Tag: thread

Playing Catch Up

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First off, let me show you the quilting that didn’t show up on Jackie’s Quilt post.

Jackie's quilt 006

Stitching this Pantograph was so easy peasy I felt guilty charging Jackie for the quilting.

After I finished her quilt, I caught up on this charity quilt that I haven’t been able to get to in a couple of months.  simply quilts 001 simply quilts 002At this point, I just wanted to finish it, so I opted for a quick edge 2 edge design and then failed at attempted to add a matching border.   It turned out okay.  Not happy with the border, but it’s done.  Our guild has a charity sewing day every February.  Kits are made up for us to piece together and then to quilt.  I was hoping for a bigger quilt, but this is what I was given, and it’s just as well since it’s taken me this long to finish it.

What I am currently working on is the following quilt.  My new favorite kind of fabric is solid colored fabric.  I love the colors in this quilt and how they pop against each other.

Kat's quilt 001

Jackie says her daughter, Kat, can outquilt her any day.  I don’t know about that, but I do love this quilt Kat put together.  She just wanted circles quilted all over it to break up the squares, so here is what I’ve done so far.

Kat's quilt 005 Kat's quilt 003

The thread is a light orange – I think this was a good choice on the customer’s part.  As for the circles… my circles aren’t perfect – they are done freehand.  I like the circles against the squares, another good choice on the customer’s part. I’m always impressed with my customers’ choices.  I learn a lot from their tastes and their styles.  I’ll post more pictures when I am done.

Longarmers like extra backing and batting

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Longarm Quilters like for their customers to provide extra batting and backing for many reasons. One of the reasons is because our quilting foot hits the grippers holding the sides of the quilts, so it is very difficult to stitch within 3+ inches of those grippers.  However, for me, the biggest reason we like extra fabric  is because the backing and batting draw up during the quilting process. Another reason is so that we can accurately provide good stitch quality and tension for your quilt. Longarm machines are so finicky when it comes to tension; much, much, much more so than a domestic machine, that it can be difficult to achieve good tension and good stitches. So, most of us will test out the tension and stitching on a side piece before we add it to the quilt.  If you look closely at this picture, you will see the side border of the quilt I was working on.  There is about 6 inches of extra backing and batting.  I added a 3″ wide piece of fabric  at the side of the border and tested my stitches there with each thread change before stitching on the actual quilt.

She’s “cute as a button” at MQS

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It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been at Machine Quilters Showcase (MQS) and figured I’d better get something posted before I forget.  I have been attending and volunteering at MQS for the last 3 years and have loved every minute of each show.  I am sad that it will be moving to Wichita, Kansas next year but it’s only about 3 1/2 hours away so I really shouldn’t be too sad.  I just won’t be able to volunteer like I have in the past.

MQS, along with the other big quilt shows, is a chance to take classes from big name quilters as well as the lesser known, but equally talented, quilters.  It’s also a chance to meet friends you have made online such as through Facebook.  For whatever reason, I did not take many pictures at all this year.  I had my camera with me all the time, but only managed to take pictures of the first class I took.  That was with Sue Patten.  She has a lot of energy and is a fabulous teacher as well as a very creative stitcher.  She has variegated threads figured out to a science ~ WAAAY over my head, but I took her class anyway.  I don’t think I will EVER have her talent and knack for figuring out how to get variegated threads to do what I want on both the front and the back of the quilt, but yesterday I did manage to put certain colors of the variegated thread I was using in particular places on the quilt I was working on.  Here’s a shot of Sue with one of her quilts.

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I also managed to meet a couple of friends I’d only chatted with online.  Here is Kelly Hanson and me.  Image

Isn’t she cute as a button?