Today I am doing the quilting on the flannel quilt. I decided to use black Mettler thread for the quilting. I thought it looked best on the back red plaid, and, on the front assorted flannels, it looks folk-arty. I first stitched in the ditch, every seam. I took a class once and the quilting teacher said she always quilted ESS....Every Stinking Seam. Yikes. But, her quilts were amazing, so maybe she has something there. Anyway, after quilting ESS, in the ditch (I had pressed the seams to one side, so the "ditch" was just slightly off the seam on the side without the bulky pressed edges). I decided the plain 9" blocks needed more quilting and I chose a Churn Dash quilt block motif to fill the space. It is working out great! The churn dash is basically a 9 patch pattern, so it fits easily into the 9" block. It is also somewhat continuous to stitch. I am quilting it on my new Brother Dream machine, and, the machine is living up to its name. Perfect stitches, loving the walking foot, and the laser light is making the geometric stitching a breeze! I might even be sad when I finish this quilting. I left the batting and backing about 2" longer all around the quilt top, and I am thinking about bringing the back to the front as an easy, red plaid binding. What I haven't liked about this technique in the past is that the ends of the quilting show unevenly when brought to the front. I solved that problem by continuing my quilting lines all the way to the end of the backing fabric. This way, when wrapping to the front, the quilting lines will just match up. The weather is just super cold here right now, and will be even colder here tomorrow. At least the sky is blue, the view from the studio is quite gorgeous, and I have a fun project to do. No complaints! Jerilynn
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Life is But a Dream Machine
Today I am doing the quilting on the flannel quilt. I decided to use black Mettler thread for the quilting. I thought it looked best on the back red plaid, and, on the front assorted flannels, it looks folk-arty. I first stitched in the ditch, every seam. I took a class once and the quilting teacher said she always quilted ESS....Every Stinking Seam. Yikes. But, her quilts were amazing, so maybe she has something there. Anyway, after quilting ESS, in the ditch (I had pressed the seams to one side, so the "ditch" was just slightly off the seam on the side without the bulky pressed edges). I decided the plain 9" blocks needed more quilting and I chose a Churn Dash quilt block motif to fill the space. It is working out great! The churn dash is basically a 9 patch pattern, so it fits easily into the 9" block. It is also somewhat continuous to stitch. I am quilting it on my new Brother Dream machine, and, the machine is living up to its name. Perfect stitches, loving the walking foot, and the laser light is making the geometric stitching a breeze! I might even be sad when I finish this quilting. I left the batting and backing about 2" longer all around the quilt top, and I am thinking about bringing the back to the front as an easy, red plaid binding. What I haven't liked about this technique in the past is that the ends of the quilting show unevenly when brought to the front. I solved that problem by continuing my quilting lines all the way to the end of the backing fabric. This way, when wrapping to the front, the quilting lines will just match up. The weather is just super cold here right now, and will be even colder here tomorrow. At least the sky is blue, the view from the studio is quite gorgeous, and I have a fun project to do. No complaints! Jerilynn
#99,143 chiming in here. Can't wait to get a personal view of that quilt when done. P.S. You have me obsessed with hunting for buffalo plaid fabric - of ANY kind!
ReplyDeleteI see in your post you have the Brother Dream machine. What prompted you to purchase this machine in stead of a new Bernina? I have the Mernina 830, and have lots of thread issues. I can't just sit and sew with a problem. I am looking to trade it in and am reading other peoples choices.
ReplyDeleteJackie, I'm answering you here, but email me at jerisew@aol.com for further information. I had always been a Bernina girl, then bought a Pfaff Creative Vision when they first came out for the large harp area. The CV is very picky with threads, and many of my friends who have purchased new Berninas also have issues. My local sewing machine shop, always Bwrnina and Pfaff only, started carrying Brother. I was surprised. But, the husband and wife owners are very knowledgeable and honest. They said the machine shop quality Brothers (vs. big box Brothers) just plain work good. I am now on my fourth....I just keep upgrading because they work so well and I love the performance!
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