LOADED BIG QUILT

 I loaded the big quilt I'm calling Garden Club onto the longarm today.  This is one of the quilts my friend, Mary sent for me to quilt and finish.  This quilt top was donated to her small quilt group to help raise funds for their group.  I volunteered to help by quilting some.

This quilt top is about 88" by 88".  It's not square.  I noticed when finding the middle of each side that one of the sides is 4" longer than it's opposite.  And it has other problems.  I think someone may have washed the top, which isn't a good idea with an unfinished quilt top.

Here's some photos of some of the things going on on the back of this quilt top:

QUILTING BATIK QUILT

 Here's one of the quilts that my friend Mary sent to me.  I volunteered to do the quilting on a few for her.  They are quilts donated to her quilting group to help raise funds.

I got the quilting on this one done this weekend.

I used a bottle to help keep the quilt top stretched a bit which really helped.

SPIDER LEGS QUILTING FINISHED

 I finished the quilting on the Spider Legs quilt, made from Spider Web parts from Sherri Lynn Wood's improv workshop.  I'm very pleased with how this quilt looks.  The teal background fabric is just so much fun.  And it's always satisfying to use up scraps like I did in the black and white 'webs'.  

I used a light teal thread in the 'background' areas.  I only had a partial small spool and was concerned about running out.  But, I won!  I won the thread-chicken game.  Just barely.

ps, that's my little pin cushion, Freydis. She's in charge of my spiral eye needle.

Here is is. Almost done.

FRIDAY FINALLY

 I finally got the backing for Spider Legs pinned onto the longarm.  I've been procrastinating about it for what seems like a very long time.  It barely fits onto the longarm because I added fabric to all the sides so the backing would be diagonal when I quilt it.  

I also loaded the batting and the top and even wound one bobbin.  Then I joined the Brave Patch Finish It Friday group.  

I was able to get the next Dear Jane block, B11, finished before I had to go in to make dinner.

PLAID BRICKS DONE QUILTING

 I finished up the second half of the quilting on the Plaid Bricks quilt.

It looks great.  This pantograph stitched very nicely and it looks great with the straight lines of the quilt.

FINISHED TYING

 I got the last of the tying done on the Pegasus/Bars quilt and removed it from the longarm.

I'm not sure how I'm going to finish the edges - binding or facing or ???

LOADED PEGASUS/BARS ON LONGARM

I loaded the Pegasus/Bars quilt onto the longarm even though I'm going to tie it.  I figured it would be easier to do that there instead of on a table or the floor.  (I'm too old to get down on the floor anymore).

So this is an all wool top, wool batting and a cotton backing.  I'm going to use Wonderfil Eleganza Perle cotton #8 thread, doubled, to tie it.  I made a little template to try to keep the stitching even and straight.  After sewing a few rows by hand I began to think I'm spacing the lines too close!  This is going to take a while.

It looks like I won't have enough of that color, so I'm going to use several different colors.  And, my hand is tired.

P.S. This Pegasus/Bars quilt is my take on the quilt shown in Roderick Kiracofe's book Unconventional and Unexpected: Quilts Below the Radar.

 

COORDINATES QUILTED

 Finally!  After months of procrastination on my part I've finished the quilting on the Coordinates quilt.  There was a lot of thread color changes - 19 different spools used.  And, lots of thread tying off and burying, but I got it all done!  

And, I love it!

NYC QUILTED

I finished the quilting on the NYC quilt today.  Erik was a great help.

 

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.

DEVOLVE OFF THE LONGARM

 I finally finished the last of the quilting on Devolve.  It's all straight-line horizontal quilting, randomly spaced about 1/4" or so apart.  Looks good.

TORRENT QUILTED

 I finally finished the quilting on the Torrent quilt.  There's been nothing but problems.  First off, the thread!  Does anyone else have trouble with Aurifil.  I seem to have thread breaks all the time, on both of my machines.  There was at least three thread breaks per row on this pantograph -  through the whole quilt - all the way to the end.  Then on the third row, while I wasn't watching, the hopping foot caught the batting on the edge and got all tangled up with it.  By the time I saw it and stopped it, it was too late.  The repairman came out about 12 days later and said it had bent the needle bar.  He replaced it and didn't charge me since it was still under warranty.  So, I started it up again.  I just wanted it finished and off the machine.  The thread breaks continued.  It was very slow going. 

