LoveBug Studios Blog

Preparing for the Switch...

2011-04-23T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'm planning to switch over to the new site tomorrow, so this will be my last post on Blogger. I'd do it now, except I'm tired, and there are a few things I don't want to have loose ends about that I'll definitely forget because I am groggy.

For those of you just tuning in, I decided on Friday that it was time to bring my website and this blog together on one platform, so that it has a seamless integration and a more professional look. I am totally amazed at what a great template can do for a site.

I've spent all day working on the new site, recreating my content and getting it set up (almost) exactly the way that I want it. There are still a few things to tweak yet, but enough of it is there I think to go public.

Tomorrow, the plan is to:

Change the DNS nameservers for the LoveBugStudios.com site
Establish an RSS feed for the new Blog
Set up Blogger redirects so that if anyone is still coming here, they'll go THERE instead.
Migrate my Google Friend Connect info so my followers don't get lost
Test my PayPal integration (on my website today, I take payments for people when they order a custom quilt or long-arm service, so it's not huge, but I want it to keep working.)

I am really excited about the new site, and just thrilled that I was able to do it myself. I have to give a HUGE shout out to Heather over at Main Street Web Development; I was going to pay her to do everything, but she gave me her honest opinion, that I could do it myself if I were willing to put in a little effort. And so, that enables me to free up some cash for another venture that promises to be HUGE if I stop inventing other things to do, and also will allow me to leverage her skills for the REAL hard work - e-commerce integration over at Quilt Possible!

I disabled commenting over here for now because I don't want to reimport anything else to the new site. See you on the other side!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

P.S. This blog will remain active for quite a while yet; I still have a LOT of images hosted on blogger, and if I shut it off, I will lose a lot of pictures. Hopefully my redirects will work and no one will even get to see this. :)

All the Places I Need to Make My Website and Blog Work

2011-04-23T13:37:00.000-05:00

You know, it wasn't until today that I realized exactly how many places I am using to connect my blog, my website, make my forms work, accept payments, publish photos, manage my email... so I thought I would list them out so you can see what madness this all is:

Ovi.com (a photo storage site I was using in the first 2 years of my website & blog)
Flickr (all new photos, finally broke down & went Pro)
JustHumans.org (form validate to eliminate spam)
CAPTCHA
FeedBurner (for RSS)
Site Meter
Twitter
Facebook (4 pages + personal profile)
Yahoo (3 email accounts)
GoDaddy (5 domains, 2 hosted, 6 email accounts)
Gmail (2 email accounts)
Google Docs
Google Analytics
Issuu (brochures & stuff)
Box.Net (large file sharing)
DreamHost (1 hosting account)
Blogger (5 author blogs)
VistaPrint (newsletter publishing)
Etsy (4 stores)
ArtFire (2 stores)
Networked Blogs
Twitter Feed
PayPal

And that's just to keep the virtual stuff running, not to mention the off-line sites that help me manage my in-person interactions:

Phone People (my toll-free number)
Trust Fax (for my fax service)
Square (credit card processing)
ProPay (credit card processing - haven't decided Square is reliable yet)

It's bananas!! But now that I am moving to the new site I can see a couple of things that I can probably eliminate or consolidate, and one day I'll get the courage to disconnect my fax number despite the thousands of business cards I have printed with the info. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

MAJOR Site Overhaul

2011-04-22T14:02:00.000-05:00

The time has come to bring a more professional, polished, and comprehensive look to LoveBug Studios. I've decided to give up my free Blogger site, and move to my own hosted WordPress installation.

Late last year I talked about consolidating some things, and giving up some others, in order to make room for new and promising things that I want to do. Part of that consolidation is to stop managing my sites across four different platforms - Blogger, WordPress, my own HTML site, and ZenCart.

I've enlisted the help of a super-fantastic web developer, but to keep the cost down, I'll be doing a lot of the work myself. This is quite an adventure for me because it's something I've been talking about doing for years, and only just now deciding to take the plunge.

When I move to the new platform though, it will almost be like starting from scratch. Because my blog address is changing (it will be on lovebugstudios.com), you'll have to follow me again in order to keep my blog content coming to you. I think you'll still be able to add it to a feed reader (or get it through email) but each of you will have some work to do.

I'll keep you posted as I make the changes, and I'll probably keep some bare-bones blog stuff up to point people to the new site for a couple of months at least.

Why I decided that TODAY is the day, I don't know, but now that I've decided to start, I have to keep going.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Custom Quilt - Double Wedding Ring Whole Cloth - Finishing

2011-04-18T07:56:00.000-05:00

Now that the quilt is complete and I know it has been received & loved by the person who commissioned it, I can show you the rest of the quilt!

I also want to point out something that I discovered when I finished this quilt. I knew when I started that the quilt would shrink a little bit in the quilting, but I didn't know by how much. Well when I first cut the wholecloth, I had to label the front & back fabrics so I knew which was which. Here's the label from the quilt top:

Well when I went to square up the quilt, I found that it had already lost 2" in the quilting, and was actually 85" x 85". The quilt was supposed to finish at 84", but I decided not to bother with trimming it down since it was already square. Now this is something for you to note in your own quilts if you send them out for quilting; when they come back, they won't measure the same as when you sent them out, so don't accuse your long arm quilter of cutting off too much of your border if they had to square it up and your quilt has miraculously shrunk 2" or more. I always send trimmings back with the quilts if I have to square them, no matter how tiny.

After the trimming was complete, it needed to be bound. Now, when I first got all the fabric for this quilt, the first thing I did was washed everything. I don't normally do this, but because of the deep brown in the rings and the ivory fabric for the top, I didn't want to take a chance of bleeding or inconsistent shrinkage. Imagine how vexed I was to find that for the binding, I was short two strips and had to cut off more fabric and wash that too! Well while the binding fabric was washing, I took the opportunity to work on a quilt storage bag for the quilt.

I took the larger pieces that had been trimmed off the quilt, and laid them out to figure out how I could arrange them to get a bag that would be big enough. I also wanted to incorporate the embroidery block that I had messed up the cutting on. I trimmed it down to 6-1/2" and got it pieced into the bag fabric. I wanted to see what it would look like so I folded the quilt into it and took a picture:

Yah, somehow I still managed to get the thing off-center still! Well, it serves its purpose and insured that none of the fabric I ordered from this quilt would go to waste.

Next up was to work on the label. A couple of weeks ago I took a piecing class, and in it learned about a product called "do-sew." Apparently it was used for pattern making or some such purpose when stretch knits were all the rage. Well now, I thought I would experiment with it and use it to turn the edges of my quilt label so that I could hand stitch it onto the quilt.

So I laid a piece of do-sew onto the front of the label, and stitched 1/4" around it. Then I trimmed the seam allowance down to 1/8", cut a hole in the do-sew, and turned it inside out:

It was at this point that I discovered that my bamboo point turner has gone MIA, which is quite vexing. (I blame the rounded corners on that fact.) I then trimmed the do-sew close to the seam allowance, which still gives a sealed edge but removes the rest of the do-sew so that it doesn't do any monkey business later.

Here is the front of the label:

And I know someone is going to ask, so I'll just explain why here. When you make quilts for sale, you are required by law to label those quilts with fiber content, origin of materials, and proper care instructions. Quilts are considered bedding and are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Protection Agency (which is part of the FTC.) If you make baby quilts or other items, there are even stricter requirements that you have to follow because of the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) which was a really hot topic last year and the year before when it went into effect. It was the reason why I stopped making baby quilts completely for a while, because it required doing destructive, expensive lead and phtlalate testing on every single piece of material that went into a quilt. You couldn't test the bolt, you had to test the piece you cut off the bolt that was going into that particular quilt. Under what circumstances would lead and plastic find its way into the manufacture of cotton fabric? But I digress. Anyway, the rules are a little better now, but if you're out there selling baby quilts especially, you should get educated on the law.

Ok! So after that little adventure, the binding was washed, dried, cut, and assembled. I attached it to the quilt in the normal way, on the front, to be stitched onto the back, but instead of doing it by hand, I did it by machine. Also, I normally use a straight stitch to attach the binding, but I wanted to try a different stitch to see if I liked it better and if it worked more reliably:

I think it turned out beautifully! This is the view from the front, and you can see how well the thread blends in to the edge. Here's a photo of the back:

Sorry for the terrible shot, but you get the idea. Can you see how the stitch isn't exactly in the same place everywhere? It still looks OK though, and no matter what I've caught the edge. If this were a straight stitch I'd probably have ripped out a few places, but when using the zig zag, I didn't do any ripping at all. I think I'll experiment on a couple of other stitches but I think I may have banished the straight stitch from my binding repertoire for good.

So now that you've seen the little bits & pieces, it's time to reveal the entire quilt! I laid this out in my guest room which has been dubbed the "Paris Room" and has enough room for me to stand back and get a couple of great shots:

I like how this looks in my blue room! I especially like the brown binding, I think it sets off the quilt quite beautifully. Here's a shot of the back:

This was taken of course before the label was put on, but the label was attached to the corner that's at the bottom of the picture.

I really enjoyed working on this quilt and the challenge it presented. I really hope that when it is presented as a gift that the couple enjoys it and has a happy marriage to boot!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Custom Quilt - Double Wedding Ring Whole Cloth - Quilting

2011-04-13T08:29:00.000-05:00

Today's post is all about the quilting that I did for this quilt. I think it provides a lot of lessons about handling large quilts with wide open spaces!

I got this quilt loaded on the frame, and then quickly realized that I would need to take it off the frame. Why?

Well, first of all, I hadn't quite decided exactly what I was going to do before loading the quilt, and once I realized what had to be done, I had no choice but to take it off the frame soon after it was loaded.

If you're doing a wholecloth quilt (or something very close to one like this is), you really need to mark the quilt unless you're just going to do an allover pattern from edge to edge and top to bottom. I can't do this because of the rings in the center.

Second, since I appliqued the DWRs to the quilt, and I couldn't quilt right over them (because of the color change from dark, to light, to medium, and the embroidery) I needed to define them better in the quilt. The best way to do this is with stitch in the ditch. On the long arm this can be accomplished with rulers, which I initially tried, but this was extremely painstaking work when you don't have a ruler with a curve that matches what you are doing.

So what I decided to do was take the quilt off the frame and do the stitch in the ditch at my tabletop machine.

To have any hope of getting the quilt back on the frame after it's been partially quilted, I needed to baste the quilt completely. I did this with a big serpentine stitch:

I prefer basting with a serpentine stitch rather than a straight line because you get more coverage with fewer stops and starts. I also realized that these machines really do only like quilting from left to right - lots of thread breakage when I tried to go the other direction really fast & really long. The thread I'm using by the way, is So Fine #402 in the top and bottom. The quilt is an ivory color, and this seemed to blend in the best.

Once the quilt was basted, I took it to my Viking to do the SID work. I took an extra bobbin that I had wound for Darcy, took a bit of it to wind a bobbin for the Viking, and then used Darcy's bobbin as the top thread:

This just insured I had a perfect thread match. This exercise made me realize two things: that I hate working with large quilts on a table top machine, and that it's a good thing I have Darcy or this quilt would never have gotten finished.

I decided to do a pantograph design for this quilt instead of custom free motion. I mentioned this earlier about keeping the customer's budget in mind when you work on these quilts. I quoted this project to be a certain amount, and I have to make it work within that budget. Needless to say, pantographs are not necessarily a bad thing - they have their applications and uses and I am glad to have a nice selection to pull from. This design is actually one that I was saving for my French Liberty quilt, but it works out well on this quilt too:

Now because of the rings in the center, I actually quilted this in a different order than I would normally. I marked about 2" away from the rings along the top and bottom, and then I quilted the top half (from the rings to the top) and the bottom half (from the rings to the bottom.) To do the first row, I needed to identify where the rings fell on the pantograph, and mark that on the pattern:

Where the rings fell in the pattern, I then modified the path of the design so that it was still continuous and blended into the design. To mark the rings, I used the hopping foot of the machine and my needle up/down to mark points along the curve, and drew dots on the grid where the laser light fell. Then I connected the dots to mark the curve. I gave myself plenty of room when drawing the new path so there was no chance of running over the rings. Here's what it looked like stitched out:

As I went, I removed the basting stitches, which is a pain in the neck (literally) but a necessary evil. You don't want to stitch over the basting because that just makes it doubly hard to get out later. Also, I didn't want the basting to stay in longer than it needed to, because I didn't want the holes left by the basting stitches to be more difficult to close.

Now with the top half and bottom half stitched, I needed to address the sides of the rings:

For this, I again identified the edge of the rings and centered a row of the pantograph on the quilt. Then, because there was a gap at the top and bottom, I just did a couple of curly loops to blend in the sections. So tell me, if I hadn't pointed it out, do you think you would have noticed that filler stitch?

After that, it was time to address the rings themselves. The two outer rings didn't have any design at all, so I wanted to put something in the center. I have a matching block that goes with this pantograph, so initially I tried to use the design as a pantograph. This didn't work out so well:

It ended up being extremely off-center, so I needed to work this from the front of the machine. I ripped out the original stitches, traced the block pattern onto Golden Threads paper, and pinned it to the quilt. This way I could watch the stitches as I went and make any corrections that were needed:

I traced it using white chalk, because I know this doesn't stain the quilt if the powder gets on it:

After stitching it, I just pulled off the paper. It's so much better to have it properly centered!

Now you're probably thinking I would leave the embroidered center alone, but I did not. The quilt needs to be just as beautiful & well thought-out on the back as it is on the front, so the embroidered block needed to have a design too. To get the right effect, I swapped out the top thread with MonoPoly, which is Superior's monofilament thread. I had to make a tension adjustment, but the MonoPoly just blends into the front, while giving a consistent design on the back. Here's a close up of the rings from the front:

And a view from the back:

And here's the quilt coming off the long arm:

In another post, I'll talk about the finishing process for this quilt and some other goodies!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Finalist in AccuQuilt's Barn Quilt Contest

2011-04-12T13:50:00.000-05:00

Cool!

I'm a finalist in the AccuQuilt Barn Quilt Contest. Would you mind voting for my block to get closer to the winner's circle? Click the photo to go to the voting!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

More Feathers...

2011-04-05T08:12:00.000-05:00

There was a show new to Chicago called the "Sewing and Quilting Expo" that was here last weekend, and I had the opportunity to take more classes and continue my feather exploration. I took a total of 3 classes - one was an applique class where I learned a new method to applique circles, and the other two classes were on the long arm. I was fortunate to have signed up for a class called "Feathers for the Feather Phobic" and I'm really glad that I did because I learned a third way to make feathers!

I don't know for sure which method I like better, but I can see where they would all have their different applications. The neat thing about making these feathers is that they don't incorporate any backtracking and they don't have to be connected together.

Here are a few photos from my sampler. The basic feather looks like this:

The things you have to watch out for is to make sure you "hook" around deep enough to form the shape, and that you leave yourself enough room to bounce back out of the hook.

Once you get that method down, you can start to vary them. Here's one variation with spirals:

Here's another variation with multiples stacked on top of one another, and a different flourish at the tips:

I had a lot of fun trying the different techniques. I personally find this one easier to do than the other methods I've learned, but it could be that because I had the fortune to take the other class first at Handi Quilter (and so closely to this one) I was able to adapt more quickly to the movement.

The instructor gave me a very nice compliment too - she asked if I'd considered teaching, because I'd be good at it. I was going around helping other people with the machines and their feathers. We were working on the Gammill Vision (a fussy machine if I EVER saw one, and so glad I didn't get it & got Darcy instead!)

Once I got the hang of it, I started combining techniques - stacking rooster combs, combining with spirals... the possibilities are virtually limitless.

We ran out of time to do shapes, but I did manage to try to fill a large triangle. Let's just say that one is gonna take a lot more practice. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

WHY? An Artist's Manifesto (Part 1)

2011-04-02T00:07:00.000-05:00

First, I have zero expectations that anyone will actually read this post (or any subsequent related posts) entirely. I was going to write this out by shorthand, then I was going to type it in Word, and then decided if I'm going to pull out the computer anyway, I may as well post it to my blog. I fully expect this to be a loooooong post, 99% text unless I can break it up visually with some completely non-related photos, and the only reason I'm calling it "Part 1" is that I don't really even know if I can write the entire thing in one sitting.

I've borne witness to some pretty public (entertaining, shocking) meltdowns recently - via Facebook, Blogland, and even Amazon of all places. If I were an emoticon, I would be the smiley with the confused look and the question mark over its head, for as many times I have asked "why" and shook my head at the sheer cuckoo-ness of people & what they are willing to reveal about themselves in a moment of extreme emotion.

Before you all turn into confused emoticons yourselves, let me assure you that this post isn't going to be of the meltdown kind... maybe you could consider it as a melt-UP. An epiphany of sorts, a eureka moment, the "aha" that I came to today, when I least expected it. And right now, I'm actually in the midst of it, so I haven't had the benefit of thinking this all the way through. I'm thinking about it as I write it, so maybe some of you may actually get a sick thrill out of reading through the process of someone awakening to themselves and their own personal "why."

If you're still reading (why?) perhaps a little background might be in order.

A couple of years ago, I was asked to create an artist statement for a show I was exhibiting. I racked my brains for days trying to come up with something profound. The first sentence of my artist statement says, "I create because I MUST." It's a simple statement, very cliche, very trite perhaps too... but to me, it was the deepest expression of how I felt. Not creating because I "have to", but creating because I "must." There's such a subtle difference between these two statements. To me it is not a choice that I make, to create or not, like it's an obligation that I've resigned myself to. The only reason I even have a sense of the difference is because I've personally felt "have to" versus "must." "Have to" has names, like things I've promised, obligations I've created, deadlines I've set, quantities I've defined. "Must" is for things like this, where I can't simply go to bed, even though I'm dead-dog bone-tired, my feet hurt, my back aches, and yet the words are pouring out through my fingers like a sieve.

More recently, I was asked to read a book called the "Nibble Theory," in which you are asked to find your kernel, your center, the "stuff" at the core of your being that stays with you wherever you go. In order to help you find this kernel, you have to start asking "why?" In the face of that, a statement like "I must" just doesn't stand up to further scrutiny, because as soon as someone asks me, "Why must you?" all I can come up with is a blank stare and a half-hearted shrug. I don't know why. I haven't really dug that deep. Probably because what I really, really fear is finding out that maybe my well doesn't run that deep and I'm not all that profound or complex or worthy of the answer. Just a sampling of the questions the book asks of you to help in your exploration:

What are your strengths? The ones you were born with, not the ones you've learned.
Why are those strengths important to you?
What makes you say that?
Why?
What is at your center?
Why is this important?
What is your kernel?

It certainly seems a bit repetitive, but it's like a constant probing of reasoning and explanation until you reach the bottom of the well, regardless of how deep it ends up being.

About a day after reading this book (and if you're interested, this is a quick read - if you went to B&N you'd probably finish the book before reaching the cash register) I had dinner with a friend and mentor, and she asked me basically the same question, "Why?" She wanted to know why I create. She said that if I could come up with the answer to that, I'd probably see a clearer path forward than I do now. But asking "why" is easy - answering "why" is a lot harder.

Maybe some of you think I'm nuts because as you read my blog or look back at the highlights, clearly I must be moving forward because things are getting finished, goals are getting checked off, happy little surprises keep happening, and it seems like I'm moving forward because I am getting things DONE. Where you see forward progress, I see circles. Even though I am finishing stuff, it's really a drunken walk through a parade of UFOs and to-do lists, and everytime I ask "why?" I find myself back at the beginning. So please don't envy or covet my ability to pack 30 hours into every 24-hour cycle; the reason I do this is because I have to (yes, HAVE TO) keep asking "why" and the answer is unacceptable. So I do something else to see if the answer can be found in that activity, and when I ask "why" I go back to the beginning again. It's completely unfocused and random. I get an awful lot done, but I don't know why, and so in that, the effort seems pointless, because it's not leading anywhere.

Don't misunderstand me... you can create a very full life and feel very busy and engaged, needed and appreciated without having a grasp on "why" you are here - what your purpose in life is, what makes you tick way down deep. In the bigger scheme of things, one quilt block delivered on time on a Thursday doesn't necessarily send waves of transformation across the universe, though it might make a very small handful of people extremely pleased for a short period of time. I do get a thrill from doing that, but that one moment, that one exertion from me is just the physical manifestation of the "why" I have yet to discover or articulate in anty meaningful way. It's not connected to anything bigger. Well, it is, but I don't know what the "bigger" is yet, so from my view, it's not connected. Ugh - I think I just made some circular logic. Philosophers would love me.

Ok, at this point, I am so tired that my eyes are crossing and I actually may fall asleep typing this. There are so many typos that I seem to do twice as much correcting as I do typing. That won't do for composing a coherent manifesto, so why don't I continue this in the nect post. It ptobably doesn't matter whether I do or don't since no one is reading ayway (and if you are.... :))

Part 2 sometime tomorrow.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Conquering My Nemesis: Feathers on the Long Arm!

2011-03-30T08:47:00.000-05:00

When I first got Mr. Darcy, my feathers looked like this:

I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I was in for a steep learning curve. People told me to practice drawing. I did - for a little bit... but that only proved to me that I couldn't draw them either. I watched videos, read some books, drew some more... a couple of folks suggested that maybe feathers weren't my "thing" and not do them, and then I developed a complete mental block over feathers because I told myself over and over how much I could not do them. So far I've refused to put any feathers on a quilt - not even by pantograph.

Well, since this is the year of HONE (my word for the year) I've decided once & for all to tackle my fear and try to remove the mental block. So this week, I'm attending a course called "Advanced Techniques" offered by HandiQuilter, and then on Friday I'll be attending a class at the Sewing & Quilting Expo called "Feathers for the Feather Phobic." Yup, that's me!

So in my advanced techniques class, first we focused on micro-quilting. We spent the day working on a little microquilting sampler with different designs in each, and a special set of handles. Maybe I'll remember to actually take a photo of them so you can see them in action! I don't own them myself... yet, but I can definitely see where they will come in handy. Here is a picture of my sampler before I took it off the machine:

These squares are 3" - so that should give you a little bit of an idea of how small each element is. I couldn't help pulling something out of the Leah Day manual and adding to my sampler in the lower right. :)

One of the things we learned is how to mark the quilt using different marking tools. Getting comfy with chalk, stencils, and different marking pens was one of the goals. I normally hate marking quilts with anything but sidewalk chalk but I think the lightbulb went on that experienced quilters didn't get that way by not marking, and sometimes you need to do it to get the effect you want. I also learned that microquilting can cause you to lose 6-8" across a quilt - WOW! Whenever you microquilt, that should always be the last thing you do, after the rest of the quilt is stabilized and you've marked out the areas where the microquilting will go.

Anyway, as fascinating as this all is, the point of me getting up early, before class, to post - is to show you my feathers!

On Monday afternoon, we sat down to draw feathers. The instructor drew them on the board showing how - we tried feathers with spines in a border, on a curvy spine, in a square, diamond, and triangle... and that darn mental block was super stubborn! I was nearly in tears (literally!) because I get frustrated when something doesn't come easily to me. Then we tried a little bit of McTavishing, and that made me nearly cry too because I know that it's just free curves and echoing, but for some reason I couldn't get that either. I think I was just really tired - microquilting is no joke. Those 19 squares you see took nearly 7 hours to do, and after you do all that, you're just really not ready for anything else but dinner.

After getting back to the hotel, I tried practicing drawing feathers, but I kept getting stuck, and with no one around to help, I just gave it up as a lost cause and went to bed.

The next morning, I went down for breakfast, and was trying to practice. One of the ladies (SanDee - a sweetheart if you ever knew one) sat down at my table and coached me everytime I got stuck. I'd stop and say, "I'm lost!" And she'd talk me through it. Eventually... a breakthrough!

Yesterday, we had to create a sampler using rulers, stencils, and freehand feathers... on black fabric with a thick, loud thread. Quilting with thick thread is like drawing with a felt tip marker - every hesitation or missed line shows up like you wouldn't believe.

My first feather was pretty scary looking (ok - all of them were scary) but as I practiced, my confidence grew. I started to feel more comfortable with it. I'm still not very good at it, but I'm better than I was, and I actually love embellishing the feathers - it hides mistakes like you wouldn't believe! So here are a couple of photos of some of my feathers:

At the very top on the left is a feather that was created from a stencil. I still had to freehand them to a certain extend because a lot of the chalk had rubbed off, and I couldn't see where they were. When you make feathers this way there's a fair amount of backtracking over things you've already stitched, and I don't have enough feather practice to always hit the line - and you can see that.

The feather on the lower left was also a stencil, and I went around the design once to create the design, then went back over it again to add the embellishments and the center design. You can see how thick my backtracking stitches are around the paisley!

On the right are swags created from a ruler (I'm actually pretty good at ruler work) and then feathers I freehanded by using the swag as a spine. I had a couple of "oopsies" but overall those were really fun to do & made me feel like I could put feathers anywhere.

Feathers also tend to look better the next day - when you're not standing over them stressing about a missed backtrack. If I were using a thinner thread that didn't contrast so much, I'm pretty sure they'd look even better.

There's a sign in the classroom that says something about the pursuit of excellence being of real worth, and the pursuit of perfection as a colossal waste of time because there is no joy in that kind of effort. I need to copy down that quote because it really puts things in perspective.

Here is another feather:

So what do you think? Have I had a complete feather makeover? Anybody itching to have feathers on their quilt?

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Roses & Sunshine in the Studio!!!

2011-03-19T20:40:00.001-05:00

Ugh - I hate migraines. I know that's a terrible way to start a post, but it's kept me pretty subdued for most of the day. Now that I'm feeling a little better, I wanted to share my news!

AccuQuilt recently contacted me and extended an invitation to be the very first independent designer with downloadable patterns on their site. They still have a little ways to go before they can take on my paid patterns, but I jumped at the opportunity to get exposure for myself and for my budding venture that is Quilt Possible.

Feedback so far has been phenomenal and I have renewed energy to continue on this path. More great things are coming... I can feel it!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: Return to Sender

2011-03-18T00:29:00.000-05:00

You know, I really debated whether to post this or not tonight, because I don't want to end up sounding like a witchy, spiteful harpy. In the end, I decided this particular incident was worth sharing because... well, quilting isn't all roses and sunshine. Now, mind you... I do still hold some things back. There's a difference between sharing the good/bad/ugly and just plain gossiping. I hope that I have enough sense not to embarrass someone or make them feel ashamed when I post something, or air my dirty laundry just so I can say I'm being open and transparent. You guys don't get EVERYTHING but you get enough; but in this case, I just think it's worth telling my side of this story (as far as I can see it) in case anyone ever has a question about the way I run my business.

Let me bring everybody up to speed: last fall, I decided to invest in a long arm machine, and after reading a lot of forums and information, the consensus was that you needed to get about 200-300 hours quilting on it before you could start taking in customer projects. Well, with all the things I have going on, I knew that there's no way I could make quilt tops fast enough to get in that much practice. I decided that to accelerate the learning process, I needed to practice on quilts that other people have made. So between October 15 and December 1, I decided to offer "free" quilting to anyone who sent their quilts in by the deadline, and agreed to follow my rules. I thought it would be fun (and for the most part it has been) and I'd learn a lot in a short period of time (which I have already.)

Now one of the very, very basic rules that I asked people to follow was to not send me anything in expectation of a delivery date. You get it when you get it, as I can fit them in with the other things I'm doing, and working around the clients who pay me to make quilts for them. Of course anyone has the option to ask me to return their quilt at any time (no harm, no foul) or could pay me to do the quilting (price list is here) and immediately jump to the front of the list. I have NEVER missed a customer deadline; I've always tried to accommodate people, and when I make a mistake I own up to it and correct it to the best of my ability.

I feel like I've been making pretty good progress at a decent pace on my quilting. Since the deadline was December 1, NO ONE was getting quilted before then. I did want to practice on a couple of mine first before digging into someone else's quilt, plus I needed to order thread (so much cheaper to order 30 spools at once than one spool every other week, trust me), Darcy needed surgery, I had Fall Market to attend and get out the Christmas orders. I've been getting about two free quilts done a month, in addition to the 2-3 customer & studio projects. That's a quilt every week, which isn't bad for someone holding down a full-time job and running another company too!

But something happened today that is just beyond the pale, and I'd like to explain what happened and how I handled it, because I'm pretty sure that someone else, somewhere, will have to deal with a difficult situation, like this, and wonder how someone else might handle it in the same position. So here's the story.

Back in November, I got a phone call from someone who found out about the free quilting offer, and asked if she could drop off her quilts and get on the list. At the time, I was at Fall Market, so I told her she could drop them off at my mailing office and I'd pick them up when I got back. I also gave her a brief summary of the rules but told her I would email her the complete information so she would know what was up.

I did that, thought everything was fine, and continued bopping along. Regular readers know that I post at least 1-2 times a week about what's going on in the studio, who's up next, who just got done, etc. Well, this person isn't on the computer very much, so she asked me to just email her when they got done. No problem!

You all know that I have 30 free quilts to do. Some are gonna be done early, some later, and some in the middle somewhere. I do want everyone to get their quilts back by Christmas, so I expect to pick up the pace a little more in the summertime - but in the mean time, I'm just bopping along.

She emailed me again about a month later (gosh - how fast time flies!) and asked if her quilts were done. So I said no... but offered the option to send them back if she was in a hurry, or said she could pay for the quilting & go right to the front of the list. She declined and just said, "I don't want you to forget about me." Nope, I won't! I have 30 to do... they are all hanging in the closet nice & neat... not gonna get lost or forgotten... So I continued bopping along!

Now... fast forward to today. I was out running errands and stopped by the local quilt shop to show off my magazine submission quilt. One of the ladies in the shop told me that this woman had called them, asked if they'd heard of me, and then proceeded to complain to them about how long I'd had her quilts.

WHA?!?!?!

Can I just express how annoyed I was at that? I mean, on one hand... YES I've had everybody's quilts for a long time and I do feel guilty about keeping people waiting... but on the other hand, I have been completely up front and open with everyone, I'm sharing what I'm learning, I'm showing progress, and I'm not holding anybody's quilt hostage. As long as everybody is cool and in agreement still, we can continue on; the minute someone is not cool and no longer wants to wait, all you have to do is ask me for your quilt and I am HAPPY to oblige.

But calling local companies where I do business, to badmouth me, when I'm not doing anything wrong? That's just so... so... NOT COOL. And it makes me sad to have my reputation marred because someone decided to take a passive-aggressive approach and talk about me behind my back, meanwhile sending me sweet little emails with smiley faces and wishing me a good day in the sunshine. How many other places has she called to sully my name, where I don't know the people well enough to be able to overcome her smear?

So... tonight, I wrote a very professional email to her, letting her know how saddened I was to hear from someone else how unhappy she was, and in order to prevent any further anxiety or unhappiness, I was packing up her quilts and sending them back unfinished at my own expense. I sealed the box this evening, put it by the door for my errand running tomorrow, and can honestly say I haven't felt such relief at sealing a box containing unfinished work since I sent off the Queen Sized Monstrosity last year to someone else to quilt. :)

I've taken away several things from this situation, which I'll summarize here:

ALWAYS remain professional. Sometimes your first inclination isn't always the best. I've probably slipped up more than once in this post. Maybe I'm being a little passive-aggressive & hypocritical too by sending a professional email but blasting her on my blog. So, do as I say, not as I do. :)
Know when to cut your losses. Difficult customers are rarely worth the trouble it takes to keep them. I'm not suggesting that lodging a complaint makes one a difficult customer, but the way people handle conflict and disagreements usually gives you a good idea of what to expect in the future. If someone behaves like this when your services are free, imagine what it would be like once they actually give you money and the expectations are different.
Don't start none, won't be none. Because from time to time, I have to demonstrate that I am, indeed, turning into my mother as I get older. But for me what this really means in this situation is that - if you don't allow people to treat you like crap when they are paying you, don't put up with it when you're giving away your time, talent, and energy either. There's just too much negativity in the world already to willingly allow yourself to be a source, conduit, or recipient of it.

Now... some really awesome roses & sunshine DID happen today, but I'll save that for a separate post because I don't want to remember both events as tied together in any way.

And if you've made it this far... what do you think? How might you have handled the situation?

And if you're someone who has a quilt with me and now you're too scared to ask for it back - don't be. I realize that Christmas is potentially a really long time to wait to see your quilt again, and it's ok if your sense of adventure and mystery is on a very short leash. I promise not to blast you if you ask me, but if you call my local quilt shop instead of me... all bets are off. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

African King, Making Repairs, and Procrastination

2011-03-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

I have a client who recently returned from a trip to Ghana, and she brought this wonderful piece of fabric back for me to turn into a king sized quilt as a wedding gift for a friend.

I would never, EVER have dreamed of taking this on before I got Mr. Darcy, so I can absolutely say with confidence that having him has made an impact on my business in a very positive way.

This fabric panel is hand-stamped; it is not printed on-grain (nor is the design straight!) and so squaring it up is a bit of a challenge. I just did the best that I could so as not to lose too much of it in the squaring, because I need to add borders to bring it up to king size.

The panel measured about 63" x 95". The client wanted a narrow green border all the way around, and then a creamy white border along the sides for the drop.

The first border is 4-1/2". Even though I cut this on the lengthwise grain, I still had to piece the longer sections because my yardage wasn't quite long enough:

For the white border, this is cut at about 15" on the straight grain. This is not pieced as the yardage was enough. This brought the quilt up to about 102" x 113".

Even though this quilt didn't need a lot of piecing, it still took several hours to work on. Pressing a panel that large plus all the yardage for the borders, squaring it, cutting out all the pieces, and pinning the borders on is pretty time consuming. I'm finding that the sewing isn't what takes the longest - it's all the prep work before & in between!

My client selected a beautiful chocolate batik fabric that I had to special order from Sew Batik. There's about 6 yards of this fabric, and it had to be washed in Synthrapol to remove excess dye & shrink it. Good thing I have a giant washer!

So imagine my dismay at finding a large hole right smack in the middle of this fabric while I was pressing it:

Sometimes this kind of thing happens with yardage, and you have to make a call about whether or not the fabric is salvageable. I thought showing you how to undertake a repair in a ripped fabric would be very illustrative, so I'm taking this as a teachable moment. You'll need to make your own decision about your own projects and whether or not you can live with a repair in the fabric.

Since this is a hand-dyed fabric, I needed to find a piece of the fabric that mimicked the coloration in the surrounding area as closely as possible.

I cut a square patch that was about 1" bigger than the hole, all the way around. This fabric I adhered to a piece of Misty Fuse (if you ever use Misty Fuse, always keep the little trimmings as they come in handy for little things like this!) MF is an extremely lightweight fusible that really doesn't change the hand of the fabric very much, so it's great for things like this. I then fused the piece over the hole, matching the coloration, and stitched with a very narrow zigzag around the edge. Here's a up close photo of the repair:

I know you're thinking - that's so obvious! I can see it! But that photo was taken about 2" from the patch. Here's one from about a foot back:

And here is one from about 3 feet back:

Can you see it? When I took it off the sewing machine after making the repair, I couldn't find it, and I had to literally drape it over myself like a tent and hold it up to the light to find where the patch was so that I could photograph it.

So you tell me... given what you've seen, would you use this in a customer quilt, or no? Sew Batik doesn't take returns once you cut into a fabric (I'd already hacked off a section to make the binding) so I'd have to reorder.

Well, other than the snag with the backing, I already know exactly what thread I'm using and how I'm going to quilt it, so I don't have any issues there - I just need a break in my schedule to quilt it.

Now, whenever I get super busy, stressed out, or I just don't feel like working on all the pressing projects that demand my attention (like now, I'm supposed to be going to bed "early" but I think that just means before midnight) I work on something fairly pointless and unimportant. I have been collecting black & white fat quarters and fat eighths for a while now, and I had stuck them in a basket and called them a "project". So I finally cut them all up into squares and rectangles of various sizes, so now this project is ready to be used for leaders & enders! It's a Take 5 pattern with a twist.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Attaching the Rings to the Double Wedding Ring Whole Cloth

2011-03-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

I decided this weekend that I needed to make major progress on this wholecloth quilt so that I could get it ready for the long arm. For that to happen, I had to figure out a way to get the double wedding rings attached to the quilt.

One idea was to square up the double wedding ring, and then piece that into the whole cloth. I quickly rejected that idea though, because having gone to the trouble of acquiring extra wide fabric for a whole cloth quilt, it seems a little insane to chop it up into various bits and pieces. Plus, I know that my piecing wasn't perfect, and the idea of doing the math and paper templates to figure out the curve along the edge just did not appeal to me.

So the next logical answer was to treat the double wedding rings like an applique and stitch it to the quilt.

I mentioned previously having messed up one of the embroidery stitch-outs early on in the process; the reason for the error was because I did not check that the embroidery was centered in the block before I cut it. That is really goofy in hindsight, and I should actually learn to trust the little voices in my head - particularly the one that piped up just as I was putting the mat over the die and said, "Are you sure you wanna do that? What if it's not centered?" Of course, I have another louder & more obnoxious voice that replied, "Of course I am! What, do you think I'm stupid? I pinned it!"

So having discovered that I did indeed cut the embroidery off-center (because I cut according to the center of the fabric, not the center of the embroidery), I determined not to make the same mistake twice - at least not on the same quilt. I think I need little signs posted all over the studio that say, "Is it CENTERED? Really?" because I seem to make this mistake a lot, and not all of these mistakes can be recovered.

Anyway, so I wanted to explain that first, in order to introduce the topic of how one goes about centering an applique in a whole cloth quilt.

First, you need to make sure your quilt top is square, which I did a couple of weeks ago. It certainly doesn't hurt to check it again though; that's probably the start of another studio sign ("Is it SQUARE? Really?)

Once you know the quilt is square, you need to mark off centering lines that are equally spaced across the quilt. Since I hate drawing on quilt tops with anything but white chalk, and white chalk being impractical for a white quilt, I opted to mark it by creasing the quilt. First, in half width-wise:

The crease is on the left. I press as I go, advancing the quilt top to get to the next section and making sure I'm keeping the edges square as I go. I used starch to aid in this process. I actually mix my own starch, and many people have asked me what's the concentration I use. So here's a picture:

Fair warning: this is a heavy, stiff starch at 3 cups water, 2 cups liquid starch. I shake it before using it to keep it evenly distributed. Yes, I've tried Best Press, but that stuff is pretty pricey for as much as it needs to be used. As soon as my current BP bottle is empty, in will go a homemade starch mixture, because I like the spray nozzle on that bottle better. :)

Ok, on to the centering! After folding it width-wise, I then folded it in half lengthwise, and then in half again:

Creasing these folds too. This gave me good reference points for the applique.

Next up is to press under the raw edge of the DWR all the way around. I did this by sight & by feel, easing around curves and tucking in some places where the piecing was not perfect:

(Yah, I know I swore off Rowenta, but this one is ok as long as you don't put water in it. I'm still debating what new iron/steam generator to get.)

Now with that task done:

It's time to pin the DWR to the quilt. I unfolded the quilt onto my cutting table. I spread it out so that the ring was easy to reach and I could get a smooth surface all the way around. I marked the centers of each ring all the way around, and then aligned them with the centering lines on the quilt top:

Smooth, smooth, smooth! That's my advice. It's like basting a quilt top, pin the centers, pin the ends; find the center between those pins, and keep pinning in that manner all the way around. I actually alternated pinning, moving to the very center of the ring, pinning it, then moving to the inner arcs, then finally to the outer arcs. It was a very time consuming process but necessary to make sure the DWR stayed flat and centered. I didn't count the pins, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were a hundred or more:

Next, stitch choice and thread choice. The thread choice was pretty simple - it had to be a monofilament. If I were doing this by hand, I probably would have used chocolate brown and used a blind stitch, but I am not a hand quilter (except for binding, and even that is rare these days.)

The monofilament I chose was MonoPoly by Superior Threads. This is usually for my long arm, but it's great for this application because I know that it is strong, heat resistant, and won't yellow or turn brittle over time. It's also super-thin, so it virtually disappears in the fabric, which is what this application calls for.

For the stitch, I wanted something that would travel around the edge and just catch the applique. I chose a narrow blanket stitch for that purpose:

I'm also using an open toe embroidery foot so I can see exactly where the needle is going:

I try to take out the pins just before I come to them. I decided to use a 70/10 needle, and it is NOT forgiving when it comes to running over pins. :) I am also constantly checking the quilt to make sure there isn't a piece of it tucked under the applique and getting stitched to itself. This is actually a pretty precarious stitching situation: with all the pins sticking out here there and everywhere, it's not about whether or not you will stab yourself, but rather how many times & with how much blood in the process. It is literally... painstaking work. :)

I went all the way around the outside ring in a continuous blanket stitch:

And then I stitched the inside ring using a straight stitch, and finally picked up a couple of points that weren't continuous. In some places, I did actually stitch on top of the ring rather than in the ditch; this helped me to secure some spots where my piecing wasn't perfect. I tried to be consistent all the way around - so that it didn't look too willy-nilly. Although the stitches are fairly invisible from a distance, if you were to look closely, you'd probably find my little boops and bobbles.

After a couple of hours (I lost track) here is the result!

Now I get to prep it for the long arm, and over the next week or so, agonize over the quilting pattern and thread choice. I'm pretty sure that I'll be stippling this, but at what size I'm not quite sure yet.

Your next question is "why stipple?" Well, I know that whole cloth quilts are typically covered in feathers and all sorts of complex shapes, and if this were my quilt, I might think about doing that. But the other consideration of design that I don't think I've discussed up to this point is the budget of the client. Adding heirloom designs and pulling off really dense complex quilting is time consuming, and time is money. I have happily wasted both time and money of my own, but I tend to be a lot more considerate when it comes to other people, and making sure that they get a good value for what they pay.

I'm actually thinking about a stipple design that is very dense in the center and then gradually radiates out into a looser and looser stipple as it works out toward the edges. In order to do that and pull it off, I'm going to need to float the quilt top so that I can roll the quilt back and forth as I go. This is one quilt where I may actually elect to start quilting in the center and work my way out. I cut the quilt top at 87" to start, and I'm expecting to lose about 4-5" in the quilting and squaring by the time I'm done. This will be quite an adventure, eh?

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Progress In the Studio on Several Fronts...

2011-03-13T07:11:00.003-05:00

While the day was progressing, it felt like I was just treading water, but looking back I actually did accomplish a fair amount today, and advanced several projects.

I've been working on a semi-secret project called "The Year of the Dragon" which I can't show you photos of at this time, but I can tell you a little bit at least about the progress I've made.

For this quilt I decided to cut into my precious stash of Kona Bay Fabrics. I am really a connoisseur of fabrics from the East - Aboriginal prints from Australia, Batiks from Indonesia; Silk Taffeta from Thailand, rescued Kimono fabric from Japan, and really anything with an Asian theme. Kona Bay specializes in Asian print fabrics from talented Japanese designers, and I covet every square inch I can get my hands on.

Since my collection is growing but my room to store it is not, I decided to sacrifice about 15 fat quarter lengths to the cause. As I started putting the quilt together, I started to seriously dislike some of my fabric choices (which incidentally were not Kona Bay) and decided to search for alternatives. Luckily my search coincided with the Kona Bay Annual Six Yard Bolt Sale, and I was able to scoop up some of these:

I'm 100% certain these will go a lot better in my quilt than the previous options!

With that fabric ordered, I made significant progress on one of my wedding quilt commissions:

Which I blogged about in this post.

Another project which was just eating at me to finish was the late block from my Studio Quilt Along. It was supposed to be posted on Thursday, then Friday, then Saturday, and finally, well... let's just say it's first on my list for this Sunday morning. :) I had a hectic week, and then remembered that although I'm calling it "Block 3" there are actually a couple of types of blocks to be made. Thus, the instructions just take longer to do. Luckily, my quilting friends are patient & flexible. :)

I also had a little bit of a scare on another project - I thought that it was actually due on Saturday (like NOW!) but it's actually due a week from now. So in the interest of not putting it off until the last minute, I got the back pieced, loaded it onto the frame, decided on thread color & quilting design, and went for it. I also finished binding it, but now it needs a label, some really GREAT photos (it's getting submitted to a magazine) and then I need to wash it to give it texture. I love this quilt so much, I think it turned out really fabulously and I can't wait to share the whole thing. The guild members who attended our retreat last weekend have seen it, but everyone else will have to wait until after it's been rejected from a couple of magazines first (Ha!). In the mean time, here's the scrappy back that I made from all the leftover squares I cut:

The thread is Superior So Fine #471 Glacier, and the pattern is Reverse Loops that I learned from Darlene Epp. This pattern is a little bit tricky because you have to figure out how to get in and out of tight spots without making an obvious pattern and be able to fill in gaps as you go. Choosing thread color was pretty tough too because it's a colorful quilt already and I didn't want to detract from the overall design. That usually would dictate monofilament thread, but it's a baby quilt and I really do not like using monofils on baby items.

The nice thing about this pattern though is that you can go SUPER FAST! I outran my stitch regulator a couple of times, but I had really excellent control and the only time I had a thread break was when I ran out the bobbin. I'm really excited though because I gave it some thought beforehand, and decided that based on experience I would probably need another 1/4 bobbin or so, and I wound it ahead of time. Score for me! I'm learning! So no unthreading the machine to wind another bobbin - I just swapped it out and was back in business in about 5 minutes (had to oil and check the tension too!)

I also have another client for whom I'm working on a design using Liberty print fabrics. Now, you all know I have a love affair with Liberty although it's too rich for my blood (or rather, I prefer to spend big $$ on toys & not yardage) but this quilt is the perfect indulgence. Why? Well, since it's a custom quilt, the client gets to decide exactly what she wants (and she lives in NYC so can go to a store that specialized in importing Liberty prints) and then I get to do all the playing! So I mocked up a design for her, collaborating with her on it, and this is what we came up with:

I also have another couple of projects that I can't talk too much about, but once they are done and delivered I will give you the full scoop! It's amazing how all of a sudden I have to keep more & more projects secret, and I really do apologize for that, but as I start doing more & more things, and extending my reach into the wider quilting world, I do have to hold back some information. It's hard for me to do because in general I like to just be super open and honest about everything relating to my quilting so you all get the benefit. So sorry for having to be a little cagey about some things but all will be revealed at the proper time! :)

Don't forget to set your clocks forward today, unless you live in the sane parts of the world where there's no such thing as Daylight Saving.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Custom Quilt - Double Wedding Ring Whole Cloth

2011-03-12T23:04:00.000-06:00

Well I must say that business has picked up over here at the studio, for which I am very thankful, but boy does it mean I have a lot to accomplish in a short period of time!

Back in January I got an inquiry on a custom quilt from a mom who wanted to give a quilt as an engagement present to her daughter. Her needs & tastes were simple, but as they say, the devil is in the details.

I tend to keep a lot of fabric on hand just for off-the-brain projects, but usually when I get a custom order it means needing to special order fabric. This quilt was no different!

After having a few conversations with my client, we settled on this design:

Essentially it's a wholecloth quilt with three Double Wedding Ring blocks in the center. The fabric is all solids, and the text is to be embroidered.

Now if you read regularly, you know that I do not need another hobby or another toy in the house, so I turn my embroidery over to some other talented folks to accomplish. I usually don't like subcontracting for anything when it comes to making quilts, but I know enough talented people in this area to fully trust their ability to execute a design.

Since the embroidery is so integral to this design, I couldn't do very much on the quilt until the embroidery came back, and of course you can't get embroidery done if you don't have fabric!

My client asked specifically for a solid ivory fabric, and if you've ever bought fabric before, you know that one person's ivory is another one's tan, so in this case I ordered fabric swatches from three different places and asked the client to choose. Since the quilt is fairly large (around 84" square) only a wide width fabric would do! If you're in the market for wide fabrics, I highly recommend Christian Lane Quilters; they are known for their "FatBacks", and also their excellent customer service. They will send you free swatches of anything in the store, and will even recommend fabrics if you'll give them an idea of what you're looking for.

My client chose the fabric she liked and I ordered 6 yards for the top & backing. Wouldn't you know it - they only had 5-1/4 yards left and the fabric had been discontinued! Luckily my client is a little flexible on the finished size, and since I'm the one quilting it, I can fudge just a bit on the backing, so the quilt will still end up in the ballpark of 84" but might be just a little bit smaller. You don't really think about how big 84" is until you have the task of squaring up a wholecloth quilt:

And to think I fancied my cutting table was big...

In any event, I hacked off a few pieces & sent them off to the embroiderer, none other than the talented Maddie Kertay of Domestic Anarchy. She turned it around really fast and sent an extra stitch out just in case I messed one up (which I did. Ahem.) I asked her to make her best judgement on the embroidery in terms of placement & font, and she did a bang-up job.

My client sent me an email the other day & told me a little bit more about the couple, which is so inspiring and really makes me want to work extra hard to make this a special gift for them. Considering what this young couple has gone through already, I think the choice Maddie made to encircle them in the same ring was quite appropriate. So here are all the rings cut out:

Once it was cut out, I had to set it aside for the craziest week of my life in 2 years - basically nothing but 12 hour days, back to back meetings, and mandatory social events to cap things off. Oh, and after that's all done, hopping on a conference call at 10PM to talk to Asia Pacific. I'm not complaining, it's just that sometimes, my full-time gig really puts a damper on my fun! :)

Anyway, since this quilt is promised for April 11, I needed to make some major progress so I started piecing the rings:

And then of course once you start piecing a DWR, you have to keep going:

Until it's all done!

Isn't the embroidery to die for? It's just absolutely perfect, the thread color is spot-on, and I love that they are together in the center & not separated like the original drawing.

My next step will be to inset this into the quilt top and then get it loaded onto the long arm. Looks like I know what I'm doing tomorrow!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

If AccuQuilt Were a Man, I Would Marry It

2011-03-11T20:56:00.001-06:00

AccuQuilt is in the midst of a website upgrade, and they are taking suggestions from their customers on how to improve the experience.

The most incredible thing is how quickly they implement changes to their site in response. I posted a suggestion about moving their chat window from left to right and make it stop flashing at people, and boom! In 5 minutes, it was done.

A couple of weeks ago, you'll remember I posted about a die that was incorrect, and within 24 hours, they pulled the incorrect die, asked me to mark up the changes, and put the new die in production that very day. So I'm used to them being responsive. But what I'm about to share with you absolutely takes the cake.

Earlier this evening, I posted a suggestion about creating a section on each of the pages on their website called "Inspiration" where they could link to projects and videos. At about 8:30 PM, the CEO OF THE COMPANY posts a reply with a link to this:

Do you see it? Right there on the page? A little secret message to me?

I know a lot of companies talk about "delighting" their customers, but you know what? They don't know squat about delight unless they can conjure a feeling like I had when seeing this on the AccuQuilt website. And yes... it's actually in their production environment, live for anyone to see. I'll link to it here although I have no idea how long you'd be able to see it that way.

So... if AccuQuilt were a man, I would marry it. Yes, I may get mad & frustrated sometimes with my peeps over there, but with their can-do attitude and freaking awesomeness, I can't stay mad at them long. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

What I Worked On at the CQMG Quilt Retreat

2011-03-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. The FIRST thing you guys are going to ask is... where are the pictures?

Well, unfortunately (well, unfortunate for you but awesome for me) the major projects I worked on cannot have published photos at this time. One is being submitted to a magazine, and the other is actually being prepped for a book. I know it's serious because the quilt has a real deadline, one that corresponds to a mailing deadline so that it can be ready for a photo shoot. With a real photographer. It seems more real now but I am still absolutely stunned at the prospect. That's all I can tell you!

I can show you a photo of the big guy who was an instant hit:

Yup, that's my Studio die cutter. I also brought along Scarlett & Jo (my GO! and GO! Baby) but they were mostly ignored for the whole weekend. I mean, once you have Mr. T... all others pale in comparison!

I gave everyone a 15 minute lesson on using the 3 die cutters and then turned them loose. It made me really appreciate having him that much more. Everybody loved him and I'm sure he'll be asked to make another appearance.

Even I got in on the act! There were a few people cutting 8-1/2" circles to make mock cathedral windows, so I salvaged some fabric from one of my projects to give it a try. I also went hunting through my friend Debbi's thread box for this lovely variegated thread by Signature to finish it off:

It was fun to make, and although I really love how it turned out & in general have a love affair with black & white prints, this really isn't my style. So you can count on it going on sale sometime if I ever get around to it.

I also took the opportunity to finish some of the blocks for the Quilt Along I am hosting; when I posted the block nearly a month ago, I made just enough of them to get the photos taken for the tutorial, but never actually finished piecing them. So here they are:

I also had some blocks left over from a project, so I started piecing them together so as not to have the squares just laying around collecting dust (as if!):

And lastly, as my "leaders & enders" project, I resumed piecing the Bonnie Hunter patterns I adapted:

After the retreat, my friend Emily and my new friend Emily #2 came over to the house to help me screen print. Well, really I got a lesson in cleaning the screens and recoating them with emulsion. It was very educational and I am feeling way more confident about the process now.

This new screen turned out OK but since we were coating nearly in pitch darkness, we didn't know there was a really gloopy spot on the screen which was too think to burn the image through. So I imagine I'll be cleaning that screen again soon too!! :) Emulsion coating sure is a messy process too - the stuff is all over the laundry room. It was tons of fun & I hope the ladies come back soon!

I'm all unpacked from the retreat and the car and studio are back to normal. I can't wait for the next retreat though - what an awesome group of ladies!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

A Baby Quilt for Mary - Quilting in Two Colors & Flipping a Quilt

2011-03-01T23:09:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday, I actually had a couple of special deliveries, and one was to pick up a baby quilt that our guild made for the President, Mary, who is expecting. It was a super-secret project, and I couldn't even blog about it or post on Facebook so as not to ruin the surprise (yup, it's the same Mary #16!) But now? Let's take a look!

First, a little bit of a warning: I was very sloppy about taking pictures, so I'll try to explain the in-between parts.

