Off to the Races: Final laps!

I spent the next hour, or two, figuring out all the tensions and heights and a bunch of other stuff with the long-arm quilting machine.  I did get it going and I'm probably too pleased with the results.

 I did get it going and I'm probably too pleased with the results.

See those pretty stitches?  Nothing fancy here, just some meander and whatever seemed right.

Almost done! Remember, don't quilt the leader.

I may have had a bumpy start, but I think I managed to pull it out in the end.  Now, to add the binding and finish.  Oh, and a label.  I should come up with a fun name for the quilt.

Off to the races: Go!

Step three, I think.  Sew the two long edges together again.  (Don't worry, I'll get to the pressing later.)

Repeat.

Look at all those fun colors and prints coming together.

Almost there...

Whew!  Got them all sewn up.

See, I told you I'd get to the pressing.  See how pretty that is?

I wanted to add some wide borders to it, besides, I took a little off the edges to make sure the back came out wide enough.

See how the back came out?  Wonderful.  Almost as good as the front.  Time to layer and quilt.

Off to the Races

While looking for a long arm quilting machine, I picked up two packs of bright strips of fabric.  While on YouTube, looking at videos of long arm machines, I found this neat video about the Jelly Roll Race Quilt.  I decided it was time to bust out those bright strips of fabric and give it a try.

The strips are from a company called Blank Quilting.  I thought that this fun white on black print I picked up in Montana a few years ago would be a great contrast.

Step one:  Sew all the strips together end to end on the 45.  Here is the result of that step.  I managed to make it through Step two: Cut this super-duper strip in half and sew the strips together along the long edges.  At that point, I had to run out of the sewing machine to go see a guy about a sewing machine.

After what seemed like hours, I managed to get the frame and the machine home (traffic was a complete mess by the time I left Bonny's Sewing & Fabric.  Darling Husband was so sweet and understanding when it came to putting it together.  No smashed fingers (on either side of the relationship) and the only thing that was dropped was a wrench.

Darling Husband also will not let me plug it in or turn it on until I get a uniterruptable power supply/power conditioner to plug it into.  So, I shall have to go back to the races until we get a chance to run out and pick up this all important piece of equipment.

I'm off to sew up that quilt top.  I'm really looking forward to the quilting process!

Quilt Quest

Yesterday, I stopped at a couple quilt shops.  I've decided to serious look at a longarm quilting machine.

While looking around, I found this fun, pink fabric from a line called Fight Like a Girl.  I know more than a few pink fans that would really like the name if not the fabric.

 

I did manage to try a couple longarm quilting machines.  The Empress is actually the second one I looked at.   I'm still talking to the owner of Bonny's Sewing & Fabric.  I'll let you know how it all turns out.

(I promise to post more regularly and even try to be more crafty.  Sometimes, life gets in the way.)