When Quilting is No Fun

I have been quilting the Project Linus quilts using donated polyester batting and having a terrible time with it.  The batting was very inexpensive – it has the “special” price on the label (probably why it was donated).  The batting itself is very uneven, and has a horrible texture.  You can feel the tiny bits of plastic clumps in it and when the needle hits them, the thread breaks – often – over and over - repeatedly.  My advice:

    Do.Not.Buy.Batting.That.Is.$7.48.For.Ten.Yards - not even for charity quilts!

I have a whole second roll that is unopened and will stay that way as far as I am concerned.  I am done with messing with it.  I will return it to the Project Linus group and buy my own batting from now on to donate for the tops I quilt for them.  Enough ranting …

This is the quilt I just finished for them - the panto is an edge-to-edge called Joy:

Even though I switched over to expensive batting, I had a rough time getting my machine back into smooth working order.  I had to change the needle, the tension, and the tautness of the backing, among other things.  And they gave me muslin for the backing, so every little quilting mistake and stop and start shows. 

And to top it off, I put it on the frame at night and I think I put the nice, expensive batting on upside down.  It was so frustrating and I had been having such fun before using the cheap batting.  Oh well, back to the drawing board … I expect to have fun sewing this weekend!