Machine Quilting

I have lots of progress photos, but can't post anything yet...

soon I hope!

I am working on Andrea's 18th Birthday quilt... and I am late - of course

Hopefully I will be finished soon and be able to post photos, once she has received it.

Family, Finished quilts, FMQ,

My Grandson Josh finally got his 18th Birthday quilt.  

Complete with Ladybugs, quilted in mystery places...

so much so - that I am not even sure where they are :)vb Its always fun looking for them.

This quilt is called The Pathways of Life, as there are a lot of borders, which made me think of all the pathway choices one has in life.

Then some views of the back...............
and two more painted Ladybugs.

So .. a lot of photos and now onto the next quilt.

FMQ and playing

Yesterday I was very kindly able to use a friends Sweet 16 while she worked.

How wonderful was that.

Here is what I achieved... in 5 hours straight :)

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I used different threads ...mostly varigated coton...but the feather was with rayon 40wt

This one was all done with yli 100 silk on the top... and did take me some time to get the tension right.  I didnt have any luck with Invisafil

Now back to work on my Bernina 820 :)  

I did have such a lot of fun!

Thanks Rhonda :)

FMQ and playing,

Last couple of days I have been playing with my FMQ mostly with McTavishing

Time to get back to this..

 Mostly using YLI 100 thread in top and Aurifil  50 in the

bobbin.  The pink thread is a mystery one to me, but it semed to work well

 I have been watching DVD i got eith Karen McTavish,s new book.. which is so inspiring

Some of my curves were a bit wonky.

 a feather of course

 

and some curvy McTavishing for the first time.

As you can see I have three more small squares to sew.

My aplogies for not answering my comment  - which I will do today...

I forgot I had moderation on...lucky as I got soe more spam!

Thank you everyone for your comments - they are really appreciated

DWR

Progress

Its been a long time since I have done any blogging!!

I have at last completed the piecing of the Double Wedding ring quilt.

Here is what its up to..

Spread over the queen sized bed..

 

This is from a few days ago.. with a lot of melons and lines..

 

This is putting on the second last row... I put the red blanket there to show the wavy sewing line..

I must say the last 4 rows seemed so much easier to put together.. and they went together wonderfully.

and now I have to get some batting ...already have the backing..

So - it will stay like this for a bit now, till I get the 3 layers together..

I now intend to spend a few days practising my quilting, as its a really long time since I have done some...and I have a lot to do now!

So will be working on thread and tensions.. and needles...

and McTavishing... I got Karen's latest book...its great!

A small gift

I made this one evening last week as a gift to a good friend

I needed to just quilt something!!

 

 Its just a little holder to put on the table

Above was the correct side...sewn with Gold Silk yli 100

Her daughter told me orange was her mother's favorite colour!

 I had forgotten my trade mark  - a quilted Ladybug ..so I drew and painted one on.

My friend liked this side so much..she says she will frame it - this side up.

The Ladybug this way may have started something new

 

The best thing was - it didn't take long to complete.

 

And another gift that was given to me by one of my lovely patients....

Tra la..

 

 

A chocolate ladybug - just for me... Felt a bit strange actually eating it...

but it was yummy!!

On the Frame

Now have my third quilt on the frame... 

This one is mine, so if I do something wrong ...my problem.  

Thinking about what to do here.

 

My Bernina 820 is away getting a service, so this will be ready when I get it back,

Hopefully by the end of next week.

Looking at the quilt on the photo here.. I am wondering if I have 'mussed' up the borders!

Should have just put the white on and THEN a red border to finish.

There are those odd white squares in the corners!!

Never mind - its all practice!

Hope I have put it on correctly - in the right order.. I watched a video as I went...

Back to the DWR... but slow progress there.

We are really busy here with life in general, so not very much of anything being accomplished.

 

Exchanges and gifts

These were a gift given yesterday to a special friend for her Birthday - I can reveal it completed now.

She recently moved to her new house and this beautiful colour is throughout her house.  The fabric - with perfect lines to quit on, just yelled out that this was for her :)

As I usually put my trademark Ladybug on the quilts..and had forgotten to quilt it on these ones...I painted on the ladybug instead with fabric paints.

