Tension....you gotta have enough of it

 But on the other hand, you can't have too much. I'm talking about sewing machine tension. I was tired the other night when I started this little project. I made a small quilt out of scraps a long time ago and never quilted it. Part of the reason was because I didn't especially like the way it looked. However, our cat has been sleeping on our new sofa cover and the amount of hair that thing leaves behind is staggering. So I thought I'd use this little quilt in that spot so I could easily clean it (or just remove it when we have company). 

Back of the mini quilt. You can see how the thread is poking through from the front in some spots.

So what's the tension problem? Well, if you look at the photo above you can see that my quilting isn't looking proper in all the right places. I usually make a practice little quilt sandwich to check my thread tension before I start in on my actual project. It saves a lot of ripping out. Well, I was tired and I didn't bother with my sample. Too bad. It reminds me that the extra step is always worth while. It also reminds me to just go to bed when I'm tired and not try to get one more thing finished.

A close up of the front of the quilt and my empty spool.

The other thing that occurred while quilting was that I ran out of thread! Since I just wanted this as a cat hair catch all I just took the next nearest thread color and went with it. To be honest, it isn't really noticeable in the finished product. I guess when you start out not really liking what you are making it makes you care a lot less about the quality of the finished product. It's why I always hope to be able to love the things I make to sell. 

The finished product waiting for the cat. My luck, he'll pick a new spot to sleep.