Pickin' And Grinnin'

 Howdy Quilty Friends! The pickin' is finished and I'm grinnin'!  My goodness what a chore it was to rip out the quilting on this quilt.  

Thankfully, only about a fourth of the quilt had been quilted.  The biggest problem was seeing the stitches.  When you quilt with invisible thread, guess what?  The thread is invisible.  Especially when paired with 100% polyester batting.  Pulling on the backing fabric helped but I was still flying blind.  I couldn't see the stitches but I could see where they were tugging on the fabric.  So I would try to slip the ripper under the invisible stitches.  Sometimes it took 3 or 4 tries to catch the stitches.  

Cutting them made them disappear into the batting. After ripping out all of the quilting it was time to pick the remaining threads out of the quilt top and backing.  Can you see the invisible thread?  Well of course not, it's invisible...HAHA!

Lets get a little closer.  If the light hits it just right I could see it.  In order to find them and not have my nose right on the quilt I would run my hand over the area.  The invisible thread had a rough feel and when cut it is very scratchy to the touch.  Not all invisible threads are rough to the touch.  This is a cheap brand from Joann's and was tossed it in the trash long ago.  I now use Superior Threads Mono Poly.

Wherever a thread was felt I would blindly grab at it with these Tula Pink tweezers.  This is the thread from the front of one chain block.  After picking all of the front of the quilt I had to turn it over and repeat the same blind unpicking on the back. Thankfully there wasn't as much on the back of the quilt top. It was mostly stitch in the ditch threads that I couldn't see or feel from the front of the quilt.

After the ripping and picking, some of the quilting left what I call ghost quilting.  The quilting is gone but can still see the design perfectly.  

The fix?  A little spritz with water then rubbed it with my hand.  I can still see some of the quilting.  But it should disappear as it dries.  If not, I'll spritz it again.  I've heard vinegar or fabric softener helps relax the ghost quilting but I don't have any liquid fabric softener.  And who knows when this quilt will be quilted.  Spraying it with acidic vinegar might cause damage if it's not quilted ASAP.

The plan is to quilt it sometime this year.  Right now I have a quilt on the frame and one waiting to be quilted.  I might get to this one in a month or two...or three.  You know how I roll....Squirrel!   She's not ready to be quilted anyway.  The backing isn't right for this quilt.  

I dug through my stash and all the hiding places looking for anything that I thought would work.  A  deep red, cream or indigo blue but came up with nothing.  I did find blue fabric scraps hiding in this picnic basket.  But they aren't big enough to make a backing. 

The selvages are still there  so why not see if the internet quilting fairies can find it online.  It was a good thought and I dug deep but luck was not on my side.   So I guess next week I get to go to the local quilt shop....and I'm a grinnin'!

Do you remember HeeHaw's Pickin' and Grinnin'?  Click image below to watch.