Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A gathering of Grannies and a small disaster

I just can't wait any longer. I had to stitch a few Godstone Grannies blocks together to get a feel for how the quit will look. I have a plan: I'll stitch the blocks together to form five larger sections that will then be stitched together. I will stitch a large center diamond made up of nine Grannies. The remaining blocks will be stitched together for the four corners. I've started out by stitching the Grannies into rows and this will be the upper left corner of the quit. Notice I still have my block picture and number pinned to the blocks. Once I stitch these two rows together I'll get rid of them and start removing some of the basting threads and papers.


I'm still coughing but it seems to be getting a little better each day.Unfortunately I seem to have given my cold to my Mom. I know that sharing is caring but in this instance I think she would have preferred that I kept it to myself! To lift her spirits I decided to trim up and press some of her Lazy Punk blocks. She has made enough for at least two more quilts!

I had given her a Frixion pen to make registration marks on her blocks to help with the fabric placement. I trimmed up a pile of blocks and started pressing them to remove the Frixion ink. Then I came across a block and the ink didn't disappear. Odd. I tried a few more and some were fine while others were not. I took a closer look and could see that at some point she ditched the Frixion pen and started using a ballpoint pen - a disaster of sorts. So now I've got to check all of the blocks and try to clean up those that have ballpoint ink!


On the darker fabrics it isn't as much of a problem if the marks don't entirely fade but on the lighter fabrics it will be more of a challenge. I can hide some of it with quilting. I tried a variety of product to get out the marks - hydrogen peroxide, Oxyclean and Grandma's Secret Stain Remover. I also wanted to try hairspray but it was clogged up from lack of use!  Grandma's Secret Stain Remover seemed to do the best job. This is a before of one corner.

This is the after. Not great but better than it was! If I can get my can of hairspray to work I'll give it a try before I go any further!


I reckon with some sneaky quilting and a wash in the machine with a goodly amount of Oxyclean and the quilt will be fine. But if the marks are still visible we won't get too upset about it. Stuff happens and you just have to roll with it!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

15 comments:

  1. What a shame:( But you are right, these things happen. Love your GG quilt. Awesome!
    Kerry

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's the ticket - you do what you can and then let it go. Love your hexies - looking wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. your hexie quilt is looking gorgeous
    My very first quilt I marked with an ink pen-now that I think about it-why did I do that? lol the ink never did come out-let me know the hairspray works-didn't know about that-but you are so right-stuff happens

    ReplyDelete
  4. If I know you Karen you will figure out a way to make the lines in it look just fine.
    The grannies are looking grand. This will be one amazing quilt.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your hexiequilt gets fantastic.

    Greetings, Manuela

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Now I have to start a new Quilt Godstone Grannies . Sorry about the other Quilt mistakes happen we get past them I know when you're through Quilting it's going to be beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh what a shame Karen, I hope your able to get the marks off.
    Love the hexies.
    Julia ♥

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your GG is looking fabulous. From the heading i imagined you were have a problems with it, pleased you weren't but what a shame for your Mum's quilt. I do hope the hairspray works, i have never heard of using it , but a quick google search confirms, its efficacy, good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Karen, when our boys were at school I soaked biro pen marks on their shirts in a saucer of milk for twenty four hours, then rubbed the marks with a laundry pure soap bar before washing. The hairspray sounds interesting though. Your GG is looking great.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry you are not feeling better yet. I hate colds---nothing good happens with them. Love the GG quilt pieces sewn together. Your mom might consider some type of embellishment to cover up the lines from the ink. Rickrack was my first thought

    ReplyDelete
  12. Your hexie quilt is fabulous Karen!!!
    Really not funny at all to catch colds ! ! ! !
    I was told to be prudent with frixion pens-yet i appreciate them!!!
    Someone could throw her quilt because of such lines from the ink...maybe we should test it on our fabric before using this pen!!!
    I hope you'll find a solution...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those coughs seem to linger on dont they, hope Mum shakes her off quickly.
    GG is looking smashing and taking shape nicely, what fun!
    Such a shame about the pen, thats the kind of thing Id probably do too.
    Shame you cant do abit of your embroidery magic over the marks, here and there, but I suspect you will find a way of quilting the marks into submission lol

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think the hairspray will do the trick--I've had pretty good luck using it on ink. I hope you and Mom are feeling better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That would be an easy mistake to make. You've tried some options for stain removal that I've not tried. I've now added them to my list. I have my fingers crossed that this will still work out.

    ReplyDelete