A whole lot of this n that

 

It’s been a fractured week with a visit to the Sunshine Quilters of San Diego,  a pin basting debacle, progress on my beaded piping and tiny DIY project. First up, “Why I Don’t Pin Baste”:

I am quilting a small project that includes a variety of substrates with some stiff embroidery stabilizer and some fabrics with a bit of dimension. My design wall is full right now (yay!) and I just did not want to take something down so that I could spray baste. I always spray baste on the wall, not a table, so much easier. I decided to just pin baste, what the  heck. I really should have known better.

I always say in class: “I don’t like pin basting because it is not securely basted in between pins. But if you have success pin basting, then keep doing it.” This project just reinforced my dislike of pin basting: I pin basted my quilt in the normal way. My backing fabric turned out to be less than stellar, even though it was a recent purchase from an excellent local shop. It was printed off grain and I also now wonder about the quality of the greige goods it was printed on.

After I had quilted a bit, I discovered this – a maybe 1/2″ tuck! What the heck?

I was beyond the point of no return, so I pinned the tuck and hand sewed it down. The repair is very discreet and hard to find – whew!

I think what contributed was stabilizer area in the area as well as some sort of operator error; but still, don’t think this would have happened with a spray baste. I have never had this happen with either Misty Fuse basting or spray basting. I’m not a fan of pin basting! Another lesson learned is to very securely baste if I have a mix of stiff and drapey fabrics, duh.

And a tiny little DIY:

I do travel frequently and I am picky about my “personal bag”. I found this Diane von Furstenberg travel bag at Target that was perfect for my needs. I frequently have to carry all my tech stuff with me in this bag.

BUT, like soooo many “travel bags”, it did not have an over-the-handle strap so that I can securely stack it on my carry on. Remember, I’ve got tech in there and I need to be sure it’s riding securely. It took longer than I thought, but this simple little strap made this bag perfect for my needs. Too bad I didn’t have black strapping in my stash…

And my visit to the aptly named Sunshine Quilters of San Diego was delightful! The weather in San Diego is just so perfect! The guild gave me a rousing welcome and a good sized crowd:

My “Tippy Top Tips For Successful and Joyful Free Motion Quilting” was well received and lots of questions followed. I taught “Yes You CAN Free Motion Quilt!” the following day; a great class with enthusiastic students. Did I take any photos???? The one photo I did take was of the machine I borrowed from Jo the Program Chair. She added several of these delightful decals to her machine. Doesn’t that just make you smile?

 

Now let’s talk travel. Sometimes things just don’t go your way when you travel. Southwest delayed my first flight 3 times and my return flight twice. This is common going to San Diego because they are at the “end of the line”.

On the way down, the flight was not crowded, but a dude chose to sit in the window seat which was fine; BUT, he sneezed openly, coughed, snorted and generally kept his nose busy the entire short flight. Thanks dude, how courteous. I was super tired by the time we finally boarded my return flight and the crowd was pretty grumpy. Add on that it was one of their oooooold planes and I think the crew had about had it too. It was not a win-win.

Now, renting a car at the San Diego airport: the SD airport has a difficult problem – an old airport, surrounded by established development. That makes it hard to fix. So, the rental car area is 3,000 miles away; okay, maybe an exaggeration. I waited along with 5,000 other people (exaggeration again?) for 20 minutes for a bus, then THREE come at once. That means that THREE busses will be delivering allllll those people at once to the car rental terminal. After the 20 minute wait and the 15 minute bus ride I waited 18 minutes in line for my car. Not that I was keeping track or anything. Ugh!

The incredibly good news was that somehow I did not hit any traffic at 5:30PM going from San Diego airport to El Cajon! Good thing – with the significant flight delay and the rental car delay, I made it just in time to get set up. And all us teachers know to travel with emergency food: I inhaled two protein bars for dinner while setting up for the lecture.

Coming home: the class ends, I load my rental and go to turn the key to start and realize…..I accidentally left the key in the ignition, turned to accessory mode for the entire day. Sooooo, yeah, it was dead, dead, dead. Duh! I gotta get to the airport! I call AAA and they say 2 hours! Fortunately, my lovely host Jo found a guy with one of these:

Okay, it wasn’t this exact thing, but it fits in the palm of your hand, with just one clip thingy, not like those old heavy, scary jumper cables. It’s super simple and not intimidating. And lickety split, I was on my way. We all should have one of these in every car, no?

And Jo helped me through all this; thank you Jo!

And I had plenty of time to do some hand work with all that travel. My beaded piping is coming along:

I’m maybe 2/3 done as it’s not a huge quilt. This is Bethanne Nemesh’s method from her book (that I bought eons ago). Look how purty!

It’s been an adventurous week! I do love to travel and meeting other quilters. Sometimes there are bumps along the way, but it’s worth it. I feel blessed to be able to do this.

Oh, one more thing, spring in my neighborhood, across the street; makes me smile:

I’ll be linking up with:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday