Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club 5

I cannot believe I signed up for another ruler club, but I did. The temptation was just too great! There are a few rulers in this lot that I really like and I kept telling myself that this will definitely be the last one. Famous last words...you can find the Ruler of the Month Club details on the Handiquilter website HERE (this includes videos on how to use them)

So here is the first ruler, the small Hexagon Ruler 
The ruler makes a 1 1/2in hexagon and you probably wonder what you can do with this...

I stitched out this little sample to use up my bobbin thread. This is the first time using this ruler and you can definitely see that I initially struggled with aligning the hexagon properly (i.e. first row)         

 The diamonds are supposed to be connecting but somehow I could not get this right until the latter part of the second row. In the next few rows I just played around with different ideas. I particularly liked the fourth row where I shifted the ruler 1/2in along and created this very intricate looking diamond design. Could imagine this in a small sashing. Looks labour intensive but is very easy to stitch out.
After this I stitched the diamond length-wise and then filled it in...lots of options.

Very handy little ruler!                               

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler Of The Month Club 3

Picked up the first ruler of the HQ Ruler of the Month Club 3 - the HQ Hexie 3 Template

This is a bigger chunky ruler, very easy to hold. When stitching inside it will give you a 2 3/4in hexagon.

This was my first play with it

Obviously you can do hexagons with it, with or without echos. Very easy to stitch inside and if you want to stitch a 1/4in echo you just have to shift it over. Alternatively you can use the echo feet set and stitch out your echo that way giving you 3 different options (3/8in, 1/2in or 3/4in echo)...this is very handy. I am planning a hexagon quilt where the hexagons will be 2in on each side, so I would position my ruler in a way that it would align on the points, but shifting it inwards to the required size, if that makes sense.




Then I tried the diamonds...accuracy suffered there on my part and I must have aligned the ruler slightly differently and the diamonds came out somewhat misshapen. Obviously needs a bit more care.



Tried a second time

Managed the first 3 on the right accurately but then started misaligning it again. Later discovered that there is a much easier and sure way to stitch this out by first stitching an upper row of little triangles and than going back and stitching the bottom half...not sure why I did not think of this earlier.

Was impressed with the elongated hexagons and the horizontal hexagons...lots of opportunity to fill that in with all sorts of things and make quite interesting sashing designs. In the end I stitched a row of mini half hexagons...really liked the look of that. In terms of sizing this ruler gives you a lot of options which I like.

So much fun to play around with this...

Karin

Dragging My Feet

Our local Quilt Show was in the beginning of July

My little quilt won 1st place in the Open Category of Other Techniques. Was a bit chuffed with that as this was only meant to be a practice ruler project and the fact that I only used minimal marking to put the design down.

Since then I have been working on my 1000 Pyramid quilt which is in danger of going onto the UFO pile. Doing the Baptist Fan design on it is taking a very long time and is quite fiddly, but I am half way through, so I do not want to give up. Apart from this I am in some sort of hibernation...this usually happens to me after a big quilt show. Maybe it is inspiration overload or just the busy-ness of those days and I start dragging my feet with all sorts of other tasks. I was actually going to retire from work in April however this is just dragging out a bit with no immediate resolution. I guess it is not that easy after all to just walk away after some 30 years! 

I also need to construct new quilt tops and have been playing around with a number of ideas...again, too much inspiration and not enough time. For the moment I am going to construct another ruler quilt as I am again participating in the Handiquilter Ruler of The Month Club (missed no 2, so this will be no 3). Some interesting rulers in that lot

Image from https://handiquilter.me/ruler-of-the-month-club/

So I had a look around what I have got in my stash and found some Hoffman Bali Snaps. Had the hardest time to sort this into a graduated colour scheme

In order to make it wider had to play around a bit in the EQ8 program. Still exploring the upgrade and learning the different layout of the program.

Also still working on the Challenge quilt from our local group...actually already running behind a bit, so I really do need to finish off the 1000 Pyramid quilt!

And what is wrong with Blogger! Why are they not fixing the email notifications that we used to get when somebody commented. Very annoyed with that... please be assured that I do read your comments and will answer via the blog.  

Karin

Absolutely love Ruler Work

I have been working away on the challenge of our local HQ group run by Heather Hopkins.

Absolutely love the ruler work! Getting better at it, bit by bit. For this piece we have so far used the HQ Skinny Ruler, some curved rulers and are currently using the Line Grid Ruler for the corner treatment (not shown).