 It was fun to quilt this one.

Showing the back and its Ladybug.
I wrote the 'greeting ' on the lines of the quilt and didn't need to put a label on it :)

I still have quite a bit of this fabric too :)

This was all sewn on my DSM.

Just off the Frame,

Completed this yesterday actually!

I felt a bit more comfortable with this ...when I got to the end of it!

The first 3 top blocks...that you cant see.. I did a different filler design before I settled with the McTavishing within the circle. 

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I found it ery difficult to do the side borders as it was worked.. 'backwards ' for me... and I couldn't remember what I had done at the top ...need to make notes as I go I think.

The small swirls in the sashing were a little unsteady - that got easier toward the last bit too. 

However.....

When I unrolled the quilt - I had this tension issue to deal with - so I am frogging this...in the circles across the top blocks... 

I will have to resew these sections with the machine on the table now and get back to my frame later with another quilt..

I had such issues with the tension till I figured out how to get it right, bringing the machine to the end of the table, and fastening it with Velcro firmly to the frame so it wouldnt move when I did my test bits by moving my hands.  I have not been very successful using a small hand mirror  to see under the quilt as I sew.  

Still working that one out.

Will do some frogging over the weekend as I cant see it well enough at night.....

so Back to the DWR for a bit.

DWR

Progress

More pinned for tomorrow

Thinking I may need to cut out more fabric pieces.  I had planned this quilt to be 7 circles in length and 6 circles wide. but I have the rows laid down for 9 by maybe 7.  I will check as I go along.

I am finding it easier to do now that I have at last got it in my head how  I am actually   getting this all put together.

1.0am and I am off to bed...

On the Frame, DWR,

Took me all day yesterday to get this much done on the frame....

getting used to stopping where the throat plate of the machine ends is taking some planning.

I am working to get at least one row of blocks done and the side borders

Plus, while sewing, the machine came unplugged at the back  - and I lost all my settings...so thats where I need to start today...sort out the settings and the tension.

Fortunatley I have discovered how to sit in front of the machine at the end of the frame to do this..plus I 'anchor' the machine with one of my side tensions so that I can actually test sew on some fabric...with my hands ...as I am used to...as its difficult to see under the frame with a small hand mirror and I don't have enough fabric on the quilt to test on

I am using Aurafil 50 in the top and Invisafil in the bobbin.

Needle I am currently using is an embroidery needle 75

I also have this heap for sewing the melons together for my DWR.

May need to get some of this done before I get lost at the frame again.

I do have some of the pieces worked out on the design board...and sew and watch through the window to see the birds fly in to get a drink from the bird bath.

DWR.,

Moving between the Fame and my DWR

This is what you call an organized mess.
 So there is some progress here...

I have completed one melon...only 96 to go...!

Slow going but just as well I love a challenge :)

I have all the arcs sewn - but have yet to put all the corner pieces on.  Am ( trying to) doing these 10 at a time and trying to get those arcs completed as I go.

May play on the frame in between times today :)

FMQ and playing,

On the frame today

I did draw the feather on freehand first, but didn't take too much notice of it..

My todays piece..... I had problems with thread and tension.

Took me ages to get this done..lots of sorting lots of concentration ... and quite a few words !

DH took the machine off the frame - and I sorted it...till it got back on the frame...and I found out I could have sorted it by getting the machine up to one end of the frame, and sitting with it there.. :)

I changed the top thread to a Glide, which was kindly lent me to try and it worked a treat...Autifill in the bobbin..

Things you learn!

So now I need to sort my Sewing room and get some more DWR bits completed.. and more PPP tomorrow...as I hstill have space on my PPP piece to do a bit more...dont want to take it off till all the space is sewn...THEN I can put a quilt on there...

Whoo hoo

On the Frame!, FMQ and playing

YES!!  

10pm at night...and FMQ

Just completed this section on the frame.

I am happy at last.  

Feel as though I am getting somewhere and feeling more comfortable.

I have my hum-purr :)'

NO BSR and all is good.  I may even get there !

I feel I may even be close to putting an actual quilt on the frame.

More PPP and play time tomorrow.

