Making Peace with the Seam Ripper

Somehow, I always thought that when I got good at free motion quilting, I wouldn't need the seam ripper much. This doesn't seem (I didn't go with the punny spelling, aren't you glad?) to be the case though.

Source: generationqmagazine.com via Sew4my3 on Pinterest

The above image is posted on Pinterest. It is from the Stitch Lab in Austin TX and it sums up my feelings on the dreaded frog stitch (rip it, rip it). Turns out that I use my seam ripper quite often. There are just times that I know that if I leave those wonky stitches in, it will bother me too much. So ripping stitches gives me fewer regrets about a piece. Not that my work is perfect, but there are times I just need to stitch something over.

I do try to make sure I'm not being too much of a perfectionist. Some mistakes won't ever be noticed once the stitching is farther than 12 inches from your eyes.

But I've made peace with the dreaded seam ripper and keep it close. What's that saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? In the picture below, look for the dark dot just to the left of the light.

 Do you see it?

Now you do! That's my seam ripper, right where I need it. It's a cinch to reach up and to the left when my stitching's gone astray. I used a small set of Velcro dots to attach it to the ceiling of my quilting nook. It never gets lost now. If the stitches are going to bug me, it's easy enough to rip them out. No regrets.

How to Free Motion Quilt: The Series

I've been getting a lot of new readers here who are still learning the basics of free motion quilting so I thought I'd set up a page with tips. I really haven't done a whole lot of How-To posts before since I'm mostly sharing my free motion adventures, but I'm starting a little series on the basics and then these posts will be easily available on the Tips tab at the top of the main page.

 

The first post will be up in the next day or two and will be called, "How to Free Motion Quilt: The Set-Up"

I got quite a bit of quilting done this weekend and I hope you did too. Thanks to all who leave a comment and to all who have commented recently. I love reading each comment and email!