Happy Holly Quilt 🎄

From disaster comes a tinier quilt than intended❣️ ️ 

I'm usually very careful with my rotary cutter. I also measure twice before cutting, especially when working with quilt kits because they typically give you just enough fabric for piecing with no room for mistakes.  

With this quilt, however, I had a "slight" problem.  You see, I sew in a closet.  When I lived in Florida I sewed in half of a closet. Here in North Carolina I actually upgraded to a full size closet for my sewing machine, that is, until we built my longarm in front of that closet, leaving it unusable.  So, now I sew in the guest bedroom closet which is rather large and has its very own tiny window looking out onto the guest bedroom balcony.  The day I was cutting out the fabric for this quilt I had several layers of fabric on my cutting board ready to cut across all at once when there was a sudden CRASH on the balcony behind me.  I still have no idea what crashed, I only know that I jumped causing the rotary cutter to cut through my stack of fabric at such an angle that it was rendered useless. I guess I should be happy it was the fabric and not my fingers that got cut but at the time I was just angry that it had happened at all.

A search of the internet showed that they no longer made this fabric and no one on Etsy or EBay had it.  Sooooooooo, I took the damaged fabric and cut it into much smaller triangles than the pattern called for and then took the fabric pieces that I had already cut out and re-cut those into pieces of proportionate size.  This meant I could make my quilt ... just a much tinier version of it.  

I was making this quilt for my brother but since it was so small, I decided to use it instead as a sample quilt and test out metallic thread on it.  Metallic thread is one of the fussiest threads to work with on a longarm and I have never used it before. This was the perfect opportunity to test it out.  Superior Threads metallic thread had been recommended to me but when I went on their website  their metallic thread was out of stock.  I searched around the internet and found some YLI metallic thread. This thread said that it was made especially for the longarm and it was a 50 weight thread. This was thinner than the Superior Threads metallic making it even easier to use ... or so I thought.

Who knew this beautiful thread could cause so much trouble?

I started off by doing everything possible to make this a smooth procedure. I put the thread net on the thread cone.  I put two drops of thread conditioner on the thread pad.  (Two drops, instead of one, since I had never used it before.)  I set my stitch length to 8, my machine speed to 200, and my tension to 1.0.  I also used Bottom Line in the bobbin set to a 200 tension.  UGH!  This thread, no matter the settings, no matter the pleading, no matter what, hung up in the tension discs and would not pull through. Each and every time that I took my first stitch it would eat the thread up into the machine with a huge jerk, leaving me with an empty needle.  It was impossible to work with. Make no mistake, this thread is bright and shiny but it's also thick and coarse and does not run well at all.  I went back to the Superior Threads website and their metallic thread was back in stock, so, I ordered that. When it finally came I held a strand of both threads in my hand.  The YLI Longarm Metallic stood out straight and stiff.  The Superior Metallic fell gracefully down like any other thread, YET, it was the heavier weight of the two. Go figure!  

The  Superior Metallic thread was SO much easier to work with.  It was like night and day compared to the YLI thread.  It didn't hang up in the tension discs at all and that first stitch was just a normal stitch.  I paired it with So Fine thread in the bobbin and used a 90/14 Topstitch needle. Quite honestly, I had no problem with the tension. My only problem was that any time I stitched from left to right in an upward angle I got skipped stitches.  I checked my top and it wasn't rolled too tight.  I rethreaded, changed tension settings but only stitching very slow helped and not always then.  

Cocoa Bear enjoying the quilt!

I had intended on making this Christmas quilt for my brother, who is a retired teacher, and lives with his wife and dog on top of Beech Mountain and decorates for Christmas year round.  After this quilt became a test quilt I decided not to send it to my brother but then I decided to send it to him anyway ... but since it was so tiny I sent it for his dog, Buddy to lay on!  Even puppies should have a bit of Christmas in their lives 🎄

Remember, to pick up your needle and thread (even if it is metallic) and stitch some love into your world❣️