My friend Beth organized the super-secret project, and we decided to do a quilt based on liberated quilting (a la Gwen Marston). The instructions were to make a block that was 12" in one dimension by whatever other length you wanted to make it. Just to prove that I am also someone who doesn't follow instructions all the time, I made a block that was only 8" x 10", requiring the group to do some extra piecing to bring my block up to size. Where have I heard that before? :)

Amazingly, we did not discuss color at all, but nearly every block used orange in it, so the quilt coordinated surprisingly well.

The pieces of paper pinned to the quilt are the names of the quilter who made the block. This figures into the quilting, as you will see in a second.

Now, for this quilt, I actually had a consultation with my friend Wendy and her daughter who I'll call Tracy (because I like disguising the names of my friend's minor children) who came to my house for a visit. Yes, my secret is out: I will very often turn to my friends to advise me on thread colors and quilting designs! It helps to bounce ideas off of other people or get their thoughts on something. In the end, I do make the final choice, but I do not mind getting help. In this case, I had decided to use two different thread colors on the quilt, and I wanted to choose the perfect shade of orange and the perfect shade of purple for the quilting. The issue arises when you have 5 oranges and 3 or 4 purples to choose from! What I did know is that there was no time to order thread, so I would have to make do with what I had.

We ended up choosing Superior So Fine # 533 Real Orange and #441 Purple Iris. Lovely, lovely threads! I wound 2 bobbins of orange and one bobbin of purple, which in a moment, you'll be scratching your heads at exactly how I came to wind the exact opposite of what was needed. I told you I was bad at estimating!

With that chore over, the ladies also helped me pick the right shape for what I had planned for the quilting. I settled on doing a freehand Sunburst (my term) based on a design I used in my Oh Cherry Oh ruler sampler. It did require my circle ruler set, but not for what you might think:

In this case, I used the different circles to outline spaces in each of the blocks. I also wrote the name of the quilter inside the circle so I could remove the paper & pins (Mr. Darcy does not find paper & pins very tasty at all.) This is my block which was resized:

Sometimes, when you're working on a quilt, you just will not be able to avoid the necessity of marking it. I have heard so many horror stories about marking quilts (disappearing inks reappearing later; washout inks not washing out all the way, etc.) that I rarely, rarely use anything but chalk to mark quilts, and I try to mark them as little as possible, and only use white chalk for good measure. You need not be as fearful as I am, but since chalk has worked for me 95% of the time, I'm sticking with it.

For this quilt, the circles only indicate loose boundaries, so I don't really care whether I can see the circle all the way around. I'm not quilting on the line, I'm quilting TO the line.

Next up was to load the quilt:

You'll notice that I am floating the quilt top completely. Well, only a couple of days ago I was telling you about floating quilt tops that were not completely square, but that's not the only reason to float a quilt top. In this case, I floated it because I needed to be able to advance the quilt in some areas, and then reverse the quilt in other areas to get to all the sections. Remember I'm stitching in two colors and the circles are staggered, so for efficiency, I stitched all of the orange first, then I changed colors and quilted the purple. This worked out really well!

So just to be a little bit more clear... the backing is attached to two rails at the top and bottom, like a scroll. The batting itself always "floats", and the top is usually attached at the bottom to a third rail. That's the rail you see sitting on top of the quilt sandwich. Well, right now the quilt is in 3 separate pieces, so with the quilt top free, I can roll & unroll the quilt and it can be treated like a scroll even when it is quilted. However, if I attach the quilt top to the top rail, once I start stitching, the quilt is no longer in 3 pieces, it's one piece, so I can only advance the quilt in one direction; I can't unroll it past the point that's been quilted. Clear as mud? :)

Anyway, that was just me stalling, because I actually failed to take any photos of just the orange getting quilted! How unbelievable is that? Well, here's what happened:

First, I used a very, very short stitch length (like 20 spi) to quilt the names of the block maker in orange:

Then, I lengthened the stitch, spiraled around it, and did these loose sun rays around the spiral. I needed the small stitches for the names because a smaller stitch means I can have a smaller area of quilting but still get smooth curves. It's very common for micro-stippling. I did all the sunbursts in orange first.

Once I got done, it was time to add the purple! Now, the tough thing about the purple was twofold: for one, the quilt top was so busy that the orange stitches nearly disappeared into the quilt, so I actually could not see the sunbursts. if you can't see them, you can't quilt around them, and that's a problem.

Second, there were four blocks on the back made by other quilters, and it didn't seem fair for the quilters on the front to get recognized but not the ones on the back. So their names needed to be in there too. Writing words backward on paper is hard - to do it in cursive, while quilting, is a feat that I'm not really skilled for. So the solution had to be to flip the quilt!

In my case, I use zippers on my leaders, so it's easy enough to take the quilt off to flip it, but the problem with that is the zippers are now facing the wrong way. You don't want to remove the zippers because then the quilt gets a different tension and things will get out of sorts. So I solved the problem by taking a couple of extra zippers that I had and making a flip set. Basically, you need 4 zipper halves, and you're essentially stitching together the matching zipper of the ones on the quilt backing to the matching zipper that's on the leader. Clear as mud? Good, because there's not a picture of that either! Suffice to say that I was successful in flipping the quilt. This was also less complicated because even though the thread colors are different, the weight is the same, so I can expect the tension to be nearly spot-on from what was on the quilt before, and no one would be able to tell that I flipped the quilt over.

Here's the beginning - I like it already, and I think this is going to be one of my signature free motion designs.

Coming right along and nearing the bottom - that was fast!

My stops & starts are pretty horrendous, eh? Well, I'm still practicing... but I've gotten to the bottom!

So now you can see why it was a mistake to wind two orange bobbins and only one purple. I had way too much orange (didn't even make a dent in the first bobbin) and not enough of the purple (which meant I had to stop... cut the top thread, go wind a bobbin, and rethread the entire machine!)

But it looks super-cool in my opinion. The batting I used is Legacy 50/50 Bamboo/Cotton blend. I chose it because I know bamboo is super soft & cuddly for a baby, but I didn't have a big enough piece left of 100% bamboo (and the replacement order was not going to arrive in time to use it.) Incidentally, you have to be really careful that you're really buying bamboo that's been made in an environmentally-sustainable way, without harsh processing, chemicals, or air pollution. Legacy batting meets those requirements, for which I am very glad, as does the 100% bamboo that I get from another source.

So here's the front of the quilt all done up:

And a photo of the back so you can see the cool effect of the two different thread colors:

Now, the quilt was sent off to be bound by someone else (my friend Sarah) and she also washed it too. The quilt was so beautiful and cuddly when we gave it to Mary, but I didn't actually get a photo of it! So if anyone reading this has one, please be sure to pass it along...

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #24 Ellen Finished Quilt & How I'm Picking The Rest Of Them...

2011-02-28T12:56:00.004-06:00

This weekend was incredibly busy! I did manage to finish all three quilts that I set out to do this weekend which is awesome.

The next one on the list was from Ellen. She actually sent me two quilts, but this one was just so small I thought I could get it done really quickly.

This time, I remembered the stopwatch. Start to finish, it was about 2 hours to do this quilt, which included loading, bobbin winding, and the actual quilting.

Ellen's quilt gave me some specific challenges that I want to use as illustration. This isn't meant to be a dig or bashing of Ellen's quilt AT ALL. That is not my intent and I hope no one looks at it that way. I think it's been pretty taboo in the quilting world to really talk about the issues and things that can and will go wrong, but I've said before that it's not all sunshine & roses, and I really want to be candid about the what & the why so that everyone can benefit from the experience. The only place I've seen it discussed is a video spoof & song some wrote that says, "I Can Quilt That Out!"

I've talked a lot about how important it is to make sure your quilt is square if you want to have it long arm quilted. This is a benefit to you because if you send it square, it will get quilted square, and you get the bonus of having the quilt perfectly basted for you to attach your binding.

If you don't square your quilts before sending them out, several things can happen:

The quilter will square it for you, and you might not like what they do. Plus, they will charge you for it.
The quilter will load it as-is, and take tucks & folds where necessary, and you might not like what they do.
The quilter will refuse to quilt it, and return it to you as-is, and you may not like that either.

Sometimes, the quilt can be squared with only a minor shaving that would not be noticeable, and other times, there's just no way to square it no matter what you do. That was the case with Ellen's quilt:

If you notice the right side is fairly square, but the other three sides are not, and there's no way of trimming it or easing it to make it square without significantly impacting the design.

Here is one spot where it is going to cause the most issues:

That's a pretty big pucker and definitely presents a challenge.

Because of the puckers & general unevenness, I opted to float the quilt top entirely (which means that it wasn't attached to any of the rails) and baste it down wherever I could get a complete line of stitching. In some places, the basting stitches are as much as 1-1/2" to the interior of the quilt. I'll remove those stitches before sending the quilt back to her, but I had to be able to keep the quilt from creeping around as I went.

I chose Whirlpools from Leah Day for the quilting and adapted it for the long arm, keeping the spirals and echoes very loose and big. This kept the puckers from being as obvious on the quilt and it kept me from having to take pleats in the quilt. The thread is Superior So Fine #450 Spring Green. The batting was not branded, but it had the consistency of felt and quilted up just fine.

In the end, Ellen won't be able to cut a perfectly square line on the edge of the quilt to attach her binding, but she should be able to just trim the edges from block to block and it will be fine. The quilting creates enough movement across the front that your eye doesn't really get a chance to settle on whether a line is straight or not.

While quilting this, I noted that it's really difficult to make big sweeping curves when you're tensed up, so definitely relax your shoulders and arms if you want to do big curves. I quilted this super-fast (the stitch regulator beeped at me on more than one occasion when I was outpacing its ability to regulate.) The curves are very organic and I like the way this one turned up.

Loved having the busy backing! Even though the backing is brown and the thread is green, the pattern is busy enough that you don't really notice the stitching & it makes a nice texture.

Now, that's the last of the quilts that I had picked out of the closet on my own. The remaining quilts will be completely left up to chance. My target is to finish all the quilts by Christmas, so if I work on 2-3 a month I should be able to meet that. Of course, I do have about 5 customer quilts due before June and 2 of my own that have to get done, so I may slack off over the next couple of months & then need to pick up the pace later this summer.

So if you want to know who's next, here's how I decided:

So #3 Clair - you're next!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #1 Donna Finished Quilt

2011-02-28T09:52:00.001-06:00

Here is Donna's quilt revealed! I delivered it yesterday and she was very happy with it, so I'm glad too. The thread was really the perfect choice for this quilt in the end, and I'm really pleased with the look it gave to the quilt without competing with the piecing.

Donna is such a sweetheart, and she also got elected to be Vice President of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild for the coming year. As for myself, I did not run for another position so that I could focus my time on Quilt Possible! and my long arming.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting #1 Donna - Time, Bobbins, and Batting: Oh My!! And Some Long Arm Tips Too

2011-02-27T02:31:00.000-06:00

At about 12:30 PM Saturday afternoon, I decided that I was going to get three quilts done on the long arm.

By 6 PM, I knew that wasn't happening, and by 12:30 AM Sunday morning, I was sooooo ready to call it a day.

That sounds like I've been hanging with Mr. Darcy for 12 hours, doesn't it? Well, admittedly, not all that time was spent quilting. I tend to take a LOT of breaks, not to mention I was feeling slightly icky for most of the day. Woke up with a headache (which explains the late start), felt pretty woozy most of the rest of the time, and of course I had my mandatory Facebook breaks. If I could only stay off the internet I'd probably get a lot more done.

The other thing of course is that even when you're at the machine, you're not always quilting. There's time to load, time to advance, time to wind bobbins, time to check the tension, time to pin & unpin zippers, time to baste, time to oil.... the list goes on and on. I'd love to hazard a guess as to how long the quilting actually took, but I can't. Maybe next time I'll remenber to run my stopwatch.

Anyway, I did actually get two of the three quilts done that I was hoping for, and the third? Well, maybe in the morning (later this morning) I'll load it into the frame so at least it can stop being a permanent fixture in my livingroom.

This post is about some of the lessons learned from Donna's quilt, and then later I'll post up photos of her entire quilt.

I struggled quite a bit in the beginning just figuring out the thread I was going to use. If you'll recall, I ordered 7 cones of thread for her quilt because the color cards I had just didn't identify a clear winner. I also had a minor scare when I realized that I hadn't actually labeled the pictures I took of the thread when I first auditioned them, so I had to audition the thread all over again. In the end, I settled on King Tut #909 Egypsy Rose (which is a lovely blend of deeper pinks and oranges) for the top thread and So Fine #415 Cherrywood (which is a really deep wine color) to match the back.

This was a pretty scary proposition if you think about it: using 40 weight & 50 weight thread, light & dark toned threads, and a solid fabric for the quilt back. Couple that with unfamiliar batting and it sounds like a recipe for disaster, right?

Well, that's all part of the plan!! It was a great learning experience, and I'll share some of those lessons with you now while I can still keep my beady eyes open to type.

First let's talk about batting. When I sent my call out for quilt tops, I asked people to provide their own batting so I could try different kinds. So while I am going to do a little batting-bashing as we go, it should not reflect on the individual quilter AT ALL, because lots of people purposely chose some battings in order to give me variety. Hopefully it helps people understand why some long armers will not use certain batting, or why a batting may not be appropriate for long arming even though the quilter might accept it.

The batting in this quilt was Mountain Mist 100% Polyester Batting. On the package, it says "Uniform Thickness." Ummmm.... no, it's not.

Here's a section with a weird flap that's extra thick:

And no - that's not a wrinkle. I pulled on it to smooth it out and realized very quickly that nope, it was an extra flap. You can also see spots where the batting is clearly not uniform, with holes and thicker deposits. I also kept finding these plastic shavings embedded in the batting:

And since I didn't want to run over these with my needle, I had to fish them out. Also, because of the various thicknesses and random high spots, whenever I needed to do a tension test, the batting kept getting tangled in my hopping foot:

I wish I could say this would be my last encounter with Mountain Mist, but I do believe some other folks sent me a sampling of it in other lofts.

On a positive note, the extra loft that polyester batting has in general, is quite useful for quilts that aren't perfectly pieced. There's a certain amount of give & take with the batting, and you can usually smooth over puckers with it.

When you're choosing a batting for a quilt, you have to take lots of factors like that into consideration. Do you want the quilt to shrink around the stitches when it's washed to give that "antique" look? Then you need to use a natural batting like cotton, bamboo, or wool. Do you want the quilt to be extra warm? Use polyester batting. Do you want the quilt to be really flat? Go with a cotton blend without the scrim layer. You also have to consider the quilting pattern - will you be quilting densely or doing a large meander? Some battings you can only stitch 2" - 4" apart, while others allow you to stitch up to 10" apart. Keep that in mind too.

I definitely much prefer backing fabrics that are NOT solid. It really just calls attention to mistakes and makes it difficult to hide your stops & starts as you go along. Still, it was a great illustration of how practicing starts & stops is necessary. It did finally sink in that I need to use the manual hand-wheel (which is on the front right side of my machine next to the tension knob) to position the needle instead of using the needle up/down button and eyeballing it. (Sorry Donna, didn't come to that epiphany until a little later in your quilt, and really wish I'd thought to do it when I was doing all that ruler work!) With that said though, I managed to survive the experience and live to tell about it.

I also have a really good example of why you absolutely must stay-stitch seams that are on the outside edge of your quilt:

Quilts get a lot of abuse while they are on the frame; they get stretched a bit, smoothed, yanked, rolled, poked and prodded to make sure they stay absolutely square on the frame. If you don't stay stitch the edge, your seams can come apart, and this isn't something that the long armer can really fix once it is on the frame (sorry Donna! I basted it down but you may want to take a hand needle to it too.)

I had actually chosen the quilting to do on this quilt long before I settled on the thread - I knew I wanted to use one of Leah Day's designs for the main part of the quilt. Since the quilt had two contrasting borders, I wanted to provide some separation there, so I chose to do Trillium Leaves on the outside and some Reverse Loops on the inside:

When starting work on the long arm, I always baste the top edge so that it is straight on the frame, then I baste the sides down to the edge of my quilting area. This serves two purposes: one, it keeps the quilt from shifting, and two, it gives a visual guideline so I don't bump into the rail with my machine as I'm stitching along and mess up a section of quilting. It's like a boundary line that I can come close to but not cross over.

I also quilt the outside borders first, and work my way into the center of the quilt. This is the exact opposite of quilting on a table top machine where you quilt from the center out!

This design is completely done by free motion, and it's up to me to decide where to go next, how to best fill in the shapes, plan a path so I don't stitch myself into a spot that I can't get out of, and make it as random as possible so your eye keeps moving over the quilt and there aren't any obvious patterns. The goal is to have a complete pass that fills the quilting space without breaking threads (intentional or otherwise.) Sometimes, that's not possible; I have a habit of stitching out my bobbins, so sometimes I'm going merrily along and the bobbin will run out. In that case, I usually have to rip out a good 3-4" of quilting to get to a good place to restart. The absolute best place to restart stitching is in a point, or where two or more lines intersect or overlap. The WORST place to restart is along a curve, especially with contrasting or thick thread. I managed to hit the trifecta on more than one occasion...

My last comment is about bobbins. Because I use so many different colors in my long arm quilting, I don't like winding too many bobbins, but at the same time, it is annoying to stop quilting to wind a bobbin when you're in a groove. The other thing is that if you happen to use the same thread in the top and bobbin, but you only have one cone, needing to wind another bobbin means having to cut your threads, wind another bobbin, and then rethread the machine completely. I am terrible at estimating quantities of things, and bobbins are no exception.

I have a little sheet for each quilt that I'm using to document information about the quilts as I finish them. The information includes the size of the quilt top, the thread used in both top & bottom, the type of batting, and how many bobbins were used. I'm hoping to use this information to help me get better at estimating what I need to finish a project. In the case of this quilt, I initially wound two bobbins, but I ended up needing 1-1/2 more bobbins to finish. You really can't go by the size of the quilt to estimate bobbins; it's all about the density of the quilting.

I do feel more comfortable using different weight threads in the top & bottom, but you do have to resign yourself to tension needing to be more closely watched and checked, and also that you're going to get some amount of pokies no matter what you do. Because the back was solid and the front was a lot busier, I tended to err on the side of the top tension being too tight, in order to make sure the top thread wouldn't show on the bottom. I wasn't always successful, but I think overall I did a pretty good job at keeping them imbalanced in my favor. I'm hoping that a run through the washing machine will take care of most of the pokies as the quilt relaxes more.

And with that... I'm pooped! I've taken photos of Donna's finished quilt and it's all folded & ready to be delivered tomorrow. At my current rate of productivity though, I'd say odds are pretty good that she'll see the quilt in person before the photos go up on my blog. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

The QILT (Quilt It Like This) is Finished! & Correcting Oopsies

2011-02-26T14:25:00.000-06:00

I got permission from my client to go buck wild on the border of her quilt. So I did, just putting in loops and the occasional hearts. Now that I look at it, maybe my other hearts were better, but I surely appreciate the free flowing quilting that I got to do - quilting left to right, top to bottom, right to left, and bottom to top:

Here's what I ended up putting in the border after ripping out those other stitches:

Now if you look closely, or maybe not so closely, you'll see the holes left behind by the previous lines of stitching. Here's a better picture from the back:

Now, if this were one of my quilts, I'd just throw it in the washer after the binding went on and the holes would close up on their own.

However, this is a customer quilt, and I'm not allowed to just throw stuff in the washer. So to take the holes out, I sprayed a piece of white muslin with water and swiped it gently over the quilt:

Like it never happened! Now, if you need to do the same thing, remember to use WHITE muslin, spray the MUSLIN not the quilt, don't saturate the quilt with water, and never rub from a darker color onto a lighter color. Make sure the quilt is completely dry before you fold it up. All of this just keeps you from making an irreparable mistake by accidentally transferring color to different parts of the quilt.

Here's the back of the quilt so you can really appreciate all the custom quilting that went into this:

Here are some other cool parts of this quilt:

I sure hope my customer likes it and she'll still be my customer after this one. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Rowenta... GOODBYE!!! DG8030 Melts Itself Again

2011-02-25T21:46:00.000-06:00

Remember this?

This photo was taken at the end of December, about two days after receiving this new Rowenta DG8030 steam generator. At first, I looooooved this iron. It really does its job well in the pressing and steaming department. It's the hottest iron I've ever owned; so hot in fact, that it started melting itself. Literally.

Well, if you can ignore the noxious fumes that melting plastic gives off, maybe this is the iron for you, but I frankly don't want to die of phthalate poisoning. I chocked it up to a defective unit (it happens), and contacted the place of purchase. They were extremely helpful, gave me a return number, and back it went. I was a little annoyed at having to pay the return shipping on a defective product, but considering how much this iron cost, it was a small annoyance if it meant being reunited with my new favorite toy in short order. About a week and a half went by, the replacement machine came in, and all has been happy and gay for weeks until I saw this:

Look familiar? Yep - that's machine #2 beginning to melt itself too. It's a little bit slower at the melting process, but a'melting it is. Operator error? Bad batch? Design flaw?

I contacted Rowenta and all they had to say was, "Unfortunately, we do not have a troubleshooting tip available that would correct the issue." Thanks, Captain Obvious, I kind of figured that out myself. I don't think many manufacturers are in the habit of preparing technical troubleshooting guides for products that melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.

They then advised me to send it to one of their repair centers (at my expense, of course.) Well, I have a better idea. How about I send it back to the place of purchase instead, get my money back (less shipping) and... not buy any more Rowentas?

So my love affair with this particular steam generator has come to an end, but since I've already gotten over the sticker shock of buying one to begin with... I'm setting my sights on something other than Rowenta. Unfortunately reviews on steam generators are hard to come by, so if you have any recommendations, I am all ears!

This situation is actually very comical to me because I had occasion to deal with another company today who took the exact opposite approach. When I pointed out an issue to them, and showed them the photographs of a design flaw in one of their products, they actually asked my opinion of how to correct it, sent me a CAD drawing to mark up the changes, and took steps this afternoon to get the corrected item into production. That company, my friends, is AccuQuilt, and I don't think I've ever had occasion to deal with a company where 100% of the employees, top to bottom, side to side and all the way around, are so dedicated to awesome customer service and are actively listening to their consumers.

Rowenta, if you need some lessons in this area, I know just the people to introduce you to. And if you're interested in actually figuring out why all your steam generators have delicious molten centers, I know where you can get two prime examples.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

In The Pink... Just in Time: Ravenswood PinkWalk

2011-02-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

I was recently invited to exhibit a new piece of artwork for the first annual Ravenswood PinkWalk, sponsored by House Beautiful Magazine, to celebrate their March issue, The Power of Pink. All of the artwork will be exhibited on Sunday, February 27th in the Ravenswood Art District, and four of the exhibiting artists will be featured in the magazine. I figured it was a good opportunity to continue to HONE my skills through the pursuit of creativity anywhere it comes.

The only thing that posed a problem for me was coming up with a new piece of artwork with less than two weeks to go, and getting it to downtown Chicago by Friday. Oh, and I'm in the middle of hosting two quilt alongs with new blocks every week, 5 customer projects, and 30 quilts in my long arm backlog. Other than that... no problemo!

I knew that I wanted my art to be framed, and I knew that this would be another great opportunity to work with Noriko Endo's technique of shredding fabric. I came up with a really abstract concept, in various shades of pink to go with the theme, and then just let loose. I didn't get very many in progress pictures, but here it is all layered and pinned ready to be quilted:

Here's the back of it so you can see the quilting. The quilting is very dense, done in a pink rayon thread. I had to stitch very tightly because I knew I'd be cutting into it and I didn't want the stitches to come loose. This was also not the project to get worried over the tension. It was free motion quilted on my regular home machine, and I didn't take any measures to check or fix the tension. (See, even home machines have tensions issh!)

So at this point, I put it on the mounting board to see where I'll be making my cuts:

The piece is way too rectangular, and my goal was to remedy that without cutting out my favorite parts:

This is really tricky, because you can absolutely ruin a piece by cutting in the wrong places. I just kept cutting until most of the straight edges were gone, and then I took the piece back to the machine and sealed the edges with a funky, chunky variegated yarn. Then, I took an upholstery needle, some 30 wt thread, and literally stitched the piece directly to the mounting board.

Here's the piece in the frame:

And here's another shot out of the frame so the glass doesn't reflect my dining room:

Here's a detail shot:

And another:

So the photography isn't the best, but I managed to finish it in time and get it over to UPS to be shipped before it would cost am arm and a leg for overnight air mail. :)

I hope that people like it! What do you think?

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

You Gotta Know When to Fold 'Em... The first QILT Debuts

2011-02-20T23:46:00.000-06:00

As I finish up my most recent quilting project, the words to Kenny Rogers' song repeat over and over in my head:

You gotta know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run...

Except in my case, the song goes like this:

You gotta know when to free hand
Know when to pantograph
Know when to use rulers
And quit when you're done...

I got a new long arm client back in December, when I was exhibiting some quilts at a small craft fair. I told her that I was new, and she said that was ok, and asked me to quilt something for her. I readily agreed, not really thinking too much or asking questions.

When I got the quilt from her, she gave me the backing, top and batting. She also handed over a magazine (which is where she got the pattern for the top) and in it, the instructions specified exactly what quilting stitches to put where. And that's what my customer asked me to do: "quilt it like this." This will hereafter be referred to as a QILT (kilt).

Ordinarily, I wouldn't take on a job like that. I like having the freedom to choose and let my imagination run wild, but in the interest of learning and honing my skills, I agreed to do it. I didn't look at the pattern in detail, but right off the bat I knew that it would involve lots and lots of ruler work, and at the time I accepted the project, I only knew one thing: I sucked at ruler work.

So I worked on a ruler sampler to try to improve my skills before loading this project, and after working on that quilt, I had enough confidence to load the QILT into Mr. Darcy. And it's actually kind of comical because the part of the quilting that humbled me in the end had nothing to do with the rulers.

Before I get too far, I have to do a little commercial for Superior Threads. They recently started offering pre-wound M bobbins of So Fine. They don't have many colors yet, but the two staple colors that I use quite often - Snow & Pearl - were available so I got a dozen of each.

This was Mr. Darcy's first use of pre-wound bobbins, and I am absolutely 100% a convert. I put one in the bobbin case, did a quick tension check at the beginning, and then had ZERO issues until it ran out of thread. The only "complaint" that I have is that with metal bobbins you can actually hear the bobbin case run out of thread but with these paper ones, you can keep going for a good little bit & not realize you've run out!

Anyway, my humbling experience had to do with trying to replicate a computer-generated drawing with a hand-guided machine.

I've said it before - PRACTICE is so important. Anybody can doodle on a quilt, but if you want it to look like you know what you're doing, you have to PRACTICE. That's something that I slack off on more often than not, but it didn't start to show until I got to the end. We'll get to that shortly.

So let's talk about the ruler work in this quilt. I have quite a few rulers at my disposal, and I put LOTS of them to work in this quilt:

These are the nine rulers that I needed at various points in the quilt. The one that got the most use is the Versa Tool (top, second from left.) It has a stitch in the ditch guide, a couple of curves, some cutouts to guide the hopping foot, and a 90 degree cutout for crosshatching. Very, very nice tool.

