Friday 13 July 2012

Quilt Along#21

I made some progress. This was a killer...when doing my Zentangle design I obviously did not think about my FMQ skill level. The first lot of lines were ok, in fact that went very smoothly. The echoing of the lines was very difficult and is something that I would have normally abandoned, i.e. put in the too hard basket. This is were the Quilt Along is excellent...it does spur you on to give things a go. So in the end I managed them with some stern determination to make it happen.

The issue I think has to do with my sewing foot which is squarish rather than round. This makes it very hard to echo around a shape without losing direction. Looking at the red markings or using the side of the foot as a guide only works as long as you have a straight line. When it is curving I tend to lose sight of the line that I am following. Maybe there is a trick to it...if yes, I have not discovered it as yet.

So, I eyeballed the echoing for most of it, turning the quilt in all directions and in the end got there.

This is my progress so far:





Discovered that loops are not that easy after all...had heaps of starts and stops as I kept getting stuck in places because I came to some areas in the wrong direction.

Some close-ups of my handiwork




Circuit board went alright if you don't look too close...all a bit wonky but easy enough to do. Have to let go of my perfectionist attitude...looking from afar it looks sort of alright.

The only other issue that I had had to do with the fabric - as soon as I hit the printed area it was really hard to see where I was going because the thread (lightgreen) just merged with the print.

Also, somebody commented on some post re the drape of the quilt (sorry, can't recall where I read that)...I used cotton batting and actually am quite amazed with the lovely light drape this is producing...I also thought that this might all be a bit too dense, however this does not appear to be the case. My scale of the designs is a bit less than half an inch and that seems to work.

I am linking up to Leah Day's Quilt Along Wednesday on the Free Motion Quilting Project. As I changed my day off at work I am always going to be a bit late with the link-up and actually miss the posting of questions, however I do have some today so I am just going to throw them out there.
Questions

- how far do you quilt to the edge of the quilt?
- does anybody have any tips on how to remove blue chalk marks (the variety that is used for dressmaking? The packet says to use a damp cloth which I tried and it does not just dissolve, so I am wondering if it is going to come out at all.
- I have a Pfaff machine and have a drop-in bobbin case - would you use the Magic Bobbin washers with that?

Anyway that's it for me today

Until next time

Karin

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. KARIN! Your quilt is georgeous!!! And I can't tell you struggled with your loops. They look perfect to me! :) I looked at your foot. what kind of sewing machine do you have? Is a slant model? Meaning, do you have to buy slant feet for your machine? My old machine is and I bought a foot very similar. It totally sucked. (sorry) but it did. I did find one available that was metal to fit my machine. I can't remember where I got it online, but I could try to search it for you if that is what you need. It worked sooooooo much better than that cheep plastic square one;) Also, not only is the squareness of the foot hard to deal with, since it's all plastic, it has no stability. You need a metal one, fo sho!!!!

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    1. Replied earlier but under the wrong comment. I have a Pfaff machine...not sure what a slant model is but I have done some exploring re feet on the net. It seems they only have the plastic variety for the springloaded foot. I will need to ask at the sewing shop. Saw on the net though they brought out an echo quilting foot...odd contraption, will have to have a look at it. I think I prefer just a normal round foot.

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  3. You're doing a wonderful job, keep it up.

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    1. Thanks....just noticed I replied to comment above under your comment. Oops, sorry.

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  4. Thanks...yes, this design was just right for the fabric. I really like it. Don't understand what a slant model is...re my machine - I have a Pfaff machine. If you look over at Pat's (Colour Me Quilty Blog), that is exactly what I have got. I think I need to do some research re round FMQ sewing feet. I also got a Sensormatic foot that came with the machine but that is enclosed so it is not that useful. Will have to have a bit of a look around.

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  5. Karin, I absolutely love your quilt. I am wayyyyy behind everyone else. I have not been sewing, and after seeing your quilt, it is giving me that itch again. I sure hope mine goes good like yours.

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  6. I was not going to do this one....however then inspiration struck with this fabric I had. I pieced this together in a week. It is really super fast and I am really happy with the outcome. Almost finished the quilting by now...good fun and lots of learning about the different designs on a bigger scale.

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