For the arcs I used the circle ruler set combined with the Echo feet set for the Sweet 16 to get the right size. Bit of an adventure but I managed this in the end. The echo feet set for the machine is amazing, basically 3 feet with different echoes attached...3/8in, 1/2in and 3/4in. This makes is possible to customise your rulers to the size that you need. In my case, I used the 9in circle and attached the 1/2in echo foot to quilt out a 10in half circle. Very useful indeed.

Then I used another arc to create a bit of a swag. For this I used the Pro Echo 12in arc

As you can see I am starting to amass a bit of a collection of rulers to choose from. I did participate in the first Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club that was run by Handiquilter through our local group. This just coincided with my purchase of the machine and I thought this was an easy way to get introduced to quilting with rulers on the machine...6 rulers in 6 months. They then ran a second ruler club and I did exercise some major restraint and did not sign up as I did not want to 'start collecting' rulers. Haha...have just signed up for the third Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club though! There are some very interesting shapes in there that could be useful (it has a 1/4in Line Grid ruler in there!). Reality is I am just addicted to the ruler work...also saw the other day that Angela Walters has brought out another set of her own rulers. Very enticing indeed, hers are particularly useful for quilting on the DSM, I think. In fact, if you look around on the net there is a ruler for just about any shape and given that they are not cheap you really have to have a bit of a think about how often and for what you are going to use these...at least that is what I am trying to do.
I might stitch together another Charm Square quilt for the next ruler club, so that I can practice the new shapes that are coming.

Apart from this I am trying to piece together the backing for my 1000Pyramid quilt. I am so spatially challenged...this always takes me an extraordinary time to figure out how to put this together. There is a free class on Craftsy run by Elizabeth Hartman called Creative Quilt Backs that was quite handy to watch for this exercise...she makes it sound so easy.

 Karin

Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club - The Ditch Ruler

We received our last ruler in the six month series - the Ditch Ruler

It is about 6in long from straight line to straight line and 2.5in wide. See those little knobs at the end? This is similar to the Versa tool, however it is more rounded and the ruler foot just fits neatly into that. 

Well, what can it do? Obviously stitch in the ditch with those knobs being exactly 1/4in...perfect for alignment. I also like this size of ruler as it just fits your hand, something I have found important to me when working with rulers.

Some samples of the curves on the end

The curves fit exactly into a 5in block , but are also easy to use in a 4 1/2in block to make those continuous line designs. I actually found it easier to use than the slice ruler which was the first ruler in the series. Also discovered that it makes a rather nice wavy line which would be perfect as a spine line for feathers in a more narrow border, like you would have on a table runner.

Very nice ruler!

This is the end of the first Ruler of the month club. Handiquilter already has started the Ruler of the Month Club 2 with another six rulers for the next half year. Each month a new ruler is released (via participating retailers) with an accompanying video on the Handiquilter site. Even if you do not have a Handiquilter machine, it is still great information on how to use rulers in general. I did have a really good look at the second Ruler Club but decided to give that a miss as I do not want to start a ruler collection for the sake of it, but concentrate on the rulers that I will most likely use.

Here is a link to the previous Ruler of the Month Club which shows all of the previous rulers. Also, if you want to see them in action there is a very good video with Jane Hauprich as the guest quilter in Handiquilter Live demonstrating how she used all of those rulers in a sampler of designs. All of those rulers are now available for purchase, I believe.

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club - The Mini Oval

This month we got the Mini Oval shape

I like those rulers where you can stitch on the inside and this one in particular sits really nicely in your hand. So I tried a few shapes...beautiful little ruler

Was quite amazed at the different shape I was getting shifting the ruler over a bit using those lines etched on the ruler and all of a sudden getting a pointy leaf shape. This was not obvious to me initially. Really pays to play a bit with the rulers as I discovered with this one.
As I had some time to play a bit during this Christmas break, I did come up with a number of different designs suitable for some small borders or sashings

How useful is this little thing! Using half of the arc gives you 1 1/4in shape. Will be on the lookout for slightly bigger ovals. Had no idea on how useful that simple shape is.

Finished my practice ruler quilt in the last few days. In fact, am spending my time sewing bindings on three different quilts...should have done this ages ago. The quilt turned out great, a bit wobbly in parts as I was learning to use the rulers as well as the machine, but overall I am really happy with my efforts. Have a great selection of weird and wonderful designs on there.

By far my favourite ruler has been the Line Grid ruler

How tidy do those grid lines look...so impressed with that ruler!

There is one more ruler to come which will be a quilting-in-the ditch ruler. At the moment I am using the straight rulers that I have for quilting-in-the-ditch. I really think that quilting-in-the-ditch with the ruler just comes down to practice. Since I got the machine I have done all my ditching with a ruler and feel that it is getting easier...not as clean yet as I can do on my normal sewing machine, but getting there...such a time saver doing it on the Sweet 16 though...definitely prefer it.

