How to Use the Snowball Template | Quilts By Jen

How To Use The Snowball Template | Quilts By Jen Hey Everyone, welcome back to Technique Tuesday.

If You Were Shopping...33: she can quilt

she can quilt: if you were shopping... #33 Welcome to if you're shopping.... On Fridays I share news from my sponsors, in case you want to do a little shopping, or even window shopping, this weekend. Fabric Spark keeps getting new fabrics! Fluffy Sheep Quilting has lovely bundles . Sew Me a Song has beautiful bundles. Just in at Sew Sisters Quilt Shop: Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Wallflowers. The Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating Earth Day with 30% off all organic fabrics with the code EARTH, expires Sunday April 26.

The CreativFestival: Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Crazy Quilter on a Bike!: The CreativFestival What a crazy three days!!!   I have never seen the CreativFestival so busy. Almost the entire time, the booths - well at least ours was jam packed.  And because we have so many little things - well - you spend a lot of time trying to keep things somewhat organized and restocked?  Nope - that wasn't even possible. I had a demo on bags yesterday and saw a few familiar faces. It was standing room only in the class which is always exciting. Thanks to everyone who came - I hope they picked up a few tips.

Elaine's Tech Tips: Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Crazy Quilter on a Bike! I wrote a series of Tech Tips that appeared in A Needle Pulling Thread magazine from Spring 2010 until Fall 2014. These articles were chock full of information about rotary cutting, quarter inch seam allowance, pressing and a whole lot more. To be truthful - those Tech Tips originated back in 2002 when I did a Block of the Month for the Mississauga Guild. I felt that providing a block pattern each month wasn't enough (yep - call me crazy) so I created a series of handouts that became the base for these Tech Tips. The ones in the book have pictures and of course as I learned stuff - I updated them.

Construction up in Tiny Town! - Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Crazy Quilter on a Bike!: Construction up in Tiny Town! Wouldn't you love to have the time to sew everything you want to sew?  I see so many awesome designs that I would love to make, so many things I would love to experiment with and then let's not forget the designs in my head. If only we had the time.  I can't eek out any more time and I have no suggestions for you. Well maybe one - FOCUS!!!! Anyway - it's time to check in on the construction in Tiny Town to see what's happened since last month. The blocks are so creative and the details are fun to check out.

Scraptastic Tuesday and April Winners: she can quilt

Scraptastic Tuesday and April Winners: she can quilt Last night I made 4 more of these nine patches using my Liberty scraps. I have no idea how I will put these together in a quilt yet - I have been thinking of making a lap quilt to have at my cottage this summer. By the way, I solved my issues sewing these thinner and tightly woven tana lawn fabrics by buying a set of 70/10 needles which work fine with my 50wt Aurifil thread. The thinner needles seem to glide easily through the fabrics. Now its time to announce the winners from the April Scraptastic Tuesday link up.

Over the Garden Fence: Helen Philipps

Over the Garden Fence: Helen Philipps  There is a finished quilt to show you here today...........i am so happy that my garden fence quilt made with pam kitty garden fabrics (and sunrise studio fence borders) is finished ........quilted in a daisy pattern and bound in red spotty fabric also from the collection............. (all fabrics are from lakehouse dry goods).....  .............it was a lovely quilt to make as the four patch squares are so easy to piece together and a good way to play with the different fabrics..............i was wondering if the borders would be hard to do.....(i am not much of a large scale fabric wrangler) but thanks to the printed lines on the border design it is easy to cut and sew them to your quilt and i do love the effects..........

Crazy Quilter on a Bike!: Amish with a Twist II

Crazy Quilter on a Bike!: Amish with a Twist II Yes - more homework to be revealed!!!   This time it is Amish with a Twist II. The assignment was to make THREE blocks this month - one each of three different blocks. The first is the bow tie block. Keep in mind that a number of people are using the kit so we don't put up all those, but we put up one for reference. The bow tie block - the block from the kit is the top right hand corner Another bow tie block   Next up -  the flying geese block. Flying geese block - kit is the top right block

Making A Table Runner With Pre-Cuts | Quilts By Jen

Making A Table Runner With Pre-Cuts | Quilts By Jen Hey Everyone, welcome back to Free Form Friday and a bit of Stash Blasting Wednesday. Next week CreativFestival is upon us – it always seems to be so far away and then all of a sudden it sneaks up on me and is only a week away. The week prior to the show is always a whirlwind of activity, creating last minute presentation designs, folding and stuffing patterns and of course gathering up all the bits required for the booth. Right now I am in the thick of creating some last minute presentation designs. This year I am doing two presentations. One is called Using Up the Pre-Cuts & Scraps which is at 1:30 on Friday and 3:30 on Saturday. The second one is called Releasing the Rulers which is at 4:30 on Friday and 9:30 on Saturday. Those of you who are at the show please do drop by room 102 to check them out.

Where are the Easter Quilts? - The Quilt Studio

Where are the Easter Quilts? -  The Quilt Studio:  it's about sew much more than just quilting

Easter sure snuck up on me this year. As I scramble to decorate at the last minute and get the house ready for company I realize I don't have an "Easter" quilt. I have quilts or quilted wallhangings for lots of other holidays and celebrations, Christmas, Valentines Day, Summer, Fall slash Thanksgiving and Halloween. But where is my Easter Quilt? I love Easter, the lilies, the family gathered, the hint of spring in the air special services at church, and lets not leave out the bunny and chocolate. Hiding eggs and new clothes for the kids. I love these traditions and I love making new ones yet somehow I don't have an Easter Quilt. How did that happen? Why did that happen. Well, it's time to fix it. I am making a plan for an Easter Quilt and while I'm at it I need to think about what other happy celebration I might want a quilt for. Canada day? Of Course! Birthdays? Why not? How about you? Do you have special quilts either bed, lap or wall hangings for special occasions in your life? I do know this much, next Easter I will share my new Easter Quilt with you!

Finishing touches on the Darling Diva wall quilt

The Darling Diva wall quilt is almost ready for its close up. Quilted by hand and created in fond memory of those who taught me to love needle, hoop and floss.

More fun is to be had today as we put the finishing touches on the Darling Diva wall quilt. I love to see a darling project unfold, and when I'm nearing the end of the project, there's such a great sense of accomplishment and excitement.

• Cut 2" wide binding strips for the top and sides.
• With right sides together, sew the binding strips to the front of the quilt. First to the top and bottom and then to the sides.
• Steam press the binding away from the quilt and, then, in half.
• Fold toward the back and secure with Clever Clips. Slip stitch the binding to the back.

Use Clever Clips to secure the binding while you slip stitch it to the back. The clips provide a strong and secure hold, and unlike pins, won't scratch you.

• To create a hanging sleeve, cut a strip of muslin 3" x 14". Turn in the short sides and sew. Fold the strip in half and sew the long side. Turn.
• Press the strip flat. Slip stitch the tube to the top back of the quilt, taking care not to sink the stitches too deeply so they show on the front.

Create a muslin sleeve to hold the hanging dowel in place.

All great works of art deserve to be signed. Create a quilt label, or use one of the many that are available on-line or sold as yardage panels at your local quilt store. Sign your label using a Fabric Fun permanent  marker. It can be affixed to the back of the quilt using HeatnBond Quilter's Edge iron on adhesive tape.

Every work of art deserves a signature. The Darling Diva gets a label

Place the quilt on the dowel of the quilt hanger or thread the quilt onto 1/2" wooden dowel. If you're using a wooden dowel, tie a ribbon on each end of the dowel to hang the quilt.

Ready for the reveal: the Darling Diva is finished and hanging on the wall. Like all darling divas, she's sweet and just a bit sassy!

Follow the instructions on the quilt hanger to hang it on the wall.

My time on QUILTsocial is over for now. I hope you enjoyed making this darling wall hanging, the finishing touches on the Darling Diva wall quilt are like the frosting on the cake. Like all divas, I think she is sweet and just a little bit sassy! Until we meet again on QUILTsocial, make a mess and have some handmade fun!

How English paper piecing replaces potato chips

Today, we're going to have fun with making circles and hexagons using the Sew Easy templates to finish embellishing our Darling Diva wall quilt. I never met a gadget I didn't like, and recently, I came across this gadget which makes English paper piecing even easier! Let me show you how English paper piecing replaces potato chips...

I love these templates! The Sew Easy templates, distributed by H.A. Kidd Company Ltd., are durable and come in a fun (and hard to lose) pink-orange color.

The circles and hexagons packages contain nine templates to make pieces from 1/2" to 5" -- and have eliminated the need for me to raid the kitchen cupboard for bowls, cups and glasses to trace a circle. The hexagons will enable me to make my own English paper piecing (EPP) papers.

By the way, EPP is a great stash buster, and a very portable activity that you can take almost anywhere. To make the flower embellishments on the Darling Diva wall quilt, I traced 21 small "hexies" onto sturdy matte photo paper (poster board or old greeting cards work well too). Then, I carefully cut them out along the traced lines.

The following photos are great visuals on how to EPP. One caveat: you'll never make just one! This is a highly-addictive technique. Therefore possibly replacing the urge to eat potato chips.

• Trace the Sew Easy hexagon template onto sturdy paper to create English paper pieces.

Using Sew Easy hexagon template to create English Paper Pieces.

• Use a glue stick to dab just a bit of glue on a square of fabric. Cut out the hexi shape, leaving at least 1/8" of fabric around the shape.
• Fold the fabric over the shape, making sure the edges are crisp. Use contrasting thread to tack each corner, all around the hexi. 

To make a flower, you need seven hexies -- six joined together around a central hexi.

English paper piecing is a portable patchwork technique that uses up scraps.

• Use contrasting thread to tack just the corners of the fabric to the paper template. Pull tightly to make a snug wrap and, therefore, sharp edges.
• Join them using tiny stitches that do not go through the paper, just catch the edge of the fabric. Do your best to make sure the stitches can't been seen on the right side of the joined hexies.
• Press well with steam. Snip the basting threads and ease the papers out of the shapes. These papers can be used over again.

Basting technique to wrap fabric around EPP templates.

A fine quilting sharp needle helps to accurately catch just the edge of the fabric, and not the paper when joining hexi shapes together.

EPP flowers in a flash: the first red polka dotted hexi joined to the aqua center. Note the tiny stitches. Once the paper is removed, you can barely see the joining stitches.

I attach all the hexi "petals"  to the center first, then I sew the petals to one another. The shorter quilting sharp needle is essential at this point.

EPP flowers in a flash with Sew Easy circle and hexagon templates!

Remove the papers from the flower shape by removing the threads after the shape has been well pressed.

Our Darling Diva wall quilt has been dressed up and is almost ready to be quilted. But first, let's make a sandwich of muslin, batting and the main quilt.

• Spray baste the layers together using 505 fabric adhesive.
• Smooth the layers together. Place the whole quilt in a quilting hoop.
• Use an embroidery needle, threaded with two strands of embroidery floss, to outline the dress and the skirt fans. Remove the quilt from the hoop.
• Spray the flower embellishments with 505 adhesive and attach to the quilt. Attach the flowers to the quilt, just catching the edge of the flower and going through all the layers of the quilt. Don't pull too tightly, or you will create puckers.

I did this, and I had to remove the flowers and start again. It was a dark moment in the creation of the Darling Diva wall quilt. But, that's part of the charm of hand quilting. Sometimes, mistakes happen. They can be corrected with a seam ripper, or they can be become a "design decision". A pucker, in my view, required a seam ripper.

• When the flowers have been appliqued to the quilt, they have also become part of the quilting.
• Use the 1/2" and 1" circle templates and the Heirloom six color retractable pen to trace around circles on the quilt, drifting into the borders. Quilt by hand using Gutermann quilting thread. Again, try not to pull too tightly (see above regarding the unattractive pucker).

Trace around the two smallest Sew Easy Circle templates to create the random quilting pattern on the Darling Diva wall quilt.

Take care not to pull the quilting stitches too tightly around the circles.

