Something for Me

I am usually so busy making quilts for others, I have not done anything for myself specifically.  I saw a pattern for a wall hanging to hold Christmas cards, and I thought, gee, I could sure use one of those!  I whipped one up in no time! 

I looks great on the wall, and was so fun to put under the Bernina Q20.  The printed border worked out perfectly, although I would have made a wider inner border to accommodate it.  Now, just have to wait for the Christmas cards to come rolling in!

Sapphire

After finishing the practice quilt, I am moving on to my first (of 4) sandwiched quilts that Dianne pinned for me in early September.  Sapphire was on the top of the pile, so here it goes!

  

Because the Sapphire Quilt looks like a faceted jewel, I didn't want any curves or rounded quilting in this quilt.  I strictly used my short quilting ruler ( it's called "Slim" by Angela Walters) and did ruler work throughout.  It sure doesn't take long to get it done.  On a side note, I bought a long arm acrylic ruler, that is a quarter-inch thick.  It's made specifically for use with a long arm machine, and I really love it.  It's a short one, but so easy to use.  It has different markings on it (inch, half inch, quarter inch, 45 degree lines.) which also are very helpful.  There was no need to mark the quilt either. I just put a regular ruler on the 2-inch line at the midpoint of each section, butted the Slim ruler against the corner, removed the regular ruler, and zipped along the Slim.  It amazes me how easy this was, and how beautiful the results.  This quilt is almost finished now, quilted, trimmed and squared, ready for the binding.

Practice Quilt

I feel confident now with my new machine.  I took an old quilt that Dianne had made for me years ago, that had minimal quilting on it.  It was perfect to practice on.  All the space in the quilting area of the Q-20 (it has a 22" throat!!) made the quilting of a real quilt so easy.  NO STUFFING the quilt through a tiny throat!  Pivoting was a cinch, rotating the quilt, easy-peasy!  I will even be able to quilt my giant Gravity quilt with ease on this machine! (I will now sew the 2 halves of that quilt together instead of quilting the 2 halves separately and then joining the backing with hand sewing!  YAY!)

I loved how easy it was to make spirals, and I did ruler work for a simple line in the rails.  I love how quickly I finished the quilting of this quilt, and how beautifully it turned out.

 

Tension!

I have learned so much about the tension and how to fix it.  I have always been taught to never mess with the bobbin case tension screws.  However, the Bernina requires it!   I learned from experience about bad tension!  Here is the front of my practice piece with the cording:  I looks great!  So imagine my surprise when I turned it over to look at the back!!!

  

Yep, the bottom tension was way off!  Gahhhhh!  Luckily, Bernina gives you the tools to keep your tension perfect.  Here is a little gizmo that came with my machine.  A tension checker/adjuster for the bobbin thread:

You snap your bobbin case with its threaded bobbin into the gauge, wind the thread around the little wheels, and gently pull on the thread.  The red needle in the gauge will show you what the bobbin tension is.  It SHOULD be around 220 for normal quilting.  (I will probably have to experiment with it to get any cording tension to be perfect.)  If the gauge reads something other than 220, you take a tiny screwdriver and turn the tension screw on the bobbin case, lefty loosey, righty tighty.  Then pull the thread around the wheels again, and adjust as many times as necessary until it is 220 or close.  Different thread weights may have a different "perfect" number, but at least you have a starting number, and can make adjustments accordingly.  Also, every time you wind a new bobbin, you should check it in the gauge.  You can adjust the top tension with a number in the display window of the Q-20, so between the 2 numbers, you should be able to get perfect tension every time.  After having learned about tension from experimenting, I found this is true.  I can get beautiful tension results every time now!

Learning Curve

A quilting machine is not like a sewing machine.  That was the first thing I learned.  I have read the manual multiple times, and watched YouTube videos, and can now thread the machine and wind bobbins, and even make the machine sew.  The biggest difference is that when you step on the Q20's foot pedal, it doesn't start sewing!  It merely activates the free motion quilting sensors.  You must move the fabric to sew.  There are no feed dogs.  No levers to raise the needle or the pressure foot. There are buttons to use to do those things.  Or you can back-tap the foot pedal.  I kept looking for the lever to raise the pressure foot.  There is no automatic thread cutter, this is a feature I use a lot on my sewing machine.  For the Q-20, You have to manually cut top and bottom threads. So many differences!  Also, this Q-20 needs more routine maintenance.  It needs to be oiled after every 4 hours of sewing, and fuzz and dust in the bobbin case are not acceptable!.  The machine doesn't like it at all, and dust, fuzz, and stray threads mess with the tension.  (Tension!  This is going to be the subject of a whole new blog page!!)

