Harder than Chinese math...

Typically, a longarmer does pantographs from the back of the machine.  This is kind of awkward because you can't see the quilt top as you quilt...you have to trust it is going OK.  What really happens is you run out of bobbin thread and quilt along for quite a while before you notice the problem.  Or you bump the laser light and quilt over your last row of quilting...etc.  Also, my machine doesn't have an on/off button on the side where I hold my hands on the back (both hands on the left side) so I have to have one hand on each handle to start it, then slyly move the right hand to the left without wonking out the quilting.

Solution:  A QuiltCam by R-n-S designs.  A camera is mounted near the laser light on the back of the machine and a 7" display screen is mounted to the front of the machine and now the quilter can see the panto from the front and quilt from the front...Yeah, right!!  How hard is it to teach an old dog new tricks???  Very hard...

I think this is terribly hard...and that I suck at it so far.  I'm working on the quilt that Alli started two years ago and I just finished this week.  It looks like Halloween threw up all over the place....LOL!!  My first two rows were marginal, at best, but I will not quit!!!

My Dad came over the other day to help me improve  my machine glide/performance.  One thing he did was polish the needle plate....you could put your lipstick on in this plate right now.  Honestly, it is almost chrome....the gray area you see in the middle is the reflection of the quilt machine....less friction, more glide??  We also raised the "dead rail" about 1/2" to ensure that I didn't have any drag between the bottom of the quilt and the machine head....And I tightened the wheels...

And we raised the table height several inches.  Who knew that you could adjust it up to 9" higher than the standard height??  I didn't...my last machine had hydraulic lifts so I just did whatever I wanted.  I kind of thought this one had no wiggle room, but it does!!  Less back pain....

Though I was supposed to be sewing today, I spent several hours watching my new addiction, Breaking Bad, and checking out this awesome quilter's blog Threadtales.  Very inspiring (intimidating).  She has been quilting 7 years and it looks wonderful.  I'd take my own stuff there...lol!

I'll let you know how the panto from the front goes tomorrow. 

But let me tell you, it is harder than Chinese math...And everyone knows Chinese math is damn hard!!

Quilted tablerunner

This isn't mine...I just quilted it.  I still need to work on being more graceful with the feathers....at certain points on my table the machine gets stiff--difficult to maneuver.  My Dad will come and check it out today....I give up!!

Then Rebecca pointed out how the thread ont he beige part really stands out...but what do you do when 3/4 of the quilt top is darker??  I used Mother Goose color--a nice medium brown that blended well on the rest....Hmmm.....

Carpenter's Square Quilt...

I quilted this Carpenter's Square quilt for Joyce today.  It measures 64" x 64".  The first pic shows the actual colors, but the others show the quilting.  I added a full pic...

Anyhow, I now have to go work out so that's a wrap.... ;-)  More tomorrow!

Supernova is quilted...

During my sauna vacation in Flagstaff, I worked on my Supernova quilt top.  I have a Modern Quilt Guild meeting this week so I thought I had better get it quilted for show and tell....It isn't perfect by any means, but nor are most of the quilts I see in popular modern quilting books.  If they can get published with wonky quitling then it must be OK for me too....

It finishes at about 50" square and will be hung in my classroom.  It will give the kids something to look at when they are bored learning Algebra....LOL!  As if Algebra could ever get boring....

I'd love to post what I'm making for my secret quilter swap but I can't until after our retreat in August.  But I'm taking pictures, and working diligently, I swear!

Happy Quilting to all 5 of you who read this.... ;-)

Scrabble Piece Necklace...

How cute is this??  It is made on the back of a scrabble piece....

I got it from HomeStudio on Etsy.....there are lots of other designs (sewing related and other) and so I think I might just buy a few more!!  Check them out....

I won something!

You know, I stopped entering blog giveaways a few years ago...seemed like little chance of winning with over 800 entries in some giveaways!  But MamaCJT was offering a fat quarter stack of red Kona solids and I couldn't resist.  I could totally see the Las Vegas MQG making a charity quilt from these fabrics...so I entered and I won!!  Wow....

So we were kicking around some ideas for a quilt and I think the Beach Glass quilt by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr will be the winner!  It seems a perfect match for a bunch of solids and a neutral background...maybe khaki?  Or bone??  It is the quilt on the cover of their book....and I own it!!

Thanks MamaCJT!

Denise's Dream On Quilt...

I quilted this one for Denise on Sunday...it was quite big, 72" x 90".  She wanted swirls so I used Deb's Swirls panto...

I'm still doing a lot of practice and it is sort of hard to do a panto that is loose...you have to be so much more careful because any "wonk" will be more noticeable--compared to a tighter panto.

Anyhow, that was my Sunday.  Off to workout with Ryan and maybe sew a backing together...

Happy Quilting!

Quilted Granny Square...

I quilted this for Joyce yesterday...There are flowers and leaves in the granny square, a stipple in the background and leaves in the border.

The color is off in the second picture but the quilting shows better....

Today I'm going to panto a quilt for Denise...wish me luck!

Supernova....

I decided to do a smaller version of the Supernova quilt from Freshly Pieced.  There are tons of pics on Flickr of the QAL to inspire a person!  Mine measures 48" x 48" and will end up in my classroom...

I need to think up some "modern" quilting that will make the starst **burst** out!!  LOL...any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! 

I'm off to pin on a quilt...Happy Quilting!

Charity Quilt--quilted!

I made this quilt with the leftovers from my Mom's quilt.  I did the disappearing 9-patch and it went together very quickly.  The quilting is a panto called Plumage...lots of fat feathers!  It will be paired with a table runner in matching fabric for the Mesquite Club auction in November....

It is about 66" square, if I recall.  Another finish...yeah!  I also finished the first gift for the Secret Quilter swap....we are going on a retreat in August and we switched names and I need to make a few gifts for my secret person.  I have some great plans, let's see what actually happens.  I can't post about it, though, because my person might read my blog and then it wouldn't be a secret anymore!! 

But I'll post all of them after the retreat... ;-)

Spicy Spiral Table Runner

This isn't mine, I just quilted it.  It is a Spicy Spiral Table runner that Joyce made...I quilted it with some ferns since it was done in batiks and they always scream "ferning" to me... The edges will get cut off so that it has smooth curves...

The back...

More ferns up close...

Easy peasy....now back to the Supernova blocks.  I didn't get them done in Flagstaff--but I'll get it done today!