I found it easier to stitch the quilting circles while the quilt is not in a quilting hoop. While the circles are placed in a random fashion around the quilt, start the quilting with those closest to the center, and move north, south, east and west around the quilt to keep the tension in the quilt sandwich even.

Finishing the quilt by hand will take some time, but it will add charm. Today we had fun with templates doing fun and funky laser cut circles and hexagons. Come back tomorrow when we bind the mini quilt and make a sleeve to hang it.

WEEKLY GIVEAWAY! Sew Easy Quilting Template

Enter now for your chance to win a set of Sew Easy Quilting Templates, sponsored by H.A. Kidd and Company Limited!

Sew Easy Quilting Templates come in all shapes and sizes and are made to help you explore your creativity. Create hundreds of designs for quilting; sewing; crafting; and scrapbooking.

Contest ends Tuesday Sunday April 19th at 5PM. Get your entries in now!

Congratulations to Diane E.M...winner of the QUILTsocial Weekly Giveaway for a Vintage Postcards Embroidery Album, sponsored by Husqvarna Viking.

Sew Easy Quilting Templates

How to Enter the QUILTsocial Weekly Giveaway Contest

To enter this contest, log in below through Facebook or with your email, then follow the instructions. You'll be required to comment on any one of our QUILTsocial blog posts, except this one. We do this to encourage you to explore the awesome content on our blog.

7 Quilting design elements to add personality

Before we reveal the two quilts for the What's Good for the Gal, is Good for the Guy quilt challenge in the QUILTsocial eZine spring issue, let me give you a 'tour' of the design process and elements and the inspiration behind it. Here are 7 quilting design elements to add personality to this quilt: 

• incorporating the interests of the recipient into the quilt top (duplicating bricks and mortar and the house)
• quilting the vine
• adding a jean pocket to remember a beloved family member and clever label
• using embroidery to 'say what you need to say' on the quilt top and backing
• add special tags
• making the story of the quilt special by incorporating a little history
• using a forgiving quilt backing

If you've been following QUILTsocial, you know that Jen was working on a quilt for the guy and I was working on the quilt for the gal. 

You can check back here for more details on the challenge.

Although I never met the recipient of the quilt, I was provided with a few details of her likes which includes things that are vintage, rustic and countryside scenery. She's studying architecture and is highly creative. She would love to live in a real functioning tree house, or a house in the forest. 

Hmmm - I was getting a recurring theme here - houses! I also thought about some of the other requests - no traditional borders, try to highlight the theme fabric. That was a lot of information to decipher and come up with something creative.

The Design

I wanted to keep the elements in the quilt simple. I also wanted the elements in the quilt to be subtle. And somewhere in the quilt, I wanted a house. 

We had received a package of 10-inch squares of fabric to work with. Not a lot of room for error and I really wanted to showcase the fabric by not cutting it up much. 

Hmmmm - I could make the quilt look like a brick wall and incorporate the subtle elements onto the wall. Yes - that would work, and I proceeded to cut the 10-inch squares into "bricks" that were 10" x 5". Absolutely no waste from the fabric pieces. 

Although I do have a few bits left over which I'm making into another project (a gift for Carla) which you'll see in an upcoming post.

Next up was to add some mortar to the mix. It was very difficult choosing a color - I wanted to keep it neutral to help highlight the focus prints, I wanted it to be somewhat realistic and I eventually went with a gray. 

So now that I had the mortar color picked out, I had a couple of other issues that I had to take care of that involved piecing and pressing.

Although real bricks wouldn't have exactly matched up from row to row, I wanted my bricks to match. So I used a chalk pencil to mark where the seams for each row should go in order to have the bricks in alternating rows line up properly. 

Using a ruler and chalk pencil to match up seam lines

Here you can see the chalk line which allowed me to match up the next row

Next up was the pressing. If you look at the mortar on a brick house, you'll notice that it recedes from the surface of the bricks. In order to replicate that look, I had to press the seams away from the mortar to make it recede from the bricks (focus fabric). That meant I had to press the seams back against all those cross seams. This is the opposite to how I would have pressed it, but I was going for a certain effect and so those seams were pressed that way.

