What Happens When The Sewing Machine Needle Hits Your Finger...Or Quilting Gwen's Quilt

Yesterday I sat down to do the most dreaded task of quilting...actually quilting the sandwich together. It had its ups and downs, but overall, it went pretty well. Come along with me as I show you how the process went...and what happens when you accidentally hit your finger with the needle.

There are various parts of making a quilt that I actually do not like at all. Quilting is probably high on that list. Making the top and back are usually my favorite parts and probably why I have quite a few tops just sitting around. Binding used to be horrible until I learned to do it on a machine...but that's next week's post (I hope).

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The first thing I do to get ready for all over free motion quilting is change out my sewing foot on my machine. This is my free motion foot and it came with my Brother CS-6000i sewing machine. I then split my quilt into 4 parts and get started. I start on the corner 1/2 of the way up and sew to the middle and then complete the first quarter all the way to the bottom corner.

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As I go, I stop at each safety pin and remove it. My machine stops in the needle down position or this would not be an easy task. The machine keeps my place just perfectly. The goal of all over stippling is to have the curves close to each other, not touching and no sharp points. I've been using this type of quilting for years and am better at it, but still not perfect!

The first quarter is finally finished in this photo. I look at the clock and it took me about 30 minutes to finish!! I'm amazed because I was figuring this quilt would take 4-6 hours to complete.

You can see how the process goes in the video above. I am usually concentrating pretty hard while doing this and keeping an eye on my fingers, the top of the quilt and checking the back occasionally.

As it got a little later, I must have gotten a little tired...or cocky. The needle hit my finger right as I was thinking I hadn't had any injuries or broken needles yet! Well, thankfully it just poked a small hole right beside my nail and only bled for a little bit, but it did break my needle! Got that replaced and finished up my quilt shortly after. Also had three bobbins run out. Not too bad for about 2 hours of quilting.

Front detail

Back detail

I am super happy with the way it turned out. I think my tension was off a little bit at times on the back so the stitches are pulled a little bit on the curves, but I think it will be okay. Other than that, the quilting is done and that's all that matters!!! Yea! Yippee!! Looks like it will be done on time if I can get the binding done in the next week or so (which shouldn't be a problem).

_{Progress posts on Gwen's quilt:
Starting a new wonky star quilt
Gwen's quilt top is finished
Making the quilt back
Personalizing the quilt back with my embroidery machine}

#NeedleworkMonday initiated by @crosheille