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler of the Month -

This ruler for this month is the Line Grid Ruler

Absolutely LOVE this ruler!

Finally the answer to my inability to do a grid just with a ruler. I have tried to do a grid with a straight ruler many times following the markings on the ruler. Without fail my grid ends up visibly inaccurate...just cannot align the ruler properly, it seems. So I was interested in this ruler and whether it would work better for me.

Definitely does!

I managed this simple grid (placed diagonally across) with relative ease and looking at it, it looks accurately spaced at 1/2in intervals and my lines are very straight. This is a bit exciting. While I will still do my larger grids with the stencil I have, for smaller sections this is ideal. The ruler is larger and you have a good grip on it when doing your lines...really like this one. Will try the different angles which are strategically placed across the ruler for ease of alignment next. 

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club - the Swiss Cheese Ruler

Another month has gone by...

This month we were introduced to the Swiss Cheese Ruler

The ruler has three different sizes of circles, i.e. 1/4in, 3/4in and 1 1/4in.

This was a bit of fun playing around with this.

First tried just fitting the circles within lines...not that easy if you have trouble being exact in putting your lines down, but again, I think this is only practice. The circles are easy to do. If you look at the ruler you will notice the opening...in the Westalee rulers they insert a little piece to close that gap. With the HQ rulers that gap can be distracting as the foot sinks slightly into it and creates a bit of a notch. However, if you slow down a bit at that point and concentrate this is not much of an issue and even if you get a bit of a notch it is hardly noticeable.

I did try the 1/4in circles which are tiny, tiny...while they do create beautiful little pearls on a practice piece, I had problems fitting them nicely into my lined up 1/4in space. Personally  I think it is easier to do them freehand. The other two sizes are great though as you will not be able to keep it nice and straight if you were to do them freehand.

The square next to it has the orange peel design done with the 3/4in circle. For that I drew a grid in the square first and put my circles neatly into each square and then completed the overlapping circles. That worked really well and is a good way of doing this design at that size.

Next I did just lines with alternate circles, again at the 3/4in size. 

Really like this design...I used the straight edge of the Slice Ruler to give me a straight line and then just switched to the circles in between. I think I did draw a loose grid in the background first to keep my orientation straight.

And another one

Filled in some of the 1 1/4in circles as this is what they showed on the Handiquilter website. Thought initially that this was quite boring but actually looks really interesting. If you have them all lined up in a border and fill every alternative one, this could look quite good.

Overall really like this ruler as the circles are small enough to be used in blocks, sashings and borders in a variety of ways. While small I know from experience that no matter how careful you are to follow a drawn line, you will not achieve a tidy round circle freehand even at the 3/4in size. The 1/4in circle however is just a tad too small for me and unless I figure out how to align it precisely I probably prefer to do those little pebbles freehand.

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler Of The Month Club - The Skinny Ruler

Picked up the next ruler - the 2x10" Skinny Ruler

If you are wondering what this Ruler of the Month Club is all about, head over to the Handiquilter site and have a look. They have a video for the rulers as they come out each month. Over here in Australia we are a bit behind as we started about a month later.

So, I tried the skinny ruler

Did not find it that easy to use as it is a bit longer than other rulers I tried and if you do not hold it correctly, i.e. move your grip as you go along, it will slip.

The grid gave me the biggest issue...for the life of me I cannot do a grid with a ruler! Kept getting the spacing wrong and for a 1/2in grid any sloppiness in alignment shows severely after a while. So in the end I drew it in and followed the lines with the ruler.

Diamond in a square was easy to do...might just have to get the spacing a bit better.

Enjoyed this one! Just lines spaced 1/4in apart. That was quite manageable and after a while I also managed to stitch along the seam with some consistency with the ruler to get to the next space. So yes, it was getting easier.

More lines and a bit of filling in. That was quite fun to do.

And in the end I did the Paradox on a scrap fabric piece, as I could not get it together on the quilt square as I could not turn the quilt all the time. Definitely more practice needed

What you think of my stitching? I think I am getting more used to the machine...it is all getting a bit easier.

Next ruler is one with lots of little circles...that is going to be interesting.

Karin

Handiquilter Ruler Club - The Slice Ruler

Practising ruler quilting on the Sweet 16

First ruler of the month - The Slice Ruler
My practice ruler quilt is made from charm squares so the finished square is 4 1/2in.

Perfect little ruler...lies well in your hand and is easy to flip around. Very handy for those 'easy' line designs which are just perfect for some quilts. The ruler gives you very precise and neat curves fitting neatly into the square. Still struggling with alignment somewhat but that is just a matter of practice.

