Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Road to Being a Longarm Quilting Diva...

...is a very bumpy road indeed with seam ripper and tweezers in hand!!!

I wanted to quilt this top I made several years ago. It's one of the five I need to do that's on my "To Do" list for 2014.  I've never used the laser light on my Longarm to trace pantographs so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try it.



From EQ7 I found 2 stencils that looked rather easy and then combined them....Leaves and dragonflies. I then traced the design on some long tracing paper. I practiced for about an hour going over and over the design with my machine not threaded to get the feel of the design. I know this sounds very lame to all those great Long Armers out there for this so simple design...but I have to start somewhere right?!..and some day I want to be a great Long Armer too!

I'm always afraid to start quilting a top and have to constantly remind myself that it's only thread and it CAN be removed...hence the ripper and the tweezers!
 

 
 
 
I thought this dragon fly came out rather nice...it was near the center of the quilt after I quilted several rows...practice, practice, practice. The quilting stitched out very dainty looking.
 
 
 
 
And I'm not afraid to show the "not so good" ones either. I'll get better with practice, practice, practice.
 
 
The leaves came out well and by the end of the quilting adventure I no longer needed the pantograph design.
 
 
I then let my Serger do its thing...cutting off excess fabric and finishing the edges. The quilt is now ready for binding. Hmm...should I do a serged thread binding or traditional binding. You all know how much I like using my Serger!
 
I'll post an updated pic as soon as I get it binded.
 
Thanks for stopping my. Have a great day!
 
Happy Living! Happy Quilting!
 
 
 
 

6 comments:

  1. What a beautiful quilt…love the colors you chose and you did a great job with the quilting design!!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. You did great D! I love the colors in that quilt! Looking forward to seeing the next one!

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  3. I just got the avante at the Houston Show and I am right where you are. I never thought of practicing with no needle! Duh! The first quilt I quilted on it really sucked! But like you said, practice practice and you get better! Good luck and many years of quilting forward!

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  4. I'm feeling you. I've been practicing and practicing since I got my longarm in Dec. I've found to make myself feel better I invite friends & family over so they can try it and then I see how rough their first tries are and I feel better. HeeHee Keep it up, I really liked your pattern.

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  5. Your practice practice practice paid off. Great Job!! The design redo was a good idea. You made the two designs fit together well. The quilt is gorgeous - the lighter colors really stand out against the background. And the thread color is beautiful.

    Is the t-shirt quilt top one of the 5 quilt tops you mentioned on your list? Great start on your 2014 list!!!!

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  6. I just found your blog this morning and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Also, thanks for the tip of using a serger to trim quilts. I have had a serger for over 25 years and NEVER thought of using it for trimming quilts--maybe because it is in a different room from my long arm, but it is portable and I will definitely give this a try.
    Loretta in Louisiana

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