Another Mystery

This is the third quilt of this kind, done as a mystery by one of our local quilt groups that I had to do.

Fortunately, they were all done in different colours otherwise I might not have made it. It was brought to me on Monday 24 September and with it being a public holiday the Tuesday with us spending time with the kids, I didn’t get a fast start. I basically only squared the backing and got the quilt loaded before I had to continue my working week and with it almost being the end of the month, my days at the office are long and busy.  I get home rather tired from number crunching and not always in the mood to quilt.

As usual, I printed a picture, auditioned some motifs, even laid my clear plastic over the quilt to get the impression of the actual look/size and got going.

First border and one row down, I realized this is not working.  I didn’t like what I saw, didn’t think I’d like the final outcome and there and then decided to set up a date with Jack the ripper which lasted a couple of days.  Fingers aching from trying to pull and get hold of all the thread I had a couple of fewer fun days and worst of all, I simply could find anything else design-wise that was pleasing.  

Figured out that switching off is the first step, unpick and relax, get month-end done, pour some wine afterwards, take a fresh look at the printed picture and try again. The unpicking was gruelling taking 3 afternoons and all of my Saturday in 15-minute increments.  My fingers felt like they belonged to someone else.

Finally, on Sunday morning I could start quilting with the previous quilting needle marks still visible in the quilt but these should disappear in the wash. I must admit that I’ve never been this unenthusiastic about doing a quilt, not because of the quilt; I think the whole process of unpicking just got to me.

I took Monday off from quilting, invited the big kids for supper and just relaxed with the family.  We had a lovely pork roast and my fingers/hands needed a break.

I resumed quilting in all earnest on Tuesday and just when friend Karin and her hubby arrived for supper on Wednesday evening I could roll this one off the frame.