Crazy Quilting Weekend

First of all, as of Friday, I am an official AccuQuilt GO! Authorize Retailer! I can't tell you how excited I am about that. So, before you make your next GO! purchase, check with me about pricing.

This weekend I have been multi-tasking. A sweet couple from my church had their babies last week at 25 weeks. They really need all prayers possible. I have been working on the babies quilts. I have Maddie's top finished and working on Madden's top. They are embroidery Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam. Just adorable.

On the frame I have a customer quilt that I am really struggling with tension. The back is WalMart cotton, very low loft WalMart batting and an old linen top. I have been working on the tension for a while today and just can't seem to get it figured out. ????

AccuQuilt Retailer

I am so excited... I am working on getting approved as an AccuQuilt vendor. If you don't know what AccuQuilt is, go to their website and check it out. www.accuquilt.com. This system cuts up-to 90% faster which allows us to spend more time sewing and quilting and less cutting out and getting prepared.

I am getting ready to place my first order this coming Friday so if you need anything, please let me know and I will send you a price quote. You will not find a better deal online for this first order.

Removing the finished quilt from the frame...

First let me say if this was a very special quilt that needed to be perfectly square, I would not use this method. However for daily use quilts, throws and baby quilts it is a huge time saver.

After I finish quilting, I roll the quilt back so I can see the bottom edged. With my good scissors, I just start trimming along the bottom edge. (Make sure your leaders are out of the way.)

Next, I pull the quilt over the belly bar, just a little at a time, to give me access to the sides. Trim up each side as space allows.

As you are trimming, you may notice areas where the top pulled one way or the other. You will just trim straight like you would with your rotary cutter.

Continue trimming both sides until you reach the top of the quilt. Now finish trimming along the upper edge by the take up roller and your all done!

Ribbit Pantograph Design by Patricia Ritter

This design is something I wanted to do for a long time but didn't think I was ready for all the curves. Finally decide to give it a try and am so glad I did. It was very time consuming but in the end, well worth it. What do you think?

Pantographs From The Front of Your Machine

Just wanted to share some pictures of how I do pantographs on my Hinterberg frame from the front.  My quilting room is extremely small so my quilting system is as far back to the wall as I can possibly get it.  Moving the machine out each time I want to do a pantograph isn't an option.  So, with lots of research and advice from several sources, this is what I came up with.... hey, it is also VERY inexpensive.

First I purchased some foam board that is available at most retail stores and craft stores.  You will also need some binder clips in small and medium.

 I love the quilt just like I always do with the except of leaving the lower belly bar in the up position.  (This is the bar that the quilt top attaches to.)

I cut the form board in half so they are 10" wide each.  Using two of the medium binder, I attached the form boards together to make a long piece.  I am assemblying this on the frame so I have the quilt top for support. 

 

 

I then lay my pantograph on top and attache the pantograph to the form boards using small binder clips.  I typically allign the each of my paper with the edge of the boards for simplicity.

Now it's time to line up my pantograph with my quilt top to get started.  I just use a ruler and measure from the each of the quilt top, making sure I have enough space to finish my design.

 

With my laser mounted to the front of the machine.  I am ready to quilt with my pantograph and make a beautiful design.

 

Just a note... before I got my current laser light holder, I just taped a laser light to a large binder clip and attached the binder clip to my handles on the front side.

 

One of the great advantages to this method (other than how inexpensive it is) is that when I am not using it, it is very easy to disassemble and store.  Others have talked about purchasing a long shelf from Lowes or Home Depot and place that in the same method on the belly bars.

 

Hope this helps someone.  Just give it a try and modifiy to something that works for you.

 

Rhonda

 

 

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Quilters

Just wanted to share one of the projects I am currently working on. I few friends from work and I have been working on these during our lunch break.
I believe we bought the pattern from Keepsake not not positive.
Hope you enjoy! P.S. the one with the big hair and upside down block is me.

Practice, practice and more practice

When I first bought my longarm machine, everyone said practice, practice and more practice. We all know that's true in everything we do but the attached pictures are proof.
One of my quilting groups all made double wedding ring quilts. I had the honor of quilting three of the five and two of which were feathers. That is 112 blocks of feathers. I have already posted pictures of mine (the pastel, beachy colors) but I am gonna post a few again so you can see the difference.
Hope you enjoy and remember, in anything we do, practice is the key.