I like to use steam when I press so it wasn't a big deal, and I was very happy with the end result. A very very subtle effect, but it's something that I would notice (hey - I like small details!) Do you see how flat my seam allowances are?  A little steam will do wonders!

Seams are pressed away from the mortar (sashing) to make them recede from the bricks (focus fabric)

The House

I had been pondering how to incorporate a house into the bricks. Initially, I was going to put a small house into one (or several) of the bricks, but after chatting with a very creative thinker (Tish), she suggested that I build the house bigger with the bricks. 

I looked through the fabric pieces and YES - there was a way to make the house fit that approach and so the house was built into the bricks.

That created a new dilemma - how to maintain the mortar pattern through the house. I wanted the house to be subtle - but if I had used the gray fabric, the house wouldn't have been noticeable at all as all the prints are very busy. So I changed the color of the mortar so that the house would be more noticeable. But then what to do with the sides of the house?

The house built into the bricks

No design effort goes off without collaboration. My daughter (who is the same age as the recipient) and I were discussing the mortar (sashing) and we both agreed that the gray had to be incorporated to make the house noticeable. I won't tell you how many times I had to measure and remeasure to get those pieces replaced. Don't forget to add a quarter inch seam allowance - DUH!

The windows and doors were cut from one of the fabrics in the line Tim Holtz (Eclectic Elements) and fused in place. Then outlined with a satin stitch.

At last - the house was built

I've had discussions related to the stories that people dream up about their quilts. Do they think of everything before the quilt is made or do they make the story up after the quilt is done? I do a bit of both. I really have a hard time sitting down and planning all the details out - I just let it happen which has driven everyone I work with absolutely crazy. 

As I sat back and looked at this house, I realized that it reminded me a great deal of an abandoned house from the area that I grew up. So I phoned mom and dad in Saskatchewan and asked them to photograph the said house. I think they enjoyed the assignment even though they had to make three trips before they got the pictures - no batteries, dead batteries - you see, my technology issues are genetic!

Abandoned house near Spinney Hill, Saskatchewan

I learned the history of the house which has been abandoned for a long, long time (50 years) and I'm going to include a picture of the house and the story with this quilt.

The Poem

If you have been following my story on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale, you know that I love words on quilts. I wondered how I could incorporate words onto this quilt. I happened to be reading a book called Art Quilt Maps by Valerie S. Goodwin. Hey - she has used words on some of her art quilts, not embroidered words, but words nonetheless. She often incorporates Haikus, which is a style of poetry. I've been known to write poetry in my time so I sat down and wrote out a Haiku. 

Once I was happy with the text, I placed the quilt top in the embroidery hoop and hit START. It's moments like these that you hope everything goes well. There was no turning back. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when that part was completed.

Haiku embroidered on the quilt front (top left hand corner)Author: Elaine Theriault

Again, I wanted this poem to be subtle. Almost like I didn't want it to be seen unless the observer 'felt' the words. It was hard to choose a color of thread that would completely blend in, but I'm happy with the results. And for someone who doesn't do a lot of embroidery, I hooped it pretty straight!

The quilt back

We were also given instructions to make the back more than just a plain back. I was using a flannel from the Man about Town flannel collection from Northcott Fabrics. It's a gorgeous fabric, mottled enough to be a great backing concealing a multitude of sins. 

I embroidered a message on the back. I had to be careful where the message went so that when the quilt was layered, the message was in the right spot. Again - I went for subtle and chose a thread color that stood out, but not too bright. 

Embroidering the quilt back

Machine embroidered message on the back of the quilt

The Quilting

As you know from yesterday's post that I struggled with the quilting. Not because of the Ruby Royale, but my area of expertise or lack thereof. 

I had a vision and I wasn't able to execute it on the domestic sewing machine. The picture below was my inspiration with the addition of leaves. 

After removing all the quilting, I did the quilting on the long arm and I was pleased with the results. 

