Still Quilting

I have had a lot of company, but I am still trying to get some quilting done.  It isn't worth sitting down for 20 or 30 minutes.  You have to have a large block of time, to get any work done.

What with the company, Physical Therapy appointments and regular life, I haven't had a lot of time to quilt.  Today I did. 

 

It helps to have a book read to me while I work.  Lee won't, so I am enjoying this Sandra Brown audiobook that I got from the library.  If you don't have someone to follow you around the house reading to you while you work, let me know and I'll tell you how to get that for FREE!.  I love the library!

 

I finished doing the free motion quilting on the borders.  On all of my previous quilts, I added something to designate it as mine.  Or done by me and the year.  Not because I think they will be valuable someday, but to see what I made when. And maybe great grand children will like to see what I did back in the day.  Of course, I first have to have a grandchild, but that is beyond my control.  Maybe great grand nieces!

 

I wrote a couple of words and the date all mixed in with the free motion quilting.  Have you ever tried to write in cursive while not looking at the paper?  Well, that is basically what I did because the thread blends in with the background.  I did practice first, but my handwriting is terrible at the best of times, so we shall see.

 

After I finished the borders, I decided to use the invisible thread to tack down the wedding rings and do a bit of quilting at the same time.  I'm not sure I will do all of them, but that is my current plan.

I am really looking forward to binding this sucker!  I mean quilt.

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.