But, it's done!

HARD LESSON LEARNED

 I finally got back to having the Q24 and Q-Matic working on Torrent's quilting.  I set it up to quilt the edge-to-edge pantograph, got it started, watched for a little bit then started doing something else.

That was a mistake.

I thought the machine would be fine on it's own, but I was wrong.  Next thing I knew, it was all tangled up in the batting and was ripping and pulling and trying to continue quilting.  I ran over there and stopped it - too late!

I got out the scissors and seam ripper and got it all untangled.  The quilt top has one small tear near the edge - it will probably be fixable.

But, the machine is making funny noises - a scrapping and a clunking.  Although, it still sews a nice stitch, I don't think I should be running it.  I called my repair man - he says he won't be able to come out for a while.  So, It'll be down for a week at least.

I'm so embarrassed.  I knew better than to leave it alone while it was near the edge.  Some lessons are hard to learn.

TORRENT QUILTING STARTED

 I'm doing an allover edge to edge called' Frozen Swirls', on the Torrent quilt.  I've loaded it and am using 40wt Aurifil, a pinkish coral thread, on the top and back.

I don't know why, but I had about three thread breaks on each row.  Very tedious and annoying.

Maybe I'll change the needle and see if that helps - although this was a new needle when we started.

FLOWERS II QUILTED

 Finally, I've got the quilting done on Flowers II and it's off the machine.

NINE-PATCH PI QUILTED

 I finally finished the quilting on the Nine-Patch Pi Quilt.

It's fabulous!

CINCINNATI DONE!

 The Cincinnati quilt is done!  Well, almost done.  It's quilted and off the longarm.  I still have to bind it and bury the threads where I started and stopped the quilting.

It was close.  I ran out of thread on the last row.  I've been using  a tan Aurifil 40wt thread on the front and the back.  I started with a full spool, which I thought would be enough.  But, I ran out on the last row.  Luckily, I had the same color in 50wt, so the last couple of blocks have that on the front.

BACK ON

 I told my friend Sabine yesterday that I would load up my Cincinnati quilt onto the longarm and get started on it today.   And, I had every intention of doing that.  But first, I wanted to add the centering tape to the dead bar.  I got out the leftover doube-sided tape and put it on.  Unfortunately, it was too short.  So, I went to the computer and ordered another roll.  It will be here tomorrow.

I also wanted to put the zippers on the leaders, but reading the directions, I realized I needed some stronger thread - so that project was off, too.

I squared up the backing and pinned it onto the leaders, cleaned off the stray threads and rolled it up.  Then I discovered I don't have a batting large enough.  So, I went to the computer and ordered some larger battings - one of them will be here tomorrow.

So, there we are...

I had every intention.

AMITY B QUILTED!

 Despite all the heartaches and stress, I've managed to finish quilting on Amity Baroque and get it off the machine today.

I reached the conclusion that I won't be showing it.  I'm a little heartbroken.  Putting it into a show and having it be appreciated would have gone a long way to justify all of the hard work I've put into it. But, there are problems that cropped up, mainly the hole I inadvertently snipped in it when cutting threads.  I might have been able to live with that, but I also discovered a place where one of the loosely woven plaids was pulling apart from the seam.  It looks too bad to be hanging in public and being inspected.  It's not my best work.

But, I do love this quilt and appreciate it for what it is and how it got there.  I will find it a place of honor to live.

Here are the threads I used on it:

FIRST ONE DONE

 I finished quilting the little plaid quilt with a Baptist Fan pattern and pulled it off the longarm.

It's the first quilt finished on the new Q24.  

During the Monday BravePatch meeting today, we discussed a name for my new machine.  There were some great suggestions.  I'm still thinking on it.