Inspiration for the quilt design

Quilting design on the quilt

The label and the pocket

We were also asked to incorporate a denim pocket onto the back of the quilt. The pocket was from a pair of jeans that had belonged to a family member who had since passed. 

I thought of the pocket and the label many times over the course of making the top. I had this vision, then I had another and when the time came to attach the pocket, the design just happened all by itself.

At first, I was going to make a tag and incorporate it with the pocket. So I took a piece of fabric and ran it through the ink-jet printer to get the tag.

It's very easy to do this - I first designed and printed the label on paper. Then carefully taped (very well) a piece of fabric over the writing on the paper. Then reprint the label using that piece of paper with the fabric taped to it. And voila! - you'll have printing on your fabric.

TIP I only use black ink (ink-jet only) for this purpose as colored inks are not permanent unless treated.

The label printed onto fabric which is taped to a piece of paper

Now I had to embroider a message onto the pocket. ACK - that pocket is too small to hoop but I used a sticky stabilizer and stuck the pocket to the stabilizer. 

Choosing the lettering was easy as pie using the built in fonts on the Ruby Royale. No need to bring up a computer program - ALL of the printing on this quilt was designed directly on the Ruby Royale Embroidery Edit screen. It just doesn't get any easier than that. The flexibility in this area is phenomenal. And when I think of what I used to have to do to get lettering - well I shudder at that complicated process.

Pocket hooped on sticky stabilizer

Before I hooped the pocket, I marked the center lines of the pocket so I could center it in the hoop. Notice the chalk lines are lining up with the center notches on the hoop. 

Then it was easy to use the on-screen tools to center the words and position them just right. 

Stitching out the message for the pocket

The message on the pocket

Embroidered designs can be a bit rough on the underside. Since I wanted to keep the pocket usable, and therefore soft to the touch, I applied a lightweight fusible to the underside of the pocket to cover up the back side of the embroidered message.

Lightweight fusible interfacing on the underside of the embroidered pocket

As I was working on the lettering for the pocket, I changed my mind about the tag. I would incorporate the wording as if it were a tag right into the stitching of the pocket, and let's not forget the trademark label that I put into things that I make!

I was going to have to hand stitch the pocket/label elements to the back of the quilt and I certainly did not want to have to handstitch that denim pocket down.

So I stitched everything to a leftover piece of the backing fabric. Everything was top stitched with the Ruby Royale and then the background of the pocket/label was trimmed down and hand stitched to the back of the quilt. If you didn't know that detail, you may not realize it unless you look closely. The busy backing is great camouflage for that kind of thing.

The completed pocket/label

Pocket/label is now stitched onto the back of the quilt

The pocket - a great place to put a note (or in this cases, pictures)

One more note about quilting designs

I frequently have discussions with customers about the style of quilting designs. Should it be overall or should it be custom. In this case, I did not want any of the elements to be highlighted and my inspiration of the vines would add to the feel that this was a brick wall.  

The following series of pictures shows detail of the quilting over the various elements and you can see that not once does the quilting detract or interfere with the design elements. 

Quilting on the bricks and mortar

Quilting on the embroidered poem

Quilting on the house

Quilting on the message on the back

Choosing the appropriate, and in this case, very neutral threads makes the quilting design part of the quilt. It adds to the total look and feel of the quilt, but doesn't steal the show!

And there you have it. What an interesting project. I love a challenge and this one certainly was challenging. But I am very happy with the end result. 

It was exciting to use the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale to make this quilt. The embroidery was easy regardless of the surface I worked on, the lettering was easy to select and everything was built into the Ruby Royale. 

Tomorrow I am going to wrap up my adventure with the Ruby Royale with another embroidery project. Something I have wanted to try for a long time. Stay tuned for that.

Be inspired to add character to your quilts. I hope you enjoyed a tour of my 7 quilting design elements to add personality to your quilts. Ciao!

PS - Thanks Jen for letting me have the Gal quilt. I am sure I would have come up with something for the Guy, but I had fun working for the Gal. 

Machine quilting

Today I'm going to talk about free motion machine quilting on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale. Free motion quilting - to some it is a bad word, to others it is freedom!