When using rulers, I should mention how important it is to take frequent breaks - even more frequent than if you're running a pantograph or freehanding. That's because when you do ruler work, you're often contorting yourself into strange poses and postures in order to get the ruler where you want it without running over your fingers or smacking yourself in the head with the machine (yes, it happens!)

The paisley looking rulers (called "Judalators" by Judy Allen) are good for things like this:

Tracing around applique shapes is an absolute must (not just for this quilt, but it's a good habit to get into if you ever plan to enter quilt shows.) The different curves on the tool allow you to trace around concave and convex curves, or just give your machine something to rest against as you go along. I try not to keep too many rulers on the quilt at one time - not only do they weigh down the quilt & cause it to stretch & sag, but they are a safety hazard too. Because they are clear, you could accidentally run over one and really mess up your machine.

The circles were used for this type of quilting:

Getting the different leaf shapes by using parts of the circles, tracing the center of the flower, or getting different arcs, all using the circles in various sizes.

The squiggly lines were actually done freehand; they turned out mostly ok but I could stand to practice that technique a bit more, especially the starting and stopping. But so far so good, eh?

Luckily the quilt had a lot of repeating motifs, so in a way, the quilt itself was practice!

But the part that got me in the end? The final border:

which I am in the process of ripping out. The outside border is supposed to be alternating hearts & loops, which sounds like a no brainer when you say it out loud, but when it comes to freehanding, is actually pretty hard to do.

The first challenge is in getting them evenly spaced, which is feasible if you're willing to mark the quilt. The second challenge is in getting a smooth shape. In my world, hearts are lopsided, and I just can't seem to make both humps the same height. The third challenge is really about confidence, which can only come from practice. The least bit of hesitation or doubt and it shows up in your stitching. And lastly, thread choice. I'm using the same thread color throughout, and using a stark white on a blue background is just inevitably going to call attention to less-than-perfect stitches.

I tried several methods of applying these hearts. First, I tried chalking them in. I don't like marking quilts with pens because of all the horror stories I've heard about marks that come back or get set into the quilt. But chalk also can be problematic on a fabric that simply will not hold a chalk line. I tried freehanding the hearts and loops, but my freehand is just too, well, "free" for this buttoned up ruler-perfect quilt. Finally, I tried doing it as a pantograph from the back of the frame, but that just proved to be too inaccurate and my hesitation stitches show.

I actually quilted 2-1/2 borders before finally deciding that this pattern is just not right for this quilt. If I had a computerized system, it would be a no-brainer, but I just cannot duplicate the perfection of these hearts at my current level of skill. If I had dozens of hours of hearts-and-loops practice under my belt, maybe, but right now, no.

So my last resort really is to just ask the customer if I can do something different in the final border. I really hope she says yes because there's no way I'm sending this quilt out with such a glaring imperfection; that would be the kiss of death to my long arm business (unless it already has happened from sending my experiments into the world!)

My advice to anyone who gets a request to QILT: Just say no. There's definitely a difference between someone asking you to "quilt some flowers" and handing you a magazine with the quilt pattern dictated, but I think you'll find yourself turning out better things when you get to put something of yourself into your quilt projects.

In the event you do decide to accept QILTs, make sure you really understand what you're getting into. Not all QILTs are created equal, and some can turn out to be more intricate than they first appear. Needing nine rulers to execute one project is about 7 or 8 rulers too many, especially when the project is not an heirloom or wholecloth quilt.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

What Have I Been Quilting?

2011-02-14T17:00:00.002-06:00

Believe it or not, I've been quilting LOTS of things, but I can't post about ANY of them!

First, I've got a couple of quilts for friends, but because they read my blog & FB pages, I can't tell you about them or show you what I'm up to. Well, OK I'll give you a little sneak peek but that's IT:

Next, I've got two quilt patterns in the works simultaneously, so I can't show you those (incidentally, if you are a FB friend of mine you've probably seen at least one of them & not know it.)

I also am hosting two Quilt Alongs on my Quilt Possible site - one for the AccuQuilt Studio, and one for the GO! So that's keeping me pretty busy. Instead of cross-posting those, just hop on over to the site and you can see all the madness as it plays out over the next couple of months.

Oh - and I also provide rotary cutting instructions for each one, so if you want to play along but don't have a cutter - you'll be welcome!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Thank You for the Thank You Gifts!

2011-02-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

I've been really lucky and fortunate over the past couple of weeks. People have been giving me gifts out of the blue! So I wanted to show you all the cool stuff that has come into my possession so everyone can see how awesome my friends are.

My friend Vickie saw me post about the cute fabric with the ladybugs on it, and then she bought me some and had it sent to me! Here it is wrapped around my dress form:

(There's an "oops" on the yardage that the Fat Quarter Shop has been gracious enough to rectify. Their customer service is awesome, even on a weekend!)

Then my friend Greg surprised me with this cool roll up for my copious collection of sharpies:

He even stitched in some little pink hearts on the strap which is totally me and totally sweet of him to think of.

I also got this super-duper CUTE little tote bag from AccuQuilt (it's smaller than the GO! Baby!):

They sent it as a thank you for some of the work I've been doing to help them out in the social media area (I'm one of their forum moderators among other things.)

Then my friend Lynn heard about my Kona project, and when she was in Florida, she picked up some greens that I didn't have. Whole yards too! But she wasn't done! She also made me an awesome Kindle rest out of one of my favorite fabrics. How did she know that I've been propping it up with all sorts of weird things that I find around the house? I also got a keychain tape measure from her SchoolHouse Quilting site (she's a long arm quilter too - computerized.) I built her site for her and made her logo.

But I can't forget the two sweetest things that she did for me that aren't in the picture. First, when I opened the door, she was holding a Starbucks just for ME (with soy - she remembered!) AND she helped me carry the flywheel for my new elliptical up two flights of stairs. It would still be in the box if not for her!

So thank you, thank you, to all my friends who have made me feel ever so special leading up to Valentine's Day.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

My Happy Happy Crappy Crappy Blogging Style

2011-02-09T19:31:00.000-06:00

I've been posting a lot about Mr. Darcy's adventures over the last several months, but I want to make sure that people don't misunderstand my posting. Mr. Darcy is my brand new Handi Quilter 24" Fusion, and I love him dearly and wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. Except maybe a million dollars, because then I could buy a couple more and build a beautiful comfy space for us all to live in happily together, along with my new Bernina, because well... why not when you have a million dollars? :)

I love Darcy because I understand him & his needs are simple - feed him good thread, clean his wheels, keep him oiled. He takes my ideas and commits them to cloth. So far he hasn't presented me with a problem that I can't solve or enlist the support of my awesome dealer or his awesome parents (Handi Quilter) to fix.

I love tinkering, and tools, and gadgets, and problem solving, and learning, and trying new things. Sometimes the stuff that I do causes more problems, which just helps me learn more... and I am so excited when I learn something that I can't help sharing, and the blog is the perfect way to do it since it bores my mother to tears when I drone on and on about what-Mr.-Darcy-did-today...

My whole intent behind this blog is to give people a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run my business. I don't just post about the happy-happy sunshine stuff, but I also write about the happy-crappy stuff, and the just plain crappy-crappy stuff. Why? Because I think it's important for people to know that it takes WORK to turn out something beautiful. And sometimes you have to make an awful lot of crap before you can get to the good stuff. I try to post my successes as well as my failures, because I think there are lessons to be learned from both. Heck, maybe even my good stuff is still crap! But maybe my crap might inspire someone else to make something better, or even help someone to avoid the same mistakes it took for me to get that far.

I read so many blogs out there where all you see is the final picture. "Look at this beautiful thing I made and it only took me 10 minutes start to finish even though I spun the wool myself and it's hand beaded and I'm being published!" Well, sometimes that makes me gag because real life rarely happens that way (and if that's your life, I'm not knocking you, but it still makes me gag a little.)

Now, I might post something like that one day, but by the time you've seen that, you've also seen the dozen posts about me burning a hole right through the middle of my cherished Thai silk, getting hand-cramps because I decided 1" tall applique letters were the way to go, or cutting 4,000 2" triangles when I really needed 3-1/2", or sending Darcy on a Tension Tantrum because I absolutely insisted on running 30 wt in the top and 60 wt in the bottom.

All that to me is LEARNING. My goal is to HONE my craft, and I can only do that by doing goofy things sometimes. I'm not afraid to tinker, even when it gets me into trouble. And I'm not afraid to tell people that I screwed something up (especially if I have also figured out a way to get myself out of my little pickle.)

I've put myself on a very steep learning curve when it comes to my long arm quilting. Most people don't start working on customer quilts the day after they get their machine. Most people don't buy a long arm and then immediately start feeding it different threads, different battings, and 30 different quilts made by 30 different people in an effort to learn as much as possible.

Most people don't start out with custom quilting with nail-biting precision. But I did. So you're going to see me make a LOT of mistakes. You'll see me post about Darcy's "issues" even though his issues are mostly due to operator error. You'll also find that I may only post when something remarkable happens, good or bad. I mean, if Darcy's running just fine, cranking out a new quilt every 4 hours with perfect tension and flawless stitches... well, what's so interesting about that? *YAWN*

My hope is that by telling not just the what, but the WHY and the HOW, that people can develop a deeper appreciation for what goes into making something; that budding artists and quilters and sewists and crafters understand that it's OK not to be perfect, or not finish fast, or even sometimes to not finish at all.

I want, especially for new long arm quilters, to show that it's a process, and you need to understand that a lot about quilting has to do with confidence, and sometimes in order to build confidence you have to put yourself out there. It is a little bit cheeky for me, as a professional, to admit that I make mistakes (and some doozies sometimes) and still believe that people should trust me with their quilts anyway. But I firmly believe that if you're not making mistakes, frankly - you're not trying hard enough.

I hope that I only encourage, and not discourage, educate people, give good advice (well, the best advice that I'm capable of giving), and maybe even make you laugh at the sometimes ridiculous scrapes that I get myself into. You are watching me go through an entire process of learning in a very, very short period of time, and I happen to think it's important enough to document my journey for everyone to see, good - bad - or just plain ugly.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Chiselry Is Not Dead - Finished Quilt

2011-01-28T18:26:00.000-06:00

I finished the quilt for the cover and got some photographs taken. I can't show you the finished quilt just yet but I'm glad to say it's done!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Fabric with My Name on It...

2011-01-28T17:45:00.000-06:00

Does this fabric have my name on it? You be the judge:

I'm trying to be very very good, but the Fat Quarter Shop is not being very cooperative!

Thankfully, my friend Vickie came up with a solution: she's going to buy some for me, and I'm going to trade her some batiks. So net-net: no new fabric!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Things Beginning Frame Quilters Should Have When Starting...

2011-01-27T09:04:00.001-06:00

Earlier in the week, I posted about the things beginning frame quilters should KNOW when starting, and this is the followup on the things you should have. That post was pretty long, but I hope it was helpful. This post is just as long, but I hope just as helpful. :)

I am one of those people who doesn't really understand the concept of delayed gratification. If I need or want something, I'll usually buy it, especially if it's under $100. So I'll try my best to pare down the list to things you really should have. Actually, it might be better for me to just explain why I think you should have it, and then you can decide for yourself if you need it or to what extent. Ready?

Note: If I post a link, it's mostly me just doing an internet search or pointing you to the place where I bought something. I don't get paid from these links nor is it necessarily an endorsement of that product or site. I think if you don't know what you're looking for it can help if someone shows you!

Marked Leaders. If your machine doesn't come with them, buy them marked. This helps you to insure your quilt is centered on the frame and you are rolling it on straight using the reference lines. It doesn't matter what company they are from as long as they fit your frame.
Zippers or Red Snappers. These products help you load your quilts more efficiently. They also save you from the inevitable stabbings and backaches you'd get from always pinning your quilts to the leaders. Some people buy extra leaders, but I think you should leave your leaders on the machine and protect them from wear & tear. I personally use the zippers as I can prepare several quilts in advance sitting in front of the TV, and they allow me to swap out quilts mid-project if I need to substitute a different project on the frame (or heaven forbid, do extensive ripping.)
Extra Bobbin Case. This you should probably get from your machine manufacturer. I use a lot of different threads, so I wanted a bobbin case for my "regular" thread, and another case that would get constant adjustments from using specialty threads. These can be pricey so it might be something you get later when you feel like experimenting.
Extra Bobbins. Your machine probably uses special metal bobbins. Don't cheap out on these. A poorly made bobbin makes a poorly wound bobbin, which leads to nothing but tension troubles. If you're using "L" bobbins, you'll need probably 3-4 for each project at a minimum; for "M" bobbins maybe you'll only need 1-2. When I had my Mega Quilter I had about 25 bobbins, and have the same amount for Darcy. I could keep several pre-wound with a "regular" neutral, and have extras for when I wanted different colors. If you end up with lots of partial bobbins, don't unwind them or use them in another project (unless you just like having to stop quilting after 5 minutes to change the bobbin!) I substitute these partial bobbins as the top thread for when I'm piecing a project. That way the thread isn't wasted.
GREAT Thread. Ok, here I make no bones about endorsing this supplier. Superior Thread is just that - superior. I swear by this thread; I love the colors, I love the way it quilts, and the price is pretty reasonable. If you have a true mid-arm it should be able to handle cones, but if not, spools are fine too. This company has tried their threads on lots of different machines and so they have the experience to help you troubleshoot issues & recommend specific settings for a lot of machines. Even if you don't buy their thread the resources on their site are extensive & I highly recommend reading it. With that said... your machine should be capable of running anything, unless the thread is poor quality. Variegated threads are nice, but you'll get way more mileage out of a nice selection of neutrals. By neutrals I mean - a creamy white, a dusky lavender, a nice copper, and a medium grey. When all else fails you can usually turn to these colors as a standby when you don't have anything else that seems to fit. If you're not sure about a color, unspool several yards of it onto the quilt - you can tell what will look nice. Make sure you unspool across all the colors in the quilt if you have a lot of contrast. :) Eventually you'll add to your thread collection; a set of color cards for whatever thread you're buying is a great investment.
A couple of good pantographs. If you have a machine with a 9" throat, stick with designs 5" or less. You'd be surprised at how much space you lose in the throat as your quilt advances. A nice meander pattern, something with straight lines, and something with a mix of curves and lines. If nothing else, these designs can help you get used to moving the machine. Just search the internet for "quilting pantographs" and you'll find lots of sites with cool designs. Leave the beautiful, intricate, tiny designs for when you've got more quilting hours under your belt.
A stitch regulator. If your machine doesn't have one, see if there's an aftermarket one that will fit your machine. Regulating your own stitches takes practice, and I HIGHLY recommend that you learn, but for the times when you just want to get 'er done, this can be a great tool. Also if you dream of doing ruler work, it's almost a requirement. :)
Extra needles. You're going to be changing needles a lot more often than you do on your regular home machine. You'll likely change needles every project, sometimes more than once during a project! If you're doing a baby quilt, you can probably do 2 quilts per needle, but if you're doing a queen or king, you could go through 2-4 needles. Don't skimp on these. Needles take lots of abuse at high speeds, and you need your needle sharp and straight. I have probably 200 needles right now. It sounds like a lot but I've gone through a whole pack of 10 on 6 quilts. Don't get 200 of the same size; I probably have 100 needles in the size I use most, and the other 100 are divided amongst other sizes so I can accommodate different thread weights. Depending on your machine, you either need "home" needles (flat on one side at the top) or "industrial" needles (completely round at the top.) Know which type your machine uses and only buy those; these needles are NOT interchangeable.
120" measuring tape. Trust me; you're going to forget to measure something, leave your measuring tape in a room where you are not at, or not be able to find it. Get a measuring tape that stays with your machine. As you advance the quilt, you can check that you're not stretching it width-wise & it's staying square.
Lightweight Spring Scissors. I have 3 pair of these, and they are all hung on my machine at various locations using repositionable hooks. You could also put them on a lanyard but I found that I was always stabbing myself a lot. You always need a pair of scissors, and they are never where you want them to be, so just get a few pair and be done. Get in the habit of returning them back to the hook so you don't forget them on the quilt & run them over. I especially like these scissors because I don't have to awkwardly get my fingers in & out of a hole - just press them closed & release. I think these are also called embroidery snips.
A carpenter's level. You need to make sure your frame is perfectly level. My frame sits on carpet, and it took several weeks for it to settle into position. Your machine should ride freely on the rails in both directions with a gentle push. It should slowly come to a stop, and not move once it does. If it stops abruptly, rolls back in the other direction, or doesn't go very far when you give it a push, your machine might be out of level. 4' is a good length, get one that's not going to twist out of shape.
Clamps for the Wheels. If your machine does not come with channel locks, you should get a couple of clamps for your wheels or track to keep the machine from moving. You can buy clamps from any home improvement store - just make sure they are padded, clamp firmly but not so tightly that you'll mar the wheels or your frame. It's hard to say what kind of clamps because it depends on where you would be able to clamp the machine, but I can tell you - it's great being able to know for certain that you have a straight line for basting your quilt to keep it square.
A batting assortment. In all my batting experimentation, I'm coming to enjoy quilting with a particular type of batting. But I wouldn't have come to that conclusion unless I'd tried a bunch of different ones first. Batting by the yard is more economical than batting in a package (because you can cut to the right length or width.) Don't buy a 30 yard roll of anything unless you're super-sure you'll love using it on the frame. Some battings that are fine on a tabletop machine are just horrid for frame quilting. Better to find that out with a minimum investment. My batting assortment is over the top so I wouldn't recommend anyone do what I did unless you're planning to do long arm quilting as a business like me.

That's all I can think of right now! Maybe other frame quilters will chime in with the things I forgot, but I think this is a pretty good list.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #1 Donna

2011-01-26T20:04:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'll admit it.

Donna's quilt scares me.

Intimidates me even. Why, you ask? Because:

Donna's quilt has a solid backing fabric.

Any long arm quilter will tell you - solid backs are the kiss of death. Or, really show off the skill and talent of the long arm quilter (not me right now!) Supposedly, "busy backs" are our saving grace. Why?

Because of tension. And you know how Darcy and I have had our differences over tension. I think he's okay now, because since we had a little tension "come to Jesus" session, he's quilted up two really beautiful quilts without a peep. I even did one with monofilament, but I can't show you because it's a pattern as yet to be released, and I keep those pretty well under wraps.

Well, ok I'll show you a little bit of it:

So when I was buying thread last month, I decided that the best thing to do was to buy thread that matched the back, so that any little tension issues would be well disguised. And this is the thread I came up with:

Looking at it now, it's absolutely horrid. The thread on the left is for the bobbin, and you can see it literally melts into the quilt backing - that's exactly what I want on a solid back. But the top? Ewwww!

When I was quilting Jen #18's quilt, I learned that a thread on top that uses a contrasting thread really shows everything. And sometimes, that's the last thing that you want. So with the top of this quilt being so light, and the back being so dark & solid to boot - what's a quilter to do?

So I went back to the Superior thread charts and ordered this:

And this...

Yup, one more...

Yes, this too...

Nope, still not done...

Yes, you saw that correctly. 7 cones of thread for just one quilt, because I just couldn't decide. You're probably asking yourself, "Why on earth did she order 3 cones of the exact same color?" Well, I didn't - but they are sooooo close that I couldn't pick the best one based on the color card, and I didn't want to choose wrong again and have to wait, and King Tut thread is soooooo yummy, and...

In any event, I think I've come up with a reasonable combination of threads, but I truly consider this to be the ultimate test of whether Darcy & I have truly come to an understanding about tension.

If we haven't... well Donna, that's what happens when you send your quilt in first! :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Mr. Darcy, Closet Rebel

2011-01-24T18:36:00.000-06:00

I was super shocked to come home today and find Mr. Darcy had tattooed himself:

Ummm, just how self-centered does one have to be to tattoo their own name across their body?!?

I swear Darcy, this better not be a sign of a loss of affection for our relationship, because we make quite a team. Now, enough strutting around the studio, it's time to get back to work (yup, that's my quilt "Chiselry" on the frame, and I see a do-over in my very near future...)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Things Beginning Frame Quilters Should Know When Starting...

2011-01-24T11:40:00.000-06:00

You know, I've been posting a lot about my journey in long arm quilting, but I think while I've been presenting it as a beginning for me, it's actually a bit further on my journey than most people might be familiar with. This really came to light when JayTee asked in a comment the other day about me posting about things beginners should know or have when they first start out. So I decided to dedicate this post to things a beginner should know when they first start out, and maybe later in the week I'll post up about things you should have to get off to a successful start.

I didn't just jump into frame quilting right away. At first, I was just quilting on a regular old Kenmore, but my first forays into free motion quilting showed me that my machine was not up to the task. Oh sure, people can talk about how you can make any machine bend to your will, but honestly I don't have the time or patience to fight with a machine to do something it was not built to do. And I can tell you from experience, that you don't know what true free motion is like until you get hold of a machine that actually enjoys that task. :)

And I'm not talking about Mr. Darcy; I'm talking about the Viking Sapphire I purchased to replace the Kenmore. Some people don't like the Sapphire, but at the time I bought it, it was truly like night and day, and I realized that I really, truly loved to quilt.

So before you jump into frame quilting... do you know whether you truly, truly love free motion quilting? If you do, there's probably lots that your home machine can do without a frame (just ask Leah Day). But if you're like me, you've probably decided that moving the fabric around while trying to coax your foot to go faster, faster and your hands to go slower, slower is just not natural.

After I upgraded to the Sapphire, I decided that my issue was that I didn't have enough throat space, and I purchased the Viking Mega Quilter (without the frame.) This rather hasty purchase was made because I actually had committed to making a twin sized quilt for someone 3 weeks before Christmas, with a ton of applique & custom stitching & no earthly idea how I was going to accomplish the task. This machine turned out to be a wonderful purchase at the time, and I was amazed at how much better my free motion was on this machine! It seemed the machine was built for free motion, and I was hooked. But still, it seemed limiting to me, and moving the quilt still seemed unnatural.

The natural progression from this was to add the frame. I had no room for it in my present condo, but I was moving soon, and actually got a pretty good deal from the Viking dealer who wanted to get rid of their older Inspira frame and put in the newer Next Generation. Since I hadn't done any research whatsoever, it sounded like a pretty good deal to me. I won't say that I regret the purchase per se, but this particular combination of frame and machine was not for me. Do your research.

Still... I LOVED free motion quilting, and after doing more research, I decided that if I could only find the right machine to meet my needs, then I could really turn my creative quilting thoughts into reality, with a machine that I wouldn't soon outgrow. I think I've found the very perfect machine for me in Mr. Darcy, I wouldn't dream of giving him up or changing him out for the world, and probably the only thing I regret about the decision I made was not having done it sooner. Though you'll see me write about his issues whenever he has them, partly that has to do with me wanting to be completely open & up front about the challenges as well as the joys. I don't think it would be fair for me to just say "look at this wonderful piece I quilted" without also disclosing the thread breaks, tension mishaps, oiling oopsies, cord displacement, or any other random nonsense I encounter on a daily basis. It's not all roses and cookies, but the rewards far, far outweigh the blips & tizzies & tantrums. Geez, it sounds like I'm raising a kid! :)

So once you have those two components in place - you know you love free motion quilting, you've done your research - and you're ready to take the plunge, here are few things you should know when you get started:

Long arm quilting takes PRACTICE. Practice both on and off the frame. I take paper with me wherever I go, and whenever I have downtime I try to doodle and practice stitching. You want to develop muscle memory. You'd be surprised at how practicing on paper translates to the frame.
Quilt something EVERY DAY. You'd also be surprised at how quickly you become rusty, and the skills you've taken weeks to build can disappear in a matter of days. Have something loaded in your frame at all times, even if it's just practice muslin.
If your back hurts, your neck hurts, your arm hurts or your eyes hurt, you're DOING SOMETHING WRONG. Stop. Take a break. Stretch. Good quilting rarely comes from pain & discomfort. Make sure your machine is at the correct height for good posture. The backing bar should be at belly button height, and in general your arms should be at a 90 degree angle when holding the handles. That's a really rough guide but it's something you'll quickly discover if you're following #2.
Decide on the type of quilter YOU WANT TO BE. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate that I seem to have taken to frame quilting like a duck to water, but it doesn't mean I'm perfect at it or even really great. You can look at my pictures and think I've come so far, but I recognize that I'm nowhere near good enough to quilt an award-winning quilt in a big show. But you know what? I don't even think I want that if it means what I think it means. I feel like my quilting reflects my personality. If my imperfections aren't good enough for somebody, then they don't deserve me or my work. At the same time, I keep striving to improve myself, but it's so that I can see my OWN growth and improvement, not so I can be the next Sharon Schamber. If you want to do that, good for you! But maybe you just want to frame quilt so you can be DONE with something. There's nothing wrong with that either!
Tension will VEX YOU, at some point. I actually think if you don't have tension issues in your quilting, you're not trying hard enough. Seriously, where's your sense of adventure? You should be willing to experiment, try different threads, different battings, work with different fabrics, and find your own favorite combination of materials that makes your machine hum. I had a heck of a roller coaster with Darcy over tension last week, but it's made me more confident. I don't stress over tension anymore because I know how to fix it and tweak it to make it better, and if I can't, I have a super dealer & quilter who's only a phone call away.
Find an ONLINE COMMUNITY for your machine & frame combo. I've found it helpful to belong to a Yahoo Group called homequiltingsystems. This is a generic group for all types of machines & frames, but they have a ton of files & resources, including links to machine-specific groups. There actually wasn't one for the HQ Fusion when I joined, so I started one myself. There can be strength in numbers, if only to have a lot of different people with different experiences who may have just the tip to solve your problem.
Are you quilting for YOURSELF or for OTHERS? This helps to determine just how much practice you will need before you start quilting "real" quilts. You need to build a lot of trust and confidence in yourself before you are turned loose onto someone else's budding heirloom, and they need to have a lot of trust in you. Don't over-sell your skills. Be up front & honest with people on just how much quilting you've got under your belt. I've been continuously amazed at how many people trust me with their quilts on a weekly basis (especially the paying folks!) :)
Manage your EXPECTATIONS. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you cannot judge your progress against someone else's. I say this because a lot of people have remarked about how good I am at quilting already, and see my work and are shocked that I've only got 5 or 6 quilts on Darcy under my belt and maybe only 10 total from working in a frame. The rumor is that you need to have at least 300-400 quilting hours under your belt. I don't think you need that much if you have #9, but you still need a lot of #1! Still, make room in your expectations for learning. Don't beat yourself up too much if you can't pick something up the 1st, 3rd, or 31st time you've tried it. (Like those $&#^%$$% feathers!!!)
The stitch regulator is your FRIEND. Frame quilting in manual mode is definitely a skill to be learned, but if you want to get better much faster, use your stitch regulator. Is it a cop out or cheating? When I first started frame quilting on my Mega Quilter, I absolutely hated the stitch regulator. It felt herky-jerky and I never turned it on. But I did learn that there's a place for stitch regulation and a place without it. Ruler work is pretty darn near impossible unless you're in stitch regulated mode; but stippling & meandering feels a lot more satisfying if you don't use it. So in my estimation, stitch regulation is a tool to be used at the appropriate time. Still, you'll get the hang of frame quilting a lot faster if you take one of the variables out of the equation and let the machine control the stitch length.
Buy the best machine & frame for YOU. Sure, it's good to listen to what other people have to say on the topic, but you also have to keep in mind their particular "spin" and experience. It's been really rare for me to talk to a frame quilter & not have them wax poetic over the virtues of their own machine and swear up & down that theirs is the best. Other people will tell you to just buy a Gammill if you can afford it. You know what? I don't like Gammills. Don't get me wrong, their machines are top of the line, great quality, and have so many bells and whistles you'll think you're at a referee camp. Still, I don't like Gammills. It's kind of like buying a car: I can admire a Bentley for the workmanship, the sleek design, the luxury accouterments but... I'm not in the market for a Bentley. Even if I could afford one I couldn't see myself owning one. It's just not the right car for my personality and sense of value. It's not a knock against the company or anyone who owns one, it's just not my bag of popcorn. Look at what's important to you and make a decision from there that you can live with.
A long arm is an INVESTMENT. It should last you decades if you take care of it. Don't spend thousands and thousands of dollars on your machine, only to scoff and complain at the expense of needles & good thread. Don't undo all your efforts to make a quality project by cheaping out on the very materials that will finish it beautifully. You'll have less frustration overall if you know that you've done your best to use the right tools.
Have FUN and RELAX. This is supposed to be fun, not work. When it feels like work, go do something else for a little while. The machine isn't going anywhere.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

HONE Continues While Mr. Darcy Pitches a Fit

2011-01-23T10:31:00.000-06:00

This week, I decided to tackle a technique that's been vexing me and evading my understanding for months: ruler work!

