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Painful lesson--organize your bobbins


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Well . . Miss Know It All . . Always Has An Answer For Everything! Want to hear what I did last night?? I'm quilting away on a top . . a BIG top. The backing is a tone on tone ecru flannel and there's a lot of black fabric on top with black stipple - tiny stipple! I'm using Bottom Line in the bobbin . . black Bottom Line in the bobbin. Everything's going along fine and this is a fun quilt.

I had a class . . beginning piecing. I love to torture myself so I continue to teach those who bring in old curtains for "scraps" to use along with a borrowed sewing machine that has been in the barn for the last 30 years.

So, I get home at 8:30 p.m. and I'm really tired. If you really want to know why I'm tired . . I had gone to the quilt shop which is 40 miles away, to drop off quilts and get more, had taken the dog to the vet for is annual check up (very uncooperative dog) and I had gotten the stitches out of my face so it had been a busy day. (excuses!!)

I have two wooden bobbin trays that I put all my bobbins in. One is larger and it holds all the empty bobbins and leftover bobbins. One is smaller and it sits by the machine with all the bobbins I've wound for this quilt. I knew I was out of black bobbins but there was one laying on the table. Why?? I do not know but I thought . . Oh, great! Here's another one. Stuck it in and did a whole pass across the quilt with the microstipple. (used the whole darned bobbin) Rolled it up this morning and OMG!!! The black bobbin was Signature cotton and the entire rest of the quilt had Bottom Line in the bobbin.

What took me less than an hour to put in took NINE (9) hours to take out! My fingers are sore . . I'd like to kick myself in the rear and I will NEVER make this mistake again.

I'm sure you're all more observant than I was but . . hope this saves someone else the wasted day I've had!

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Oh Judy,

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who has days like that. I'm sorry for yours, mine was like that yesterday too. I'm sure you read my post already, so won't go into it again. Isn't amazing how we know that we are supposed to quit for the day, whatever it may be that we are doing, and we still fight the inner voice and go on anyways. I don't know about you, but I ALWAYS regret it a short time later!! I hope your day goes better for you tomorrow. Enjoy your peace and quiet for what's left today and start anew tomorrow!!

Kelly

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Oh, Judy this sounds like something I would do. I wonder if there is a way to mark the bobbin. You know the old "nail polish" trick? That way we wouldnt' confuse the two.

Judy, I had the 8th class of my 8-week beginner / sampler quilt class last night. Only 2 students finished the 8 weeks, and not all of the blocks. Not to mention the borders or the sashing. We will tackle that "privately". One of the students had never sewn, doesn't own a sewing machine, and never touched a rotary cutter. Her last (6th) block turned out perfectly. Square, 1/4" seam allowances and everything.

Just goes to show that there is a bit of sunshine at the end of the trail...

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As far as the bobbins . . I have probably more than 100 and how that black cotton bobbin was laying right there and how I stuck it in the bobbin case and even adjusted the tension and didn't even notice . . is beyond me. All I can say is I've learned a lesson and it will not happen again.

On the quilting classes, this semester I divided beginning quilting into two sets of four week classes. The first is for those who have never used a rotary cutter (pretty much the deciding factor), and haven't done any sewing at all. I told them to bring any fabric . . it just needed to be 45" 100% cotton fabric. One lady really did bring in old curtains that were NOT 100% cotton (she didn't know!!!) and certainly not 45" wide. Another lady had old, grungy sheers from behind a curtain. Again . . definitely not 100% cotton or 45" wide.

The really funny thing to me was that both of these ladies were school teachers!

It's a new day . . new quilt on the machine . . no extra bobbins laying around on the table . . DH just called and said he wants to go out for Mexican at lunch (instead of coming home for a home cooked meal) so it is going to be a GOOD day at my house!

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Judy L, Hi! Yes after hearing your tale I am definitely going to reorganize my bobbins. I have them by color in slots, an old pepsi wooden case. I take out the bag I'm working with, put them back when done. Then I change bobbins and lay that one out and it may be there for the next quilt and I could very easily do what you did. What a night mare! Well, thanks bunches.

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Well I hear your insanity.

I have this Blue and yellow single irish chain that I have been working on forever. Anything that can go wrong with it has.

First I ran out of fabric, then all of my squares were not the same size, then when I pieced it some of the squares did not match up, then I got this wild hair to pieced the border, that took 3 days to do. Now it is on the LA, already started there too. Decided that the pattern and the thread color were all wrong, took me 2 hours to take out. I am so over this one. Hopefully the machine quilting will go smoother. If it gives me anymore trouble, then it is gonna get kicked to the UFO pile.

On another subject, I have a pretty full plate these days. I was planning on going back to school in January, looks like it is gonna be October 21st now. To add to the confusion I got offered a spot in a very sucessful craft show on Nov 12-13. In that time I hope to have seven quilts completed. Three of the seven of them are just fabric sitting in a pile in the sewing room. The rest are at various stages of being done. I can't say that I will get it all done, but I am gonna die trying. I have a partner, but she is very poor at time managment and her kids school sched's leave her limited time to come over and help, but at this point I will take what little I can get.

One of the local quilds semi-annual quilt shows is on Oct 15, 16, 17. I decided at the last min to put a quilt in it. Binding is going on today, then into the wash and folded up into the pillowcase to await the quilt show. That one is one of the seven that will go up for sale if I dont win any placement on it at the quilt show.

I made all of these great plans and obligations before I realized that I was going back to school.

Wish me luck, cause I am a quilter on a path.

Blessings and hugs.

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Guest Linda S

I heard lots of stories at Innovations but the one that had to be the worst was the woman who managed to quilt stink bugs into her quilt - TWICE! Not only did they stink terribly, but they made a nasty mess of the quilt sandwich that had to be picked out and then cleaned!! :o If you keep a batting roll below your machine, beware what may dwell within!

Linda

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  • 11 months later...

After I have used a certain thread on bobbins and have leftovers, I put them in one of those little 2 x 3 inch zip lock bags you get at Walmart or Michaels and write with a sharpie the color and maker. Then I punch a hole and put it in one of those rings you can also purchase. That way they are all in one place, no thread mess and you know what is in there.

Hope this helps,

Quilted Stitches

Sheila

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What I do with my bobbins is, I put them in ziploc bags according to colors, and keep them in seperate drawers. In one drawer are my botton line bobbins, another drawer is the dark cardboard bobbins, another drawer is the cardboard light colored bobbins. Each color is in it's own bag and when I'm working on a quilt, I take out that bag of bobbins, it sits on a roller drawer container down at the end of the table by the air compressor along with the oil bottle. Everything is altogether. It works for me.

Linda B.

Oregon

APQS Millennium

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