Turkey Tracks: My Life in Maine – Page 86

Quilting Information: Long-Arm Practices That Work for Me

January 26, 2015

Long-Arm Practices That Work For Me

Last year in April I took several classes at the Machine Quilters’ Expo in Manchester, New Hampshire.

What I learned there–and also what I’ve learned from the long-arm quilters on Bonnie Hunter’s Facebook Studio for Quilters–has helped me so much.

So, I thought I’d share…

Make sure your bars are level. Get or borrow a four-foot level and check them. If they are off, tinker until you have them level.

This apparatus below involves suspending a curtain rod over the bars and bringing the side fasteners over it. AND, see the long rod with the blue ribbons? Underneath is a plastic piece that the rod snaps into. This arrangement gives the sides of the quilt a great deal of stability AND prevents you from quilting off of it. (There are several forms of this kind of stabilizing rod for the edge of the quilt.)

Here’s another view:

I load my quilt backing in the normal way.

But after being encouraged to do so, I float my top, just like the batting. See?

I sew a plumb line on the batting (using my channel blocker piece), then line up the top of my centered quilt on that line–and sew it down. THEN I measure both sides of the quilt from the frame on each side and as I move the quilt forward, I make sure that I keep those measurements constant along the length of the quilt. I sew down the sides every time I roll the quilt forward. Every time. Especially if I am using a pantograph.

BIG TIP: If I were to roll the top onto the top bar, I would try to place the quilt (and the backing if needed) LENGTHWISE–which minimizes the bulk of side seams being rolled up over and over on top of each other.

At the end of the quilt, I roll forward to expose the end and sew that down before making the last pass.

I make a lot of scrappy quilts that seem to do best with an overall, even pattern. So I use, mostly, pantographs–sometimes I free-motion a pattern, but less and less so as I like the patterns in the pantographs. I place the pantograph UNDER this grid that fits the length of my table–and mark on it with a wet erase marker that can be erased with water.

I estimate the amount of thread that one pass will take–and whether or not a whole bobbin will reach through two passes. On a large quilt, it will not. So, I estimate the number of passes I will be making and load that many bobbins–from 2/3 to 3/4 full, depending on what I think the pass will need. The leftover thread gets run off onto bobbins for my domestic machine and/or just used up piecing scrappy quilts I’m making. There is no thread waste. (I also use Signature thread, which is sturdy, has a good range of colors, and is way cheaper than that other brand that is so pricy. I do have to order it online and bought a thread card showing all the colors.) Here are leftover threads. More importantly, there are NO thread joins in the quilt body.

One of the BIGGEST TIPS I got last year was from Sue Patten (quilter extraordinaire): “Let the right hand steer if you are right handed. The left hand doesn’t like to steer!”

I was having some trouble with thread shredding at the needle site, and with the advice of the long-armers, I went up a needle size. As I do very scrappy quilts, there are a lot of seams, so I try to keep my backings pretty plain–which does not add to the bulk of the quilt sandwich. The thread shredding involved both the expensive and the less-expensive threads…

Before quilting, I put three lines of Sew Rite down the length of my thread cone. Magic! No more shredding.

If things do start to go wrong, I turn off the machine and walk away.

I think my own personal goal for next year is to try to use more of the speciality rulers I’ve purchased for the long-arm. Maybe I’ll see if there are some hands-on classes at this year’s MQX show in April…

But, I won’t put any pressure on myself, because, truth to tell, what I like best to do is to piece a top that will be used and loved and washed–so a lot of fancy quilting doesn’t draw me. I’m not sure that I have the patience for it!!

Turkey Tracks: Quilts From Friends

Turkey Tracks: January 20, 2015

Quilts From Friends

I love having quilts made by my friends all around me.

Every time I see one of those quilts, which is many times each day, I think of that person/those persons. And I feel all the loving energy that went into that piece of work.

I bought this quilt top at a quilters’ auction in Virginia just before we moved to Maine. I thought it looked like Maine, and I love baskets. I quilted it the first winter we were here–2004-2005.

My Virginia quilt bee–the Toppers, because we made a lot of top for our big group’s auction–sent me to Maine with the Buzz Saw quilt–which I recently showed you:

It lives in my bedroom. Underneath it is an afghan made by my SIL Maryann Enright which lives on my bed most of the time.

Roxanne Wells made this quilt, which hangs in my bedroom.

