Instead of defeat, I'll entitle this one "Lessons Learned"

Thanks to other quilters on the internet, I had heard of making a pin hole in painter's tape to cover the laser spot.  This makes the spot much smaller and easier to use.  I also found that at night without ambient light, the full beam hurt my eyes.

Here's the difference.

Full Laser Spot

Pin hole Laser Spot

 Although changing my spots helped a little, I still experienced problems.  There is a lot of backtracking in this pattern.  In the photo above, you can see that after the first flower, you'll go up the stem to draw 2 leaves and a swirl, then go back down the stem.

Here's what it looks like on the top.  The backtracking isn't precise and it looks bad.  If I were working from the front of the machine, I could follow the sewn lines easily.  But tracing the pantograph just isn't good enough.

Messy Backtracking Lines aka Lessons Learned

Since this quilt needs to be ready to be shipped to Japan by Saturday, I cannot rip out the stitches.  I'll just press on and declare this a Lesson Learned.  Select the pantograph design with minimal or no backtracking elements.

It's good to be back blogging again.  We enjoyed a week-long visit with family and upon our return, discovered a water leak and dead computer.  It's all part of the experiences of life, and helps remind me what's important and what's extra.  Time has been first spent to remove the soggy sheetrock, keep people fed, attend school meetings about an upcoming out of town trip and, of course, school & work.  Tech support will be replacing the power supply, motherboard & memory soon, so our computer will work again.  Smile.  Still no veggie garden.  I hope we can get that project moving asap.  Whew!

Enjoy your day,
-SeeingStars