On the Frame!,

On the frame again today...

I tried something different and have been way more comfortable.

I attached my foot pedal,,, and undid the BSR,  Yes its a bit different, but it worked.  

I am not a fan of the BSR!

 Blue thread at the top is with the BSR... the rest I have done with the foot pedal and NOT the BSR.

The squares are 1".. I used the Frixion pen for the grids... and ironed it off carefully after I had completed what I wanted to sew. (while still on the frame)

I dont think I will use the Frixion pen to sew my main quilting, but for practice ..they are great, ( and I really love them)  but I am unsure of how they will behave after time.

Still a long way to go...but it feels easier.

 

A little awkward under the frame as I have my machines foot peddle on a large plastic container...

 

At present I am sitting on a kitchen stool.

Not the best,  but at least I can see what is being sewn and its more as I am used to.

I may take the height adjustments off the frame so I can stand comfortably without getting a crick in my neck.

Also may take off the lower bar, that the top goes on and just float the top and batting...

That way I can sit to sew... 

On the Frame!

I am trying.. and watching a heap of videos.... 

all hours of the night...when I can't sleep  

Ahhh

Taken from the back of the frame... side bit on the right is my test bit to check my stitching..

Had to put darker thread on as I couldnt see what I was sewing properly...very difficult when one is sitting sideways at the machine on a kitchen stool... or standing and trying to be about 8" shorter..

 

Up close - warts and all ....Ewwww

Back to my DWR I think... seems easier than this!

DWR., Design Wall,

Began my DWR ... again

THis time using my Go Cutter...which I love!

I put this up on my design wall to see how it was looking..

 Didnt really like all the bits that were not really blue...

So I unpicked them ..see below

what a mess I made...

 

Then put them up on the board again - before I did any more...

Now I am not sure if I should have just left them in and if I should do them again.

at least I now have worked our how to get most of it together... with huge thanks to Joanne,  from Manitoba in Canada,  tutorial found HERE which was SUCH a help for me...

thank you Joanne :)

Now if anyone has any suggestions as to...

should I keep just the blue - 

or should I go back to how I started... ??

 

I have certainly got lots of spare pieces 

 

I am weary of thinking about it at presentso will go sit and watch some TV - for a change ..

FMQ, Using the Bernina Quilting Frame,

I made this a little while ago.

 Its a beautiful design by Sherry Rogers-Harrison  I bought from Digi-Tech Designs  You can find this design here.

I still need to get it painted...Another UFO

In the meantime I have been working at getting to know my Bernina Quilt Frame a little better

I spent about 12 hours yesterday - with many breaks in between... trying to get a different leder system going...BUT have gone back to the original instructions...

as you do!

Got this up at about midnight... Lots of trials and tribulations

BUT lots of learning.

I was trying to get leaders and side leaders made as per Sharon Schamber... and watched her video on YouTube such a lot ( There are 3 videos on this  ) .. but it didn't work..so far!

I have abandoned that for the present!

I joined two bits of fabric for the quilt top..not well as you can probably see, attempted to get the batting and the top sewn on along the top of the backing... that in itself was difficult... 

I am still trying to work out how I can get the machine lower to see if I can actually sit at it...in the meantime the kitchen stool is working some...but not good on neck and back.

I will either need to increase the height to stand, or decrease it to sit!

A least I have managed to get ti all on the frame...and actually understand how the leders and the loiading works!

So - My second time on the Frame...and by 1.00am I had this much done...using the BSR which I NEVER use and am most uncomfortable with...however I couldn't manage the foot pedal as the connection to the machine kept disconecting as the cord was not long enough... or the box on the floor not big enough or high enough :(

I also tried putting the table top of the 820 on the machine...

which seemed OK for now...

I still need the table top to be more level as in the middle of the 'piece' the machine keeps moving forward on its own...not good if the BSR is on!

So there you have it...quite a saga.. and ready for lots of practise sewing.

However I now have to do a major clean up in my studio.. and get some more pieces cut out for my Double Wedding ring quilt. Not to mention all the other UFO's and some binding on a certain quilt.

It was quite early in the morning by the time I finally got to bed!