I have been practicing a lot.  I have some old padded place mats and have been using these to practice on.  I tried out the cording foot, this was very much fun!  I will be using this special pressure foot in the future!  Even for just plain sewing, the practice place mats were so helpful in learning how this machine works.  "Practice makes perfect," as the old saying goes, and I'm a long long way from perfect.  But I AM getting the hang of it, and can understand how things work now.  I think I have the basics down.  Now to try what I've learned on a real quilt.

Bernina Q20 Comes Home!

My new Bernina Quilting machine was delivered and set up today!  It was Special Delivery, shipped from Chicago, and came with 2 technicians to set it up and make sure it's working as it should (included in the delivery charge.)  The technicians obviously have set up many of these, they knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and in a couple of hours had it all ready to go.  I am very impressed with how Bernina packed the machine --I never saw such thick cardboard.  It even came with it's own set of screwdrivers for assembly and maintenance!

  

It fits beautifully in my dining room--it exactly fills a space where a big desk had been--the desk has been taken away, and even with the workstation occupying that space, the room seems so much bigger.

There are table extensions that support the quilts all around the needle, and can be stored under the workstation tabletop when not needed.  The sides of the tabletop can drop down as well, so when not in use, the machine doesn't take up much space at all.  Not even as much as the desk that was originally there.  

Now that it's all set up, and the technicians are gone, it's a little intimidating! I'm not sure what to do next. Included in the cost of my machine, I have 3 free one-hour classes, but I'd have to go to Chicago to take them.  (Chicago? Really?  I don't think so!) The technicians did show my how to do lots of things, but it is a lot to remember!   I can learn how to thread it, wind a bobbin and make it sew on my own.  That's what the Internet is for!!  So many features to learn about!  I'm excited to jump in and start sewing, but first things first--read the manual!  I don't want to break something!

Quilt Expo

Every September, Madison has a Quilt Expo.  I have gone almost every year for many years, and always come home all fired up and inspired.  Because Bob had been sick, and I had hip issues, I have not gone to the Quilt Expo for the past 2 years.  This year,  Dianne flew in from Colorado to attend the Quilt Expo with me.  We got two-day tickets, and spent a night in a hotel in Madison.  It was a mini-vacation for us, and we got to cruise the Quilt Expo for two wonderful days.  There was so much to see, and because we had 2 days to enjoy it, we took our time and thoroughly investigated every exhibit, booth, nook and cranny. We cruised the Hall of Quilts and our Shock-and-Awe meters went through the roof. So many outstanding beautiful awesome (superlatives to infinity...) quilts.  How DO they do that??  I felt humbled just looking at all those beauties on display!

There were so many venders, we had to make a "flight plan" so we didn't miss any. Of course we bought (more) fabric we didn't need, who could resist! Someday, somehow, we're REALLY gonna use those fabrics, right?  Only problem was which irresistible fabrics to buy!  So many choices can overwhelm a person!  (We managed nonetheless!)

Something else I couldn't resist was the Bernina Q20 Quilting machine.  I've been thinking of a mid arm sewing machine for a long long time.  When I saw the Q20 on display, I KNEW this was the one!  It's actually a long arm machine but not on a frame.  It's a sit-down model.  I bit the bullet, and bought it.  Now I will be able to finish my quilts with ease!  I upgraded from a desk-type table to a hydraulic workstation, which will allow me to raise and lower the machine so I can sit or stand to sew.  It has wheels, so I will be able to easily move it around.  It's still big and will take a lot of space.  Where in the world am I going to put it!!!??  I'd better figure it out soon, it'll be delivered next week!

This has been the BEST QUILT EXPO ever!  It worked so much better to do it in 2 days at a slower pace than trying to go at a feverish pace to squeeze everything into one day.  And having Dianne with me, sharing my passion, was the highlight of the event.  It couldn't've been better.

Back to Gravity

I have finished quilting my Kira quilt.  It's really beautiful, but then I admit to being biased!

So now what?  I have many UFO's, and  decided to work on one of those.  I chose Gravity, because it is the closest to being finished!  I dug it out of the stack, and put it up on my design wall.  This is how far I was when I was actively working on this quilt--the top half, and the colored sections of the bottom:

  

I had all the gray parts cut and labeled, and needed to sew them to the rest.  I have been working on making the rows, and now I have the 3 bottom sections finished.  Two more seams and the bottom will be done!

Because this is such a BIG quilt, I'm going to try something new (for me.)  I'm going to sandwich the quilt in 2 sections (the top and the bottom) and quilt each section separately, and then attach the two halves together.  I saw a tutorial on how to do this.  It means hand sewing the batting and the seam on the backing.  I am not overly fond of hand sewing!  The batting can just be basted together with a herringbone or zigzag stitch, but the backing will be tedious to sew.  I hand stitched the back of the Bottled Rainbow quilt, and it took a long time. But I still think that will be easier than trying to stuff this monster through the throat of the sewing machine.  It will be interesting.  I will need to choose a somewhat busy fabric to camouflage the hand stitches.  I have been thinking of what to use for the backing fabric too.  Maybe a black with a white design, or maybe polka dots.  When I go to the quilt expo in Sept, I will look for a backing fabric.      

