Quilting and Blogging Challenges

Time is essential to both quilting and blogging.  In the case of blogging it is fun to post on a blog but it takes time to decide what is worth writing about and if the topic might be interesting or helpful. So posting takes time.  

Quilting is also time consuming depending on your addiction and committments and your seeking as close to perfection as you get.  So in September and October all of this coincided and now I can write about something I find interesting and to let you know what has been

consuming my time.

1.  This quilt needed to be finished i.e.  quilted for a show in Middleton, Nova Scotia.  It is heavily quilted with cascading rose petals and some holly and full blown roses on the border.  Making quilting designs is such fun.  Seeing them come alive is euphoric.

2.  The show had to be set up and I was a 'goefer'.   It was fun but lots of work.  Out of this will come a small movie  for our guild of the behind the scenes of setting up.  (memo to self- add to list of to do's on computer)

3.  I have been working as well on my Celtic Quilt which is approaching the finish line.  It will be a stunner.

4.  I have been working on a paper pieced mystery by Carol Doak.  (Told you quilting is an addiction) And I am half finished another Christmas scrappy quilt which I just love. (These are not all that is currently on the work list.)

5.  The pesky contractors have been completing their work and boy can the dust fly and the house be upset by the lovely things they are doing.

6. Sick doggies  and pill pushing and taking for tests and a cat which decided to steal a dog's pills and had to have emergency treatment.  A dash through the night countryside was required. Boy do things like that ever drain you.  Now I know just how much cats like dog pill pockets.  They will even eat the pills. Dogs now well and pills almost eliminated and cat is well and happy.  Pills for an 86 lb. dog are not inconsiderable in effect for a 6 lb. cat.

7.  A chestnut tree which explodes with leaves and nuts all over the patio and needs to be tidied up if one does not want to walk on the ball bearings of nuts.  The dogs love to chase the nuts after they explode on the patio surface but I keep my head covered under the canopy.

Hortense did a great job on the quilt above but I was not happy with how the frame was operating.  I just knew it was not behaving as the unit as a whole should.  Knowing your equipment is an important aspect of quilting and can be quite daunting. You can hear and feel something that is not quite right. It is not all easy stuff in long arm quilting like doodling designs and cruising over a lovely quilt top as they show on commercials.  So thanks to a knowledgable neighbout the frame is totally level and  Hortense is moving smooth as silk.  But now I had to adjust some tension settings.  

Ok if you have a home sewing machine you can dial the tension fairly easily.  On a long arm there are variables which have to taken into account.  Getting the perfect stitch feels like going on the Crusades for the Holy Grail. Or at least that is what it has felt like.

How many remember your algebra and solving for X?    For example

2x = y/4 where y is specified as some value.  Pretty easy.

Well on a long arm the formula is much longer.  And the formula has components that vary widely.   Here is a list.

Y.  Bobbin tension - change the thread; change the tension

     This includes type of thread and weight

A.  Machine tension - change the thread; change the tension

     This too includes type of thread and weight

B.   Bobbin winding tension - if too tight it binds the bobbin tension.

C.   Fabric weight - type of fabric

D.   Backing weight - type of fabric

E.   Batting - cotton; wool; mixed; synthetic (some still use it)

F.   Tension on the rails - too much can cause the stitches to sag when taken off the frame. So what is right?  Trial and error and that  feeling stuff again.  

G.   Height of the machine foot.  Too high makes the stitches loopy.  But the height can be impacted by thick or unpressed seams.

H.  You can add in moisture in the air and hence the quilt fabric will react differently with moisture or dryness.  Most wet than dry here these days.

Ok so that is 8 variables (and a lot of the aphabet) at a minimum to solve for x - the perfect stitch.  Of course A and B are always doing a dance as they push and pull each other to see where that locking stitch is going. And H can vary during quilting and from day to day and since quilts are not done in a  day, unless you have teflon feet, this can be significant.  So I have been spending 'quality' :) time with Hortense trying to get a perfect stitch with the current combination of top and bobbin thread.  Note the word current combination of thread.  This too is can be like playing on the computer; time goes much faster than you can imagine.  There is that time thing again.   Am I crazy?  Yes I think sometimes I must be but it is a fun crazy and I like perfect stitches.   I do not always get them but ........................ 