I'm going to show you how easy it is to do free motion quilting on the Ruby Royale and I'm throwing in a few related tips along the way. 

Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale

Basting the quilt

The first step is to baste the three layers together. I laid out the backing (wrong side up) on my work tables. I love to use the 505 basting spray because it is fast and easy. However, I do not like the over spray which leaves sticky residue on surfaces and has to be cleaned up. 

Keeping that in mind, I decided to try a different way of using the spray. Instead of using a light steady stream of the spray, I spot sprayed and those three layers were basted together perfectly and NO RESIDUE and nothing to clean up!   

Yes, I just went spritz - spritz - spritz and that was enough to hold the quilt together. A can of basting spray will go VERY far when used like this. I kept checking the back of the quilt as I quilted to make sure that there were no tucks or wrinkles. It was perfect and I didn't have to make any adjustments. 

Nothing to clean up - I like that. More time for quilting. One of the other reasons I like the 505 basting spray is that while it has a bit of a smell, it is not over powering and since I didn't use a lot, the smell dissipated rather quickly. 

Backing taped to the work surface in preparation for basting

505 Basting Spray

Quilting Gloves

A pair of quilter's gloves are very useful for getting a grip on the quilt and helping to move it around. As you can see, my gloves are well used. They do NOT look that black in real life. The lighting did something to the color. Oh my - perhaps they need to be washed!

Machine quilting gloves

Prepping the Ruby Royale

I installed the Open-Toe Free Motion Spring Foot on the Ruby Royale. Then I selected the appropriate free motion technique. In this case, Free Motion Spring Action. 

Select the appropriate free motion technique

Next up - load the quilt beneath the needle and pull up the bobbin thread. Ready, set, quilt!

Notice that for the design that I was quilting, I started at the bottom of the quilt and worked my way to the top. Sometimes, it is easier to see the design that way. If what you have just quilted is behind the needle, it is hard to see where to quilt. 

When you're doing your practice stitch outs - try starting at the top, then try starting at the bottom. Which direction is easier to see and quilt?

Open Toe Free Spring Foot on the Ruby Royale

Ready to start quilting

Just in case you are wondering about my thread - I was using a cone of thread so it was sitting on an external thread stand behind the Ruby Royale. 

I placed the Ruby Royale in my sewing cabinet, making a nice flat surface to work on. I have the extension surface on the left hand side (it's under the quilt) and you can see as I was pulling the quilt towards myself, the quilt is very nicely supported by that extension surface.

You absolutely need something to support the quilt on the left. Otherwise, you will struggle to support the quilt. 

Quilt is supported on the left by the extension surface of the quilting table

For some reason as I was quilting, I kept hitting the screen and  I was afraid of changing a setting.  It was easy to set the Lock Screen function so that it didn't matter how many times I touched the screen, no changes were made unless I wanted them. 

I love this feature. It's brilliant. 

Lock screen setting

The Design

Let's talk about the design. I've been contemplating confessing this to you and I finally wrapped my brain around the fact that I need to fess up. It is (was) a good learning experience for me and hopefully you won't make the same mistake.

The quilt that I choose to "practice" on is the one for the What's Good for the Gal, is Good for the Guy Challenge. That was my first mistake.

It would appear that QUILTsocial has become my confessional.  While I've done many hours of free motion on a domestic sewing machine, I'm out of practice. I've been quilting smaller items on the domestic sewing machine or quilting on a long arm. So if I am out of practice, what possessed me to pick this one to experiment on? Obviously - I was having a delusional moment!

I'll be revealing the entire quilt tomorrow and my concept behind the design. Let's just say that I wanted an overall design of vines and leaves on the quilt. Note the word OVERALL. What do I tell my students?  Break up the quilt into sections - it's harder to do an overall design on a domestic sewing machine. It can be done, but it's harder. 

The other thing I tell the students - think about density. I love dense overall quilting, but NOT on a lap or bed quilt. Guess what size my challenge quilt is? Yep - a lap quilt.

I think that makes three strikes against me!

