REQUILTING SUNRISE

 I loaded the Sunrise quilt back onto the longarm this morning.  I'm using 100% cotton batting this time. And then I quilted the first couple of rows.  

I'm using free-hand 'straightish' horizontal lines across, about 3-4 per inch.  This time they are not overlapping.

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.

BATTING ENLARGEMENT

In order to quilt my Modern Fans quilt, which is 56" by 56" I had to piece together some batting.  The only bat I had was 60" by 46".  Luckily, I had a big enough scrap.  I sewed a 14" piece onto the short side.  It will just be big enough now.  (I hope).

I used a nice wide zigzag on my new Bernina.  

I got everything loaded up on Eduard (my A-1 longarm) and started a pantograph going.  While that was working, I cut the sashing strips for my City Sampler quilt.

I figured I'd mark pencil lines across the width of the fabric to make it easier to line everything up.   Then cut all of the strips.    It worked out great.

Marking pencil lines to line up the seams across the width.

Then cutting all of the sashing strips.

FLORAL TRAILS FINISHED

In record time, I've finished the quilting on Floral Trails.  It's 87" by 102".  I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Signature thread, top and bottom.  I was not happy with that thread by the end.  After several hours of quilting it would start breaking and shredding.  I never did figure out why.  

I did a Baptist Fan over the body and Piano Keys on the border.  I used Lisa Calle's Pro Circle Rulers - and I love them.  They are easy to use and just feel good in your hands.  They made quilting this huge quilt fun and easy.  This was definitely one of the biggest quilts I've quilted.  I used 7-1/2 bobbins and racked up 6:06 hours on the machine.  I'm very happy with it.

MISCALCULATION?

As I added row after row of the pantograph, and advanced the quilt, I got to a point where I started to have doubts about whether I had measured the quilt and batting correctly.  

All I can do at this point is keep going until the end.

I'm having doubts that there is enough batting to reach the end of the quilt.

I advanced the quilt again...

Getting more worried.

 I advanced the quilt as I quilted each row until I got to the end...

Wow!  I made it with less than an inch to spare!

Just like I knew what I was doing all along.

LOADED FIRST QUILT

Well, I finished the practice quilting on the small piece that Kim loaded up on my A1 Quilting Machine after she put it together.  I used up all the space.  So, I unloaded it and loaded on a real quilt.

This is a quilt top I made years ago using 4" red squares from a fabric exchange I participated in.  I can't remember if it was through Pieces Quilt Shop or through Issaquah Quilters.  Either way, I ended up with two red quilt tops which have been languishing in incompleteness for 10 or more years now.

I purchased some quilt backing from Connecting Threads a while ago, thinking I'd use these tops as practice when my A1 got here.  The backing is icky, too.

For the last few days I've been thinking about how I want to quilt it.  I'm still conflicted.  I think I'm going to use the Versa-tool ruler from HandiQuilter, and do a gentle curve on each seam, but I may change my mind tomorrow (but probably not).  It seems boring, but I need the practice.

The back is on the frame.

I used the table to size and cut the batting - worked great!

All loaded up, ready to quilt.

I decided to add the centering tape to the machine.  I did it while I turned up Dread Zeppelin and let the neighbors enjoy that one song, too.  I can't help myself - I love their songs!

So, then I tried to wind some of the thread I want to use onto a bobbin using the Bobbin  Winder that came with the A1.  What a piece of junk.  Kim was having trouble with it and fussed with it when she wound some bobbins for me.  I'm having a different kind of trouble with it.  I fussed with it a little then gave up.   I hot and tired.  I'll give it another try in the morning.  I'm not sure what to do with the bobbin it messed up; half of it is wound good, the last part is screwy.  I don't know enough about tension to know if this is acceptable or not.