Videos

A while back I had gotten a handlebar mount to use with my phone on my A1 Quilting Machine. I've been playing with it trying to find the right angle for making videos while I quilt....

There's several obstacles I'm running into. First is my lights. My lights on my machine are directly under my handle bars and are blocking the area where I'd really like to place the mount.

Second is I can't rotate the camera to get a landscape profile. This means it's taking a tall skinny video which means anyone trying to watch it on their phone is having harder time seeing.

Third is there are too many joints in the mount. This creates more camera wobble. When I quilt a little faster the camera wobbles...

Anyway, here's a new video I did last week. The angle is not right. I will try again soon!

I have my eye on a different style of mount... It's a little more than what I want to spend but it may be worth it in the long run!

TaDone... One Of My Own

I took a break and quilted on of my own quilts. This is a quilt I started several years ago.... I get everything done except the border and stop. I have no idea why I do this. Crazy!

The pattern is called Lightening Strikes Twice .It uses 5" charm squares to make the chevron design....

I decided it was time to get it out and finish it!

Doodle

My last post was showing how I fill in and embelllish a compuerized design...   This one started out with a loopy meander that someone test driving a machine at the A1 Quilting Machines Inc booth.

On the Machine

Finally getting back to this quilt....  do you ever think you should of stuck with something simple?

On the Machine

I'm really happy with this new design!

On the Machine

I love when a new design stitches out the way I envisioned....  new twist on a TerriTwist!

Ta Done

Finished this Quilt in a Day All Stars quilt for a customer...  This customer like lots of feathers!  So there are feathers everywhere!!!

We are having one of those gray and rainy days here on the coast of Washington so it's hard to get a good picture.

 I do believe that the pictures lose clarity when I transfer them from my phone to my computer and then add my watermark.  The were much clearer on my phone!

When you look at the back of these blocks the off white stitching looks like it goes into the blue....  but it does not.  I finally realized that the blue seam allowance is pressed to the light.

I do always like seeing the quilting on the back!

Sneak Peek

Looks like I've been missing in action once again....  so what have I been up to?

The last two day I've been working on my Shaheen Challenge for MQX East.  Lots of ruler work going on....

On the Machine

Hoping to get this done tomorrow....

Ta Done... Animal Quilt

I finished this quilt for my customer the day before yesterday.  I had a hard time deciding what to do on it, but when I did...   Look out!  I could stop until it was finished!!!  I came up with a few new Heavy Metal designs just for this quilt...

With a few markings, a couple rulers, and freehand to create this design...

And I love the border....  super simple and super quick!  Think I'll call it Twisted Metal!

And I love how the corner turned and kept the design flowing all the way around the quilt!

 

 I simply outline the animals in the print blocks...

And the back look great too...

I really had fun quilt this one!

Ta Done.... One Block Wonder

This is quilt is from one of my best customers...  Most of her quilts are either Kaffe fabrics or Asian prints.  We usually decide on an E2E design. This on is no exception.

It's dark wet and dreary here in the rain forest...  so it's hard to get a good pic!

 It's pretty busy so we decided on a simple leaf meander...

I'm happy with the way it turned out...  I hope she is too!

Ta Done

I finished this customer quilt and thought you might like to see it...

I used navy blue Glide thread from Fil-Tec in the blue...

And in the print fabric...

I also used Magnifico Elegante by Superior for the rest of the quilt....

And the back is always fun to see...

Black Light Quilting

I just got a really nice email from Josh at Superior Threads.  Josh send me a link with more information on why certain threads glow while using your black light.  Also!!!   Also a list of which threads will glow!!  Awesome!!!   Check it out here.  I can't wait to try some of these other threads!

Mean time, the two I use the most are Magnifico #2198 Citrus Flash

I only had one light plugged in when I took the next picture so it's not as bright as normal... 

The other, which is my favorite, is Rainbow #841 Neons. 

These two colors work perfectly together!!!

Why Use a Black Light

After I posted about using my black light in my post about Sew Expo I got several questions about why I would want a black light.  Well, several reasons....   the first is because it's really fun with neon thread!!!

Seriously, you know when you are quilting white thread on white fabric and it's really, really hard to see?  With the use of a black light the white thread will glow purple... Well, everything glows, which makes it much easier to see where you are quilting!

With permission form my friend Tracey Browning I'm sharing a couple pix of her's so you can see the difference.

With the black light on...

And with just the white light....

Big difference!!!!

Also, believe it or not, the black light doesn't bother my eyes as much as the bright white light does sometimes....  I'm lucky that my A1 Elite Platinum has a build in black light  :-)

On the Machine....

I'm working on this large Stach-n-Whack quilt....   Since I have not quilted in a couple months, I really feel out of practice!!!   LOL

Piano Keys in the border is one of my favorite treatments!

For now I'm doing all the Stitch in the Ditch and block quilting...   will go back and do the freehand designs once this is done!

The freehand work in the secondary design will be leaves....  using a Superior Rainbow thread. 

Since I'm doing two different threads, one for the blocks and one for the leaves, is why I decided to do all the blocks first.  The thread in the blocks is InviFil by WonderFil, a 100 weight...  and the Rainbow is a 40 weight.  This means I have to adjust my top thread tension each time I change my threads...

Playing

During the quilt shows there always seems to be a time of day that gets really slow....  usually around 4:00 in the afternoon.   I like to take this time and play.

Almost done...

 

 

Just have a little bit left to do....