The Coastal Quilters made this quilt for John and me when he was so sick. They said we needed a “quilting hug.” This picture is on my bed, but this quilt lives in the downstairs bedroom that we set up for him and that he never used. That room has been repainted and refurbished and is a favorite of many in the family. I am in and out of that room many times each day as its closet holds a lot of my quilting tools.

My DIL, Tamara Enright, made this quilt for my birthday a few years back. It hangs at the entrance to my quilt room:

Did you know that cardinals are said to come to a house when there is trouble/emotions. On the day John died, we had five or six at the feeders. Ordinarily these birds stay in Camden and don’t come out to Howe Hill. They like flat feeders…

Gail Nicholson made this quilt, which has launched me on a quilt trip to put more quilts into the downstairs sitting/tv room/den?

Joan Herrick quilted Gail’s quilt. Joan quilts free-hand on a long arm!

Betty Johnson makes beautiful little art quilts. I finally got one of hers at our last auction:

It lives in the living room:

Milly Young made this quilt top, and I bought it at one of our auctions and finished it and fell in love with it along the way.

I really need to use all these quilts more than I do now.

I have always had a tendency to “save” things for “good.” But the point of a quilt is to USE THEM. So, this last one is coming downstairs TODAY to go into my sitting room project.

TODAY!

Turkey Tracks: “Knitting Myself to Peace”

Turkey Tracks: January 21, 2015

“Knitting Myself to Peace”

The thing I love best about quilting, knitting, painting, writing, cooking, gardening, cleaning, etc., is using my hands.

But, hand sewing or knitting or feeding fabric through the sewing machine is deeply peaceful and calming to me. I miss sewing so much on the days when I can’t carve out some time for it. I always feel kind of “jangly,” as if, somehow, the sharp edges of the day never got soothed out. Knitting comes a close second.

Friend Barbara Melchiskey sent me this piece by Sarah Smiley. And, of course, I understood it and loved it.

I hope you do too.

And that you have something in your daily life that smooths the sharp edges.

Knitting myself to peace — Living — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine.

Turkey Tracks: Buzz Saw Block

Turkey Tracks: January 16, 2015

Buzz Saw Block

Mary Sue Bishop and I recently saw a quilt made with a block that we recognized, but we could not come up with the name of it.

My old quilt bee in Virginia made me the sweetest quilt from this block with 1930s fabrics. See?

I love the piano key border…

I came home and searched for the name until I found it.

I knew it was a cross kind of between a log cabin and a pineapple block.

Finally, I turned it over: it’s a Buzz Saw block. So I made one:

This one finishes at 5 1/2 inches–and there are two oranges and two blues, so the whole unit here of four blocks would finish at 10 1/2 inches.

You start with a half-square light/dark triangle that gets cut into four equal strips. Then one adds a solid strip to the dark-side end. One must always cut with the same side down–in this case, the dark fabric always went to the bottom. (If one cuts with the light side down, will that reverse the angle in the middle of each strip???) (When they passed out spatial relations genes, I didn’t get any.) Then you realign the strips to form the graduated color, or light, pattern.

Warning: one tutorial I found started with a 10-inch block, which gets to 9 1/2 inches when you make the half-square triangle. That’s not so easy to divide into four equal strips. So….I dropped to an 8 1/2-inch block, which sews in at 8 inches, is easily cut into four equal strips which finish at 7 1/2.

Then to the 6 1/2 square, which finishes to 6, and then, 5 1/2.

The little art quilt we saw had smaller blocks: we think 4 1/2 which would finish to 3 1/2…

The quilter had used a different setting–one which placed the lights side by side and made them rise and fall…

I wish now I’d taken a picture of it, and I will when I next visit that restaurant: the River Grill, Damariscotta, Maine.

Meanwhile, I think I could use a fair amount of my stash with this block…

And make a fun quilt.

Turkey Tracks: Megan Brun’s Quilt-In-Progress

Turkey Tracks: January 16, 2015

Megan Brun’s Quilt-In-Progress

Megan came over this week for a breakfast, and afterwards, we sat and visited and worked on our hand-sewing projects.

I LOVE the quilt Megan is making.

She is making neutral panels with appliquéd circles:

Here’s a close-up:

As I understand this project, she will now add some half-as-long-panels with neutral circles.

The quilt is in the “modern” vein. The panels will be only part of this queen-size quilt. Megan plans to move out to other shapes, like big rectangles.

