Statement Quilting

This is a quilt I finished that was made from a book published by That Patchwork Place.  It is a Tennessee Waltz quilt.  I put some statement quilting in the "rest the eye" blocks.  I was pleasantly surprised by the way it enhances the arches that are an optic illusion created by the pattern.  All the pieces are straight lines but, when combined with the angles that join the blocks it looks like they are curved.

On my horse quilts I made for my girls the quilting is not statement quilting, it helps to enhance the horses on the quilts.  On Chelsea's Japanese Horse Quilt, I let the background fabric design the quilting and went around the squiggles and grass for the quilting.

Sarah Jaffee So young to be so wise....Clementine

Quilters never need buy a purse again

Yes, I've made another bag.  This one is Laurianne, a pattern by Moonlight Designs.  It is very complicated to make and took me all day.  But, I'm pleased with the outcome.  I need to find a good snap closure for it.  Any suggestions?  I've used Velcro in the past, but, it seems to wear out or can't hold all my stuff together, so I'm probably going to Joann's tomorrow to find a good closure.  The beads are from old necklaces that give it the closure for now.

Pictures will follow soon.  What is it with Blogger and the slow recognition of pictures I just took.  It seems it takes a couple of days before I have the ability to upload my pictures.  I think I might be switching to Mobile Me soon.  Does anyone like or dislike Mobile Me?  It's the Apple website/upload place.

Another Dollar Store Find

If you are like me you do some shopping at the giant warehouse stores.  The one we "belong to" is Costco.  They have all kinds of great quality items that come in large quantities.  The best way to open these is with the Dollar Store scissors.  Yes, they only cost a 1.00 and work very well opening the over bundled, wasteful packaging that is done by said warehouse stores.  If you make the Snappy Totes they work equally well cutting the carpenter's tape that is used for the snapping closure of the totes.

My latest project is going to be taught in our class tomorrow, it's a coaster and then there will be a hot pad.  Quick and easy!

Machine quilting with my new Horizon, a learning opportunity

Well, I can't say it's all been a piece of cake, learning this machine.  It's certainly been easy sewing regular fabric.  I put the borders on my quilt top and then started to machine quilt.  My main purpose for purchasing this machine has been to use it to machine quilt.  The wide bed was my main draw to purchase, and that has generally worked out well while using on my Hinterberg table.  It gives me more bed space and less hassle having to stop and roll the bars.

The new challenge is finding a correct tension for my free motion machine quilting stitches.  This is always a challenge for the perfect stitch while machine quilting.  I should say if I use a regular stitch to machine quilt, instead of dropping my feed dogs and doing free motion machine quilting the stitches are just fine, so if you are doing cross hatching, it's probably a perfect machine.

At Moore's Sewing Center this Saturday, I have my first class to learn the ins and outs of the machine.  So, I'm sure, there must be a quick fix for my stitches that I've not figured out yet.  It seems to be "hit and miss" on perfect tension stitches.  This might also have to do with the speed at which I'm trying to machine quilt.

My husband and I are going to the YUM! Center concert, My Morning Jacket with Wax Fang and the Louisville Youth Orchestra on Friday night, so I hope I'm awake enough to absorb all the things I'll learn in my class.

Oh yes, and the endorphin express goes on and on.  Bob and I rode a total of 30 miles this last weekend.  I rode 12 miles around my neighborhood, Briar Hill, which is like riding 15 miles in any other neighborhood as ours has many many hills.  Again, sitting at the machine needs to be offset with the same amount of exercise, in my opinion.

These pictures are of me in my dining room, what a great place I have to quilt!  Plus roses my hubby bought me and last but not least, a little bag called the Lantern Bag I just finished.

Life is simply quilty right now...smile.

A full day of machine quilting and biking

That's the plan anyway, best laid plans...

We were almost blown away yesterday around here.  I had another problem with my machine, yes, while I was machine quilting-it's perfect on regular sewing.  But, don't give us this giant bed (12 inches) and tell us it doesn't machine quilt well.  So I called the dealership from which I bought the machine to ask some questions.  While I was talking the woman on the other side of town had to go abruptly, there was a tornado nearby and they have glass all around their building sides so she left to take cover.

When she returned there was no damage at Moore's Sewing Center, so on we trudged on trying to figure out what was wrong with my free motion quilting on the Horizon.  What I learned and has worked out is NEVER USE COATS AND CLARK THREAD ON THIS MACHINE.  I had it in the bobbin and switched to Aurifil thread which the machine liked and also, the suggestion was made to change the pressure on the presser foot and I did that too. It looks as if the problem is solved.

I'm using a Quilt Pounce to mark a template for suggestions of the quilting pattern, not following it exactly-my resentment of authority goes to great lengths...smile.

Even a fabulous machine can have a flat

Well, the call of the wild and wonderful Horizon was temporarily the sound of a cough.  Give it an easy border or two to sew-no problem.  Give it a bunch of pieces to sew together to make a block and the stitch tension was impeccable.  BUT ASK IT TO FREE MOTION MACHINE QUILT and look out!  How many times did I start and stop abruptly to the error message E7-Not the dreaded E7!!! you say, yes, it was E7!  Return to the dealer the circuits are incorrect, or something to that effect.  In other words I really messed it up.  And did the only sane thing to be done in this event, I turned it off and turned it on and began again.

Well, not be dumped on by any sewing machine, let alone the Horizon, I soldered on began playing with the tension button, and changing the 3 feet that are given for the free motion machine quilting.  And there was the answer, CHANGE THE FOOT! and play a little with the tension and slow down the machine a little and there it is a pretty darn good stitch.

The 200.00 Brother or the 3,000.00 Horizon, both are a finely tuned machine and even the slightest thing out of balance can cause your stitches to look funny.  It's almost always a simple change of the needle, wind a new bobbin, or rethread your machine and you will find the answer to your bad tension.