Product Review

When I quilt, I like to do free motion.  Several years ago, husband bought me a special free motion quilting foot for my sewing machine, and a special set of rulers to use with it.

The quilting foot, shown on the yellow post-it note above is extra thick, and made to work with all the rulers.  The foot is adjustable, and it's tall sides keep the ruler from slipping under the foot. I have tinkered with these rulers and this foot.  Just tinkered.  I have a very hard time getting a good tension in my threads with this.  I think it would take a lot of practice to get nice smooth results from templates, and I find myself using my regular quilting foot more and more instead.

The open toe allows me to see exactly where the needle is.  Yes, there is a higher risk of getting your fingers run over, which I learned the hard way.  You HAVE to be careful.  The thinner depth of the open toe does let the ruler slip under the foot too-- a thicker ruler would be great here, but I don't have a quarter inch thick acrylic ruler.  I found something that works well though!  A lid!  It's tall enough that the screw that hold the quilting foot to the shank of the sewing machine glides nicely along the edge of the lid, and I get nice straight lines.  It gives you a nice flat surface to press down on, and keeps fingers out of the way too.  The width of the lid helps hold the quilt sandwich nice and flat and tight.  Take a look!

 

Quilters are good at problem solving and being innovative!  Who was it that said, "Necessity is the mother of invention?"  (It was Plato!)  

Back to Business, 2018 in Review

It's been over a year now since I've posted.  This hiatus was the result of my beloved husband, Bob, passing away, and some heath issues I had which have since been resolved with surgery, physical therapy, and time.  (A special thumbs up to my daughter for taking care of me in my time of need. ) The physical recovery went extremely well; the emotional recovery is still a work in progress...

However, I have not been idle in the sewing department of my life, just a little slower and a bit erratic.  Quilting has a sort of therapeutic aspect to it, even if it's sporatic.

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I made these 2 banners for a friend's birthday.  She requested a St. Patty Day banner, and I threw in the Welcome banner as a surprise.  The Welcome banner used that fusible grid for the 1-inch squares.  So easy.  I love that fusible grid!

  

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My daughter and I have a wonderful arrangement:  She pins my quilt tops into the quilt sandwich, and I quilt her quilts in exchange.  Here are 2 of her quilts that I quilted for her:

 

  

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Kira was a quilt I had been working on before the hiatus, and I have since finished the top, and it is currently under my needle in the (almost finished) quilting stage.  This turned out to be a really pretty quilt, using mostly batiks for the blocks, and Jinney Beyer border print for the border.

 

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My daughter and I decided we would make a jean circle quilt together, each of us making one half of the circles, then sewing them together when we got together. She lives near Denver, and I live in Wisconsin, so we don't get together as often as we wish we could. We currently have all the circles sewn into rows, and are in the process of sewing our rows together.  Here it is so far:

  

  

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I have a lot of blue fabrics,  and I mean, A LOT!  I made Kira with scraps.  Still I had a ton of blue scraps, so I decided on a scrappy blue string quilt.  I sewed strips to phone book pages, trimmed to 8 inches, and Voila!  The emergent quilt was so stunning, it needed a name other than "Blue Scrap Quilt!"  It reminded me of the facets on a sapphire, and so it will henceforth be called the Sapphire quilt!  Here it is:

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In January I saw a Mystery quilt challenge called Ice Crystals, by National Quilters Circle. https://www.nationalquilterscircle.com/article/mystery-challenge-week-1/

I had a fair amount of winter fabrics, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to use it.  However, I wasn't crazy about the blocks that this project presented to the group, so I decided to make my own blocks!  I started searching out snowflake-looking paper pieced patterns, and bought a number of patterns on Etsy, and eventually had enough to create this quilt below.  I love this quilt, and the challenge of some of these blocks was very exciting and satisfying.  The limiting factor for this quilt was the border fabric.  I had EXACTLY enough to do this--I even had to use 2 pieces to each side of the border, but only if I didn't match the pattern which is something I would otherwise always do.  It's not that noticeable, and when I quilt it I can camouflage the seams, but I would have liked to add 3 more blocks to the quilt to make it rectangular instead of square.  Oh well!

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My neice got married this summer, and I made her a pair of potholders to match a set of kitchen towels that held a gift card.  I also made "beer" potholders for her husband, the Grill Master.

 

Wow!  I was busier than I thought!  I THINK this brings me up to date, and I will try to be more diligent about posting here.