Here’s Megan:

I will show you my hand project soon! It’s getting borders now…

Turkey Tracks: Winter Flowers

Turkey Tracks: January 13, 2015

Winter Flowers

It snowed all yesterday. We didn’t get many inches–only about three–but it was a definite snow day.

Some of the turkeys hung out beneath the big pines all day. They were hunkered down, but when I opened the door started to come to me.

In the kitchen, winter flowers are blooming and bringing lots of cheer:

Look at this exotic beauty of an amaryllis:

More importantly, these blooming bulbs are not drenched with pesticides, as are commercial flowers.

Sad, but true…

Turkey Tracks: Backing for Bonnie Huner’s Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 13, 2015

Backing for Bonnie Hunter’s “Grand Illusion” Mystery Quilt

On Saturday I went to two different quilt shops looking for a contemporary fabric for Bonnie Hunter’s 2014 mystery quilt, “Grand Illusion.”

I used Bonnie’s colors–and here, again, is her version of this quilt–which is based on the colors Bonnie found at the famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI:

Here’s the backing I got:

Light, contemporary, has the right colors…

And…FUN!

Turkey Tracks: “Piecing Heaven” Quilt

Turkey Tracks: January 12, 2015

“Piecing Heaven” Quilt

My downstairs tv sitting room is a favorite place for the dogs.

And, for me.

An outside door sits at this room’s entryway, so the dogs tend to track in outside debris. (People in Maine don’t wear their outside shoes inside. Shoes are removed at the door.)

I have a doggie blanket on the couch–which just got recovered not too, too long ago. But though the blanket does the protection job, it looks so shabby–as you can see below.

So, I decided to use scrappy quilts all over this room instead. Not always spread out, but folded in key places.

Quilts that could be used, washed, and loved, loved to death.

Here’s the first one–made from my box of 2 1/2 inch strips: “Piecing Heaven”–because I had so much fun making it.

Here it is on the back of the couch. Reynolds Georgia hangs out here a lot. See how ratty the dog blanket looks?

Here it is from the back:

Grandson Kelly picked out the backing fabric last summer, and I can’t wait for him to see it in this quilt. Likely, if it holds up, this quilt will go to him at some point.

I used a Bishop’s Fan groovy board and an old gold colored thread–which works fine in the quilt. Love the Bishop’s Fan pattern.

The center:

A random piece…

Here’s Gail Nicholson’s quilt on the orange chair–another favorite spot of Reynold’s.

And, here’s the third quilt in this project–almost ready to come off the design wall. I love how this quilt is coming out. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, and the border idea is also on her blog: “Scrappy Trip Around the World.” Again, I’m using the 2 1/2=inch scrap strips to build this quilt.

I got this backing fabric–on the long arm–at the Alewives (quilt shop) sale last weekend–40% off. It will work fine, and the colors work in the big room. With all the seams on the front, I wanted a solid backing.

Turkey Tracks: “Grand Illusion” Quilt Revealed

Turkey Tracks: January 2, 2014

“Grand Illusion” Quilt Revealed

Well, I have my answer.

This

is going to turn into a version of THIS:

That’s Bonnie with her Dad at Thanksgiving.

And, here’s the computer version Bonnie Hunter posted:

Bonnie Hunter is ONE TALENTED WOMAN!!!

I can’t wait to sew my blocks together.

But I have to get THIS off the design wall first:

(Sorry, blurry photo, but you get the idea. This is a version of Bonnie Hunter’s Scrappy Trips…which is on her website.)

And THIS off the long arm so I can push it back against the wall:

Here’s a close-up:

Grandson Kelly fell in love with this backing fabric when we went to a sale at Alewives Quilt Shop in Nobleboro, Maine, last summer. Here’s a shot of it from the rear of the longarm:

I’m using the Bishop’s Fan Groovy Boards and an old gold colored thread that is puuuurfect.

Both of these quilts are being made from my 2 1/2-inch strips, a stash method taught by Bonnie Hunter. The bin is about halfway down now…Yeah!

I’m going to use them in my downstairs room rather than the blankets and dog-covers I have now. They’ll be loved and washed.

Turkey Tracks: What Kind of Quilt Will These Units Make?

Turkey Tracks: December 28, 2014

What Kind of Quilt Will These Units Make?

I’m up to date with the “clues” for Bonnie Hunter’s 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion.

But, will there be another clue, or are we done?

There were 4 units that might well be the cornerstones this week…

Here’s what I have right now…including the little “extra” units of small 1/2-square triangles…

We will all get the “reveal” or a new clue next Friday…

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