Must say that I like the Handiquilter Rulers better than some other rulers. Maybe not on this one however on the other ruler I bought, the Versa Tool, the lines are very intuitive, i.e. just where you need them. Also like the Handigrip patches that you put on them...they are see through and feel a bit like sandpaper, gripping very well.

Karin

Handiquilter Sweet 16

Image from handiquilter.com

So I went for my test drive on the HQ Sweet 16. I have been researching this machine for some time now and also have tried it many times at the local quilt shows over the years. I went to do a bit of a test drive to look at specific issues that were important to me, like
Thread: brought a spool of Aurifil thread with me and ask the lady to stitch with that as this is the thread that I use most of the time; she quickly changed over the thread, did a few adjustments and off we went. Stitched like a dream.
Speed: Obviously I am not used to that level of speed adjustment (from 0 -100%) and did a bit of playing with that, stitching initially at about 30%. Did some swirls at that speed...noticed that my points were very tidy due to the speed. There was no hesitation and stitching a couple of times into the point. Looked much neater overall. One of my main concerns was precision...I can stitch very precisely on my Pfaff 4.2, aligning my needle where I want it to be, stitching back over the same line of stitching in an orderly fashion (in fact I make a bit of a sport out of backstitching into the same hole of the stitching when I get bored with repetitive designs).
Actually quite funny, as I was talking about not being able to reach the hand wheel to align my stitch, I saw that I would not need that due to the visibility that you have. Sitting on my Pfaff QE 4.2 I am looking over to the needle which is a short distance away due to the machine being sunk into the table. On the Sweet 16 I felt that you are looking directly on the top of the needle due to being much closer to the machine...hence no issues with aligning the needle if you want to start at a particular spot. I then played with the different speeds, going right down to 10% to test the backtracking. While this would require some more practice, I found that I could be fairly precise...probably just need to find the appropriate speed for me (10 seemed a bit slow and 15 seemed a tad too fast for backtracking.
Ruler foot: the machine comes with two feet, an open toe foot and a closed ruler foot. They also now have a new Ruler foot (Sure foot) which is a bit higher but I did not try that. I asked the lady for a ruler and played a bit with that, being ever so careful 😀(had visions of breaking their ruler!). That felt obviously very different than doing it on my DSM, so I was a bit extra careful and went super slow. Loved it of course, as the visibility was really good.
Basting stitch: The machine has a basting stitch that you can set for several different intervals. I could have used that for my last wholecloth  (had to hand baste it as I had two layers of batting and going over that with my machine did not work). That was fun to do and I could see a multitude of uses for that. Very handy indeed.
Apart from that I was just playing, so much so that I told the lady I was just playing around and did not need to explore this any further. I have watched a ton of videos and read lots of reviews so I knew the other features of the machine and what was involved for example with the tension adjustments.

Cut a long story short, I put down a deposit and will have the machine in about 2 weeks. I love my Pfaff QE 4.2 and the way it FMQ. I am fairly proficient and have no trouble quilting a quilt on the machine, however my posture and the visibility have been an issue. Posture mainly because my machine is sunk into a Horn cabinet...which is great due to the flat surface, however I am slouching over the machine and no matter what chair I am using I quilt in that slouching position. Given that I quilt for hours this gives me a lot of trouble with my shoulders and back. Visibility on my machine is overall very good, however particularly when quilting with rulers the machine is in the way of seeing how to align the ruler. So you end up looking slightly sideways around the face of the machine...again, not good for the neck and shoulders. That is probably the main reason I started to look at sit down longarm machines. I did see the Simply 16 with the Little Foot frame, however I was pretty clear about not wanting a frame. I am a pretty lazy quilter and the thought of having to clamp a quilt repeatedly onto the frame was just not for me. I reckon that that would drive me crazy. I prefer freedom of movement and do not mind pushing a quilt through a machine.

Anyway, now I need to change rooms to accommodate the machine. While the HQ is not huge, I do want to keep my Pfaff in the Horn cabinet and also want to keep my cutting table and the current sewing room is just too small, so we are going to change one of the bedrooms around and make it into a sewing room. This will still be squishy but I think it will work. Bit of work ahead to move everything over, but I am just happy that I can have a dedicated sewing room.

As luck has it, the sewing shop will participate in the Handiquilter Ruler of the Month Club which will start in August, so I signed up for that as well. This will run over 6 mths with demonstrations and tutorials and you will get a different ruler every month. This will be handy as I only have one ruler at the moment which is the 1/4in thickness required, so this should give me a good selection to start of with.

Super excited!

Karin