That's a wrap

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Tip for machine quilters

As I may or may not have mentioned, the quilting machine doesn't really come with instructions on how to use it. (In fact, both the marketing brochure and the women on the "instructional" video set it up a little incorrectly. Nice.)

Apparently the place to go to get tips from people who have actually used the machine is the Yahoo group on the Grand Quilter. We've already learned a few ways we can do things better next time around.

Unframed

After more equipment issues than I care to enumerate, the quilting on the Sub Rosa quilt is finally done. We took the quilt off of the frame tonight and it looks nice - which means (oh joy!) I don't have to pick out 27 rows of quilting. Whew!

We took some photos tonight right after we got it off the frame, but I'd rather wait and show you a shot after the excess batting and backing are gone and the borders are squared up.

In the meantime, these are some in-progress photos from this last week, for your viewing pleasure.





And here is the backing (which I snapped while lying on my back on the floor looking up at the quilt in the frame. Yes, I spent a lot of time under the quilting frame for various reasons. Good thing I am fairly flexible.)



I should mention, also, that the scrapbook (with letters, photos, and fabric swatches) was essentially finished this last week, so we are definitely making progress here!

Spare a square for Emma?

Whee, Emma in Australia got my square for her baby's Good Wishes quilt! If you have a little spare fabric that would look sweet in a baby's quilt, you might consider sending a square and a wish her way too. She and her mother were hoping to start the quilt next month, but it looks like they have an awfully long way to go before they have enough fabric :(

Take a peek at her page to get the details.

The quilting machine

No, I'm not stalled out on the project quilt. I am learning a new skill so that I can move forward with confidence.

We picked up a Pfaff Grand Quilter and Inspira quilting frame (You may have seen the metal legs of the frame in some of the other pictures taken in my studio) and I've been learning how to use it.

What is it? It's a sewing machine that's been altered to be optimized for the process of quilting (stitching through the three layers of top, batting, and backing). Instead of trying to smush a quilt under the arm of your regular machine, you roll out the layers of your quilt and you steer the sewing machine (sitting on a rolling bed) so it glides over it while stitching.

The machine was a real nightmare to set up (we were at it for multiple hours, puzzling our way through some completely inadequate instructions). And there was very little in the way of information on how actually to use it once it was set up, although the internet helped with that. But all of that is behind us now.

Here is the machine loaded with a test quilt top, batting, and backing, all ready to go. The black frame you see in front of the machine is part of the steering mechanism:



The top, batting, and backing are all on their own separate rolls, and getting them on correctly so they roll evenly is key. The inherently stretchy quality of batting does not help!

Here you can see these rolls:



I made about 13 passes over this small quilt top, and ended up with a pretty good result! Here is a close-up of the quilting (the white thread designs over top of the fabric). Please click to see the details.



My wrists are aching today but I know if I were wrestling a quilt under the regular machine, it would be much worse, and the results wouldn't be as satisfactory either.

This little charity quilt for Project Linus is about 43" square, and the project quilt is about 54" x 72" (before it's trimmed), so it'll be more of an undertaking, but I am feeling a lot more confident about embarking on the endeavor now.

(Oops, just measured and I think we may have to extend the quilting frame out to full width before we can do this, as the half-width frame can't handle the larger quilt. Grr!)

...and with the borders

The inner border is a 1.25" strip of black fabric with a copper metallic pattern. (I think it's pinecones amongst long pine needles, but I found it described online as starbursts. You be the judge.)

Fabric companies make lots of fabrics that include gold metallic or silver metallic, but copper metallic is pretty unusual.

So why use something so rare on a quilt for someone who most likely won't ever know how special the fabric is? I love including little references and secrets in quilts. I think there should always be something else there waiting to be discovered.

Sneak peek at the Sub Rosa quilt

The layout is done and the sewing has begun!



It was an interesting challenge to try to coordinate the squares people chose.

There is extra fabric, of course, so I offered to put together kits of squares for the participants so they can make their own quilts. I've done four such kits so far, and I am so enjoying it that I am using kit making as a 'reward' for myself for having made progress on the project quilt ;)

Speaking of deadlines...

Yesterday I looked up from the project long enough to realize that, not only had I not paid my credit card bill, but it hadn't even occurred to me that there was any such thing sitting on the table as a credit card bill that needed to be paid.

I have had this card for about 20 years now (co-signed with my mother way back when because she wanted me to start building a credit history early on) and have only paid late once before.

This does makes me wonder a little...