Meet Phoebe!

She is here and we have been working together for a couple of weeks.  I'm so exited!!  I finally have a quilting companion.  She's great.  She's a hard worker and pretty quiet.  And as a matter of fact, she's actually quite pretty.  She's doesn't fight me or make my work harder, although she absolutely will stretch me in my craft.  We have gotten a lot accomplished together.  I think I'll keep her.

This is Phobe!

This is my new Q'nique and SR2 frame from Grace Company.  I am in love.  This is a very simple machine to use if you are familiar with sewing machines in general.  I did need to use my manual to thread the machine and use the bobbin winder although neither one is very difficult.  She came with a stitch regulator, so we needed to put on the encoders necessary.  Between the manual and especially YouTube, we got it done.

Phoebe on her frame.

When you order something like this while trying to stay in budget, you begin to second guess your original choices.  This is the bottom line metal long arm frame from Grace Company.  I wouldn't call it cheap.  But their other frames appear to be better for loading up quilts.  My personal opinion?  I absolutely love this frame.  It is very solid and very easy to use.  Now, I purchased a Handi Quilter table top frame years ago to use with my Juki TL98e.  I learned to float my batting and quilt top on that frame.  That is my favorite way to quilt.  It allows me to be closer to the machine and more importantly, the needle and area being quilted.  I could not be more pleased.  Phoebe and frame make  great quilting partners.

I did load a practice piece when she was first up and running.  Although I machine quilt on a Husqvarna 140C, this is different and has a learning curve.  I'm not expecting the learning curve to be as great because I already understand FMQ.  It is just getting used to how the machine feels as I move around.  It is very different.

Working on loading the frame, almost there.

Basting the side down

Quilt has been stabilized with stitch-in-the-ditch.

Note the clamps on the front rod holding the quilt in place.

This made it easy to keep the quilt squared.

The quilt was made in the 1980s around four boys heading into their teen years and free time was scarce.  I did have some time after all were in bed to sit and hand applique the (Dresden) plates onto the background squares, but never had the time to hand quilt.  The fabric is some of the last scraps from the Massachusetts Mills in Lowell, MA. not too far from my house.  I bought those scraps for $3 for a grocery bag filled.  Although my applique skills weren't great in the mid to late 1980s, I love this quilt top.  I decided to quilt it by machine so that I could finish it and use it.  The top is roughly 30 years old.  This will be an accomplishment.

So please to get Phoebe into my journal.  She is a huge gift and encouragement from the Lord and my husband to continue quilting.  I hope I have many years to work with her.

Enjoying my blessings!

dianne

I Feel Accompished! April 2017

(Today is January 7, 2018.  This is a blog I never got into Quilting Loft, but want to keep.  I was feeling so accomplished last April after working so hard to learn FMQ.)


I just finished a baby quilt to give to a young family at church.  Quinn is their first child and she is the first baby that has been born into the church for a while.  I wasn't sure where I was going with this quilt.  Today's young people think differently about quilt styles.  It was a challenge as I don't know this young mother really well yet, but I wanted to share her joy over this treasured addition to her family.  I remember my first baby, too!

So, I opened my fabric stash drawers and started searching.  I opened my dies stash to see what I could find.  I looked through my threads stash and decided the color and style of the quilting.  But I still had doubts.

I've changed my quilting dramatically over the past two years.  I still like the same traditional quilt patterns and styles that I began learning in 1968 when I made my first quilt top.  Traditional quilts are what has drawn me into quilting in the first place.  I suppose I will always love them,  I started out hand piecing and hand quilting; I still do some of that.  My problem has always been that I don't have the freedom of endless hours to sit and work so that a quilt is finished in less than 10 years!  When machine piecing became the new technique on the block (hmmm...is that a pun?), I thought, "This is what I need to do if ever I'm going to begin to make all the quilts I have in my head.  So, I learned to machine piece, but I was still hand quilting.  That means I have a number of quilt tops that need quilting.

