More Quilting

I am really liking my Deco 340 embroidery machine.  This is even when it messes up.  I tried the other quilt program I bought and it took a little work, but I finally figured it out.

The first one I tried fit in the 4 patch squares of the Star Points.  I was able to line up the grid marks of the hoop for the embroidery on the cross where the fabric was stitched together in the middle of the squares.  The squares I was working on today are much larger.  Each square of the 4 patch is the size of the whole 4 patch in the Star Points.  I decided to use the simpler pattern and to do one in each square.  I would have just enlarged the pattern and done one big one, but the pattern can only be enlarged about 106%.  I DID try it, even with a larger hoop.

So I did one in each corner.  Naturally there were issues at the start, but this time I learned my lesson.  Stand with the machine and if it messes up, STOP it.  This greatly lessens the number of stitches you have to remove!

   

The pattern is too busy to mark a line on the fabric, even if I had remembered to buy one at Alpine Sewing when I was there.   (I did order one online, but I have to wait for that.)  Instead I measured each corner and put a pin in the exact center.  Then I measured from the other side and marked that.  The hard part is getting the fabric centered exactly in the hoop.  Tug a little here and it pops out there.  Once it is in place I removed the plastic grid and attached the hoop to the machine. 

   

There are little arrows on the screen that I press to move the needle a minute amount one way or the other.  I play with them for awhile and then start the machine.

   

My Deco kindly stitches a few stitches and then pauses while I cut the ends of the top thread and the bobbin thread.  Then I push start again and away it goes.  There are times when the design call for a row of stitches to be stitched over again.  This is both to make the line thicker and more noticeable and to get to the next area to be stitched.  At times the lines are not right over the first row.  I could be bothered by this, or I could assume it is because the fabric of the quilt is big and heavy and that causes the discrepancy.  I'm going with the latter and not worrying about it.  If someone examines my quilt that closely there are going to be WAY more problems than that!  This is only my third quilt, after all.  I expect to get better, but I don't expect to be perfect right off the bat.  Good thing, too, because I am not!

   

It obviously takes longer to finish a square when you have to do four different hoops full of stitches.  Each one has to be measured and then aligned and then stitched.  It takes 10 to 15 minutes for each hoop, so this is not a quick process.  It is, however, WAY faster than hand stitching the whole thing!  I also like the way the four areas stitched look on the back of the quilt.  It is fun and I love learning new things.

   

 Even as I work on this quilt I am planning the things I am going to embroider next.  After this I will write a label and use that for the back of the quilt.  I have to decide if I want to do a label and then stitch it on or stitch the label right on the back of the quilt.  Hmmmm.

Deco 340

   

I took my first class at Alpine Sewing with my new embroidery machine.  It was a bigger class than I expected, 6 people.  Four of us had the Deco 340 and the other two each had a different machine.  This meant that I couldn't ask about using the machine for my quilt so I stayed a bit longer to figure out what I needed.

   

We made an embroidered design from the projects pre-loaded on the machine.  It gave us a good idea of how things worked, but I think I am just going to have to sit down and make a bunch of things to get comfortable using it.  My plan is to buy a bunch of towels and clothes?  napkins? who knows, but a bunch of inexpensive things from Dollar General and embroider the heck out of them to see how the machine responds to different fabrics.

I recently bought a bedskirt and when I get semi-good I intend to do a bit of embroidery on that.  I have some towels I use for the dog on rainy days.  I think RJ needs some embroidered towels!

   

After way too little practice, I started on a square on my quilt using the designs I purchased at Alpine.

   

 The first one went great. 

   

   

I wish the little bit of top thread didn't show through on the backside, but that is how it is supposed to look.  Yes, it is.  I checked!

   

I like how the variegated green thread I bought blends right in.

   

I started to get way too cocky.  This is EASY!, I thought.  I'll have this thing quilted in no time, I thought.   That's when the thread broke half way through.  It was too late to call anyone at Alpine Sewing, so I did what I TRY to do when I get frustrated.  Leave it for another day when I am fresh.

   

I then spent 40 minutes picking out the stitches.

   

 I probably could have stitched the whole square by hand by then, but that's not the point.  I gotta learn this freak machine.  The troubleshooting guide suggested it may be that the speed was too high, so I used the BOOK and figured out how to slow it down. ( Not as dumb as I look.)  The next square was successful.

I bought two designs for quilting my machine and I now have to figure out how to get the next design centered where I want it.  I guess it will take practice.   The display is not as helpful as I would like.  My recommendation is that they get a laser light to show a lit square where it will stitch.  Something like miter saws that have a little red light to show where the blade will be cutting.

I was supposed to do some outside work today, but it is once again too cold.  Which is good, because I really am having fun learning this new machine.  Notwithstanding all my whinging to the contrary.

Quilted Star Points

   

It took a while, but I finally have the outside of the star points quilted.  I just tried to get 1/4 inch from the edge and went all around the star.  I love my new Janome and can't blame the machine.  Any mistakes are ALL operator error!

   

  The lucky thing is most of the Star Point Squares are close to the edge.  When I do the middle squares I will have to get really good at free hand quilting.  Trying to spin a quilt and get all the fabric jammed under the machine is no easy task.  I got a free hand foot with my new machine and have been practicing.  I wish this one went backward with out holding the reverse button down.  I THINK I could do that OK.

   

The hardest part is when you have to turn the quilt and there is a bunch of fabric under the arm of the machine.  In those cases where I just could not do it, I cut the thread, turned the whole quilt around so the smaller edge was under the sewing machine arm and then finished that particular square.  It worked pretty well and now I have to decide what to quilt next!

   

Maybe I'll do that blue strip.  I can't do the light blue triangles until I get a thread that matches it.

I have a class on the Deco 340 on Tuesday and I think I will take my quilt.  Maybe they can show me how to embroider on it right there. I want to learn how to use the embroidery machine with the quilt patterns to do the center of my Star Point Squares.   That way there is no chance for me to mess it up when I get home and forget what they just told me.  Ain't old age grand???