So blogging and quilting have been doing a dance like the machine and bobbin thread and I am the unwitting knot in the fabric.  So  today the blogging won out as I am too pooped to look for perfection or load a quilt or stitch.  Exercise class here I come for some uncomplicated movements and a bit of stretching out my body and perhaps my mind.

Thanks for reading.  More quilts to come.  By the way I love long arm quilting.  When things align it is like skating on ice to a waltz of your own making.

Hortense

Well this weekend I have to give Hortense my long arm machine a pat on the back.  In spite of my errors she did an excellent job on a small wall hanging.    The spring colours of the hanging will give a bright spot in the kitchen.   I was trying out the software for Hortense and a finer thread from Aurifil.  The software is really nifty and the thread is lovely.

But my errors were the same one repeated multiple times and a pretty basic one at that.  I threaded the machine and the thread broke.  I adjusted the tension and rethreaded and the thread broke.  I repeated this.  I won't say how many times.  It was not like I had not done this before many times.   In defense of my stupidity I am half way between cataract surgeries and my sight is still a bit restricted with fine things.  After some repeats and adjustment of the tension I had a look at the bobbin. Fine.  Ok.  This is not going to defeat me.  But what had I done to the top tension?  And what about my body and mind tension.  Then I had to laugh.  Here I was talking to a machine which could only talk back by breaking the thread.  But that is quite a talk back.  It certainly stops all progress. Does this remind of the toddler who you want to do something like eat and all they say is NO!!

So back to rethreading.  The Aurifil is 50 weight and the same colour as the machine.  So start from the beginning; one do each step and check; two pull the thread to be certain it is not caught which it was around the front of the tension disks; three cut off the long thread that can get caught and lastly thread and put the foot down and pull to be sure it is actually going to feed thread.  It worked.  I adjusted the tension back and hoped for the best.    I think in future when threading fine thread that is the same colour as the body of the machine I will take a quilt marking pen and colour the tail of the thread so it is easily seen against the machine.  With such a big machine the thread course is like a very intricate obstacle course with many hurdles to go over before going on to the next one.  But the result is very nice.

Hortense then behaved like a lady.  She stopped and started her robotic self where asked to by the software designs I had made.  She allowed me to test the designs to make sure of fit on the area of the quilt without stitching.  Her tension was like mine was after laughing i.e. spot on.

In the end it was fun.  The software had allowed me to make a design for the body of the quilt of the outline of the kettles and teapots in the fabric.  It makes a change from standard quilting designs.  Three alternating rows was just enough.  

So laugh with me or at me but laugh.  Sometimes we take the simplest and most basic things for granted and are sure we are right. Well sometimes we are not.  Our certainty can be our downfall.  And each and every day and every event can be one of learning.

Perfect - NOT

Well  I blathered about solving my problems with doing designs vertically i.e. twisted ropes and such like.  It worked for a while until I tried to do one close to the rail at the front.  I have a wobble.  GRRR!!!!! Frustrated but chalk it up to another learning lesson. If you think you need to roll the quilt; do it.  Working close to the rails with tools does not work.   Next project is to put some sacrifice quilt sandwiches on the frame and PRACTICE.  Also going to have a boo at the hardware store for some shapes in the right thickness for templates.  That way I can feel them which I cannot do with on line templates.

But getting my quilt fix this morning I came across quilts by Shirley Kelly.  In particular her Flowers of the Crown highlighted today on The Quilt Show.   THE QUILT SHOW  This is a member site so if the link does not work try this one. A SHIRLEY KELLY QUILT  It is a fabulous quilt but what is so revealing is the interview with Shirley on The Quilt Show.  It is honest about how difficult the quilt was and how many people had input.  So just starting out with machine quilting this tells me that I should not beat myself up for not being perfect and to practice, practice and learn from every source possible.

When I think of my first quilt, a child's quilt from McCalls, that I called Bumps and  Squiggles I know I have come a bit of the way down the road.  The quilt hangs in  my frame room and I do not notice the bumps and squiggles now.  I just love its happy colours and the way it makes me feel.

A couple of years ago I started learning to play the piano and those lines and notes seemed impossible to conquer.  I can now sit and play songs I thought were impossible and can entertain myself and the dogs who just collapse in rest when I play.  (They used to bark when I started.)  The only drawback to the collapsing is when it is on the foot pedals.

So with these good thoughts I will content myself with what I have gotten good at and learn the rest.