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“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


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"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
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Thursday, September 30, 2010

The 'Learning" quilt.......

Having more free time than some folks, I decided to take what I was learning on the "Free-Motion Quiltalong", and apply it to a 'needs to be done yesterday' project.
It was quite a learning experience working on this quilt.  I found that it is indeed very true, as I have read many times, that working free-motion quilting on an actual quilt, albeit couch-sized, is much different from just practicing on a much smaller project.    (Note:  I have quilted larger quilts on the sewing machine, but always used all-over meandering, or straight lines.)

Things I learned:
I would definitely profit from a "supreme slider" type of product to apply to my machine bed.

Gloves are a MUST HAVE !

Needle-down position on machine--yeh, that would be WONDERFUL.

One-inch strips would be ideal for coming up with LOTS of design ideas.....2 inches is a little more difficult.
BIGGEST aggravation............a machine that COASTS to a stop.  I just could not CONTINUALLY slow down and coast to the place where I MEANT to stop, even for shifting my hand placement.  So, I wound up with little 'thread balls' in a million places.
ALSO......VERY IMPORTANT..........I think I see why I don't find many photos of "modern" machine-quilted quilts with borders.  It's difficult to balance the machine-quilting on the interior of the quilt with the design you do in the borders.  My quilt is more heavily quilted inside; then, I just did a large-scale meandering in the borders; therefore, the borders wave a bit despite the fact that I measured the centers of the quilt when adding the bindings.

Here are a few shots of the different designs that fill the rectangles and triangles. 
In the photo above, you can barely make out the couple's first initials in the triangle with the heart (I know, it's kindof a sorry heart).......H for Holly, and J for Jeremiah.
 The backing fabric turned out to be a great choice for machine-quilting, as it has pale paisleys and designs all over it that look alot like my quilting.

 The binding fabric was kindof a strange choice.  It actually has giraffe heads all over it, but the coloration went well with the border fabric. 
  I  managed to quilt quite a few hearts into the border triangles.
All in all, I'm pleased with the quilt, and very pleased with the time frame for making it.  As 'using quilts' go, it's a keeper, I think.  Let's hope the wedding couple thinks so.

10 comments:

  1. Dolly!!! Amazing! It looks so unique and beautiful. My heart is happy - you have wings! You can quilt anything!

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  2. despite it being tricky this looks gorgeous. you are amazing at the machine quilting

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  3. I love this quilt and the way your quilting adds to it, Dolly.
    I don't use gloves--I use rectangles of rubberized shelf liner beneath my hands--much quicker, much cooler.
    As for the running-on-needle--I really think your machine needs to be in a treadle--it's just as fast and it's so easy to stop with the needle either up or down.--Can you find any old treadle bases around that will fit your machine? You can always leave it electrified and just switch between short and long belts. (In fact, my 15-88 came with both--I just removed the motor and short belt because I knew I wanted to treadle it.)

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  4. I second the gloves!! They are a savior when free motion quilting I have found, and definitly the feed dog down position, I couldnt imagine free motion quilting with the feed dogs up!

    Your quilt is beautiful! It hardly looks like you did all those designs yourself, awesome! Everytime I've tried anything besides stippling, I'm less than thrilled with it besides swirls.

    Congrats on the great finish, Im sure the happy couple will just adore this!

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  5. I'm impressed! I do not think I could accomplish some of these curls you've done, you are inspiring me to try!
    :-}pokey

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  6. Your quilting is wonderful! You definitely have the talent for free motion quilting. =)

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  7. it looks great Dot once you give it a bath it will look great because things puff up and it is awesome !!!!
    i want the quilter to explain the rubber deal, i have small hands and cannot stand the gloves nor find a pair that does not hang off at the tip then you have that to get caught in the needle

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  8. I am so excited at the great machine quilting work you have accomplished on this quilt. How many fun designs! Thanks for the close ups. It is lovely!! It looks to me that you have been very busy.

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  9. Beautiful work! What a wonderful gift... Thanks for the close up... its a great quilt to try all those different stitches.

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  10. What a wonderful wedding present! That free motion looks wonderful...is it very difficult? I took a look at some of your other quilts as well, and they are just beautiful. That ABC quilt is very cute!

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