Thursday, January 31, 2013

And now, back to the long arm!



I've had a few questions about quilting with a long arm.  So I thought I'd load some photos.  I think visuals might help the confusion among the non-quilters reading my blog.   

Long arm quilting is simply stitching the backing, batting and quilt top together, forming a quilt sandwich.  The first task is loading the backing fabric onto 12 foot long rollers.  The fabric in the photo above is a beautifully dyed batik from the island of Bali.  After the backing fabric is loaded and rolled taut, the batting is placed on top, you can see cotton batting lying on the fabric in the photo.

I have 2 choices as I proceed loading the batting and quilt top.  There are more 12 foot rollers, one set for each layer of a quilt.  I can load the batting and top on those if I want to.  The other choice is the one I always use, it's called floating.  I simply float the batting and quilt top on top of the backing fabric.  To start the long arming, I stitch along the top and sides to anchor the 3 layers together, and then the fun begins!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Jaco

Over 20 years ago Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida.  A friend of mine was living in a suburb south of Miami at that time and she lost everything they owned.  Her parrot actually saved their lives.  The parrot, named Jaco, could sense the vibrations in the building before the roof lifted off, and was agitated in such a way that she knew they needed to go to a lower floor and get away from the roof.

She lives in North Carolina now, along with Jaco.   We spent all day last Saturday sewing quilts for Hurricane Sandy victims.  A Hurricane Andrew victim now doing something to help lift the spirits of Hurricane Sandy victims.  Isn't it great how life comes around?

This is Jaco sitting on the quilt we made together.

By the way, the newspaper printed a story about the quilting for Hurricane Sandy victims.  There were 53 of us sewing that Saturday.


Friday, January 4, 2013

Christmas Dog

We have a new family member!  My husband was making a run to the grocery store on Christmas Day to buy the whip cream he forgot to get for the pumpkin pie, and on the way home this cute little girl walked in front of his headlights.  He stopped, picked her up and we put out the information about a lost dog to no avail.  So we're keeping her!  She's an adorable little thing, but she was a matted, flea ball when she arrived. I clipped her and after 2 flea baths here's the little darlin'...

My husband never found a store open but bringing home this little gal was his salvation.


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

How to lube your thread

I've been long-arming happily all day.  I finished one quilt, and will place another one on the frame tomorrow. I wish the holiday could be extended, I'm not ready for school to start!  For those who are new to the blog, I home school my son.  I'm also taxi-driver for my oldest in college (she has a disability and can't drive for now).

I thought I'd share a tip to help those who are tempted to oil your thread when you sew velcro or use metallic threads.  My method works for long arming, sewing, serging, upholstery  just about any type of sewing.  I've used this method for years and it works!

If you have continual thread breaks while sewing velcro or use metallic threads, try this!  Cut a tiny piece of stick-on velcro, use the fluffy side.  Place it under the thread path AFTER the tension disc.  Then place 1 or 2 drops of silicone (Sewer's Aid, etc.) on the velcro.   As the thread glides across the velcro it lubes your thread without ruining the entire cone, and without gumming up your tension dial.

Use velcro to sew velcro, brilliant! Let me know if you try my method?  I'd love to hear how it worked for you!



Print Friendly and PDF

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Asking a quilter to mend something?

...is like asking Michaelangelo to paint a garage.

It's rainy and cold in North Carolina today.  A perfect day for quilting!  The ruler foot for my Tin Lizzie needs replaced, I'm in withdrawal.  I can't quilt.  What to do, what to do.... Go fabric shopping! 

I bought the entire line of Moda's fabric collection called Audra's Iris Garden.  So lovely!  I found a lovely pattern on the website Quilters Club of America and I'll use this line of fabric to make a quilt... for me!  Imagine that?   Audra's Iris Garden has an elegant deep purple and I love this color!

(link to the website was removed, Quilters Club of America no longer exists.)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

American Hero Quilts

I've finished the Hero quilts, and they'll be shipped back to American Hero Quilts on Tuesday.  Check out the website for American Hero Quilts, they are doing an awesome job supporting our wounded soldiers.

This is the quilt I finished longarming this weekend:

Monday, December 17, 2012

Ode to the sewing machine #3

Some of you are following my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Where do they come up with these dollar amounts???





So I have a car I want to sell. I put the car in the garage, close the garage door, take my camera outside in the yard and take a picture....


Makes ya wanna throttle someone, doesn't it?
Oh, and he hit zero too many times.



There's that zero again...

Friday, December 7, 2012

Hero quilts

I was thrilled to find photos of a Civil War era flag!   I found the flag his unit carried in the early part of the war.  The flag is being restored.    This is the flag for the 4th Iowa Regiment, Infantry Vol.  The lower corner of the flag is lost forever, the only part left is the "I" for Infantry.

 During the Civil War, silk fabric was used to make flags for the military.  They were painted with various symbols, names and stars on both sides of the flag.  As a result, the areas that are painted are very stiff.  This flag is 150 years old now, I'd say she looks pretty good for her age!  Iowa has over 300 flags currently being restored from the Civil War, WWI, WWII and other wars.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Quilt of Valor finished!

Before...
... and after
I finished a quilt of valor, and have one more to go. 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

You must be a Master Gardener if...


What the finished quilt will look like.
My finished blocks.
I started piecing a new quilt today.  It's a Patchwork Party quilt.  This one is for my mom.  I've been using the Singer 201 sewing machine to piece this week.  What a wonderful machine!



Singer 15-91 affectionately called "the tank".  I use this to sew leather, heavy canvas, etc.
In this photo you see leather I used to reupholster my chiropractor's table.
It was 1/4" thick and this machine went through it like it was butter.
 (The blue bin you see in the above photo are my worms.  .... What?  You don't keep worms in your dining room?)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

teaching children to quilt


I've been so busy learning my long arm machine I'm afraid I let the blog go by the wayside. My apologies! But in my time offline, I've learned that long arming isn't really all that hard. Pantograms and a laser light make it a breeze to create beautiful designs on the quilt.

The quilt in this photo was made by a 12 yo beginner. Her goal was to match her corners, and she did a pretty good job! There are tucks and puckers everywhere, making for thick seams at times. You can see the pattern I'm using has plenty of swirls, I chose this one because the swirls will help disquise the puffiness caused by the tucks.  It's a pantograph by Lisa Calle.

Friday, August 3, 2012

house all to myself!

I have the house all to myself tomorrow and can't wait!  It will be a day of practice on my long arm.  2 quilt tops came in the mail today.  I'll have music on, sweet tea and chocolate on hand, who could ask for anything more?  I'll start with this one first.

I started piecing a new quilt today.  It's a Patchwork Party quilt.  Hope to get it done before Christmas!  I only have these 4 blocks finished.