As if all that wasn't bad enough, I've always had trouble quilting leaves. Don't know why - just happens. Do you see where I am going with this??

Anyway - I did practice on paper. I was very happy with my doodles. The leaves were wonky - just like leaves are, I was able to travel around the design - no problem. 

I did a test stitch out sample on fabric and yes - I was good to go.

Practice doodling the quilting design on paper

The quilting looked pretty decent. I was happy with it. I had chosen a thread color that blended into the front and the back of the quilt as I didn't want the stitching to be dominant. 

Quilting design from the front

Busy backs are great for disguising any issues with stitches. Also the fact that this quilt has flannel on the back helps to conceal a lot of errors. 

Quilting design from the back

And then ..............

As I was quilting, I checked the tension of the stitching - yes - looks good, I checked the back for tucks - yes that looks good as well. The consistency of the stitches - not perfect, but not so bad considering my lack of practice on the domestic sewing machine. 

However my common sense ran completely out of the window when it came to density. I realized that the quilting was way too dense for a lap quilt. I didn't like the density at all.

I spent a week ripping out the quilting. GASP!  (I have totally wiped that week from my memory bank!) They say that negative experiences like this are character building. Hmmm - let's just say that I built a LOT of character as I patiently took that quilting out. Yes - the quilt was almost done when common sense took hold of my brain.

In order for all of us to learn and become better free motion quilters, here are some tips to help you with your free motion quilting - especially choosing a design!

Tips for successful free motion quilting

Density - this is a personal taste, but I love very densely quilted quilts. If the quilt is to be used as a table runner or wall hanging,  dense quilting is great. But a too densely quilted lap or bed quilt doesn't drape well and isn't cuddly. Think about the end use of the quilt as you contemplate the density of the stitching you're planning. 

Overall designs - while overall designs are great and can be expertly done on a domestic sewing machine, be careful. The area in which you're quilting (around the needle) is small so it is harder to get that sweeping motion for a loose design. It can be done, but be very careful. Check often - are you happy with it?

Quilt in sections - it is super easy to break a quilt down into sections (visually - not physically) and then quilt section by section or block by block. So you need to consider how you can do that on your quilt. My problem was - I didn't want to break it down in sections. 

Practice - doodle your design on paper before you start to quilt. Do you have the flow? Can you travel from motif to motif? Try to doodle in the size you need on your quilt. Too dense, not dense enough?

Thread - pick your thread colors wisely. While the thread doesn't have to match exactly, the more it blends in, the more any mistakes are disguised. 

Busy backings - a busy backing will disguise a whole multitude of sins.

The good news

I'm happy to report that although my quilting skills were a bit lacking - I had no problem working on this size of quilt on the Ruby Royale. There were no skipped stitches and the stitches were well formed (a bit too well since I had to remove them all!). The Ruby Royale was a lot of fun to quilt on. 

Another question that I frequently get asked is how to deal with the bulk of the quilt under the arm of the sewing machine. We tend to think of how much space we have to the right of the needle. In this case, the Ruby Royale has 10 inches of space. 

However - we forget that we also have lots of room in the HEIGHT of that space. As you're quilting, if you push the quilt UP - you'll still have the entire space (10 inches) to work. There is slightly over 4 inches of clearance between the bed of the Ruby Royale and the top of that space. That is a lot of space to push a quilt up into.

By pushing the quilt UP, I still have 10 inches of space to the right of the needle

The second piece of good news

Because of the quilting design that I wanted, I quilted the What's Good the Gal, is Good for the Guy challenge quilt on the long arm. It is done.

Would I try another quilt on the Ruby Royale? You bet - the sewing machine did NOT let me down. My lack of skill for this type of design needs some work. Next time, I will try a smaller piece and break the design down - just like I used to and had much success. 

There is ample space to maneuver a quilt on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby Royale. No skipped stitches, excellent tension, and the ability to lock that screen, made the quilting job easy. 

Tomorrow, I will reveal the quilt that I made for the What's Good for the Gal is Good for the Guy challenge and my concept behind the various elements in the quilt. 

Have a great day!

Ciao!