Showing posts with label long arm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long arm. Show all posts

Saturday, July 16, 2022

The latest quilt top on my frame

I've taken a week off from stitching because I stretched a ligament on the side of my knee. Not wanting to make it worse I rested my leg for several days to give a chance to heal. Today I'm gingerly walking around my longarm frame to start a quilt for a customer. Here's a photo! You can't see it in the photo but I'm stitching the Linda's Daisies pantograph on it with pink thread.



Tuesday, June 7, 2022

A recent customer quilt

 This quilt top is from a friend of mine who is also a customer.  She found this top for $15 at the Scrap Exchange!  The Scrap Exchange is a thrift store where any type of leftover materials can be donated.  You might find a microscope, pool noodles, beakers from UNC or anything you can think of!  Businesses, individuals and Colleges donate their leftover scrap/materials and you can buy it for a song. 



Thursday, May 5, 2022

Old blue jeans

 I love May in the Carolinas.  It's always a wonderful day in May.  This is the latest quilt on my frame.  It's made out of old blue jeans.  It's for someone who lives in Tennessee.  I'm doing hand-guided quilting on this one.  On my design wall is my progress on the ForeverMore BOM quilt.  I haven't had much time to work on it lately.



Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Under my needle today

 I'm having a fun day of longarming!  This is under my needle this afternoon.  A king size quilt 116" x 116" and it's getting the pantograph called Double Bubble stitched on it.  The top was made by a friend of mine in Iowa and I'm shipping it back to her on Thursday!


Wednesday, May 19, 2021

A Great Buy Found on Marketplace

 I found a Baby Lock Ellageo 3 on facebook marketplace and decided to buy it.  It's a 20 yr old sewing/embroidery machine and I'm very pleased with this purchase.  I took it in for a spa day and had a new needle threader put on.  It was sewing well before I took it in but it is even quieter now that it's been lubed up.

This machine does amazing decorative stitches. It's a 9mm but has feed dogs that move sideways so even larger decorative stitches can be done. The picture below shows a regular 9mm decorative stitch next to one of the larger stitches.  I'm amazed how big it is.



But the reason I bought it was for the embroidery aspect.  I plan to offer quilt labels to my customers and this machine has 11 beautiful embroidered alphabets.

I recommend buying used machines!  You can find some pretty good deals if you're patient enough to wait for them to come along!

I've been working on this quilt for a customer.  She used a fabric collection by Loralie and I think it's a beautiful quilt!



Here's a tip for other owners of the King Quilter 2.  I placed a magnet on my handlebars using the screw that was already there.  Now my scissors hang out right where I need them.  You can find this magnet on the Home Depot website.   I also placed a small stick-on magnet that holds my self-threading needle used for burying threads.  You can see it in this photo on the far left.


Saturday, December 5, 2020

Ruler work

I have a quilt top on my frame this weekend that belongs to me. It was a UFO for over a year and I finally put the borders on it.  I haven't been able to do my own for a couple months but I'm caught up on my customer quilts so I thought I'd take some "me" time.  It's so much fun doing ruler work, very relaxing as it stitches.  Here's a photo of the quilt top, the 2nd photo is my progress so far. 


This quilt is called Diamonds & Pearls.   The top is made using a ruler called the Split-Rects and it really makes a nice quilt.  Fons & Porter made a tutorial on how to use the ruler to make this quilt.  The video is on YouTube:

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Great day to be quilting!

 Back to longarming! I have a Quilt of Valor on today. On the wall behind the frame you see my current quilt top in progress. It's the Circa 1880 quilt I've been working on since last January.



Sunday, November 1, 2020

Perfect day to spend time quilting!

 My first quilt on the new longarm is a customer quilt.  I used a basting stitch for the first time and it was a dream!  I'm going to love using this machine.  This weekend it is cold and rainy in NC, a perfect day to quilt!



Friday, October 30, 2020

King Quilter Elite is set up and ready to go

 My new longarm is set up and running.  It took 10 hours total to assemble and level the frame, mount the machine and get it ready to sew.  The shipment weighed 440 lbs and now I know why!  The frame is all steel and is extremely well built.  It is a very heavy frame.  

I bought furniture sliders to place under the frame to make it glide over my wood floor.  If you are buying a new frame I would recommend furniture sliders over the heavy duty casters.  You'll save about $200 and the frame will glide effortlessly across the floor.  Mine does and it is extremely heavy!

