Learning from experience

Over time I've learned that some quilts are trouble, and I can usually spot them when I meet with the cutomer. However some of them I take on anyway. It might seem like this would mean I wouldn't take them on, but actually I often do them. I do charge more for quilts I know are going to be difficult to cover the extra time and hassle, but quite often there is a good reason I am being asked to do them. I do now tell the customer when I taake the quilt in how much trouble I think the project will cause and why this might produce a result less good than I would like. It may not be what the customer wants to hear but I would rather they know in advance what to expect.

The quilt on the frame at the moment is one of these projects. I wouldn't have worked with the front, back or wadding from choice, but it's needed so I am giving it a go. It isn't sewing up too badly either. It is causing way more trouble that I expected. It seems like my machine just doesn't want to do this one. Actually that isn't fair, it't the frame that is having a bad day. It just doesn't want to keep tension on this quilt. I could live with that, I was living with it, then the frame had a big strop. Nuts bollts and craching are not good. I caught everything, which was good, for everything except my muscles. I've been out and bought more nuts and now have everything back together and ready to go.  Why is it that these things are much more likely to happen on quilts that are already trouble? I don't get it. I have quilts that I just know will work, and they do. I am starting to wonder if it is partly my mental state. When I know I have a difficult day ahead do I do something that makes the frame shed it's nuts, the machine chew needles and the thread become fragile? Also if it is me, how do I turn it off?

As you may have gathered from the lack of posting. I've been working pretty much flat out the last few days. I've had another great machine quilting class, which I love teaching. Lots of customer quilts have been heading home, and I've been tidying up a few future bookings. I am thrilled to say some bookings are leaving more information. I've had emails and phone messages recently which I could reply to without having to first try and work out which booking I am talking about. You can't know how much I appreciate it. Thank you so much.