It Works! Tension Is Working!!

Woo Hoo!  The embroidery part works on the Topaz!  No take-up lever problems!   I stitched out a quilt block using purple, yellow and green.  Not sure I like the green, but it stitched out beautifully.

From Embroidery Designs

I also got a new toy with the thread I ordered:

From Embroidery Designs

I use a lot of Madeira thread and they have a spool holder just for the spools.  It fits perfectly so the thread doesn't unwind under the spool.  It just fits on top of the universal one I have.  Way cool!  

Here's a picture of my Topaz stitching out the design:

From Embroidery Designs

"Rhapsody Quilts" By Ricky Tims

I raided JoAnn Fabrics today while in Lincoln.  They had 40% off their quilting books and I came home with this:

From Quilted with Love

Now, I have a hard time getting excited about quilting celebrities.  I don't know why.  Jealousy?  Envy?  I think it's disappointment.  You do all this great work, yet you refuse to share the good stuff.  You show off your stunning quilts in magazines or in books, but don't really explain how you do it.  There are no patterns, no hints. 

Or if you do give a pattern, it's one I've done already or can easily do.  That's partly why I don't buy patterns/magazines/books anymore.  Yawn.  Been there.  Done that.  If you do a show, it's basic boring stuff that I already know.  Sometimes I think they just do stuff to promote the company and not what they want.

I have to eat my shorts with Ricky Tims.  This man is genuine.  I figured this book was going to be about showing off all his quilts with some bare hints on how he did them.  Or go on and on about why he chose this or that fabric and how wonderful he is.  Or go off on how if you don't own a Bernina you are a loser. 

He shows you EVERYTHING in this book.  EVERYTHING.  From basic design elements, to a master template,  expanding the size, designing the applique work, all the way to the finished project.  He wrote in a way that made you feel important.  That he really cared about your ideas and wanting you to finish the pattern.  He didn't talk over you or under you.  

Thank you Ricky.  I will treasure this book.  

Quilting With Vilene

I spent to day trying to mark a quilt.   After weeks of thinking about how to quilt it, my brain finally kicked in. 

Normally I do pretty good at this.  I have several pens and a couple of pencils.  My water soluble pen which worked last week is not working today.  None of my pencils were dark and light enough to see the motif.  I finally got one done and then...

I'm using fusible batting.  Water soluble pen if pressed with an iron doesn't come out.  Good thing I only have one motif done.  Sigh.  At least I was smart enough to remember that.   

There has to be a simple way to mark a quilt.  And then it hit me!!  Vilene water soluble stablizer!!!  When you do machine embroidery, you put a WSS on top of something like a knit so the stitching doesn't disappear into the fabric.  Then you just wash it out.  Vilene looks like a mesh type fabric.

I traced out my design onto the stabilizer using my water soluble pen that protested and pinned it to the quilt top.  Check this out!!!

 

From Quilted with Love

And the back:

From Quilted with Love

My Sapphire 870 has no problem using invisible thread and has perfect tension when doing FMQ.  I love the floating foot that I bought.  

I could really use another WS pen though.  This one is dying big time.

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.  

Mariner's Compass Quilt finalization designs

I played some more with my Mariner's Compass quilts today. I'm a little closer to what I want but still not there. It's one of those "I know exactly what I want; I'll know when I see it" things.

I was hoping hubby would take me to a fabric store about an hour away today but he can't. They have funky hours and with hubby sleeping days that makes it so much harder. Epilepsy just sucks.

I've also thought about doing a whole cloth quilt using the mariner's compass. I did figure out that I can print the quilt full size (70x70) on about a zillion sheets of paper. Then I can tape them together and transfer them to freezer paper. From freezer paper to fabric and then machine quilt. I have 25 yards of white fabric. I'd have to do some more quilting to fill in the empty spaces, but it would work. Most whole cloth quilts are all flowery. I like the geometrics of this.