Quilt Mistakes

 OK, I washed the old quilts in the bathtub because it finally stopped raining and the sun came out and I could dry them outside.  They are MUCH better but not perfect. A friend suggested Oxyclean and I'll do that in Round 2 but for now at least they can be in the room and one is even on a bed!  The smell is gone and I was thinking a stain is a stain is a stain where they persisted but I will give them a go with Oxyclean another time.

Here are the before and afters:

This is the one I put on the bed and the light in the room doesn't show how clean it did come. Not perfect but much better.

The light in the room doesn't do justice to this one, either.  It's quite good.

 

Here's why I don't send my quilts out to be machine quilted. While  hand quilting takes a lot of time and the pile of flimsies grows at least I know the mistakes are mine.

Remember this one?  I pieced it this winter and I liked it well enough.  In person the colors are much nicer.  It was a quick put together using stash

This is what I put on the back.  The back is almost prettier than the front!  This was a panel that I bought YARDAGE of so there was plenty to use.  I measured, cut strips, pieced them together, put a white border around and it was good.  But there are SO MANY flimsies waiting to be hand quilted I thought I would send this one out to be machine quilted by a lady who lives very near me.  I bit the bullet a couple of times and sent a couple of quilts to be machine quilted by a woman who lives an hour from me but I just didn't want to drive that far this time.  I've seen the quilts this lady has done in the past.  She contributes some to the quilt exhibit I do at church every year and I didn't think twice about giving this one to her.

Well, I should have but it was too late.  I didn't notice things till I was stitching the binding down.  She told me that she doesn't do designs anymore, she just meanders the stipple design and I was absolutely fine with that.  It's what I would have asked for.

  But then I noticed some open ended stitching.

And generally all the stitches were big enough to snag a toe nail.

There were a few places where the stitch didn't even stitch.

And many, many places where the stitch length varied inch by inch. 

I noticed these after the binding had been attached and I was stitching it down by hand.  You notice things when you are nose to needle.  But now I have a dilemma. 

 Do I:

1. hand stitch it in the worst places following her lead

2. Consider hers a basting and stitch something completely different (like stripes or cross hatch,) pulling hers out as I go. If I do that and then wash it her stitch path will disappear.

3. wash it and see if hers tightens up

My first inclination is to consider hers a basting and stitch a cross hatch and pull hers out as I go, my second choice is to follow hers and hand quilt in the worst places. Or vice versa

The thing is, I sent this one because I thought "yeah, it's nice but it will be a utility quilt" but really, with the  backing I did I DO really like it and want to save it.   One thing for sure, it will be a long, long time before I send something out to be machine quilted again and certainly not to this sweet lady.