Jazz Cats

Recently a small group of cat loving friends got together to brainstorm on a quilt pattern for a raffle quilt for SNACK.  We decided to make the Jazz Cats pattern from Janet Kime's book The Cat's Meow.  I decided to try a couple of sample blocks and had a few problems along the way.  First, my machine was giving me fits.  I love my Bernina 1080 (c. 1995) and it never acts up but try and do something special and it is a guarantee that things will go wrong.  

My first block turned out okay considering the machine problems and my lack of ability to count the number of 1 1/2" squares I needed.  It was easy to figure out where I went wrong with the squares and I thought it was easy to figure out what was wrong with my machine.  The needle made a popping noise as it entered the fabric and the fabric was being eaten by the feed dogs when I started to sew.  Okay, change the needle and try again.  Still the same????  Change the needle again, clean and oil the machine.  What is going on?  It's still messed up.  Open a new pack of needles and clean and oil the machine again.  Success!  I guess I didn't figure two needles out of the same pack could be so messed up.

I know it looks like the ears are chopped off, but they aren't.  The ear units actually went together well but I messed up on the tail.

My second attempts were a bit better but I had one heck of a time trying to get the ear units lined up--grrrr! 

Perhaps I need a break and I have put the project down for awhile and will revisit it in a few weeks.

I have been working on a few other projects as well and hope to get a photo of my finished Easy Street posted soon.  I am trying to take my photos outside as they are a bit nicer but the weather around here has just been horrible and today it is actually very nice so I have my fingers crossed I can get out there and get something decent.

Cheers,

Debi