Still no new chickens

But I did finish quilting the tree skirt, which ended up being no easy matter.  The first half went fine.. a few thread breaks here and there, but nothing major.  The second half is another story.  When I changed bobbins is when I noticed a problem - well, I should say AFTER I changed bobbins and AFTER I had done a great deal of quilting and had rolled the quilt a couple of times - THEN I noticed the problem.  My tension was messed up!!!

I checked the bobbin tension and it was fine.  I looked at the machine head and saw a problem where the thread somehow moved out of the thread path; I put it back where I thought it was supposed to go... took out the bad stitching ( yes, there was a LOT).. tested the tension/stitching on the borders - nope, not right... couldn't see what the problem was and couldn't remember where the book with the pic of the thread path was ( no, I didn't take care of it like I usually do). 

Had to find that ratchin' fratchin' book!!... OH! and at some point I poked myself with a pin and got blood on the quilt top... luckily in the part that gets cut off, but still!!!...

Ok, found the book - yep! there was the problem... I zigged when I should have zagged in the thread path.  Corrected it, tested again and it was perfect - SPOT ON!! and I was finally able to finish the quilting... both halves are done, folded up and back in the bag they were delivered to me in, ready to be given back to Ms. Polly.

I only took a pic of one half because they are identical... if you've seen one, you've seen the other.  You'll notice that I didn't trim... I only did the quilting - as it was I had to trim the backing fabric because it wasn't straight; I could have been a witch and returned it with a note telling her to straighten it out herself - but I didn't.  I also didn't do a lot of fancy quilting... I'm doing it for free and not spending days working on it.  I think it looks pretty good - actually better in person than in the pic.

After that was all done, I took the pink quilt that I worked on during the quilt show last weekend and added a border to it and then pieced backing together and got it loaded onto Mo'e ( just the backing).  I'll finish loading it tomorrow - need to find batting for it first.  I've pretty much used up the charity batting scraps so I might have to cut a fresh piece from the bolt.

I think I'll get back to the chickens tomorrow and finish them up.  I want to take "Marie" ( my 2nd Janome) in for a D & C within the next week or so and I don't want to switch machines in the middle of applique'.  "Jan" ( my older Janome) used to do WONDERFUL satin stitch - and probably still does, but I don't want to risk using her for the final three.  "She" might decide to throw a fit and mess them up ... our machines do have personalities and they're not always nice ones.  I also need to piece the backing for this latest chicken quilt and for the bovine quilt, but that's something that I can trust "Jan" to do.  Come to think of it, I haven't put a backing together for the Chicken Buffet quilt yet...guess I'll be doing that one, too.

Ok, past my bedtime and I didn't have a nap today....

TTYL