Destressing With A Couple of Recent Quilts

Happy January, dear quilting friends!
As some of you know, I have experienced a few problems with Louise (my longarm) lately. Well, I think all has finally been resolved, and she is actually behaving herself now. Both my computer and my machine are up and running again. Here are a few recent quilts for you to check out.

This one is a child's quilt that was supposed to be done

before Christmas, but Louise was uncooperative. (ARRGGGH!!!!)  I am so thankful for good, understanding quilting friends that try to help me de-stress! My rep was here for one day, ordered new motor wheels, and we both thought I would be up and running as soon as they arrived and I installed them. Well, we were wrong - I started this quilt, and all looked fine, at first. As the sewing continued, the pattern moved down the quilt, so that by the end of the row what was supposed to be at the top was actually almost 4" down from the top! It is a good thing I am such an expert with my seam ripper - have had lots of experience there!!
My rep was back out for a couple of days as we tried to solve the problem, which seemed to puzzle all involved. I finally had to resort to the old (low tech) method - a paper pattern hand guided - to get an  edge to edge angel wing pattern on this quilt, and completed it the day after Christmas. Again, I am sooooo very thankful for understanding quilting friends!

The next time my rep arrived, she brought her motors with her. When these were installed, all was well. We ended up replacing the wheels on my motors with the ones from her motors and this solved the problem, so the factory sent a different kind of wheel. (Thank goodness for warranties!)This did the trick, and I am thankful to say that all has been well since.

This was my next quilt once my computer was back up and running, sent to me by an out of town client. I am not normally an orange person, but I thought  the color combination in this quilt was well selected and very pleasing. This one just has an overall feather pattern, and I am so relieved to say that I did not have a single problem with my machine during the entire quilting process! I am currently working on a quilt titled "General's Wives", and hope to post that for you to view shortly.

 

Until next time, may this new year bring you much joy as you quilt away!
Cathy

Blue Marking Pen

Happy Holidays, all you quilters!

My baby is down and I am waiting for parts (not the best thing to happen at this time of year!) so I thought I would supply you with one of my tips this week. Many of you (mainly you applique-ers)  have asked how I get out those blue marks that are supposed to disappear simply by  wetting the quilt. I have found that water by itself does not always work, so this is what I discovered some time ago - I am not sure where, but I may have found this tip in one of Linda Taylor's books.

To 16 oz. of distilled water, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. As you can see, I have this solution in a spray bottle to use as needed. I have yet to see this not work. I keep my spray bottle labeled with the formula, since so often my mind takes too long to wind its way around to what I am trying to remember.

Sometimes the marks are close to an area of possible bleeding fabric. (Red and purple are usually the worst, but if you are in doubt, test a sample of the fabric wherever possible by lightly dampening it and then blotting it with a white cloth. If there is any color on the cloth, it WILL bleed.)

 I try not to get to close to these areas with my original marking just to avoid any problems. However, when this is the case, I dampen a sponge with the solution and then  carefully dab at the blue marks. Do not go any closer than necessary to the suspect fabric to avoid any possible bleeding.

I hope this helps out some of you. In the meantime, I will try not to get too frustrated with my backlog while I am waiting for parts, and hope that when they do arrive, my husband and I will be able to get Louise going again!

Happy Quilting!!

My New IQ

Louise with IQ

 

I installed an IQ computer on Louise 2 weeks ago, and am learning how to use it. I have been having fun playing with my new toy.















My first task was to learn how to do edge to edge (or pantographs) with my new toy. This is my first computerized pattern that I did on a charity quilt. The quilted pattern is called double bubbles, and is a great look for all the lines of this quitl.









My next task was to figure out how to get all of my paper pantograph library onto my computer. To do this, I had to "record" my pattern - allow the computer to take what I am sewing and digitize it.
This is my first attempt at that, on another charity quilt. Since the quilt was paper dolls, I thought this pantograph pattern called "Children" was perfect for it.

My Nolting Longarm

Louise

This is a my Nolting longarm system, which I have set up in what I call the "boiler room", since it is in the unfinished part of our basement with the water heater, furnace, etc. (It's the only place we could find big enough to put it!)