Friday, March 12, 2010

Gone Quilting

Quilting the Flying Geese quilt is well underway : -


Stitching with a walking foot, a generous quarter inch on either side of the zig zag line formed by the Flying Geese units, which calls for continuously swinging the quilt from side to side.


It has not been without frustration as skipped stitches seemed to occur naturally at each turning point.  This called for an immediate change in needle, re-threading and oiling the sewing machine, all to no avail.   The quick unpick has had a workout - and the words "three weeks to service your sewing machine" made my heart sink.

 Flying Geese Quilt - backing

Eventually I worked out the the sewing machine's timing was thrown out by super-bulky seams, and if I ran the walking foot alongside the seam line rather than on it, the skipped stitches disappeared.  Then by adjusting the needle position the quarter inch distance from the seam line remained consistent. Phew!

Still so much to learn.

35 comments:

  1. It's looking gorgeous! If I send you a plane ticket, would you come and quilt the wedding quilt??? ;-)

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  2. I'm fascinated by how you got the back to line up just perfectly. Love the gray and red.

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  3. You did a great job of quilting that quilt. I recently read that taking a hammer to the bulky seams makes them much easier to quilt over.

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  4. Oh wow, that quilt is beautiful!

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  5. Well, it looks beautiful!!

    I need to service my machine too...it's been a year!

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  6. i've been there... pivoting with the needle down seemed to help me... looks beautiful so far!

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  7. Oh that is so beautiful! I especially love the picture of the back ~ the quilting shows up so nice. What a great way to quilt the flying geese!

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  8. Now that is one gorgeous quilt!! I just love the back of it. You have done such a wonderful job on this!!!!

    You are so inspiring!

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  9. it looks awesome (as usual :-)
    thanks for sharing your problem solving,
    claudia.

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  10. It's beautiful! The quilting problems scare me though; I'm a new quilter, and just bought my walking foot today. Yikes!

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  11. Those lines make the back look REALLY cool!

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  12. My machine has been in the shop for 3 weeks (and counting!) and let me tell you, be very happy you avoided it. I feel like a need a fix and I have 2 charity quilts to do in less than a month!

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  13. I love the way you chose to quilt it and how well it translated to the back! =D

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  14. It looks great!
    How do you get the back to line up so perfectly? Mine are always a little bit off.

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  15. It looks fantastic, I too, would like to know the secret of getting the back to line up perfectly. Please tell.

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  16. Stunning quilt! I am glad you worked out your skipped stitches problem - it can be very frustrating. As usual, I love the back.

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  17. Thank you for sharing, Rita ...
    (I am usually into learning by doing my own mistakes)
    The quilt and quilting is very fresh and modern - love it!

    ; )

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  18. I know you said you changed your needle, but what kind of needle do you use? The sewing machine shop here recommends a Universal needle for everything and I find they are not right for quilting. The Universal is like what they use to call a Ballpoint needle. The sharp needle you should be using is a Jean needle or a Microtex needle. You will get a better stitch. The Universal doesn't do well with bulk like in the seams. Hope this helps. Chris

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  19. It looks fantastic! I know the frustrations of quilting though and we are forever learning.

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  20. You're doing great! I love the boldness of the angles in the quilting. Excellent choice for this one!

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  21. Looks great! Thanks for the walking foot tip:)

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  22. The quilting you've done on this one is really super.

    I've found that when I've skipped stitches at the turning point (I usually quilt with my needle in the "needle down" position), it's helped to turn the handwheel just a bit to get the needle to pick up the stitch, then turn and continue. So if you ever need to get a little closer to your seam, that might be another option.

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  23. The quilting looks great! I'm so glad you were able to come up with a solution to the skipped stitch problem. My machine skips every now and then too - I'll pay more attention to the seams when it does now. Thanks for sharing!

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  24. You do such an awesome job quilting, I wanna be you when I grow up. :) LOOKS GREAT!!!!!

    Thanks for sharing.

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  25. This looks beautiful, so creative in your fabric choices. I love flying geese quilts

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  26. Looks beautiful!
    It is so frustrating when your machine is not playing nice. It sure turned out great.

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  27. I love your straight line quilting. It just looks so clean, perfect and orderly. (Maybe one day I'll be artistic and creative enough to consider stippling.)

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  28. I love the quilting pattern! So fun!

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  29. I love the back of quilts, the quilting always looks so good. Your quilt is no exception. I love, love, love the fabric use used as well.

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  30. Oooh Aaah, another beautiful creation. I love how you quilt them, even if it does sometimes take awhile and go in different directions to your original plan!!! xo

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  31. Just made a wrap skirt out of that Amy Butler Lotus! I love it! Matched it with grey linen...oh so fun. *grin*

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  32. Wow! All I can say is Wow! The corners and stitching look so perfect. I do art quilts, just so I don't have to do corners and perfect stitching. I am impressed.

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