3-D Quilt Done!!

I got it done!!   I finished my first quilt of the year.  And..*drum roll* I machine bound it with ease.  I can bind!!!   The quilt isn't flat, but the binding looks awesome.

From Blogger Pictures

The feather quilting and butterflies. Click on the pic if you can't see it

From Blogger Pictures

Picture of the quilting on top

From Blogger Pictures

The binding, which is perfect all the way around like this.

From Blogger Pictures

My secret to this binding: Viking makes a left edge topstitch foot. There's a guide on the left side that the fabric can slide through. Just follow the red mark with your fabric and away you go. I even made it over the corners without the seams folding over or being squished. It's amazing what the right machine can do for you. While the quilt isn't flat, the binding has no ripples or folds.

Okay Jen and Jill..what's the point status for this quilt??  Meandering or dwirling doesn't count.  I did feathers and butterflies.  

Floating Blocks

I got my 3D quilt top done today.   I made it a lot smaller as doing inset seams was driving me nuts.  Regardless of how I did it, they weren't coming out square.  It's not the inset seams that are a pain, it's the diagonal seam that is messing me up.

BUT.. my quilt is still square and I got the borders on with ease on the Sapphire machine.  The sewing advisor is almost like having a walking foot and I love it.  I wasn't cursing my way through the borders.  I was even tempted to add another 1/2 inch green border.  Me doing 1/2 inch borders!  I'm going to bind it in green as I don't want to have a seam on the back of the quilt.

I love how this turned out with the blocks floating in the air. Hmm..I think that extra green border might have to go in with another blue one to make it really seem like it's floating.  

I'm still figuring out how iphoto works.  I got the MobileMe gallery up, but I don't know if you can link from that like like I do Picassa.  

"Main Motor Overload"

My Sapphire is an interesting machine..LOL. I was trying to do binding and it kept acting up and making a horrible noise. All of a sudden it said "Main Motor Overload" and stopped. I hate binding quilts.

My dealer said you didn't really need a walking foot because of the electronic sensor system. When I bought the machine, the owner threw in a walking foot to sweeten the deal as I wanted one. I put the walking foot on and it got all caught up again. Sigh. I really do hate binding.

Then I remembered I have the "Sewing Adviser" system which I really have no clue how to use. I get the idea but never really thought it was needed. I took a look at the adviser and put it on "stretch heavy" since I'm working with Minkee fabric. I started the machine it worked with ease the rest of the way. The walking foot is so wonderful! Guess that sewing adviser thingy really does work..LOL.

I did give up with FMQ on the Sapphire for today. I didn't feel like spending an hour quilting something I knew my 6600 could do in a few minutes. The Sapphire does a great job of FMQ. It just works differently than the 6600 and I haven't adjusted to it yet.

My camera batteries died so I don't have a pic to show of my finished quilt.