Un-quilting!

Let me preface this post with a disclaimer-It is about 10 years now that I have been a longarmer, and to date had never encountered my current problem! So either I have been extraordinarily blessed or just dumb lucky?

Without going into details of how, when, where and why, I will simply tell you that I am un-quilting this large and very pretty quilt.....and needless to say it is a great deal of work that will keep me occupied and away from more interesting/fun activities for a week -or two?!

This huge job has me searching for faster and easier ways to "frog" [rippit-rippit] my quilting.

I began with the quilt on the longarm but after a while when I realized I would probably want to remove all of the quilting, I unpinned the quilt and took it to the couch, more comfortable than sitting on the saddle stool at the LA.

Above is the commonly known Dritz seam ripper, quite effective, but I thought perhaps another brand or style might work better so I purchased this one with it's "ergonomic" handle. So far I have not really noticed any difference in how my hand feels as I work at this but if I do I will let you know.

Another handy tool for removing stitches, the hemostats-when did you ever know a nurse- no matter how long retired-who did not have at least one pair of this handy tool! I have several and for this task they are absolutely mandatory for saving my poor hands extra stress.

The quilting you see in these pics is a view of the back of this quilt, the stitches are fairly small and in the sashing and corner blocks there is a lot of backtracking-two rows of stitching one upon the other-making the chore even more tedious!

I am whining a lot [not wining LOL] to anyone who will listen so you can be sure I will be celebrating to all and sundry when it is finally done!
One final tool, a pair of tiny, fine pointed scissors for snipping knots that defy removal!
I will be frogging daily most of the day, with breaks for something more rewarding, like putting the borders on the NYE Mystery quilt.

The borders are all cut and ready to sew......

this is the order of application, the small blue stop border then two more additions to use up most of the balance of these fabrics.

I plan to intersperse the frogging with other activities, blogging, walking Button dog, going to the gym , sewing and perhaps even quilting to make the whole process more bearable. We are expecting another new baby at our church and I need to quilt the baby scrap quilt I made a few weeks ago, so that might be good therapy for an unquilting break!.

You can be sure that I will be celebrating right here once this chore is finished and I can put the top back on the LA to begin anew!