Author: Cowtown Quilts

Ida Houston; Thread Artist and Award Winning Professional Quilter in the Kansas City area

Quilting Strategies on a Quilting Machine

Cowtown Quilts1 Comment

Ever think how lucky someone is to own a longarm quilting machine?  I mean, they must just slap the fabric and batting on there and turn it on and it does all the work for them.  Right?  WRONG!  There is a a lot of work that goes in to loading a quilt, getting it straight, and making it come out right.  With backing fabric, it’s nice not to have any seams in it, because each seam can draw up the fabric around it.  You can’t avoid that with the quilt top, but you can with the bottom/backing.  Batting needs to be a decent quality, too, because these high-powered machines will run right through thin batting and shred it to pieces.  As for the quilt top, this is the most important to make sure you have it loaded properly.

As I load the quilt backing and top, I make sure I am rolling them so that their edges meet the edges of the fabric they are rolled on.  For example, think of a fabric that you roll around a pole.  With each roll, you want to make sure the edge of the top fabric meets with the edge of the fabric underneath.  You also want to make sure you are not rolling one side tighter than the other.  One strategy I use for that is the blocks and sashings in a pieced top.

Image

The above photo shows a block and sashing.  See how it is kind of caddy wonker and not straight across?  If I were to roll the quilt top like that, the whole quilt will end up caddy wonker and stay that way after I’ve quilted it.  So, using the seams and sashing as a guide, I try to roll it straight on.  I look down the length of the roller to make sure it is straight before advancing the roller.

Image

See how the sashing on this is a little crooked at the bottom of this picture?  I’d make sure it was straight before advancing the roller any farther.

Another strategy I like is using a laser square for making sure my quilt top is laying square on the frame during and after I roll it forward.  I also like to use my laser square for blocking my quilts, but I will show you how to do that in a later post.  You can buy a laser square at the hardware store.

Image

I can use the laser line as a guide for pinning the top edge of the quilt top to the batting and backing before I baste it together and stabilize the entire quilt.  You can line up the vertical line to the edges of the quilt as well as sashings and other pieces within the blocks and the horizontal line will go across the top to show where the edge needs to be in order for your quilt to end up “square” and not caddy wonker.  There are many tools you can use to achieve this.  The laser square just happens to be one of my favorites.

On the frame!

Cowtown QuiltsLeave a comment

Image

And, here it is on the frame!  It’s exhilarating to be working on this.  I’ve had a lot of fun so far figuring out what to stitch on here.  I’ve got monsters peeking over the edges of the fabric on that middle block.  I wasn’t sure what to put in those corners, so I opted for the monsters.  I think it looks cute.  I am also stitching ghosts, witches, bats, cats, spiders and webs, pumpkins and candy corn all over this.  Right now the stitching in the blocks will be the same color as the background fabric.  The stitching in the sashing will be a variegated orange, and I will finish off the outside border with black stitching against the plain cream-colored border.  I’ll post another picture when I finish it.

My first customer quilt!

Cowtown QuiltsLeave a comment
My first customer quilt outside of family

This is what the quilt looked like before I got started on it.  I have the utmost respect for the lady who pieced this, because nearly ALL of it is hand stitched together.  That had to have taken her forever.  It also makes me wonder about the story behind this.  Is there a reason she hand sewed it?  Perhaps it was to keep her hands busy or perhaps she was in a place in her life where she was incapacitated.  Still, it’s a beautiful and fun quilt.  Her stitching is impeccable!

What’s for lunch?

Cowtown QuiltsLeave a comment

Ever have one of those days where you open and close the refrigerator door again and again, hoping that something good to eat will magically appear the next time you open it? <sigh> Yes, that happened to me yesterday. The Dutch Apple Pie from the night before was calling to me, and I couldn’t see beyond that. Problem is, it’s easy to “prepare” it to eat. It’s done! No preparation required… the problem with dieting and trying to eat healthy.

So, as I was trying to convince myself to eat something healthy, my pea brain starting thinking, “Wait! Apples are healthy! And, that crust is made from wheat.” Hmm… that covers the fruit/vegetable and grain food groups. And, we always need to eat more fruits and vegetables. “Nah. I really should look for something better for me.” But my brain and stomach were trying to convince me that it WAS good for me, especially since I don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. “Okay,” I happily resigned.

Now I needed some meat or protein. Nothing good in that fridge! Well, nothing was popping out at me. I reasoned that since I was eating pie for lunch, a PayDay candy bar couldn’t be that bad. After all, there are nuts in it! There’s my protein. Okay, what about the dairy group? I could have a glass of milk.

By the time I dished out the pie, I decided that ice cream with pie would qualify for the dairy group. And, who wouldn’t like to top it off with a PayDay? I’d drink healthy water with it and vowed to eat better at supper time. Sometimes you’ve just gotta play and have a PayDay.

Hello world!

Cowtown QuiltsLeave a comment

Happy Sunday morning!  We so needed the rain today, a good atmosphere for quilting!  After all the eye surgeries, and working like a cyclops, I am finally finished with my latest quilt.  I was one of 615 participants in the SOTTT (Sisterhood of the Traveling Triangles) exchange.  Edyta Sitar was on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims showing quilts that could be made with fabric exchanges.  That’s when Debbie posted on the forum that she would like to start a Half Square Triangle exchange.  Little did she know the work involved!  Anyhow, it grew into 615 participants from around the world.   I had a lot of fun putting the quilt from this exchange together and then quilting it.   

So, it’s off to get to the rest of  my neglected house and to the quilt guild meeting this week!  Have a super week!