In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I felt like I’ve hit a mini “roadblock” with my practice quilting on Annie. It seems I’m moving past it now. I think maybe it had something to do with finally giving her a name. I kept thinking about the scene from the movie Forrest Gump where a man was explaining to Forrest that his boat needed a name. That it was bad luck to have a boat without a name. Well…I think it’s the same for a LA!! ๐
I got back to practicing on Annie again last night. Jamie recommended that I change thread colors and just quilt over my practice piece again instead of loading a new piece of muslin. It’s a great idea, but you can’t see your quilting as well. I changed my thread to an orange shade. I had fun trying some new designs.
I doodled some deconstructed feathers. I think they’ll look nice in borders.
I also had fun quilting some allover swirly flowers. It’s kind of hard to see them, but I really like how they look too!
I noticed when I first started that my stitches didn’t look very nice. Since I changed threads, I thought my tension was in need of some adjustment. That thought was confirmed when I looked underneath my quilt sandwich…
Look at those loops!!! I think my exact words were “#@!!&*%$@**!!” Really?? Thank goodness Jamie went over in detail how to fix tension because after a few adjustments, it was back to perfect.
I’m home today until it’s time to take the girls to dance. I plan on loading a new practice piece so I can see my quilting better. Tonight I will work on “Hop To It” while the girls are at dance. Hopefully, tomorrow I can post some progress on that!!
Linda your quilting is fantastic, you don't need anymore practice as far as I can tell. Go for it was do a quilt next. Annie's a good name for your A1. I have never named my sewing machines.
Wow! I think your quilting is gorgeous. I think so many times it would be nice to have a longarm, but just don't have the room.
The quilts will be flying out of your place now!
What kind of longarm did you purchase?
Your gettin it girlfriend. You could feel when your tension was off and you fixed it. You just need to practice for the confidence not on how good your quilting is.
Thank you so much for posting about the learning curve with Annie… it makes me appreciate my LA quilter even more!
I love seeing the photos too… you'll soon be producing lots of beautiful quilted quilts!
You're doing a great job! Love that idea of changing threads and quilting over it. Great way to practice. Don't you hate when those loops happen. They still happen to me from time to time. What a pain!
You really are doing a great job. You are lucky I don't live by you because I would be over all the time drooling. LOL!
I think you are back into your groove and having fun with your designs.
I never notice my tension is off, till I finish and turn the piece over, lol.
Good think I am not out to win any awards;)
Debbie
I agree with others…your quilting looks wonderful!!! That was a great tip about changing thread colors and stitching over. Nice to find your blog!
You are a total natural, Linda!!! Your designs are incredible and all handguided – woohoo!!!!
I believe you should load a quilt top – you're very ready to do that. ๐
I have the Hop to it book just sitting on my shelf taunting me! Why did I buy it if I wasn't going to do it?
Oh so many quilts and so little time!
I agree with Darlene – you're ready for a real quilt, Linda! I love seeing your freehand doodles – they give me so many ideas! It's also great that you can adjust your tension easily – it definetely makes a difference! Have fun today!
Cheers!
Seriously, you are ready to quilt something. Good job catching that tension issue so early. You really are a natural!
I think you are showing some real aptitude for machine quilting! You are catching on so fast. You must have just about died when you looked underneath and saw what was happening with the tension. Imagine, if that was on a real project, I suppose you would have to unload the quilt, pick out all the threads and put the quilt back on the machine. I'd be checking under the quilt every minute to be sure all was well!
Your quilting looks wonderful! I'm glad you got past your roadblock and got going again……it looks wonderful! You are certainly using your time wisely while your girls are at dance ๐
My goodness that's PRACTICE??? You're a natural! Excellent job!
These posts are really informative, especially for new LA quilters or anyone considering buying one. Perhaps you could bind your practice pieces and call then whole cloth quilts?
You know what? I don't think you need to practice any more at this point. I would say just put a real quilt top on, take a deep breath and go for it. In my (not very vast) experience, you can get so hooked into practice that it eventually becomes too scarey to make the move to a real top.
That's just my opinion, but you know me, always got an opinion and always ready to share it!