When I was at the Houston show, hanging out in the Handi Quilter booth, I started playing with the new rulers they had come out with. And you know what I discovered? I absolutely suck at ruler work! And you know what else? I bought some anyway!

I think actually I may have an obsession with rulers, because I keep buying them, and they just collect in a drawer. I should point out - long arm rulers are different from quilting rulers; rulers for the long arm are 1/4" thick at least, so that the hopping foot doesn't "hop" on the ruler and break something important. I know some quilters who have run over their 1/4" rulers anyway (myself included) but it doesn't happen often. Sure is scary because the needle does NOT break!

Besides the special rulers, you also need an extended base for your machine to help support the ruler. I don't have a picture of mine but you can look at it on the Handi Quilter website:

You need rulers to do stitch in the ditch (SID), and also whenever you need to do circles or arcs or anything where precision is necessary. Well, if I had the computer module on my machine, I wouldn't need rulers at all because I could just make the machine do it, but I like the challenge of learning this skill on my own. That's what HONE is about.

If you are sending your quilts out to a long arm quilter, you can expect to pay a premium for ruler work. It is definitely a skill to be developed, and requires additional tools to support it. In addition, ruler work is SLOW work. You can't go zipping across the quilt when you're using rulers; you have to slow down, focus on about 4-6" ahead of the needle at a time, and there are a lot of stops, starts, and adjustments. If you just have a few block outlines it probably won't add too much to the cost, but if your quilt is nothing but crosshatching and SID, that's going to cost more than an edge to edge design.

At the end of December, I had finished piecing 4 quilts made from a Moda layer cake, and since I have 4 nearly-identical quilts, I thought it would be fitting to use one of them to practice with.

The rulers I employed included a serpentine ruler, 2 sizes of circles (4" and 8") and the Handi Versa Tool for stitch in the ditch.

The first thing I did was use the serpentine ruler to create a spine for some swirls I planned around the outer border. Then I used the circles in some of the blocks, and finally I did stitch in the ditch work. On the back of the circle templates, I sprayed them with 404 Repositionable Adhesive to make sure they didn't move, but I didn't do the same for the other two rulers. Part of the reason for that is that for circles to be perfect, they can't be shifting around, but for serpentine & SID, you sometimes need to adjust the ruler a bit to follow the seam or fit to an area.

The key to ruler work is all about the right pressure: the pressure of your hand holding the ruler, and the pressure of your other hand guiding the machine. It takes a lot of coordination! If you press down on the ruler too hard - the machine can't move, but if you don't press down hard enough, the ruler will shift. Likewise, if you push or pull the machine too hard against the ruler, you'll move the ruler, but if you don't push or pull hard enough, the machine won't follow the ruler and you'll get some crazy looking lines. It's a fine balance because you don't want hand cramps either.

I actually trained myself to use the right amount of pressure by buying a ruler with handles. With this ruler, I was focused so much on gripping the handles between my fingers, that I didn't press down too much and was able to balance the pressure. When I switched over to the rulers without handles, I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It's funny to think on it now, that I was so scared to use rulers before and now I can't wait to do another quilt that needs ruler work!

Since this quilt is a disappearing nine patch with 9.5" center blocks, I took it as an opportunity to practice different stitches in each area. I also had a thought that instead of doing the small block samplers from Leah's 365 Days of Free Motion, I could practice some of her designs on Mr. Darcy. I started out with this circle:

On the inside edge, I used Swirling Petals, and added some swirls on the inside and outside. I don't like the inside swirls as much - I could have planned them better, but I did like the petals.

Here is the next circle I did:

I know the inside is hard to see, but it's a variation of Bubble Path Spiral. I say "variation" because my path isn't a spiral, it meanders around quite a bit. That was really fun to do. On the outside of the circle I freehanded some feathers. Those still need a lot of practice! They are more challenging than you might think.

The next circle:

This is Skeleton Flower on the inside, and on the outside I just freehanded some lightning bolts.

The last circle:

This is Wormholes on the inside, and then the Pebbles that I love so much to fill in the outside of the block. Wormholes is a really fun quilting stitch to do too - I love the randomness of it.

In the smaller circles, I used the same design, just wavy lines coming off the center and back again, it reminded me a bit of a sand dollar when I started, but I decided to fill it in a lot more. As I stitched it, I was thinking about the hands of a clock, and I chanted as I stitched it: 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 9 o'clock...

I filled the inside of the circle first, then on the outside, I made more little spikes, but when I came to another part of the block, I just took off in long wavy lines. You'll see that better in other pictures.

The final design in the border was just an all over swirl in the vine. I decided to add more texture to the swirls by adding 3 spiky points to them as I exited the spiral. I don't know if Leah has a design like this or not, I didn't consult her designs for this one.

Now, just as I was coming to the last half of the quilt, Mr. Darcy pitched a fit. You see, he has several modes of sewing for stitch regulation, and the one that is critical for free motion is the one he just wouldn't stitch in consistently. I spent a half hour on the phone with his parents (Handi Quilter) and the verdict was that we needed to replace his brain. Mr. Darcy isn't fully computerized, but he does have quite a few computerized bits anyway, and there just seems to be a bug in his. I was able to coax him into cooperating to finish the quilt, but it's quite maddening to want to stitch something a certain way, and have him refuse to do so. You will obey me, Darcy!! Please?

The last part of the stitching I want to point out is the SID. You can't really see it from the front (that's the point) but on the back, it really sets off the blocks nicely:

I am very pleased at how straight my lines are on this quilt, and I love how the blocks are set off. The one thing I would probably change is to not have stitched the lines on the inside of the smaller circle. It's important to think about the quilting and how it will look both with and without block lines!

Now here is the whole quilt from the front:

And here it is from the back:

Isn't that just super fun?!?!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Mr. Darcy's Under Stress: Fixing the Tension on a HQ Fusion

2011-01-18T16:25:00.000-06:00

I think I've been bemoaning all of the issues that I've been having getting the tension set correctly on my HQ Fusion (lovingly nicknamed Mr. Darcy) since the week he arrived. Admittedly, tension is one of those perpetual issues when frame quilting, so it's not unique to Mr. Darcy, but I never expected it to be as fussy as it has been to keep adjusted properly. I've been working on a few things over the past couple of weeks to try to make it better, and I thought I would share my findings with you all.

On a home machine, tension isn't something that most people have a hard time with. Part of it is because we are trained almost from birth to NEVER EVER TOUCH the bobbin tension, and as quilters, we don't necessarily use that many different threads to accomplish a task. Only when you're free motion quilting might you notice a difference enough to try and adjust it, and even then, you're probably only changing the top tension.

With long arm quilting, setting the bobbin tension is a necessity! You have to get over the idea that messing with the bottom tension is a bad idea. Sometimes it's the only way to get a good stitch, and you have to know how to set it, know when it's right and when it's not. Once the bobbin tension is correct, then you can adjust the top tension.

You also have to check the tension at every bobbin change at the minimum. Even though we use a separate bobbin winder, there can be some variations, so it's best to test every bobbin. In my case, I seemed to need to check then tension nearly every time I stopped moving the machine or advance the quilt, and the more I had to stop, the less I trusted it, until it became almost an obsession! I've turned the top tension so much back & forth that I don't even know what it's set at.

So let's talk about the things I worked through to try to alleviate my problem. My #1 lesson in solving tension problems for anyone is: to go back to basics and eliminate variability as much as you can so you can get a good baseline. Tension settings can vary based on the fabric, batting used, thread, needle, bobbin, and top tension discs. So you want to have your "go-to" combination that you can always return to and know the tension can be set properly for that combo.

The Fabric
I only use 100% cotton in my quilts, so this was easy. Keep the fabric the same.

The Batting
I use a variety of batting but my "standard" is an 80/20 cotton poly blend. So that is what I used for my tension tests.

The Thread
I use a variety of threads, but Superior So Fine is the one I use by far the most. I used So Fine in both the top & bobbin so I know the weight of the threads is exactly the same.

The Needle
For each thread, depending upon the thread weight, a different needle size should be used. Luckily Superior has this covered in their thread guide. So Fine uses MR3.5 needle (#16). Did I mention the needle system is waaaay different on a long arm?

The Bobbin
The traditional way of checking the bobbin tension is called the "drop test." You're supposed to hold the trailing thread, and let the bobbin fall from your hand about 4". Depending on how fast it moved (or not) determined how loose or tight you needed to make it. Over time you just "know" what's right. Well, that drives me nuts. This is an expensive piece of equipment, with electronic controls, mechanical parts - there is no "feel". The machine should be able to be precisely adjusted; the only "feel" in this equation should be what drives my creativity!

So the very first thing I did was buy what's called a TOWA gauge. I think TOWA is just the name of the company, but it is a specialized gadget (I love my gadgets) that can accurately measure the force needed to pull the thread through the bobbin. The force is expressed as a number, and once you know the right number for your machine, then you can set every bobbin to the same number.

The trouble is... nobody is willing to tell you what the "right" number is! After much hunting around, I did find someone willing to tell me, which I'll share in a sec. First, let's look at the TOWA:

When I first got the TOWA, I believed that Mr. Darcy liked a TOWA tension setting of around 150. And that was OK, but I was constantly having to adjust the top tension, sometimes so tightly that it would break threads. This probably should have been my first clue, but I was basing my TOWA tension on my hand-drop test, and that's about where it was.

Well, I was digging around on the Superior website in their thread education department, and found this:

Tension Guides for Long Arm Machines

Look! There's a guide for each of the HQ machines! And in it... drum roll please... recommended TOWA settings AND a top tension guide!!

So from this chart, I determined that with So Fine thread, my TOWA tension should be around 180-200. No WONDER I'm having such problems!

One other thing that I did: I swapped out bobbin cases. When I first got Darcy, I bought him an extra bobbin case. So I decided that the "new" bobbin case is now the one which will always be set for So Fine, and the old one I will use for other things where I have to adjust the tension more often (like for silk thread or monofilament.) I feel like I've already fiddled with that one so much it may as well be the one I always fiddle with.

So now, having my tension set to 190, like it's supposed to be, I can now move on to setting the top tension.

Top Tension
I threaded the machine with a cone of So Fine, checked the thread path, and then loosened the tension knob ALL THE WAY OUT. I know that the tension won't ever be good here, but if you have no idea where you are in the tension dial, you can't really judge what is right or wrong.

So I did two things, which are highlighted in the picture below:

When I let the tension knob all the way out, I marked on the dial itself in silver marker. This is just a reference point. Then, in a corresponding spot on the machine body, in black marker, I made another mark. Where both of these dots meet (not shown) is where tension = 0. It's easier to think of adjusting the tension based on full turns of the dial. So if I rotate the dial clockwise, all the way around until dot meets dot, tension = 1.

On the Superior chart, they recommend a top tension of between 4-5, meaning, 4 to 5 full turns of the tension dial. So I just cranked and counted, watching when the dial went around and passed the reference point.

In my case, I actually did a test stitch out at 4 exactly, and it was so darn close! But one other thing that I learned is called the "fingernail test" - which is, you run your fingernail along the top and along the bottom of the stitch, and if you can feel (and hear) your fingernail catch, then your tension still needs a little adjusting for the final tuning. In my case, I could feel the bobbin thread on the top side, so I had to loosen the tension 1/2 a turn, to 3.5 (which is why in the picture, the silver dot is on the other side of the dial).

The discrepancy for me in the number of turns from the Superior chart may just be because of where my reference point at tension = 0 started. Maybe I didn't have the tension dial out all the way like I thought. In any event, I know where it is for me, and that's the main thing. Knowing is half the battle!

Here's the back side of the tension test - you can almost make out where the tension went from 0, to 1, to 2, then 3, then 4, and back to 3.5. At least I can!

Now, I've only done a test stitch out on some muslin, so I'm curious to see what handling a "real" quilt will be like, but having done this extensive learning I feel better armed to diagnose tension issues as they arise in the future. And I hope they help you too!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #16 Mary - Finished Quilt

2011-01-17T07:26:00.000-06:00

I wanted to be sure & post photos of Mary's finished quilt!

You all might be wondering why I'm jumping around in the list. Well, I never expected to quilt these in any particular order, although I do feel a bit of guilt about not having quilted the very first quilt to arrive - the Rail Fence that Donna sent. I am happy to report though that it does have zippers on it, and I did decide how to quilt it, and selected an amazing King Tut variegated thread for it. Perhaps the person I feel most sorry for is whoever is going to be last! Maybe I should put all the numbers in a basket and pick out whatever number comes out to work on instead of going purely by whim & caprice?

Boy do I have a lot to say other than what I'm supposed to be posting about! So on to Mary's quilt. One advantage to loading it sideways is that it quilted up faster, with fewer passes. As I look at doing other quilts, I'm going to evaluate the same option, especially if I have a non-directional quilt and I'm quilting in a non-directional way.

Here is the front of Mary's quilt:

Here is the back of Mary's Quilt:

And here is a cool closeup:

I really love the curling and swirling on this very linear quilt, and I love the thread too. The variation in the stitching is subtle but it has an almost shimmery quality.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #16 Mary & the Pantograph

2011-01-16T22:39:00.000-06:00

There are so many different ways to quilt - the possibilities are endless, and I feel like I'll never get to learn them all or well! Feathers are such a daunting prospect that I don't even feel good enough to PRACTICE. How silly is that?

Anyway, I digress. The point of this post was really to talk about pantographs, but first I think it best to describe the different types of long arm quilting. In general, they fall into a few distinct categories and subcategories. At the highest level, you have the distinction between hand guided and computer driven.

I am not the one to cast aspersions on the computer driven set - it does have its own set of skills to be learned and mastered. You still need to know how to load a quilt, balance the tension, and have some design sensibilities as well. Knowing what pattern complements a quilt cannot be replaced by any computer. And certainly, there are some very talented individuals who do not have the time or inclination to develop skills in hand guided quilting.

One the other end of the spectrum are quilters like me who feel the same about learning the computerized side! I must admit to having entertained on more than one occasion the purchase of the computer module for my own dear Mr. Darcy, but I have so far resisted because I really feel strongly about the need to feel the machine in my hands, to strive for my own brand of perfection, and inject my personality into my wobbly, tentative stitches. If you follow the quilting lines on a hand guided quilt, you can almost read an entire story in them. I don't know if I'll ever be ready to give that up.

Back to the quilting. So on the hand guided side, you've got a few different subcategories - free-motion, stencil, ruler work, and pantograph. I really will explain ruler work one day, but I'm working up the nerve (see the note above about feathers). And stencils? Maybe someday. I've mostly been concentrating on free-motion, but from time to time, I get an itch to do a pantograph.

If you don't know what a pantograph is - I'll explain. It's essentially a continuous line quilting design (meaning I can quilt from one end of it to the other without starting & stopping my stitching line) that is typically on a 12' long roll of paper. It can be anywhere from 2" wide all the way up to 16" or more. The designs can be anything from simple to intricate, and they take some of the fuss out of quilting. The disadvantage to pantographs though is that you cannot look at the quilt at all while you're stitching, so you have to have a high degree of confidence in your tension & the flatness of the quilt, and whether you still have thread. :)

I sometimes go online and surf around different sites looking at pantograph patterns, and I came across one that instantly called out to me, because I knew exactly what quilt it should go on: Mary #18.

Mary's quilt is a strip quilt, but it is dynamic and elegant and just reminded me of a walk in the woods. I love having all these quilt tops from other people because they're like a catalog in my head; I flip through them from time to time, thinking about how I would quilt them and how they might look. I love having the flexibility to choose any of them at will to work on when inspiration hits, and so it was with Mary's quilt.

I chose a gorgeous variegated King Tut thread for this quilt, in different shades of green, to complement the greens and browns and yellows and lilac (yes, lilac) in her quilt:

The pantograph itself is called "Wood Grain" and it seemed really perfect for this. I don't know that I will ever have occasion to use it again, but I can't imagine having done anything else on this quilt.

Free motion quilting, rulers, stencils - all those are worked from the front of the machine, but pantographs are worked from the rear. My machine has a table to hold the pantograph, a grid to help align it, a laser light to enable me to follow the line, and a set of handles with independent controls. It's like having two machines in one!

Well, when you're aligning the pantograph, you need to identify the left & right side of the quilt (so you know where your panto begins & ends within the quilt) and align the laser so you can follow within the boundaries.

So I got this all set up, I started quilting, and something was wrong. Ok, something was wrong besides the tension. :)

As I was quilting, I discovered that when I moved the machine a certain direction, I couldn't see where I was going. Can you see why?

Well, I will tell you. The laser light is too close to the machine! When I stand behind it, the machine actually obscures my line of sight, and I'm not able to see where I'm going. I had to stand at a really awkward angle, sometimes standing on tip-toe, to see where the pattern was going. It was like driving in a fog. So I needed to adjust the position of the laser.

This is where pantographs themselves, and my handy Pattern Grid come in handy. You see, most pantographs have a recognizable repeat, so I identified the repeat that matched the edge of my quilt:

The right, in the red marker, is the original position. The orange strip identifies the outside edge of the quilt. The red marker is where I redrew some of the pattern so that it fell within the edge of the quilt and I didn't have really awkward paths. On the left, is green marker and another orange strip. This is the next repeat of the pattern, in the same position, and the green marker is where I redrew the pattern. This is the new edge of my quilt and where I will realign the laser.

Do you see how much farther out from the machine the laser is now? This allows me to stand exactly behind the machine, but look to my left for the laser beam. It's so much more comfortable than the twisting I was doing before!

So here's a little peek at Mary's quilt with the quilting on it. It's not "computer" perfect, but it seems to add a bit of character to it in a way that is not distracting. In any event, I am rather pleased with how it turned out, and I do love the thread although it was a very subtle choice.

I did learn something else: I cannot quilt when I am tired! The pantograph may seem like a lazy way to quilt, but if you don't really pay attention to where the laser is going, you can really mess up the quilting pattern. I may be able to piece & cut when I'm tired, but quilting is out.

And I really need to get to the bottom of my pesky tension problems! I just don't think I should need to mess with the tension so very much - it's absurd!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: More Preparation Tips

2011-01-16T19:39:00.001-06:00

Before I get to the subject of today's post, I have to crow about my new(est) toy! Yes, the Rowenta DG8030 is back in the studio, and I have proven that the previous one I had was a complete & total dud! I had this one on all day, and after about 5 minutes the initial smell dissipated, and the iron did not self destruct as the last one did. I am so relieved!

Coupled with my Reliable Long Board, I now have a pressing powerhouse at my disposal. I got 4 more quilts ready for Mr. Darcy:

With the addition of the new steam generator, I no longer find daunting the task of pressing folds out of the quilt tops that have come in.

Note that I said "pressing out folds" not "pressing entire quilts". I have decided that, if a quilt came in with more wrinkles than just the folds from shipping, I am going to quilt it that way. Seriously - it can take HOURS to press a queen or king sized quilt top, hours more to press the backing, and I think I was very fair to people in giving instructions on what to do in order to get free quilting. It's NOT fair to take advantage of my OCD perfectionist tendencies by sending things that need more attention. I'm not calling anyone out in particular, but you know who you are! :)

Anyway, one of the quilts that I picked out to quilt gave me an opportunity to illustrate some other preparation tips that are helpful when long arm quilting. Mary #16 provided this beautiful strip pieced quilt top, which doesn't have borders. There's nothing wrong with that, but several issues came up that I want to point out.

When you do a quilt without borders, you end up with exposed seams along the outside of the quilt. Your quilt edges get handled a lot more when long arm quilting, and they are also loaded under tension. This can cause edges to stretch and seams to unravel. So if you have a quilt without borders, (or borders with seams along the edge) you should "stay stitch" around the perimeter, across the seams. A "stay stitch" is simply a line of stitching, about 1/8" from the edge, that stabilizes the fibers & keeps them from stretching.

Mary did not know she needed to do this, so I did it for her, and now you all know what to do if you have the same situation. This makes sure that Mary's square quilt will stay square once it is loaded onto the long arm.

Mary DID make sure her backing & batting were very generous around the outside edge, and it gave me lots of options for deciding to quilt this, which brings me to my next point.

If you have a directional quilt (or a preference for which way is up), you definitely need to tell the quilter and mark it on your top (a safety pin is fine). However, doing so doesn't mean that the quilter is going to LOAD the quilt that way!

In Mary's case, her quilt had a definite feel for which way was up, but I actually loaded it sideways for quilting!

The pattern I chose to work with for her quilt was much easier and faster to quilt in this direction. Technically, a long arm quilter doesn't need as much fabric along the top and bottom as what is needed on the side, but since you can't guarantee which way the quilter will load it, it's better to just provide enough fabric & batting in the first place, and give the quilter the flexibility to choose.

Mary's quilt also had a lovely pieced backing, but I want to use it to illustrate something.

Wherever possible, if you are piecing a backing, please:
1) Remove selvages before piecing. Selvages are the tightest weave of the fabric without any give, and leaving them on can create puckers and inconsistent seams.
2) Use a 1/2" seam allowance. This provides extra stability for the backing, and helps when you -
3) Press seams open. The extra bulk created when you press seams to the side can cause skipped stitches and also hinder the quilt from rolling on to the poles evenly.

It's not always possible to do all of these things, and sometimes they can be compensated for during quilting, but it's better if you try to make things easier for your long arm quilter. :)

More on Mary's awesome quilt in another post!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting Checklist

2011-01-15T08:18:00.001-06:00

You know, I was loading up a new quilt on Mr. Darcy to work on today, and it started to occur to me exactly how much has to be done before I can put a stitch of thread into the quilt.

Pick the thread
Wind a bobbin or four (one day I will be able to accurately predict how many I need!)
Wipe down the machine (it gets dusty)
Wipe down the tracks (a clean track means no bobbles from the machine running over something)
Clean the wheels (you wouldn't believe how much GUNK gets on them - from where?!?)
Thread the machine
Change the needle (after every project, sometimes there's a needle change mid-project too)
Clean the bobbin race
Oil the bobbin
Check the bobbin tension & adjust
Plug in the machine (yup it's on a surge protector; yup, I'm still paranoid)
Turn it on
Reset the trip counter (yes, I'm OCD like that - Jen's quilt used 241,178 stitches and 720 yds of thread!)
Load the backing
Load the batting
Load the quilt top
Fasten the rails
Set the side tensioners
Check & adjust the tension (rinse & repeat I don't know how many times)
Baste a horizontal line through backing & batting to align the quilt top
Pin the quilt top
Baste the top edge of the quilt
Baste the sides

That's just to get to the point where I can start freehand quilting; if I'm doing a pantograph (as with this quilt), there are several more steps to do!

I guess I should hop back to it!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #18 Jen - Finished Quilt

2011-01-14T20:57:00.001-06:00

As promised, here are pictures of Jen's finished quilt!

I will not make any commentary here except to say that it's tough to be first, and know that you're first, and getting promised photos all day long so that you wear out your mouse clicking refresh. :)

Here's the whole quilt top:

Block #1:

Block #2:

Block #3:

I should mention this is my attempt at Day 141 Swirling Water by Leah Day.

Block #4:

Block #5:

Block #6 (my personal fav):

Back of the quilt:

The quilt is sent back with the outside edge completely basted but untrimmed. It is my policy to never trim a quilt unless I'm the one binding it or I'm asked to, and if you ever send your quilt out, you should expect the same. Also, if your quilt does get trimmed, you should also get all of your trimmings returned to you unless you have specifically told the quilter they may keep them.

Jen will also be the recipient of my first screen printing too!

Thanks for being a good sport and letting me play. I did learn that less is sometimes more (though I didn't learn that until after finishing yours), but since this is going to be a gift for a baby, let's just call them tactile learning blocks, k? :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Spending too Much on Your Yudu? Well, YuDon't Have To. :)

2011-01-14T15:26:00.000-06:00

I decided to write this post because someone had written in one of the forums I belong to about how expensive it is to have a Yudu, and my response was, it doesn't have to be if you are willing to ignore the hype around direct-from-Yudu supplies. Someone asked for more detail, so I thought instead of writing a lengthly reply that only one person would see, I'd blog about it in length for everyone to see!

So screen printing requires the following components:

A mesh screen (either 110 or 220 – that measures how fine an image you can get, like pixels)
Emulsion (this is what will carry your image on the screen)
An image to burn (typically drawn or printed on transparencies)
A way to “burn” the images (some sort of light box)
Ink for printing
A platen (this is what you hold the material with while you’re printing)
A way to apply the ink on the design (like a squeegee)
Emulsion remover (to clean the screen when you’re done & want to make a new design)

All of those things Yudu will sell. When you first get the Yudu, what should come in your box is a little bit of everything, so let’s say for $200, you get one screen, 2 emulsion sheets, one transparency, 2oz of black ink, 1 platen, and a squeegee. So everything you need to get going is in the box. However, if you want to keep going, you need more stuff. Let’s start at the top.

1. The mesh screen:
Yudu will provide you with one screen that’s 110 mesh. This is fine for large, one color designs. So if you only want to print in black, you’re good to go! If you want to overlay 3 or 4 colors, you need 1 screen per color. It’s kind of like an inkjet printer, you have one cartridge per color. If you want to do really fine lines & details or small fonts, you need a different screen at 220 mesh. Extra screens run about $20.00. I have about 4 screens total; I don’t buy them from ProvoCraft - I look around for deals, but they are still “Yudu” branded. You could make your own screens with just mesh you get at an artist supply store, but so far my laziness has prevented me from doing that.

