching, puckers uneveness you name it and it seems to be some areas are "Okay". Makes me almost wish I'd never designed/created it. Wish I'd be able to long arm quilt but I had wanted to quilt each block acording to the design of the block, perhaps that is the problem. Maybe I should have just had a single all over design but it wasn't what I had pictured in my head but then this isn't either. :cry: I don't even know if I will let my quilting pals see it when I finished. I don't think I want too my self, soooo ready to be DONE with it. :cry: If I post a pic it will just be blurry my camera isn't cooperating these days. :oops: That is another problem to deal with. And we a skipping Christmas this year, too.

Flying_V_Goddess

Aah, don't let it get to you. It will work out somehow. I say set the quilt aside for a while and...oh, I dunno...maybe have a cup of hot cocoa or something. Go back to it after you've relaxed and cleared your head a bit. At least it worked for me when I was having problems quilting that monster of a denim quilt together.

Celeste

FVG seems to have the right of it. She's certainly had experience with that! :D

Also, I recall reading on another post that the quilts didn't turn out like they thought and were happier with it. Just a perspective you may not have thought of. . .

patricej

i am no expert on this. not even close. but i can't help wondering if you need to add some basting to the sandwich. don't we get lumps and bunches because the top and bottom are moving around in different directions to each other, or because they aren't feeding at the same rate?

how lumpy/bumpy is your machine bed? i tape a piece of manila folder and one layer of freezer paper to mine. nowhere near as good as i think one of those silicon mats would be, but it helps me move the quilt around more easily.

AND i'll bet you dimes to donuts it looks better to everyone else than it does to you. :wink:

Catherine

yOU MIGHT JUST LAY IT ASIDE AND TRY IT AGAIN LATER.
WHEN YOU SAID "SKIPPING CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR" I'M SURE YOU MEANT NOT GIVING GIFTS. SINCE IT IS JESUS BIRTHDAY..NOT OURS......GIVE A GIFT IN HIS NAME TO CHARITY. THAT WOULD MAKE HIM SOOO HAPPY! BLESS YOU!

Yvonne

Deb,
I think we've all "been there, had that problem!" so hang in there. This too will get better. In my case I started pulling the basting pins out as I moved away from the center. No matter how carefully I baste that sandwich there is always a little extra fabric on the bottom. So, pull the pins and shove that fabric on out and away from the center.
Also, When taking a class from Don Lin, he said to only worry about that little bit of quilt that under your needle. I try to make sure that the square foot or so around the needle is smooth, top and bottom, and then quilt away. When I move to the next section I pull the pins, smooth it out and quilt away. And so it goes until I'm at the outside edge and I can breathe again!
I hope you will soon find your own technique that allows you to relax while your working on your project.

bj

I'm sorry to hear you're having a rough time quilting this one. I know it's doubly special since it's for your sister. Maybe before you get too far into it, you might take out the quilting you've done and assess what needs to be done to keep it from bunching. Then start again. Maybe more pins or basting are needed to get a smoother finish. I started over twice before I finally got the last quilt to mind! It was a pain taking it out, but I'm pleased I did. If it's just minor puckering, I usually leave it alone and just hope the recipient doesn't look too closely for mistakes. Luckily, most of my quilts go to people who don't even sew, so the mistakes that glare at me are easily forgiven by them :) Good luck. You do such nice work I know you can make this quilt behave!

barnbum

Oh can I ever replate--I never could get it right if the piece was more than 36" square. So, I hand it to a quilter now.

Maybe hand quilt it since you want each block to be different?
If all else fails take out what you've done you don't like and leave it for awhile.
I wish you all the luck you need.

Moonpi

I often mix hand and machine quilting. Handwork goes faster than ripping and re-sewing, at least for me.

Flying_V_Goddess

She's right, you know. lol. I ran into many problems with that quilt. It was the first full sized quilt I ever worked on. The top turned out beautifully, but once the layers got sandwiched together it was a total nightmare at first. I don't have much space so trying to baste it together was a nightmare. Couldn't really baste it since denim is hard to sew. Resorted to basting spray, which didn't make things much easier. Got to sewing it and when I got about halfway done I noticed it was lumpy and bunched up in the middle. At this point, I wanted to give up, too. But I still stuck with it, even if it meant having to seam rip EVERYTHING aand had to re-think my whole stratgedy for getting this monster of a quilt together. What I ended up doing was tacking the backing on my wall (there was more wall space than floor space), pinning the batting to the backing, sewed it together every two inches or so...that process took several days to get through. After that I pinned the entire top onto that, quilted the layers together (and the more closer I got to the middle, the harder it got to sew), took out the bright pink thread holding together the batting and backing, and sewed the binding on. It was lengthy and tedious, but it worked out better than what I had tried and my quilt lied flat. Turned out great!

If I can do all that, then I figure you certainly can work out the kinks with your quilt and still have it turn out beautifully and have something to be proud of, too. Just gotta have a little faith. :) ...and maybe a break or two so you don't end up flinging it across the room out of frustration. lol