I took some of the scraps from the original baby quilt and bird mobile and was able to throw together a second quilt. This one will more than likely be used for downstairs tummy time and in the car seat & stroller as the weather cools down.
I had quite a few of the "coins" left from the stacked coins pattern, yet not enough to make another whole quilt.
I decided to frame it in plain off-white cotton and add a bird applique to the bottom. In hindsight, I wish I would have made the bird a little larger, but again, this is from scraps and this was the biggest size I had.
The back is the leftover crib sheet fabric that was cut up to include in the first quilt and the binding is made from the same Arcadia fabric as the original quilt's binding.
I free-motion quilted this one, as well. However, I had SO many problems this time. Maybe the first one was beginner's luck? This one definitely has some big flaws, even AFTER I ripped out stitches more times that I care to admit. I took a picture of what the problem was - I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what went wrong?
My machine kept skipping stitches - you can see here in the picture. If you click to enlarge, you can see the holes in the material where the needle punctured, but for some reason didn't pick up the bobbin thread? I used the exact same fabric, batting, thread, bobbins, and settings as I did on the previous quilt (and had NO problems like this the first time). Any ideas? Very frustrating quilt to sew and I'd love to figure this out before I attempt again.
2 comments:
so pretty, as usual!
I had the SAME issue with the second quilt I made, after having no issues with the first. I was using different fabrics, though, so that may have been my issue. I ended up solving the problem by using a thicker needle (you would think you would need a thinner one). I had been doing my free motion with a size 14 and I had to move up to a 16, so I would try one size up next time and see if that helps.
I have a Singer 1950's Featherweight (which is known to be good for quilting, but I brought for mainly dressmaking). I have been having this problem with my machine too. It was a simple problem of changing the needle. Unfortunately, today's needles are not like the needles of yesterday, where you got many many hours of use out of them. Most of them are made of cheap metal and are made either in China or India (even Schmetz is now made in India). I am only 30, so I don't remember the "good old days', but I often look online to purchase un-used vintage package of needles to use.
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