2. Emulsion:
There are two ways to apply emulsion. Yudu uses “capillary sheets” which is basically emulsion suspended into a sheet that feels like contact paper until it gets wet. The other way is to use liquid emulsion & apply it with a “scoop coater”. The Yudu sheets are EXPENSIVE at $10.00 each, and you can ruin one pretty fast by using too much water or not enough to bond it to the screen. I ruined my first one right out of the gate. :) Liquid emulsion you buy by the quart, and it goes on in a very thin layer. When you burn the emulsion to the screen, you can use it many many times to print the same image, but you cannot reuse emulsion once it’s applied to the screen. So you get 1 screen per emulsion sheet, and somewhere around 30-50 screens from a quart of liquid emulsion. A quart runs about $25, so it’s about 50 cents to $1.00 per screen. The emulsion is light sensitive which is explained further.

3. An image to burn:
Simple transparency paper will do. You’re exposing the emulsion to light, so where it is exposed, it will harden & fill the mesh holes, and where it is covered by your image, it will stay pliable & rinse away. Yudu comes with a couple of transparency sheets, but if you want to print a variety of images you’ll need more. You can get them in a 5 pack from Yudu for around $15, or you can get a 100 pack of transparencies for $25 from an office supply store.

4. A way to burn the image:
This is the Yudu unit itself. You can’t beat the price really for this compact unit. Occasionally you’ll need to replace the light bulbs. These are just standard fluorescents you can get from Home Depot.

5. Ink for printing:
Just like printers, ink is where they make their money! Buying Yudu inks will cost you somewhere between $7-10 for a 3oz bottle. The original unit only comes with a little bit of black, so if you want to print more colors, you’ll need different inks. You can switch to another waterbased ink like Speedball, Permaset, or Matsui. Costs vary a little bit, but with Permaset for example I can get 11 oz for $10; Matsui is about $20 for 16oz.

6. A platen:
This is basically just something to hold the material you’re printing on. The Yudu comes with one, so I wouldn’t worry about having new ones unless you are printing shirt sleeves or something small. After I print something I just remove it from the platen & clip it to a clothesline to dry.

7. A squeegee:
The Yudu comes with one, so this isn’t really a big deal to replace unless you want to.

8. Emulsion remover:
Yudu sells this separately, you don’t really need it until you’re done with an image or you can’t get good prints anymore. Yudu sells this in a 3oz bottle for $24; you can get 5 oz of Saatichem for $10.

So just based on pricing, getting started is a pretty modest investment; to keep going will cost more. How much more really depends on how much volume of printing you're planning to do. If you only want to print in one color or one design, what comes with the Yudu is OK for that. If you aren't printing that much, then you don't really need 10 oz of ink or 100 transparencies. So you have to really decide which components are worth saving money on and which ones are not. If you do nothing else though - consider switching to liquid emulsion. For me this decision was about the cost of my mistakes, and if you mess up coating a screen (which is really the foundation of this whole process) I just liked the economics better of throwing away quarters instead of ten dollar bills.

Good luck!!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #18 Jen - Some Hard Lessons

2011-01-14T12:45:00.000-06:00

So first, I want to thank Jen for being brave and being the first quilt to be a practice piece. While I never wanted any of my practice pieces to look like they were practice pieces, well... let's just say I learned a LOT about quilting while working on Jen's quilt. And although hers is finished, I wanted to share the lessons & insights first and let the finished quilt stand alone in its own post.

First, let's discuss the whole squaring process and why quilt backs need to be so much larger than the quilt top, because there are several reasons for this.

I showed in the last post how the quilt gets loaded onto the three poles. The quilt backing gets basted to zippers at the top and bottom and rolled straight & square onto two poles. Then,the batting gets put on top of the backing and "floats" - the batting isn't connected to anything at the top or bottom. Lastly, the quilt top gets loaded onto a zipper at the bottom of the quilt and rolled onto the 3rd pole.

To get a good start, first I have to make sure everything is straight and stays straight throughout the quilting. So I have to do something at the top of the quilt to make sure it's straight and keep my batting from "creeping". The only way I know something is absolutely straight is if I lock my machine into a position so that it can only move in one direction. This is called a "channel lock". In this case, I need a straight horizontal line right across the top of the quilt. Here, I actually baste the horizontal line across the backing & batting ONLY. You can see a bit of that horizontal line peeking out in this photo:

Now, here's where you can see why we need extra fabric for the backing at the top. You need room for the pole, room for the zippers and pins, and room for the basting line. You don't want to accidentally stitch the zipper or heaven forbid run over a pin, so you need a few inches to maneuver.

Once the horizontal line is there, then I pull up the quilt top and align it with this row of stitching. So I can see if the quilt top has any extra "give" in it, and try to ease that in while I'm basting the top. Once the pinning is done, I keep the machine locked and baste the quilt top to the backing and batting, about 1/8" from the edge. This stitching actually helps you to finish the binding too, because the border is already secure and your binding will hide this row of stitching.

With the top basted, now I need to baste the sides. The sides only get basted as far as the machine will reach, which for me is about 22". In this case, the machine is "channel locked" in the other direction, so that it will only stitch a vertical line.

Do you see in this photo the three clamps on the side, clamped to a paint stick? This is called side tension:

You want to make sure the backing is taut (not super tight, but you don't want to quilt puckers in the back either!) This is one reason why we need extra backing on the sides. One, we need room for the clamps, and we need to be able to move the machine all the way to the edge of the quilt without running into the clamps. Also, if I am doing "ruler work" (more on that someday) there's actually an extension table that goes on the machine, and the extra backing means I won't run the table into the clamps either.

However, I use extra backing for an additional reason: to test the machine tension.

It never fails on a long arm machine, tension is something that must be constantly checked and adjusted. The tension changes as the bobbin runs out of thread; the tension changes when you wind a new bobbin; the tension changes if you use different threads top & bottom. I learned this lesson a little while ago but it bears repeating: always check the tension before putting a single stitch into a quilt. Do you want this type of stitching on your quilt? If not, you'll help your long arm quilter immensely by providing them some room to work by way of extra batting & backing on the sides. Then they can test the tension on your project, with your fabric & batting & thread choices. The tension testing is more extensive when first starting a quilt, and I usually do curves first because that's where terrible tension will show the most. Once I get going, I don't need to test it as much, and you can salvage much of the extra fabric on the sides if you are so inclined.

I set the bobbin tension first, and I use what's called a TOWA gauge to do that. This is so that I can always get the bobbin thread to a consistent setting that my machine likes. Over time, I'm discovering that my machine seems to love a TOWA tension of around 150. The bobbin tension is such a sensitive thing - the smallest changes in the position of that little screw shows up really big on the TOWA gauge. This is how much thread I spooled off to check the tension!

That's quite a little pile, eh? Once I get better at it, I hope to not use as much thread checking the bobbin tension. Once the bobbin is set, it's just a matter of setting the top tension to get rid of loops and pokies. Tighter if the top thread shows underneath, looser if the bobbin thread shows on top. It's a balancing act for sure!

When you come to the bottom of the quilt, you actually need to baste the bottom before you do the final pass of quilting. What I do is pin the bottom with pins, then I take off the zipper:

This is really the final proof of whether the quilt is going to finish off square. The quilt is under tension here, being pinned to the zipper, and you don't want to remove that tension until you have it secured another way. So I use flat headed pins to pin the quilt top and keep it from relaxing into the wrong shape. Once those pins are secure, I unpin the zipper and roll the leader out of the way. This is where having extra backing at the bottom is helpful - you can't guarantee how much a quilt will shift or grow or shrink while it's being quilted - there are a lot of variables. So it's best to have a little extra to work with at the bottom, plus - just like at the top, you need room for the machine to move so that it doesn't hit a pin or run over the zipper on the backing.

To quilt Jen's quilt, I took my inspiration from each block, and I decided to do a different pattern in each block, and then have the designs flow into one another. In hindsight, I think I would have been better off choosing one or two patterns instead of six, and some of the patterns worked out better than others.

Overall, I like the blue thread I chose, but I think actually it would have looked better with maybe a medium brown. That way it wouldn't be such a start contrast against the lighter areas of the block (and maybe would have hidden my bobbles a little better!)

Speaking of bobbles... I never should stay away from my machine that long. I should be quilting something every day, even if I can only get 15 minutes. You lose your rhythm so fast, and it takes a while to get back into the groove. I think you can probably look at Jen's quilt and see what block and did first & which one is last.

So I'll post her quilt later on tonight, and we've got a guild meeting coming up soon so she'll get her quilt back in a couple of weeks. I hope she is OK with how it turned out; I don't claim it to be my best work, but I am ever so thankful that Jen trusted me with finishing it.

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Long Arm Quilting: #18 Jen

2011-01-12T08:01:00.000-06:00

I started itching to do some long arm work, and immediately a quilt popped into my head as the one I was going to work on. So I started prepping the quilt, getting it nicely pressed, squared up (some of the quilts I got didn't come in that way) and got all the zippers on, only to realize:

The quilt backing is the same size as the quilt top.

Well, it wasn't exactly the same size, but with only about an inch on each side to spare (and a bit less because the zippers take some space) it might as well have been. It happens, people. In fact, I even designed a quilt that has a back that's exactly the same size, through a goof of my own. I won't say which because I'm hoping I can fix it without anyone being the wiser!

So I had to get in touch with the owner of the quilt, to get her permission to add fabric to her backing to bring it up to size. She said go ahead, and this is where having a nice stash comes in handy - I found a perfect blue called Kona Azure to match the quilt backing:

Don't worry - the blue got washed out in this picture but it's a tad darker than this. I added only to the top and one side to keep the asymmetrical look to the backing. I also chose to do this because it needed a full 8" to get added, and I didn't want it to look like a weird afterthought with a very narrow frame around it. I also can't guarantee exactly where the bottom of the quilt will land, so I had to account for that too.

Onto the frame it goes! The back goes on first:

You can see the blue a little better now, eh? The backing gets loaded onto the frame with the wrong side facing up. It needs to be smoothed out a little more, but I do that once the batting gets loaded. This is a quilt which did not come with batting, so I chose an 80/20 cotton/poly with scrim, which is a little thicker than the batting without scrim. I wanted to choose a thicker batting because the quilt top does have some puckers in it, and I need the batting to help with the puckers.

Next, the quilt top goes on. The top gets loaded face up, and I throw it over the back of the machine to help me roll it on straight:

The pantograph pattern that you see at the bottom of the picture is from a different project; I won't be using that on this quilt! I still haven't chosen exactly what I'm going to do - it needs to be a fairly loose pattern so I don't make the puckers worse, but I want it to be really nice & playful since it's a quilt for a boy.

The last thing I wanted to check was the thread color that I picked out. I ordered the thread weeks ago so I just wanted to confirm that I like the color. I chose a royal blue to complement the blues & browns throughout the quilt. I think it will look very nice!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

Double Delight Variation - Piecing in Progress

2011-01-11T18:10:00.000-06:00

Oh Joy! I got a wild hair over the weekend to make some progress on cutting this quilt The pattern is Bonnie Hunter's, and is supposed to be made entirely of scraps. I decided to use fat quarters and yardage, because I collect way too many fat quarters on a weekly basis, and could use some stash busting in this area.

The only reason I even persuaded myself to undertake this pattern is under the assumption that I could cut all the pieces with my AccuQuilt Studio. In order to do that though, I had to recreate the pattern in EQ7 and play around with the block sizes until I got something approximate.

Here's the fabric and the pattern:

The setting triangles will be a mixture of different colors of red and pink. These are the only pieces I cannot cut with my die cutter, as I believe they are something like 19" long. I do have a rather large triangle specifically for this purpose, but I won't know if it will work until I get the blocks pieced.

So here's most of it cut out. You can see some pieces missing (the dark pink & cream) because I decided that I would also piece & cut the nine patches on my Studio. First I cut strips, sew them together into two strip sets, and then cut them apart the opposite way:

Normally the half square triangles would have dog ears, but as luck would have it, that's one die I don't own in that size. Drats to me for missing the sale on the 10" block set! I still cut them on my strip cutter, it just took 3 passes.

I ended up finishing the very center nine patches and the red and gold squares:

It's not enough to do block assembly yet, but it got me a lot farther on this project than I was before!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

When in Doubt, Do Some Mindless Sewing

2011-01-10T09:05:00.000-06:00

After my whirlwind end of year effort, I think I burnt myself out on quilting for a little bit. Since I don't like to go more than a day without working in my Studio, I decided that some mindless sewing was in order.

The first thing that occurred to me was the goal I set at the beginning of the year to work through Leah Day's 365 days of free motion quilting. To do this, you need plenty of practice pieces to work on. Since I collect all manner of batting scraps, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to use them to create 6-1/2" squares.

This is a mere sampling of the batting scraps that I have; some of them were larger pieces, but of questionable quality that I certainly would not purchase again. Most of them are trimmings from quilts after they've been quilted. I probably reclaimed the fabric from these side trimmings, but the batting is another story.

Using a wide zigzag, I butted the pieces together to make wider strips:

I kept going like this until they were wide enough to cut on my AccuQuilt Studio. I used the 6-1/2" die to cut stacks and stacks of these. I also cut squares of navy blue fabric, of what is supposedly Kona cotton but I do not believe & therefore do not anticipate using heavily in my quilting projects. It's perfect for this application though!

I just kept sewing and cutting until I got tired of doing it. I still have some pieces left, but I got my batting scrap bin under control, and then the pieces I didn't plan to use, or the cut down scraps got added to the scraps I'm collecting to make dog beds:

Those of you who have been reading for a while must know that I rarely throw any scraps away - I keep all manner of random cuttings to be used in scrap quilts and art projects that I swear someday I'll get around to making. It rarely happens but that does not stop me from trying. I finally decided that my collecting was too much and I had to put it to use. So I started collecting scraps for making dog beds instead. These are two giant bags of fabric and batting scraps, which I anticipated would make several dog beds. I was wrong!

I got this upholstery fabric on clearance at fabric.com; it was amazingly priced but I didn't buy very much of it because I wanted to be sure that it was the right weight for this application. Well, I know now that it is, and it's actually very pretty. I cut off a length, folded it in half, serged the edges together, and then stitched 6" wide channels across it to stuff it. I mixed in batting with the fabric scraps to keep the weight down, and I actually ran out of scraps before I finished the first dog bed! I guess this is a pretty big one, maybe 27" x 36". Before I make any more this size, I want to get in touch with the shelter again to see what sizes they will accept.

Because it isn't finished, I stood it on end, rolled it into a tube & tied it. Now any scraps coming off my table can go directly into the open ends until they are full, then I can stitch up the end and call it a day!

So that was the end of my mindless sewing adventure, and actually toward the end of it I was itching to get back to a real project. More on that in another post - I was working on a UFO!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

LoveBug Studios is International!

2011-01-03T22:42:00.000-06:00

I was going over my sales receipts from 2010, and thought it would be fun to figure out just where all the things I sell are going. Why, I've got quite a little reach!

The thing that amazed me most is that people from 22 states in the US have purchased from me, which is nearly half of the states in the union. Now as a percentage of the population, I'm not quite yet a household name, but it's still pretty remarkable to me!

I'm also boasting sales to three territories in Australia (all on the eastern coast!); 3 Canadian provinces; 3 of 4 countries in the United Kingdom (oh, I hope I have that right...); South Africa; and Norway of all places!!

My very favorite sale was this little bag I call Kiwi, which was sold to someone in Wales, the proceeds of which went to benefit HeroBox.org:

This was a fun bag to make - it was very organic and I think my favorite part is the bunting I improvised.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that a good portion of my cooing & boasting stems from my seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in preparing my business taxes; it should be much less of a fiasco than was 2009, when my accounting software crashed and I lost everything. This year, I have backups to my backup backups - where last year, I only had a single backup which got corrupted when the corrupted file saved over it.

Never send Microsoft to do a job better suited for Quicken. :)

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

2011 Word of the Year: HONE

2011-01-01T03:35:00.002-06:00

In 2010, my word of the year was "LESS." As I reflect back on 2010, it was a year of mixed blessings in this regard; I did as much "MORE" as I did "LESS."

While I did mostly achieve my overall goals, I'm pretty certain I brought as many new things into the house as I purged of the old, but I am happy to report that I did indeed give away over 100 yards of fabric to charitable causes (actually, the total was 199.1 yards), I also purged quite a few things from the house, but not nearly enough to not still feel stuffed to the gills. I spent over 5,400 minutes (90 hours) working on UFOs, and my oldest project is about 18 months old. I completed 41 projects in 2010, which to me, is absolutely incredible. It's double what I produced in 2009, and doesn't even include the non-quilt projects that I've undertaken. It's been a really great year, an overwhelming one in a lot of ways, but a really incredible one just the same.

I did want to complete all my UFOs older than 2010, and I very nearly succeeded, except for the insane table topper project that yielded 29 table toppers (11 of which are done-done.) The rest of them all have their bindings stitched to the front, and only need me to secure them to the back. I actually started to get cranky trying to whip them all out by year end, and when something stops delivering joy, I stop doing it. So I've set them aside to be finished at my leisure in the new year.

But let's not dwell on the past - onward and upward!

As I think about 2011, it should be a year of growth, metamorphosis, change, and commitment. I want to improve my life in so many areas - not only my physical health, but as it relates to my quilting, I want to perfect my craft and expand my reach. At first, I was thinking my word of the year would be "PRACTICE" - but that seems a little limiting. It does sort of reflect what I want to do in some ways; practice my long arm skills, my writing, exercising, meditation, etc., but it doesn't quite capture everything. So instead, I think my word this year will be:

HONE

A hone is a whetstone used to sharpen razors & other cutting implements, but it also means to make more acute or effective; improve; perfect: to hone one's skills.

I really love this word because I think it really gets at the heart of what I want to do and be in the coming year. To this end, some of my broader goals for the year:

To improve my health through regular exercise of at least 15 minutes each day. Stretching, walking, dancing - just to get moving.
To perfect my skills as a quilter through regular practice sessions of at least 15 minutes each day. To this end, my goal is to work through each of the designs that Leah Day has been posting in her 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting.
To perfect my skills as a quilter by attending training at Handi Quilter before year end.
To perfect my skills as a quilter by completing all 30 quilts on my "Free Quilting" list. That's a pace of about 2 quilts per month, which should be doable. It should also make those clients happy that I won't have their projects for more than a year!
To fulfill my reputation in the quilting community as the premier author of AccuQuilt related patterns & techniques by publishing at least 6 patterns, and submitting a project to at least one magazine for publication under my Quilt Possible! banner.
To pursue my creativity in all directions. Participating in the weekly "Iron Craft" challenges should add some spark and interest, particularly if my brain is having an off day or month.

So we will see what the new year brings!

To endless possibilities,

Ebony

The Last of the 2010 Projects

2010-12-31T21:04:00.002-06:00

I tried, and tried, and tried, and tried... to finish up projects or get them significantly further along before the turning of the new year. Here's how I fared.

CMQG Name Tags

Back in June, my quilt guild had a sew-in project to work on pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer and a nametag project. I decided to model my name tag after our logo (which is the Chicago skyline in fabric) and a couple of people liked it and asked me to make one for them. Well I ended up with so many to do that I didn't get to finish mine or my friend Vicki's, so here they are:

Oh Cherry Oh! Disappearing 9-Patch
I went CRAZY buying Moda's Oh Cherry Oh! line of fabric. Every time I could find a fat quarter, or a jelly roll, or a charm pack, I bought it. I found a layer cake & thought I'd died & gone to heaven. My brilliant idea was to take the layer cake and make a couple of quilts - this was before I decided to buy Mr. Darcy (my longarm) so I liked to keep quilts under 60" so I could still finish them on my table top machine. Well, after I cut up the layer cake, I needed more yardage for the sashing, and more for the binding, and pretty soon, I had 4 quilts on my hand. Well, I pieced all the tops, pieced all the backs, squared them up, and got them ready for quilting:

I also made the binding for all 4 quilts - two will be bound in green and two in red. I finished these so fast, I forgot to take progress photos!

Art Quilt Coasters
Back in 2009, I got a custom order for a wedding to make 100 art coasters (or sets, I can't remember which) for a wedding, and I ended up having leftovers. I finished up some yellow and purple sets - 18 total - and I think I'm done with these for a while:

Gyleen's Pineapple Quilt
When I went to Quilt Market, I was helping Gyleen Fitzgerald in her Pineapple Quilt Exhibit, and purchased her book and new pineapple ruler. While working on a video technique for the AccuQuilt strip cutters, I decided to make a sample block to demonstrate how to use these two tools together. Well, now I have a pineapple quilt going!

I really love this block but I worry that my obsession with symmetry will make this project unsustainable. I might relegate this block to the back of the quilt & do a completely random scrappy one instead, but in the mean time, I have a new quilt project. :)

Double Wedding Ring
This is a "leaders & enders" project for me - whenever I'm piecing another project, I'm working on this one at the same time, so progress on it was expected to be pretty slow. That is, until someone requested that I do a video on it. Well, I ended up completely re-doing the technique I was using for piecing, because I found it pretty frustrating to try to demonstrate it via video, given all the swearing and ripping I was doing. The new technique gives a much better block, without set in seams, and you basically get the quilt to the point where you can sew it in curving rows. I ended up producing 4 new videos to cover it all - it was like doing a television series!

Here's how far I've gotten thanks to the video production:

So I'm back to "leaders & enders" on this project, but I'm really glad to have gotten this far. Unfortunately it also means a little bit of seam ripping on my Cothron Wedding Quilt so I can assemble them the same way, but I'm glad to know this project will be so much easier to piece now.

Bargello Table Toppers
Remember my insane Bargello project that generated almost 30 table toppers? Well, that project is seemingly endless. I did decide to railroad these onto Mr. Darcy using a single piece of backing and batting:

I used it as an opportunity to use up the Warm & White batting that I don't like very much anymore, and to practice several pantograph designs. I used about 3 different designs across the 23 toppers that needed to be quilted still. Next time I decide to railroad, WIDER is BETTER. I was using up a bolt of 60" muslin, but I would have been better off stitching them together & working with it in a 120" wide section. Why? Well, when you're railroading, you have to advance the quilt after every pass. Since I could only fit 3 across on a 60" width, I had to advance 8 times. Had I used the 120" width, I would have cut that in half, and it would have been a much better use of my 12' machine. So, lesson learned!! I'm going to keep that in mind when I work on the Oh Cherry Oh! quilts; even though they have 4 separate backings, nothing is stopping me from stitching those together so I can railroad those 4 quilts too. It makes sense for quilts that are going to have the same pattern or thread used, to railroad them on the frame.

While I worked on these, I ended up having to splice the batting while it was on the frame:

I overlapped old with new by about 4", then I cut a wavy line through both layers (being VERY careful not to cut the backing too!) Then I handstitched the two pieces together. I normally don't like seaming batting in the middle of a project, but for something small like a table runner or wall hanging, it's not a big deal.

When they were all done, I pulled them off the frame. I think this came out to 60" x 150" - so the equivalent of a king sized quilt:

I think they look cool railroaded like this, and it seemed a shame to cut them apart. In any event, I did, and stitched all the binding onto the front (you'll recall I made 54 yards of binding for these) so I could practice my machine stitching binding to the back.

I decided to give my Martelli Binding Foot another go; I didn't have much success with it before, but with so many bindings to do, I wanted to give it another shot. I swear - for every 10 inches I stitched, 9 of them were missed. It was incredibly frustrating to constantly rip out and reset. So I went back to my pinning method and using my stitch in the ditch foot:

This worked out pretty well; I did have a couple of misses here & there, but it was significantly less than with the Martelli foot. So many people swear by this foot but I haven't been able to get it to work for me yet; I think because I like really full bindings, I use a 3/8" seam allowance when attaching 2-1/2" binding by machine, and I think that may not be enough leeway for the Martelli foot to stitch down & consistently catch the back. I'll have to try this again, but it's too late for this project since all the bindings have been stitched at 3/8".

In the end, I got 6 of them bound, but there are just too many of them to finish and I want to move on to something else. I don't expect these will be UFOs for long, but I really wished I could have finished them before the end of the year.

And so ends 2010!

Happy quilting!

Organizing & Rearranging the Studio

2010-12-31T13:24:00.000-06:00

After working on my Liberty of Paris quilt, I realized that my sewing machine arrangement is not ideal for the work I was doing. This queen sized quilt top was always dragging itself onto the floor, and I got lots of aches trying to keep it on the table. Meanwhile, my serger was sitting in a prime L-shaped spot. I'm terrible at taking "before" and "after" photos, but here's a photo of me trying to maneuver a king sized quilt to do the binding:

Notice how I shoved the ironing board under there, to get an L-shaped work surface? Well, no more! I swapped places with the serger & now my area looks like this:

The bonus for me? I can look out the window into my garden, and it gets GREAT sunlight. Why didn't I think to do this before?!? I use the serger maybe once a week, where the sewing machine gets daily use! Now I have an L-shaped space to support my quilts. It really works out a lot better. I will be relocating the ironing board.

Speaking of, I recently purchased a Long Board by Reliable, which gives a whopping 19" x 55" wide SQUARE pressing surface, plus a separate rack to store the iron. I can now press fat quarters in one pass. This thing is massive, sturdy, heavy, and perfect for tall people as it raises to a height of 38".

I also attempted to replace my leaky Rowenta with a steam generator, the Rowenta DG8030. However, when using the steam generator, it was kicking off all these wicked fumes, and after a day of using it, I now know why:

You see those two odd shaped divots in the housing above the tip? Well, that's not a design feature - that's my generator getting so stinking hot (literally) that it started melting itself. I'm so utterly disappointed and had to send it back. Incidentally, I purchased this from Allbrands.com because it was cheaper than Amazon + free shipping & also came with a free 3-year extended warranty, but the really killer part? I had to foot the bill for the return shipping on this defective item to get a replacement. What is that saying in Spanish? Lo barato sale caro. The cheap comes out expensive.

Not that this iron is "cheap" by any stretch of the imagination, but I highly doubt it's supposed to exhibit this kind of "feature" and kill me with toxic, plastic-meting fumes. I really hope the replacement is fine, because if it isn't, I am TOTALLY done with Rowenta.

Since I'm on this organizing kick now, I decided to take care of my last pile of fabric yardage to be organized on my new boards:

What makes this task somewhat daunting for me is my OCD requirement to measure the yardage & label it with an inventory number, yards, and original cost per yard. It's a little frightening to know exactly how many hundreds of yards of fabric I have now, and exactly how much it cost. So with the exception of my last influx of fabric which has already been ordered, 2011 will be free of fabric purchases. Seriously. The only fabric I will purchase is fabric which is needed SPECIFICALLY for a customer project & won't be going into inventory. It's time I learned to make do with what I have. Because what I have is a LOT.

Here's the "before" picture:

And here it is, "after":

I am so very thankful it's all folded & accounted for. And - glad to be going on a fabric hiatus, because there is no more room at the inn.

Happy quilting!

Liberty French Quilt - Top Completed

2010-12-31T10:20:00.002-06:00

I've been on a quilting jag the last couple of weeks. Normally this happens when I'm supposed to be doing something entirely different, and I work on a completely unnecessary project. :)

In this case, I really felt compelled to finish the top to my Liberty quilt, which is meant to be queen sized. It's going to be my first queen sized quilt since the Queen Sized Monstrosity sucked the life out of my desire to work on large quilts.