The only thing left to do is to attach the cloth leaders to the rails and I'll get that done today.  After that, I'll load a quilt and be off running!


Update:  All set and ready to go!  



Monday, October 26, 2020

King Quilter II Elite longarm is here

 I am happy to say 700 blocks are finished!  If you've been reading my blog you'll know I've been making 2-1/2" blocks for quite some time.  They will be assembled into the Circa 1880 quilt but not for a few more months.  I'll need to assemble the frame and then get to know my new longarm machine that was delivered today.  After that, I have 7 quilt tops from customers waiting for me so it will be awhile before I can piece the 1880 quilt together.



Tuesday, September 1, 2020

On the frame today


I've been longarming for several days and just realized I haven't posted a photo in awhile so here's the quilt top I'm working on today.  I'm stitching the Pretty Posies pantograph on this king size quilt top.



We took a short trip to the mountains of NC last month.  It's always so cool in the mountains and we had a wonderful time.  We visited the Daniel Boone restaurant in Boone, NC and saw the sights near Grandfather mountain as well as Blowing Rock.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Jolly July stitching

It's Christmas in July and I've started up cross stitching again, after a break of several years.  I made my daughter some Christmas ornaments, a pillow for my mantle and am now working on a piece that has 4 seasons I'll display in my kitchen.
















I'm longarming now, after a 2 week shut down due to repair needed on my machine.  The covid delays made it longer than it would have been if times were normal.  But I did get a lot of cross stitch done during that 2 weeks.






I'm working on a customer quilt this weekend and have 3 more customer quilts waiting for me.  After they are finished I need to get busy on the 6 Quilt of Valor tops I've had waiting for me.  I hope your summer is going beautifully and you get in a lot of fun stitching time!


Friday, May 22, 2020

Ruler work on a baby quilt

I made a baby quilt last summer called Color Therapy and I'm doing ruler work on it today.  Since it will be washed often I'm only doing a simple design on it.  It's a quilt for a baby girl.  I made it when I first heard my daughter was pregnant, not knowing if it was a boy or girl yet.  Wouldn't you know, she had a boy!  So this one is being put in my hope chest when it's finished.





















Sunday, November 3, 2019

Under my needle today

It's a beautiful fall day in North Carolina today, a perfect day for quilting.  This is the 5th of 6 quilts a customer gave me to finish for her.  I'm sewing the binding onto each one as well.


This is one from another day:















And the binding on a third quilt:



Thursday, June 20, 2019

Tip for Longarming: Check your Wide Backing




When I load backing on the quilt frame I use the grain of the fabric, not the cut edge.  Here is an example of why it's important to check your wide backing.

This backing was wonky when it was wound on to the bolt.  I'm sure the person cutting it did cut it straight as it came off the bolt.  But as you can see, the fabric is cut way off the grain.

Be sure to check the backing and  straighten the grain if it is off.  If you don't want to straighten the grain, there is a simple solution...buy an additional 4 or 5 inches more after you've already added the 8" the longarmer needs.

Fortunately, this client sent a backing that had plenty of extra fabric so I didn't have to send it back.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Is there a better way to spend a Saturday than quilting?

If there is a better way I sure can't think of one!  This is a quilt top I made this week.  It's a freebie pattern from Jordan Fabrics called Ribbon Quilt.  I used a layer cake called La Vie En Rouge by Moda fabrics.

Monday, December 24, 2018

Home Tweet Home

One of the quilts I made this year was called Briar Rose and it's a free pattern found at the EnglandStreetBlog.
 The pdf download is on the right side of the page.  This pattern calls for 1 jelly roll and yardage for the background and border.  Her directions are spot on, too!  I plan on making another one!














I made this wallhanging over the summer and it's also a free download.  It's called Home Tweet Home, found at ModaBakeShop website.  It's an easy pattern!  You use the paper piecing technique to make the birdhouses.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

UFOs are on a roll at my house

I bought a panel by Northcott fabrics the minute it hit the quilt shops 4 years ago.   This is a pattern called Meadow Stars, by Patti Carey. It uses a collection called Stonehenge by Northcott. I bought the blue/brown panel when it hit the shops, couldn't get out of the store without it!

But Northcott didn't put a kit together for the blue/brown colorway, so I had to put one together on my own. I found all the stonehenge fabrics to make this quilt.



Update:  The quilt is finished and has been delivered.  Here's the final product!