About for years ago, I decided I need to learn machine quilting.  I bought my Husvarna Viking 140C Anniversay Edition sewing machine with an 11" throat and I determined I was going to learn how to machine quilt on that baby.  It has been a journey as I tried to retrained all my drawing skills into a new mind set.  Now instead of moving the pencil across the paper, the pencil (my machine) is stationary and I move the paper (my quilt sandwich) under the pencil.  My brain did not change quickly and I have some work to prove it.

My first attempt at machine quilting 2003
my first Leah Day project 365 lesson 2012
my feathers in training 2014
   (I don't have pictures to enter in here today.  I think the practice pieces are in my studio on the other side of Lowell.)

But I didn't give up.  I was given a quilt top that needed quilting and I was told I could practice on it.  That was one of the most valuable gifts I could have been given and it became a valuable gift to give back to its owner.  It opened doors of creativity that I'm not sure I've even had the opportunity to explore.  And that quilt certainly boosted my confidence.

This is where I was in April 2017.

This is Quinn's quilt.  I've come such a long way.  For whatever reason, I didn't post this post back in April last year, but I certainly want to make a record of my accomplishments.  I'm so proud of this quilt!!  Its colors made it hard to photograph well with my iPhone, but I still love looking at the pictures!!  My description of the quilting is "doodling".  I was just playing.  I'm glad I've finally gotten this into Quilting Loft.

Merry Christmas! December 22, 2017

As I sit waiting...

I cannot believe a year has gone by.  So much has gone on.  I've been unable to do  much quilting this year.  I finished a lap quilt last spring and a baby quilt right after that.  Then came summer.  I needed to paint rooms in my house; it was just time.  I'm no spring chicken.  I would work as long as I could, then I would need to stop working and rest.  So, every other day I tried to work, but like everything in my life, I would get called away to other projects that needed to get done, you know, laundry, cleaning, entertaining.  Quilting almost didn't exist.  When I finally finished painting all the rooms and ceilings, I was exhausted.  It has taken time to physically rebound, but I think I'm back.

So, I'm back to quilting.  Like so many times I began thinking, if I am ever going to get quilts finished I'm going to have to change something.  I've learned to Free Motion Quilt (FQM) on my sewing machine and I love the results, but for what I do, it takes way too long.  I love being creative in quilting and I do like a project that takes time, but I have quilt tops that will never get done if I don't find a faster way to quilt them.  A couple of quilts a year is not going to do!

This is French General's, I want to say, Maison de Noel.  I'm no longer sure that is what the fabric line is named, but I love it.  This did not take that long, but was still slow...days.  This is my couch quilt that I wrap up in every time I'm cold.  It is winter here :)

       This is Floating Stars from Connecting Threads.  It's my beginning ruler work and a challenge to create something different in each square and diamond.  This took about 100 hours to quilt...I love it, but too long!


As I sit here typing,  I'm waiting for UPS to deliver the last package out of 5.  Four came yesterday and the last will arrive, I expect, in about two and a half hours.  It is December 22, 2017.  No, I'm not waiting for Christmas presents.  I'm waiting for the last and most needed package to my new mid arm and frame.  Everything else was delivered yesterday and they decided to hold the package with the carriage and all the nuts and bolts to the frame.  I'm just waiting.  There is not a thing I can do until that last package comes!!

Yes, I have a new Q'nique 15M, a manual quilter.  I have wanted a long arm for such a long time and finally I'm getting one.  I received a qulting magazine in the mail just before Thanksgiving.  I picked it up to give it a quick glance and there it was, a great November deal!  It looked so good that I immediately went into their website and there it was...$1000 less than the ad in the magazine.  I started praying.  Yes, this is okay.  I asked my husband.  "Now, is the time to get it while you are still able to use it."  Do I have the money...yes, I do.  I ordered it.

I waited. And I waited.  Then an email.  Would I mind if they upgraded my 15M to one with stitch regulation for free because the machine I ordered would not be in until into January and they wanted to get it out to me before Christmas!  Well, how long do you think it took me to decide?  I had been wondering if I should upgrade to stitch regulation for $500.  There are days that I'm so totally stunned at what the Lord can do.  I debated and He answered!

I'm expecting my last package in about two hours.  I feel like a little kid!

Merry Chrstmas!