Edit: The quilt is my own. If this were someone else’s quilt, I would have ripped it out and removed it but not for my own quilt!
Last night (very late last night or . . I should say, very early this morning) I was quilting. One last quilt to be quilted and I’ll explain that in a later post, but I heard a “clunk”. I thought the machine had gotten caught on a piece of thread so I finished the feathers, went back to see what I needed to fix and . . dang it .. a pin had made its way between the quilt top and the batting/backing. Not only was it in there but was several layers of quilting back so I’d have to rip out too much to get too it.
These pins aren’t rusty . . don’t know why they look like that in the picture. It’s one of these flower head pins. I can’t leave a pin in a quilt! I’m not ripping out those feathers. So, I took tweezers and held the flower head part of the pin and pulled and wiggled and tugged with the tweezers til the head let go of the “poke stick” part. I pulled the metal part out and the flower head will be in this quilt forever!
That’s ok. I won’t tell anyone if you won’t. To tell you the truth, this wasn’t the first time it’s happened and I’ll bet it won’t be the last!
Susan Fields says
Amazing where the little pins show up. Now if someone finds the pin head and reports it to you do they get a prize like getting the charm in a King Cake?
Pat says
No problem….none of the tons of people who read your blog will tell anyone…your secret is safe with us. LOL
Vicky says
On the first quilts I pinned and quilted myself, I took the quilt over to the old Fabric Patch to use their tables for the pinning. Of course, while I was in there I had to buy some stuff. You know how that is. The next morning I got out the quilt and started some quilting on it and then I found something hard inside the layers. It was my debit card. Still can’t figure out how that happened. lol
Karla says
I ran into a pin also while I was quilting my granddaughters baby blanket. Had to work hard to get that booger out. I am glad to know that I wasn’t alone in my predicament 🙂
Angie says
I use the flower head pins too Judy, and have had the same thing happen. Twice now. It has bothered me—a lot, because I donate time to quilting for various organizations. I would hate for one of those undetected pins to injure someone at some point after they received the quilt. So, now, every time, I run a one of those magnetic wands over my completed quilts before I hand them over to the community project co-ordinators just to double check for pins. Because we may not always see them, or hear them with our machines. I have since found one pin inside a quilt that I would never have known was there had I not run the magnet over the completed quilt! Scary to think how many quilts could possibly have unknown pins in them. I do try to be careful, but you just never know. I do love your feathers!
Linda (Petey) Fritchen says
So glad you didn’t have to frog that feather…it is beautiful!
Judy says
I’m not happy this happened to you but I’m happy to learn this has happened to other people besides me. I don’t feel alone and embarrassed any more. 😉
You continue to amaze me with your feathers! They are beautiful and I’m happy you didn’t have to take any of them out.
Diana Wilson says
I’ve done that! Only mine wasn’t flower head it was a round ball head. I’m sure she will never find it! Carry on!
Marla says
Actually my first thought was how neat….someday way in the future, maybe one of Chad’s grand or great grand childen will find that little flower pin head in the quilt and wonder how it got there! Makes for some interesting history!
Leah S says
See?! Pinning is bad! Avoid at all costs. 😀
Karen L says
I’m glad you were able to get the dangerous part of the pin out of the quilt. I had this happen once on my daughters quilt……..she pieced it, quilted it…..I kept reminding her to make sure she paid attention to the pins………but since she was a teenager and of course, Mothers don’t have a clue to anything…….she got it quilted and bound. It was her 4-H project and we were getting it ready to ship to the Minnesota State Fair……..we got stuck……..there was a pin between the layers. Since we were under deadline……..she shipped the quilt anyway along with the pin still inside. Judging went very well…….the judge didn’t feel the pin……she recieved the purple award. We got the quilt back and we were able to remove the pin…….it was between the top and batting so we opened up the piecing and got it out and stitched the seam by hand. Now she has learned a lesson and she keeps track of the pins.
Karen L
Margo of Maine says
looks great to me what I could see…feathers wonderful…congrats on your accomplishment
Melissa says
Once I got a quilt back from a longarmer that had a mint or a tums or something quilted in between the layers!! I have always been afraid to wash it for fear it would dissolve and ruin the quilt! Love your feathers!
Melissa M. in TN
Perry says
Some day when a hole appears in this quilt, the person who finds the pin head will always wonder what it was doing in there, lol. You should affix a lable with the answers, lol. Inquiring minds!
Norma Bourgeois says
A group of us made a friendship quilt for a friend and had it machine quilted. Over two years later, at a retreat, we were examining all the different blocks and found a pin sticking up between the quilting! Took a while to work it out, but fortunately it didn’t stick her. It’s amazing how those little pins disappear and reappear. It seems to be more frequent than we thought.