I managed to get all the blocks pieced, sashed, and stitched into rows, but in order to finish this quilt, I needed more fabric since I only had remnants of the Liberty prints. As usual, a trip to my LQS (Quilt Play) yielded several options. I spent probably an hour auditioning different fabrics, and finally came up with this selection:

Most of the fabrics are from Moda's line "French General" so it's quite apropos, don't you think? They also have some lovely ribbon trim to go along with it, that I'll probably go back and purchase when I start working on the matching throw pillows & shams for this quilt.

The bright red is used pretty sparingly in the quilt, but was absolutely necessary to assemble the rows because they serve as the corner stones:

To bring this quilt up to size, I added 4 different borders. The first border was a piano key along the top and bottom, made from some of the Liberty scraps. I didn't measure the piano keys at all - they were made from scraps of various widths, and too dear to trim & cut unless absolutely necessary. Then I added a plain creamy brown for the side borders:

From this point forward, this quilt was unruly and quite vexing! The second border was just sides, pieced with a blue fabric plus the red again serving as cornerstones. I wasn't able to draw it exactly in EQ7, so for the piecing I had to do some dry fits and some odd measurements like 12-7/8" in order for the cornerstones to line up in with the centers of each block. There was a lot of frogging & recutting happening! Then I added another set of side borders from a different brown fabric, and then lastly, I added a large dark brown floral border all the way around:

I'm actually not that crazy about the dark brown now that it's on the quilt, but it is going to stay. I've never ripped out a queen sized border and I don't intend to start now. It's all squared & pressed & ready for Mr. Darcy when the backing fabric arrives. I found a cool tan paisley in a wide quilt backing, although I'll very likely be adding some pieced elements from leftover fabric once it arrives. Stay tuned!

Happy quilting!

Work One Wednesday Challenge: Yarn & a Magnet

2010-12-29T22:21:00.001-06:00

One of my new Facebook friends, Jennifer, is hosting a weekly challenge on her blog. As soon as I saw this week's challenge, I got an idea immediately.

Yarn. And a Magnet. Huh? Well, last year, I got this fancy-schmancy professional button maker, had it calibrated to accept fabric, and planned to turn out hundreds of 2-1/4" pocket mirrors.

Well, in my packet came some samples of things like keychains and magnet attachments, and since my machine is calibrated to accept thick materials, I thought I would run it through its paces by using some decorative yarns:

I ended up making about 8 of them, until I ran out of magnetic backs. They now adorn the front of my refrigerator:

One thing that I learned - eyelash yarn is messy - the little shreds were everywhere! But actually I saved some of the larger pieces for a thread scrap project (yes, I'm certifiable, I know) and used an old paintbrush to clear all the loose fibers from the machine. I don't know that I would do it again, but it was fun to procrastinate even more today from my daunting to-do list.

Happy quilting!

Doopy, doopy doooo... Waiting for yuuuuu... My New Toy!

2010-12-24T14:44:00.000-06:00

I have a new toy in my studio!

Look at what I made:

Ok, so you might be asking yourself, what's so special about a muslin bag? Well, it's not the muslin bag, it's what is printed on the muslin bag! Yes, that's my logo & tag line. How did I do that? With this:

Yup, it's a Yudu! I finally broke down and got a screen printing machine. Why a screen printing machine? Because I like doing things myself, and instead of paying oodles of money to have t-shirts & bags printed, I wanted to see about doing it myself.

The process is pretty straightforward, but preparing & burning the screens is very fussy & I currently suck at it. This is actually my second screen - I ruined the first one by wetting the screen too much and washing most of the emulsion down the drain of my laundry sink.

This one is actually ruined now too, but I managed to get two sort of decent prints off of it. This process uses what's called an "emulsion sheet" which is really tricky to get on correctly, and if it doesn't adhere correctly, it won't solidify properly, and you can get ink that leaks through in the wrong places, as you can see. Oh - and I should say, the screen itself is reusable, but I forgot to buy emulsion remover so it is effectively "ruined" until I can get the screen scrubbed off & start over.

Mr. Yudu sits in the same room as Mr. Darcy, and because of the ink, I have to be extra careful not to do screen printing on the same day I plan to quilt something. It is a little bit messy, but the bonus is that my laundry sink is just steps away!

Hopefully the third time's a charm? I'm done messing up $10 emulsion sheets & $3 transparencies, so I'm going to switch to traditional screen printing emulsion which is liquid that you spread yourself, and a box of inkjet transparencies that I can pick up at any office supply. Oh - and I'm hacking the ink too & switching to Permaset. I'll probably post more of my exploits once I get all my hacks next week. I think I have a new hobby!

Happy quilting!

Busy Little Bee & the Running Toilet

2010-12-22T12:26:00.002-06:00

My vacation is proving to be... not much of a vacation, but at least I am managing to get some quilting done. I also had to take a conference call from work yesterday! Bah humbug!

I haven't felt like I've gotten much accomplished in the 5 days I've been off so far, so yesterday I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish yesterday. I managed to get them all finished (though admittedly some of it ran over into this morning):

Fix toilet
Shovel driveway
Post AQ video
Fold laundry
Finish apple core top
Borders on table toppers
Make binding
Load table toppers to Mr. Darcy

So here's how I fared:

1. Fix toilet.

So, this is one of those humdrum things that come along with owning a home. Sooner or later, a toilet will cease working properly. In my case, the toilet would flush, but the tank would never finish filling. I traced the issue to the rubber flapper doohickey thingy, and went to Lowe's for assistance. I picked up a replacement part along with a new mailbox. (Yes, fixing the toilet reminded me of the mailbox that will probably end up in the shovel of the next plow that comes by.) And... about 40 flushes later, I got it adjusted so the flapper lifts when you push the handle, and the chain doesn't get caught underneath when it closes. Now I can stop running down 2 flights of stairs to the other bathroom in the middle of the night. TMI?

2. Shovel driveway.

Apparently, it's winter. And apparently, it snowed overnight yesterday. I figured if I didn't put it on the list, I'd never go outside & do it. This was actually a job for my little electric snow thrower. It's the BEST $200 I've ever spent on anything. That, and the 100' outdoor cord that allows me to throw snow all the way down the sidewalk too. I'm also really glad I did this yesterday, because overnight last night, we got some wicked rain that basically made a sheet of ice over everything. Made taking the garbage out pretty easy, I just gave the cans a shove & they went right down to the end of the driveway!

3. Post AQ Video

Oh, I'm in trouble now. I've just posted the last video that I have recorded. Well, technically I do have one more, but it needs serious editing and I think I'd rather re-record it with another bunch of them today. We'll see.

4. Fold laundry

I never claimed to be the world's best housekeeper, but even this one makes me blush. I don't have a problem washing clothes, but folding them has always been my downfall. I am proud to say that the "in basket" is empty (well, not enough for a full load of anything anyway) and the "out basket" is all folded! Putting all the clothes back in their drawers is the topic of a different to-do list.

5. Finish Apple Core Topper

The subject of a new video is this apple core table topper:

I think the actual "to do" was just to finish the top, but I really wanted to get it quilted & bound. I'm quite proud of my binding, by the way! It's continuous bias binding to go around the curves, complete with perfectly mitered corners. I also finished it completely by machine, stitching from the front. I'm improving with every project I think.

6. Borders on Table Toppers

One of my UFOs this year consists of about 30 table toppers in various stages of completion. Over the last couple of days, I've been piecing them, and yesterday was all about getting them to the point where they could be loaded onto Mr. Darcy. Yesterday's attempt completed 15:

7. Make Binding

Well, with a total of 24 table toppers that need binding, I decided that when I cut the borders I would cut the bindings too. So I had a marathon binding session, to create 54 yards of binding. That's right folks - almost 2,000 linear inches, all in one session:

With so much binding to make, I got very tired of trying to keep the binding from falling off the ironing board, so here's my solution:

I just pinned a little length of ribbon to the end of the ironing board, threaded the binding through it, and now when I pull the binding to iron it in half, this little invention of mine straightens it out with the wrong side up!

8. Load Table Toppers to Mr. Darcy
I decided to railroad these onto Mr. Darcy, meaning that they will share the same backing (muslin) and be quilted in the same quilting pass: I really had a debate about these; I have 3 widths of muslin available, 45", 60", and 90". If I used the 90", I would have been able to do more at one time, but it's my Robert Kaufman premium muslin that I wanted to have available for long arm clients. In the end, I decided to use the 60" muslin because it's the only size that's on a bolt that doesn't fit any of my cabinets or shelves (so stands in a corner.) I'm using Warm & White batting, to help use up the roll you see underneath, and again to save the best of my batting for LA clients.

Also, because I'm railroading 3 of these table toppers, I needed to create "extensions" for my clamps to grip, so my machine can go all the way to the edges. I just made these out of lengths of white muslin & pinned them to the sides. I'll have to unpin/repin with every advance of the quilt.

These are going to get a nice pantograph, mainly because I want them done quickly, and I do need to get some practice in on pantos.

Happy quilting!

Cothron Wedding - As Far As I Can Go...

2010-12-19T21:34:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I felt compelled to work on this particular quilt today, but for some reason, I wanted to just get as far on it as I possibly could so that I can put it away, knowing that my client is the key to this getting finished.

The back of the quilt is entirely dependent upon them getting all of the signature squares returned to me, which won't happen until after the holiday.

The quilt top is built around three rings of the Double Wedding Ring pattern. I can't complete assembly of the rings until they decide whether they want pictures in the ring centers or not, and without the rings, I can't complete the quilt top. In spite of this, I was still able to make a ton of progress.

Perhaps the most daunting task was hand-cutting 50 letters that are around 1-1/2" in size. Once I got going though, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I finished in a relatively short period of time.

The four patch blocks were already made, although when I laid out the pieces, I realized I was actually two blocks short. Don't ask me how that happened! It's kind of funny because I found 8 triangles that had been cut from one fabric, but the other two fabrics were missing. I'm so glad that my policy is to keep any extra fabric yardage with each project until the binding & label go on the quilt; that way, I don't treat the fabric like scraps to be cut & sorted into my scrap bins & make it impossible to correct errors. So I was able to make the two extra blocks and keep going.

Essentially, I've assembled the top 1/3 and lower 1/3 of the quilt, cut out all the letters, assembled the melon shapes for the rings, and made the binding for the quilt. I feel like there's still so much left to do on this quilt, but honestly I've gone as far as I can. Time to pack it away neatly, clear off my cutting table, and pick another project to piece!

Happy quilting!

Shabby Chic Kitty - Finished Quilt

2010-12-19T15:31:00.000-06:00

Wow - Mr. Darcy finished this quilt so quickly that there was hardly any time to take progress photos & post them! The quilt was loaded last Sunday, but I didn't get to start stitching it until Thursday. Well, Thursday morning, before I left for work, I did the basting and one row, and when I got home that night I finished it - including the binding! And I was not up very late at all.

I mentioned last week about having serious tension issues when working with a spool of YLI, and so I switched back to Superior So Fine for this quilt. Did I have tension problems again? You betcha!

This happened while I was basting the quilt to the backing fabric, and was completely user error. When I first started, I asked myself, "Should I check the tension before I baste?" My self quickly replied, "Nah, it's just basting. You can check it after." BOY! Was that a mistake! I should have known something was wrong when I felt NO resistance at all on the top thread when I first threaded it, and it wouldn't pick up the bobbin thread for tying off. Did I check then? Nope. I actually basted all 3 sides, and started a sample before I actually checked the tension. Boy, was I surprised at what I found underneath the quilt! I just gave the tension wheel a good crank clockwise, and that was it - problem solved. I actually had an epiphany then... So Fine needs a tighter tension because the thread is so thin, so when I want to use monofilament or King Tut, I should loosen the tension from this point. Hopefully that will keep me from mucking the tension too much - I shouldn't need wide cranks left or right, and if I do, that means something is horribly wrong. Brilliant observation I think. :)

I chose a creamy white for the quilting stitches. It blends in pretty well with the quilt in most places, and where you can see the quilting, it looks pretty cool. I chose a 10" pantograph design with a floral motif to go with the fabrics, and discovered that I actually do like 10" pantographs. Why? Well, the harp area on my machine is 24", which gives me about 22" of actual quilting space front to back. So on a 10" panto, I can actually get two full passes without having to roll, versus a 16" design where I'd have to roll after every pass. I guess it just depends on how intricate the design is; this quilt took about 3 hours to quilt, maybe a little less because I take frequent breaks.

Here's a pretty good photo of the quilt top. I actually took the time to set up the lights, and I'm much more pleased at the color interpretation - now you can see that the quilt is actually pastel!

The back was also fun to make - pretty large stripes with some extra blocks incorporated. This is a really great shot of the quilting too:

The binding I did completely by machine. I stitched the binding to the front, flipped it to the back, stuck a whole bunch of pins in it, and did a stitch-in-the-ditch from the front of the quilt. I was pretty much sewing blindly, but the key to the stitching is to have a very precise stitching line, and to GO SLOW.

No, it didn't look perfect everywhere, but I can attribute the bobbles to me not using my walking foot from the beginning, and stitching too quickly. I will definitely do more quilts this way; as much as I love binding by hand, I simply can't spare the time for most of the ones I want to do. I am very much a perfectionist, but I've seen some pretty famous quilters with their not-so-perfect binding, and I think maybe if I sacrifice a little perfection in favor of getting more things done, people won't holler about it too much.

After I did a final inspection of the quilt (clipping loose threads, giving it several good passes with a lint roller, making sure the binding is quite secure, and a final spell-check on the label, I packed it up into a pillowcase I made with the fabric that was left over. I even had a piece of leftover binding that, with a serged edge, made a perfect tie for the pillowcase!

Making this pillowcase gave me a great idea for future customers who get longarm service through me, and as a result, I have a new toy winging its way to my Studio. I have the perfect spot for it in the room with Mr. Darcy, but it will require finding a new home for my spare sewing machine.

My client has seen some progress pictures of the quilt, but I didn't show her the quilting, the binding, or the pillowcase. Hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised! She already sent me a note saying I "have a customer for life." That's pretty cool!

Happy quilting!

100 Free Quilts Update

2010-12-19T08:10:00.000-06:00

I finally got the opportunity today to catalog more quilts, since I braved the horrendous traffic and mad-shopper conditions to acquire more quilt hangers. These final quilts have been languishing in their boxes, and while I still have not checked every single one for square sides, pressing, and other such things that I requested, I think the sheer variety will give me tons of experience. There are some flannels, some foundation pieced items, some interesting piecing techniques, applique, embroidery, and overall some real beauties.

The final list came to about 30 quilts. One of them (in the HOLD spot) is actually a quilt that another longarm quilter did, and to be honest, it looked AWFUL. The person who sent it over wanted me to add stitching to it, but it hurt my eyes to look at it (plus pre-quilted quilts are not ideal for long arming.) I asked for this stitching to be removed, which was quite easy to do since the stitch length was about 3 or 4. That's right - 3 or 4 stitches to the INCH, as if this quilter was basting it instead of quilting it. They also used these looooong lines followed by a loop, then another looooooong line, and then to make matters worse, quilted in puckers & pleats. Ugh. I should have taken a picture of it but no one needs to see the horror this poor quilt went through. It made me mad to think of someone expecting to get paid for doing that.

I took the opportunity to photograph and measure each quilt, and document the contents of each box. For those folks who sent checks to cover shipping, I did cash your checks already since I'm sure it's much easier to balance a checkbook when outstanding checks are accounted for.

As I photographed each quilt, I gave some thought as to the color thread I would use for the design. I noted several things in the process:

Wow! What a way to build up my thread stash! Do I really need 5 different reds and 3 different oranges? You betcha!!
Am I ever glad that I had the presence of mind to order color cards well in advance of this moment - for both King Tut and So Fine! This was immensely helpful in doing an appropriate color audition for threads without owning 150 cones.
I love working with Superior Threads, and seeing as how Handi Quilter uses it in their factory to test their machines, I think I'll stick with what works. I know that some people sent over spools of certain other things, and maybe I'll venture to try them on smaller samples or test runs, but for reliability of my machine operation, Superior is, well... superior.
On a couple of quilts, I did decide to venture a little bit out of norm for me, still with Superior, but on one quilt I'll be using metallic thread, and on another a monofilament. Unfortunately, Superior's MonoPoly Clear is so popular, they can't seem to keep it in stock long enough for me to order it. Let's hope I'm a little faster on the purchase button when it comes back in.
In the long run, it's going to be better for me to provide batting for my customers. I know some of you are shaking your heads "I told you so", but honestly, I was curious to see what other people were willing to put into their quilts. I have a ton of Legacy batting in the Studio, but that doesn't mean they have cornered the market on awesomeness in the batting department. Seeing what people are sending in is more about the fiber content that most people choose vs. the manufacturer. There are some interesting selections among the bunch though: a 100% Wool batting; a 100% Cotton by Hobbs; and several different kinds of Quilter's Dream. (May I soon get to see what the fuss is about.) Most of it was either 100% poly, or 80/20 blend.
I think people need help choosing backings just as much as they need help putting borders on straight. Ok, no one appointed me Backing Police, but as I auditioned different threads, I have to say I put more weight on the thread choice due to the color of the backing versus the fabrics in the quilt top. It's probably worthy of it's own post, but there's just one thing I have to say now: Busy Backs are a quilter's friend! If your quilt has all these adventurous colors on the front, and then you decide that a solid white backing is the way to go, your long arm quilter may not have the guts to use a thread color that will just highlight mistakes. Now, if you instead decided to go with a printed back, with other colors incorporated, the quilter has more options for thread choices and can really have the freedom to play. I believe solid backings limit options. There are exceptions to this that I've seen in my pile, but not many.
Not every quilt looks good with a variegated thread. I was actually quite surprised at how few quilts for which I selected variegated thread, given my love for them in general. I found solid colors suited many more quilts, although there were a couple which literally screamed out for variegated (Mary's quilt comes to mind.)

I am on vacation now from work for 2 solid weeks, but even so, I don't think I'll be quilting up any of these anytime soon. Why? Well, I'm devoting several days to just cutting & piecing, and then I also have a ton of new videos to record for AccuQuilt, which I cannot do with my cutting table all covered in piecing projects. I also am committed to finishing my carryover UFOs, which means commandeering Mr. Darcy for a marathon session of about 30 table runners. That should be very fun, simply because I can railroad them and just play completely at random. There are so many of them, if I make a mistake... eh, who cares? I can also practice binding on the long arm. That should be interesting. Oh, and I suppose on at least one of those days, I should carve out a few hours to finally hang my closet door panels! I took my bedroom closets apart back in February, and here almost a year later - still not done.

So when I do get around to quilting up the free quilting, what should my first project be? I'm considering #10-13 (this is a railroading project so working on one is working on all four, but they are strip quilts & I can use each row for a different stitch); #18 (it's a baby quilt so it should be FAST & give a sense of accomplishment), or #1 (because it was first & it would be sort of a good-omen to open the free quilting.) What do you all think? Which quilt should I start first?

Happy quilting!

Mr. Darcy's Adventure Continues With Another Quilt

2010-12-12T22:31:00.001-06:00

The holidays are fast approaching, and I've been super-busy trying to get through all the stuff I committed to doing before the year is up. I am still determined to get all the 2009 UFOs off my list & not carry them into the new year, but I also promised to get a few things done for customers & for myself!

First, let's talk about poor, neglected Mr. Darcy. He's been out of commission nearly since I came back from Quilt Market in mid-November. You'll recall his arms & brain were sent back to Utah before Thanksgiving. I loaded a quilt in the frame in anticipation of his health being restored. Well, at the end of November, his parts came back, and after I reinstalled them, we found out that his right eye (lights) had been put out. So HQ sent me another set of arms while I continued to work with him half blind, and BOY!!! Was he ever upset or what!!! It took me hours to work through tension issues, breaking thread, picking out stitches, and get him to work joyfully. The quilt I was working on was 64" square, and I paid for every last inch of it.

It was another of my experiments in free-motion quilting, using a 40 wt. YLI cotton thread on top & So Fine on the bottom. The YLI thread in the color I had only comes on spools, and I found it really, really difficult to balance the tension on the horizontal spool holder. Sometimes, it would spin loose and mess up the tension, so I'd adjust it again, then it would spin tightly and break the thread. I had a thought to use the cone holder and he HATED that, giving me loopies for the first time. Loopies would look cool except for the fact that it signals a horrible problem!

I changed needles, changed bobbins, used my TOWA bobbin gauge, rethreaded, oiled, cleaned... and finally got to the last border. Yes, there are some tension problems on the back, but considering the problems I was having they are pretty mild in comparison! I also have to say... were it not for Mr. Darcy... this quilt would probably have sat for years, not getting quilted. It's one of those quilts that borders on being too big for my domestic machine.

I free-handed the outside border, with flowers, leaves, and an echoed swirl:

I used a variegated thread, so this shows up pretty well until the color changes to purple, then you can't see it anymore. On the sashing, I freehanded another design, which is just loose tassels. The blocks themselves were a little challenging. At first I was going to draw in grass & tulips and all sorts of sprays, but when I did about 1/4 of one block, I hated it. So I ripped it all out and started over. I feel bad for that because one of my friends was at my house & she stayed with me for almost an hour watching me practice those tulips with a marker & giving me input!

I like the new design better - here's a shot of it from the front:

The back is pieced from leftover fabric, but I found a spot on the back that seems to show off the quilting better:

I think it turned out pretty cool, even though it took me a lot longer than it should have. I'm not so crazy about my choice of thread now that it's on here (I could have gone with a solid green on the front & I think it would have been just as nice.) The batting is wool. It's my first time using wool batting, but I'm not going to say whether I like it or not. I had so many problems with the tension, that I'd want to do another quilt using thread on a cone, and see how it quilts up.

Here's a more complete photo of the quilt:

You can even see those muslin pieces on the side where I tested tension. There are so many of those on the quilt that I actually ran out of room in the margins to test the tension! Very odd because on my first quilt (where I used a spool too) I hardly ever had to mess with the tension so much that I needed to do this.

Well, the binding is made, I just have to attach it & finish up the quilt. My whole reason for getting this one complete though is so that I can get a client's quilt loaded on the frame. Yes, it's the Shabby Chic Kitty! We figured out where to place the cats, and I appliqued those on the front and also put one on the back:

It's not my personal taste, but my client loves it and so I am happy to be able to accommodate her. I was able to finish the appliques (printing, fusing, cutting, placing, stitching) piece the back, get everything squared up, basted to the zippers, and then zipped onto the frame this evening:

To be able to do this, I had to suspend video recording this weekend, so I'll be doing mostly re-runs of AccuQuilt videos this week over on Quilt Possible! I do have two new videos to pull from, but it's not enough to carry a full week. My sincere hope is to get this quilted on Friday & Saturday, work on the binding & label on Sunday, and get it in the mail first thing Monday the 20th. It'll have to go Priority to get there in time for Christmas.

Ordinarily, I'd try quilting this during the week, but it's a pantograph and that takes some focused time to set up before the brainless quilting can begin. And besides... this week I have a DATE! (GASP! Shocking, isn't it?)

Happy quilting!

I Sent You My Quilt... Why Isn't it On the List?

2010-12-07T23:04:00.000-06:00

I have 4 unopened boxes of quilts. Yours is in there somewhere. Or maybe it isn't because I didn't get it. How will you know?

Patience please... I ran out of hangers, and I refuse to open anymore boxes until I get some. It's very important to me that your quilt is hung like every other "free" quilt, so it doesn't get mixed up in my regular customers. I'm finishing up customer quilts for December 23rd delivery, so right now, those unopened boxes don't have a really high priority, and I'm sure you don't want me sending YOUR quilt to MY customer - though they will love it immensely.

Plus, I'm just OCD that way. I can't bear to have mis-matched hangers in my quilt closet. Have you seen my studio lately? 'Nuff said. When I can go to Target to get the EXACT hangers, I'll be better inclined to open boxes.

Happy quilting!

New Custom Quilt - Shabby Chic Kitty

2010-12-06T07:45:00.000-06:00

Recently I was contacted by a client to work on a quilt for her best friend; Christmas is on the 25th, her friend's birthday is on the 27th, and then she's going into surgery on the 29th. Since it's already December, a custom quilt is a tall order for holiday delivery, but by now you know that I have a tendency to go BIG and not say "no" even when the odds are against.

With that in mind, and knowing that I also have 25 videos to post between now and Christmas, I had to do some creative thinking to fit this project in.

An idea occurred to me: if I could somehow incorporate the quilt into my video process, I'd be able to squeeze it in, and coming up with a pattern that could be easily executed on my AccuQuilt cutter was also a bonus. Luckily, my client understood that in such a short time frame, she'd have to accept what I came up with, and readily agreed to the plan if I could get her quilt done.

The pattern is very simple, and is based on a layer cake I cut on my Studio in 4 passes. The video will be posted later this month, probably the day I deliver the quilt so you can see the video with the quilting complete.

In the mean time, here are some progress pictures as the quilt comes together. The color scheme is so far from what I usually work with, and the block placement was as random as someone like me could possibly manage. The fabric required consultation with the ladies over at Quilt Play since nothing like this exists in my stash, and I am always grateful to them for their advice and help.

The theme of the quilt is shabby chic, and is to have some photographs of a kitten incorporated into it somewhere as yet to be determined. (I know what you are thinking! But sometimes a masterpiece is really about how much people will love something, and not what we would prefer or feel comfortable doing ourselves.)

Here are the fabrics, though I am quite vexed that the colors are not faithful in the photos. The colors are softer & more muted than they are represented here:

And here is the interior of the quilt top. This is my first quilt where I've pressed the seams open on the entire quilt. I'd especially like to see how Mr. Darcy appreciates this effort when it comes to him next week.

Once I got this assembled and photographed, I decided that it needed another row added, and then I applied the borders. Again, the colors are not true; the narrow inner border that you see is not red, but rather a dusty pink. I took all these photos with my iPhone, so I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with it. Once the quilt is completed I'll set up the photo lights and take a really good picture. I really like the way this turned out, and the piecing came together very quickly. It's a top that can be assembled in an afternoon, even for a slow quilter like me.

Happy quilting!

Free Quilting - List Closed!

2010-12-02T10:30:00.001-06:00

Thank you to everyone who has sent in quilts for me to practice on! There are still 3 boxes that I haven't opened yet, but it looks like I'm going to top out around 30.

My open offer closed yesterday as the deadline to send your quilts was December 1. If your quilt is not already in the mail to me, DO NOT put it in the mail. If you put it in the mail to me already and it hasn't arrived, you have two choices: I can keep it and you can pay for my quilting services, or I can return your quilt to you using your enclosed postage.

The only exceptions to this are:
1. Charity quilts from people who have already contacted me and for which I have agreed to do the quilting;
2. Quilts from people in CMQG who contacted me to make an exception due to a family emergency and which I agreed to quilt; or
3. Quilts which I delayed acceptance of delivery on so that said individuals could see Mr. Darcy with his arms back on.

Speaking of, Mr. Darcy's arms arrived on Tuesday, and I'm hoping to get them reinstalled and operational on Friday. Then, I have a quilt in the frame to finish, and directly following is a client project with Christmas delivery. Provided I can get that wrapped up quickly, I anticipate choosing the first "free" quilt to start before the end of the year. So exciting!

