QUILTING PROBLEMS

 I setup a pantograph and started Erik quilting on Tractor Beam.

Then it was one thing after another.  First of all, Erik really hates quilting right-to-left, so he shredded the thread every chance he got.   I even changed from Aurifil to Wonderfil thread because it's 3-ply and a little thicker.  That reduced the number of shreddings a bit, but didn't eliminate them.

Then the sew-head went black, the lights went out and it stopped. That scared the heck out of me!   So on a walk-around I discovered the plug on the back had worked its way out.  I plugged it in, restarted, and got him working again.  Phew.

THEN, the darn hopping foot, #74 with a plastic cup, broke!  Good grief, I guess I'm lucky the needle didn't run over it and jam up the machine.

I gave up for the day, and went to join the Brave Patch Finish it Friday get-together.

I made this week's Art East Quilting Mini block, #35, The Thread.

QUILTING FLING

 I decided to name this quilt Fling.  

I got it loaded onto Erik the Bold, my Q24 longarm.  I set up the program for an all over pantograph and got him going.

I noticed I had put my name on it - in blue ink.

I probably could have got the whole quilt quilted today, but there was an emergency with Jelly.  She broke out in itchy bumps all over.  I was advised to get her some Benadryl.  So, I stopped Erik in his tracks and ran to get some.  Poor baby.

CRUSHING IT QUILTED

 I finally finished the quilting on Crushing It.  I had Erik do it, because what I had planned was going to take too long.

Go, Erik, go.  He did a beautiful job.

QUILTING PUZZLE BOX

 I downloaded a quilting pattern called 'Puzzle' this morning and made a label for the Puzzle Box quilt.  I went upstairs and inked the label.  Then I loaded the backing for it and loaded up the Puzzle Box quilt.  I'm quilting it with the new pattern which resembles  jigsaw puzzle pieces.  It's quilting very slowly however.

So, while Erik was slowly quilting away, I made the bias binding and sewed it onto the back of XXIII.

I got two passes done before it was time to go in.

After I sewed the binding onto the back, I folded the corners and clamped them down.  They'll be more willing to comply tomorrow when I sew the binding to the front.

SUNDAY

I've been quilting on XXIII using the computer-control, experimenting with placing patterns.   I'm putting overall-texture programs in oddly shaped areas.  It's been great fun.

Darrell made several programs for me consisting of concentric arcs for the quarter-circles.  Some of those have worked, some not.  But, this last one has worked beautifully.  Now, it's up to me to learn how to use it.

I'm almost done with the quilting, just a little more than one row left.

I've also, finally, gotten around to watching the videos from Cheryl Arkison of her Playcation Adventure 2022.  She put up live videos weekly during 2022 making improv blocks.  I wish I had done it with her then.  But, better late than never.  I've only done three, but it's been so much fun!  Here's the third one I made today:

 

NEBULA LOADED

 After adding a 6" border all around the too-small backing I made the other day and sewing on the zippers, I got Nebula loaded onto Erik the longarm.  I'm using a pale lilac Aurifil 50wt thread on the front and the back.  Since there is so much background, I'm going with an easy pattern that I can free-motion and get done quickly.

Since the top is so big (97" by 96") I went with rolling it onto the bar for the top.  So far so good.  It's working out very well.

I had stopped at Pacific Fabrics yesterday and picked up a king-size (120" by 120") Hobbs 80/20 batting.  Overpriced at $67, but I did get 20% off that.

EXERCISING ERIK

 I had Erik the Bold (Bernina Q24) quilt a pantograph onto a small quilt I made in one of Sherri's Workshops - Making Do-odle (meaning we only use what we have, make do), while I was picking out some seams in my Blissfully quilt in order to change out some fabrics - to change their value.

It was another learning experience.