Behind the Scenes: Inside my Video Recording Studio

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000-06:00

In just a little over 12 hours, I will begin a never-before-attempted feat of posting a new AccuQuilt-related video every day for 30 days. Those videos will be posted first, not here, but rather on my QuiltPossible.com site.

Posting a new video every day is not an easy task. You may think I have 30 videos all queued up, but you'd be wrong. What I have are ideas for 30 videos - which is not the same thing; especially when those 30 ideas are not necessarily all strong ones!

At the present moment, I have 7 videos recorded - one of which must be entirely re-done, and another which just finished post-processing & will soon be uploaded to YouTube. Basically, I recorded enough video at one time to get me through to a weekend, so I can do it again. Most of the time isn't spent recording the video - it's all about polishing it up later, so I thought you might be interested in understanding what it takes for me to be able to get a video from idea to YouTube!

First... my videos are sooooo much more complicated now that I have a new-fangled fancy-dancy HD video camcorder with 120GB internal hard drive. Life was so much simpler when all I had was my 3 megapixel digital camera where it was lucky to get 5 minutes of video shot before the battery died or the memory gave out, whichever came first. In those days (all of 3 months ago), I could shoot a halfway decent video in one take, and within 40 minutes have it uploaded to YouTube & ready for viewing. Those first videos didn't have music, or neat transitions between scenes (or even "scenes" for that matter) titles, credits - anything. Just me standing in front talking fast so I could finish before the camera did.

Nowadays... I can record about 10-12 minutes of video, only about a third of which is usable footage, and I haven't quite gotten the hang of looking at the camera lens & not the flip screen that's off to one side. I worry more about audio, and the lighting, and the camera angle. I do several takes of a scene before I get through it without bobbles. Sometimes I leave the bobbles in because I think they're funny; other times, because they're just at an inconvenient spot & doing it again would mean dumping the entire video. I long for the days of one-take wonders.

Just to give you a better idea, here's what my video day looks like:

1. Set up the studio. This often requires cleaning off the table, sweeping enough of the floor so you can't see the scrapings, and tidying the shelves in the background. If I'm doing a demonstration with BigPoppa Studio, I have to physically move it across the room and he's heavy! (He sits on a table against a wall that doesn't allow for good video recording.) Then, I have to locate the dies I need for the demo, and if a tutorial or example project is involved, I have to make about 3 or 4 samples in various stages of completion so the video goes faster. This can take about 15-45 minutes.

2. Record the video. It usually takes me 3 tries before I get an introduction that doesn't have me tongue tied. Mild cursing is usually involved. (Rootie patootie! Dagnabit & tarnations! That sucked!) Video where I need to change the camera angle has me running around the table adjusting the camera; I leave it running so I don't have to later patch together 5 or 6 separate videos. I might spend 20-30 minutes to record one video.

3. Upload the video to my computer. This can take anywhere from 5 minutes to over an hour. Since these days I'm recording multiple videos in one day, the hour is closer to reality.

4. Convert the video from mpeg to wmv. This step sucks totally, but it's because I only know enough about video to cause myself lots of work. My video editing software can only handle wmv files (darn you, Windows!) and my camera can only record mpegs - they're just not compatible. This is about 20 minutes to convert each video.

5. Edit the video. This entails adding the title & end credits, transitions, music, and then mercilessly chopping the video into the usable nuggets of information. I spend a lot of time doing this; of course, if I got cleaner takes & didn't insist on moving the camera in between, this might not take so long. I expect to spend about 2 hours on this step.

6. Save the video. This takes about 5-10 minutes for it to save the new video into a usable format.

7. Upload the video to YouTube. As if the video hasn't been processed enough, YouTube will also convert & compress the file so it plays nicely with all web browsers & Facebook.

So there you go folks; for each 5-10 minute video, you're looking at about 4-5 hours of my time to produce it. My three consolations for doing this work are first & foremost - because it's fun and challenging; also, I'm helping people get the most from their die cutters & learn to use this tool correctly; and the free die I get from AccuQuilt for each video doesn't hurt. Of course, we'll see how they feel after 30 videos!

Happy quilting!

Attic Windows - Done As Far As I Am Concerned...

2010-11-29T20:45:00.000-06:00

This is one of those funny UFOs - the kind that is never really "done", reinvents itself, and multiplies.

Attic Windows is a project that I was going to work on with my BFF; she was going to do half, I was going to do half, and then... well, we didn't think that far ahead. It was my hairbrained idea to hand-piece it, which is why, almost 10 years later - we hadn't gotten very far. I used to take it on airplanes to work on, but I'd stitch about 3 inches and lose interest. I actually got quite a bit done that way, but not anywhere close to being done.

Earlier this year, my friend confessed she'd never finish if it meant hand piecing it. So I agreed we could give up the hand piecing part. On a recent visit, she brought me her half.

In my mind, this project would just have been better to dump in the garbage and just not do it, but a recent proposal from my friend renewed my resolve. She said she'd found more pieces to the quilt, and she'd been setting up her sewing room, so she was willing to finish piecing the top. We agreed that she would piece those units, I would finish piecing the units in my possession, and then I'd send her everything. Well, today I am so very happy to announce that my end of the bargain is fulfilled!!

The rows you see pieced together is all of the hand work that I did, and the unit blocks are what I just finished cranking through. I'm mighty happy to be sticking these in a box & shipping them to my friend! Yippee!! And I'm crossing it off my list; I don't think it counts as a UFO for me anymore until it comes back to me for quilting.

That leaves only 2 UFOs on my list!

Happy quilting!

Thanksgiving at the Studio...

2010-11-29T15:13:00.000-06:00

I spent the bulk of the long holiday weekend doing a chore that no one will notice but my tax accountant - and even that's a little bit iffy.

Back in December of 2009, my accounting software crashed and corrupted my file. In the process, it also managed to corrupt my backup copy, making it impossible to recover very much information. in fact, I had to completely reconstruct tax year 2009 from scratch using only receipts, my blog, and my Etsy stores as resources to what actually happened.

Well, 2010 hasn't been much better. It took me the first 3 months of the year to reconstruct 2009, which put me behind in obtaining new software, which kept me from using said software, blah blah blah. Fast forward to November, and I have 11 months of sales and purchases to account for, not to mention the annual inventory of the studio. Why do I keep doing this to myself?

In any event, this annual chore and pent up procrastination gave me enough motivation to get moving on the inventory, and in the process I've gotten more organized, processed a ton of scraps, worked on some UFOs, and checked some things off my list!

1. Organizing the Stash

This is one wall of my Studio. Anything that has been wrapped on boards has been properly labeled & inventoried, and I've reconciled everything purchased & used from before 2010. Anything yet on the floor still needs to be done. So glad to see that pile reduced; I didn't take a picture of everything when it was on the floor. I also dusted the shelves & found more fabric to donate. Oh, I also came across the 10 bolts of holiday fabric that I keep meaning, every year, to turn into furoshiki. Maybe I can get a few done in time for the holidays, but sheesh! If by next year this time it's all still wrapped around those bolts, I will send it somewhere that it can be put to good use.

2. Finished a quilt for Project Linus
This quilt is from my training class for Mr. Darcy, and it just needed the binding. Don't get excited - it's a cheater cloth, not a pieced double-wedding ring. Technically this was finished pre-Thanksgiving but I'm only posting the photo now.

3. Pieced the rows for my Liberty Queen Quilt & chose the rest of the fabric.
Courtesy of my local quilt shop, Quilt Play, I managed to select the remaining fabrics for the quilt I'm making from the fabrics I got in Paris. They are so dear, that every last scrap is to be used for the interior, and the rest of the top & back will have to be made from good old USA-imported-from-China fabrics. Shelley did a great job pointing out the perfect fabrics to bring this top together.

4. Recorded some videos.
I've done a lousy job at promoting this, but in 48 hours I'm starting my "30 Days, 30 Videos" campaign, all around the AccuQuilt family of products. The time consuming part is in the processing & editing, not in the recording, so it was important for me to get a few videos ahead. Here's a sneak peek at a project!

5. Pieced 8 Table Toppers
This is one of those UFOs that keeps growing every time I open the container. Originally I thought there were 20 of them, so I finished 5 earlier this year. Over the weekend, I pieced the tops of 8 more, and last I counted there are still 14 more in the box, plus a bunch of orphan pieces that need something. The good news is that I'm going to use these 8 to practice a railroading technique on my long arm; that is, laying out several projects to be quilted on the same batting & backing. These are destined for muslin backs and some Warm & White batting so they make great candidates for railroading. Even at their rate of multiplication, I'm really excited at the prospect of actually finishing all my UFOs and entering 2010 with no project older than 1 year.

6. Cut a ton of scraps into 1.5" strips.
Usually, I like to cut scraps into a variety of strip widths, but I got impatient with so many scraps to process that I decided to just pick a strip width and cut everything that size. I managed to get through my entire bin of red & yellow scraps, but I still have blue, green, purple, and neutral to cut. This picture doesn't show everything cut, but this is more than half of what I did to give you an idea.

The ultimate destination for these 1.5" strips is to make a pineapple quilt:

The only thing that really bothers me about making this type of block is that it's not really conducive to chain piecing, which is unfortunate & slows down my already slow rate of piecing. Maybe once I get a few under my belt, I'll figure out a faster way to make them.

I also went grocery shopping & cooked some real food! That hasn't happened in this house for a while. Here's hoping your Thankgiving was delicious & productive as mine was!

Happy quilting!

Liberty French Quilt & Fabric Organization Continues

2010-11-19T07:17:00.000-06:00

I got some very disappointing news yesterday, and whenever you get news at 7pm, when offices are closed and there's nothing you can do about it at that moment, I find the best thing to do is to distract yourself. I do that by doing some brainless quilting.

When I went to Paris earlier this year, I picked up some Liberty prints (they are all the rage) and decided to make a throw. That throw turned into two twin quilts once I decided to turn my guest room into a French-inspired boudoir, but I've now backed away from that too and have decided to make a queen sized quilt instead. Since Mr. Darcy came into my life, I'm getting braver at working on gigantic quilts! Maybe I'm moving into a new phase.

In any event, it's not a very difficult pattern, just 6.5" squares laid into a 2x6 block pattern with sashing & cornerstones. I got the first six blocks finished and sashed:

I had originally planned for 3 borders to bring it up to queen size, but I have to rethink my plan since the fabric I really wanted is out of print. So I think I will just finish piecing the 16 blocks that will make up the center, sash them & stitch the rows, and then cart my top to every fabric shop in town to find the right border. Yes, I have tons of fabric in the stash, but I don't have the 12 yards I would need for the large border and the backing.

Speaking of the stash, I'm continuing my quest to finish organizing it. In this photo you can see the yardage that's already been wrapped on boards (and a small portion of the mess that is left):

I also got a good portion of the fat quarters done:

Hopefully I'll be able to distract myself for the rest of the day, it's Friday, but it's going to be a loooong day...

Happy quilting!

Mr. Darcy's Second Quilt & a Tour!

2010-11-16T17:02:00.030-06:00

Although Mr. Darcy is armless & brainless right now, I still managed to press him into service for a new project. This is another quilt of mine (and my last pieced top!) which was in a tutorial I wrote for Handmade News.

I decided that this quilt, at 64" square, would be my first experiment with wool batting. None of the other quilts I've received so far have had wool batting, so if I'm going to try it, now is the time. I also think this is a good opportunity to give you a little tour of Mr. Darcy.

If you look at the far end of the picture, you will notice that there are FOUR bars. (If you click on the picture & go to Flickr, you'll see the notes.)

The bar that is furthest to the left is called the backing roller bar, or "belly bar" as it is affectionately known. This bar is at belly button height, and is typically how a quilter knows the perfect height to set the frame. Mine is about 43" from the floor (yup - I'm all legs!) The backing is loaded, wrong side up, and rolled onto this bar.

The bar to the right of that is the top roller bar. The quilt top is loaded right side up and rolled onto this bar. As I roll the quilt top onto the roller bar, I am always checking the edges to make sure the quilt rolls on cleanly, with all the edges lined up. Knowing that the quilt top is square, BEFORE I start this process, helps me to keep it square as it rolls. If all the seams are pressed neatly, the quilt will also roll on evenly, without puckers, and gives a nice surface to quilt on. Incidentally, I go through the same exercise with the backing, but you can't see that in the picture.

The third bar (which not all machines have by the way!) is an idler roller bar.Nothing gets rolled onto this bar; it's used for tension to keep the quilt top level, and is set at the same height as the top roller bar.

The fourth and final bar is the takeup roller bar. When the quilt is first loaded, the other end of the backing is attached to this bar. As the quilt is quilted, all three layers will eventually roll up onto this bar.

The batting doesn't get rolled onto a bar; there actually is a 5th bar underneath the machine for batting, but because of how batting is made these days, it's not that convenient. So I just let the batting hang onto the floor. After the top & backing are loaded, I push the batting between the layers and straighten it out.

The first thing I will do when Mr. Darcy's parts come back, is stitch a perfectly straight line across the batting and backing only, close to the idler bar. That perfectly straight line will be my guide for aligning the quilt top, and I will be able to square the quilt top to that line. You can see in the picture (hopefully) that this quilt top is not straight on the machine bed, and the borders are showing signs of rippling. Some of this could be because I haven't yet squared the quilt onto the machine, but some of it could also be an indication of borders that I will have to ease in. This easing is pretty minor compared to some quilts I've seen, but it's still something that I have to watch while I'm quilting. If you're careful in how you measure & attach your borders, you won't have this problem! If you don't know the right way, stay tuned for a lesson over on Quilt Possible!

Hopefully, by looking at this picture and seeing the bars explained, you can see how important it is for the backing ESPECIALLY to be square. It is attached at the top and bottom to two fixed rollers, and if it doesn't get pinned on square, the rolling will be uneven & I can't get proper tension for the quilt sandwich. The next quilt I load I'll be sure to take a picture of the very beginning of the process!

Happy quilting!

The Taming of the Stash!!

2010-11-16T07:01:00.000-06:00

When I was at Quilt Market, I came across these really cool fabric organizers. I got them especially for organizing my yardage, because it's becoming unruly, I can't find things, and I'm tired of refolding each piece to make them fit. When you look at a picture like this:

You would say I'm nuts, because look at how organized that is! Well, you're not seeing all of the stash, and the shelves do not look like that today. So I decided once and for all to deal with it. Before I started folding fabric onto the new organizers though, I decided to go through the stash and eliminate things that no longer inspire me or that I don't have a use for. Of those fabrics, I selected all of the prints that I thought would be appropriate for pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer, and I came up with 77.82 yards:

I feel good about getting rid of this fabric - fabric that doesn't inspire you has a tendency to weigh on one's mind - and it is going to a good cause.

Next up, I spotted a scrap bin with pieces that I could donate to my quilt guild (along with a ton of fat quarters.) I forgot to take a picture of that, but trust me, it was a LOT. There were also some other scraps which I thought were too big to cut down, so I dumped them all into a pile so I could make a decision:

These are all pieces that on some occasion, I've reached into this bin to pull out a fairly large piece to use in a quilt, so I hated the idea of cutting them all down to the strips & squares in my other scrap storage. The types of scrap pieces I have today are 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3.5" strips and squares, 3" strips, 2" x 3.5", 2.5" x 4.5", or 4.5" x 6" rectangles. For yardage, I have 1/4 yard cuts, and then anything over 1/2 yard. The problem has been how to deal with scraps that are between 1/4 - 1/2 yard or oddly shaped.

So as I unfolded this pile and started sorting things, I started recognizing a pattern in things that I felt willing to cut down to smaller scraps vs. things I couldn't bear to cut down. It turns out that if a piece were at least 12" x 18", I didn't think it should be cut down, but I needed a way to store them. So I decided that I would fold those larger pieces onto fabric organizers, even though I never intended these to be for scraps! It's a great use for them though. I measured each piece and then printed a label with the size.

I also found that I had a collection of fat eighths (which are 9" x ~21") so I decided that anything which was exactly a fat eighth could also be left intact. I found this to be a nice balance of things that I was willing to keep whole, and those that should be cut down. At the end of this exercise, here's what I ended up with:

You can see the scraps wrapped around the boards on the left (I can get four to each board), and on the right, the scraps that will be cut down into strips and squares. I feel pretty good about taming these scraps, but trust me - this was one of my smaller scrap bins! :)

Happy quilting!

The Best of Intentions....

2010-11-15T12:20:00.001-06:00

I had so much fun at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild potluck & sew-in yesterday. I had planned to work on 5 projects in 5 hours, but in all my well laid plans, I kind of forgot about all the socializing I would do!

We had a lot of fun sewing & laughing & sharing projects. The food was good and the company was great. It really felt like Christmas for me because people kept giving me things!

First, my buddy Emily gave me a STACK of Kona colors for my secret Kona project! There ~~must be at least 10~~ are 17 colors there!

I also got 3 quilts for my "free" quilting deal, one is a recent finish from a quilt retreat, another is a baby gift, and the last one is something for Quilts of Valor. You can see quilts #16, 17, and 18 on the 100 Quilts List. It looks like I won't get anywhere near the 100 quilts I put out the call for which, truth be told, I am very thankful. It's really cool though to see my studio closet literally stuffed with quilts!

I did forget to take progress photos of Darcy's next project getting loaded into the frame, but I'll try to remember from now on so you can see what's involved!

Oh... and from my list of 5 projects, I really only got to finish #1, which was to bind 2 quilts. It really worked out for the best because two of the other projects I brought need to be laid out on a table so I can make sure they get assembled correctly, and the binding project required a totally different foot & thread color to finish. I'll take pictures eventually, but at least it feels good to cross another UFO off the list!

Happy quilting!

Sending Me Something for "Free" Quilting? Here are some extra tips...

2010-11-13T22:02:00.000-06:00

We're coming down to the point where people are sending quilts my way. I'm really loving all the packages & seeing the creativity of people! So many awesome palettes for Mr. Darcy and I to do our very best work (even as we're still learning.) Mr. Darcy also has appreciated the little gifts of thread that have been arriving, and the variety of battings that we get to try!

However, I think that people have interpreted my "rules" a little bit differently than I hoped, so I thought I would clarify a few things. I am planning to put together a little booklet to help people prep their quilts for longarming, but in the mean time, before I get any more quilts, I thought I'd give more help since many of you are probably not familiar with what you need to do. I promise my booklet will be a little more diplomatic, but right now, out of 15 quilts I've received, only 2 people sent quilts that could go (almost) from box to loading in the frame. I've prepped 10 quilts today and I'm just pooped! So this is going to sound a little bit huffy, but please know I'm not picking on anyone in particular, and I recognize that if you've never sent quilts out to be long armed, you don't know what you don't know.

PRESS your tops & backing. PLEASE. The only way you'll know they are square is if you take the time to get the quilt top as flat as possible. Starch is your friend. I really cannot emphasize this enough. Yes, I know that right after you press your top, it's going into a box, but when it gets here, I only want to deal with lightly pressing out folds, not figuring out which way to press your seams to get your quilt to lay flat. And YES, I can tell the difference between a pressed top and a non-pressed top. :)
Don't stuff your nicely pressed quilts any which way in the box. The $1.00 you just saved on postage costs me $15.00 to fix. Take the time to fold them nicely in the box. Yes, I know they will still get a little wrinkled, but pressing out folds is so much easier than unscrunching your quilts.
Don't fold the top, backing, and batting together like a sandwich. And especially do not baste the layers together. Not only does this cause more wrinkles, but I have to spend extra time deconstructing the sandwich, and then completely press your top & backing, again. Your quilt goes on my machine in 3 separate layers; please send them that way.
SQUARE your quilt top AND the backing. I know that as home quilters, we're used to just making the backing "bigger" without worrying about it being square. I can understand being off a little bit (like 1/2" or something like that) but please don't send backings with odd flaps hanging off of them or staircase seams along the edge. Square is straight on all four sides. Quilt tops are a little tricky because you don't want to have to chop into your borders, but do the best you can. If you're not up to the task or you don't have a work surface big enough to do it, I can help you, but that is something I will have to charge you to do, and you need to let me know to expect it.
MARK the centers of your top, backing, and batting along the top & bottom edges. No, not the very center of your quilt. The center of what you consider to be the top and bottom edges of your top & backing. Please use safety pins and not straight pins if you don't want me bleeding all over your quilt. :) Don't assume that the center of your quilt is where you put the seam in your border or on your block. Measure it, along the edge, and put the pin in the center. (Please do #1 before #5.) This does two things: first, it helps me with prepping your quilt to go on the frame - you mark the center of the quilt, I know the center of my frame, and PRESTO! I can load it square & centered. Second, it tells me what YOU consider to be the top & bottom of your quilt & not the sides. Maybe you intended this quilt to lay across something that's wider than it is tall. If I chose to line up ducks in a row on your quilt but they are now swimming sideways, it's unfortunate but could have been avoided if you marked your quilt. Make me guess at your own peril...
Make your backings 6" bigger on ALL sides. This means that if your quilt is 30" x 40", your backing is at least 42" x 52". On smaller quilts this isn't as critical (if it's only 40" x 50" I won't whine) but on larger quilts this is really, really important. Large quilts can be unruly, even in a frame, and having a wider backing gives me something to hold onto at the sides as well as "fudge space" since the backing will shrink the more stitches that get put into it.
If you piece your backing, NOTA BENE. Selvages do not make good seams. They are the tightest weave on a fabric & they have absolutely no forgiveness. My long arm hates them, and you'll end up with pulled threads in the backing if I stitch across a selvage in a seam. If you need to piece your backing, please cut off any selvages that will be in a seam. Also, use a wider seam allowance than you would use piecing (like 1/2") and press seams OPEN, especially if you're using really large pieces of single fabrics. Of course I know this is not always possible, but side-pressed seams in the backing create extra bulk, and sometimes they can get twisted and make a really ugly mess on the back. Straight seams in your backing are just as important as straight seams in your top, so don't get lazy and ignore a consistent seam allowance just because you're almost done! (Also, try not to piece your backing with a long seam running down the very center of your quilt; this isn't really for long arming, it just creates an additional stress point for your quilt since most people can't help but fold quilts in half.)

I really, really want to do my very best to make your quilts turn out nicely! I know that I'm practicing, but that doesn't mean that I want to treat your quilts like a painter's drop cloth. Instead, your quilts are my painter's canvas, and each quilt that I work on I would like to represent the very best that I am capable of at that moment in time. Not spending time doing things that I know you all are capable of doing yourselves gives me more time quilting, and it's also a good lesson for you if you want to send your quilts out in future. The time you invest in preparing your quilt gives me the very best starting point to play and create!

Happy quilting!

Mr. Darcy's Surgery - At 3 Weeks Old!!

2010-11-12T17:15:00.001-06:00

My poor, poor big Mr. Darcy. He's got to be disassembled for surgery. I had to amputate both sets of arms and remove his brain and send them to the hospital for surgery.

Please keep him in your quilty thoughts that he comes back much improved from his trip back to Utah.

What could possess me to do this drastic thing and take him out of commission so soon? Well, when I was at the Houston Quilt Market, hanging out in the Handi Quilter booth, I saw some really cool things that my Fusion could do. Not so fast, they said. You can have some of them with a minor software update, but if you want the whole shebang, you have to send us his arms and his brain. I'm so blasted excited about the new things that are available, that Darcy would have gotten if he were only born a couple of weeks later, that I felt it my duty as his caretaker to get him upgraded.

Sam in the tech department was great - he talked me through the whole thing, and stayed with me through the delicate parts, especially in the brain area. Please take care of my big guy! He's got a whole Honeydew List to take care of when he gets back!

Happy quilting!

Chicago Modern Quilt Guild - Mini-Retreat

2010-11-12T08:01:00.000-06:00

My quilt guild is having a mini retreat this Sunday - filled with snacks and 5 hours of sewing. I've been away from my studio for 3 solid weeks, and I'm very much looking forward to getting some things accomplished in this area.

I have several projects that I can take along - they are all in various stages of completion, but I'm looking forward to knocking some things off the list, or at least getting a little bit closer to knocking them off.

I'll be taking along a mixture of projects, some new, some UFOs, and some client quilts. I usually think I can accomplish way more in a sewing session than I actually do, but here's the list of what I'm taking:

Bricks Baby Quilts - I have two left where I've machine stitched the binding on, and I need to finish enclosing the edge. This will also be done by machine, so it should be quick work. I'll only spend 30 minutes on these.
Cothron Wedding Quilt - I had begun piecing this top; there are large 4-patches, and also double wedding ring blocks. I think I'll bring the 4-patches and maybe the rest of the appliques to cut. I don't want to piece the wedding rings because that is all curved piecing and I don't feel like changing out my foot and throat plate to do them. I should be able to get this done in about an hour.
Bargello Table Runners - These are just chain pieced, one after the other. I think I'll try to get 5 of them done. I'll just bring the whole basket of pieces and see how far I get. I'll designate an hour to the exercise.
Liberty French Throw - This quilt is from fabric I got when I was in Paris. A bunch of chain piecing, but I'd like to get the top completely pieced if I can. This quilt is supposed to have borders, but I'll need to shop around for the perfect fabric as the one I wanted is out of print. Rats. I'll spend about 2 hours on this.
Attic Windows - This was supposed to be a hand pieced project with a friend of mine, but since she bowed out of the quilt making, I'm going to abandon the hand work. This will go a lot faster now if I machine piece it. First I have to find the container it is in! I'll spend about 30 minutes on this.

So there you have it: 5 projects in 5 hours! I didn't account for mixing & mingling, but I'll see if I can even remotely stick to this plan!

Happy quilting!

My Haul at the Houston Festival

2010-11-06T08:55:00.002-05:00

I got the chance to attend Houston Quilt Festival this weekend, before I head back to Chicago. Mostly, I worked in the special exhibits area, helping Gyleen Fitzgerald at her "Trash to Treasures" exhibit. I did get about 2 hours on Friday to walk around the show. I called it "power walking" since I was zooming down every aisle, only stopping if something REALLY caught my eye.

My very first purchase of course was Gyleen's book and pineapple template. I love trying new things, and having talked about the process for 10-12 hours, I feel pretty confident that I can do it myself now.

My next stop of course was at the Handi Quilter booth. I had to pick up some gifts for Mr. Darcy. I got him some new needles, and also some circle templates. He can now do perfect circles from 1/2" all the way to 12"! Well, he can do perfect circles, but I'm not that skilled at it yet so it's going to take me lots of practice!

I also got him some Quilter's Preview Paper, which is essentially a roll of transparency paper that I can draw on to look at the effect of quilting designs before I actually start quilting.

Another booth I visited had Australian aboriginal fabrics, and I picked up five different prints, which are quite lovely. They also had this neat dissolvable product where they showed how you could incorporate scraps and bits of fabric and yarn and make your own fabric. That should be really cool for art quilts.

Finally, I stopped at a booth that had the most amazing wax-resist, hand-dyed fabric from Maylaysia. I wish I had the space to show the whole piece unfolded, but trust me when I tell you that this is one of the most stunning 2.5 yards of fabric that I've ever owned. I will cut into it, but my head is swimming with so many ideas, I'm not quite sure yet what project that will be. I'm pretty sure it will turn up over on Quilt Possible! very soon!

Happy quilting!