Long Arm Quilting Tips with Allison Spence

UPDATE: Allison is no longer at the Threaducation Centre, but is continuing to teach and accept customer orders for quilting at Meadow Rose Quilting. You can follow Allison's blog to keep up with her latest activities.

I was fortunate enough to have Allison Spence come out to my studio for a private lesson on my Handi Quilter Infinity. While I have been working on my machine for a few months, I really wanted some tips from a professional. Allison is one of the forces behind the Threaducation Centre here in Calgary, AB, Canada and I just knew that I would learn lots from her. I was right!

First I learned that I had my quilt top leader feeding off from the pole incorrectly. Duh! I always have problems with whether this leader feeds over the top of the pole or underneath the pole. Allison straightened me out on this right away - and I made notes and took pictures so I will always get it right!

Allison showed me 5 different free motion designs that can be applied to any quilt and I got to practise these until I had the feel of them. I also learned how to take these 5 designs and build on them to create more complex patterns. 

She had some other tips that you can see in the video below about quilting area and stance at the machine.

I hope you found these tips helpful if you quilt on a long arm machine and just remember that you won't get better if you don't practice, practice, practice!

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Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Your Quilting Space on the Handi Quilter Infinity

This Telecast Thursday I'm looking at the quilting space on my HQ Infinity. I want to avoid the look of linear quilting when I'm doing free motion quilting so working on one area at a time can resolve this issue. 

Watch the video below or on my Youtube channel to learn about your quilting space and how to create a non-linear quilted quilt.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. You can also click on the Chatterbox Quilts logo in the lower right corner on the video itself to subscribe. Please like and share my videos with your fellow creatives.

Leave a comment below on how you define your quilting space.

Telecast Thursday - Couching with the Janome 8900

Welcome to the first Telecast Thursday of May! I've found another interesting foot for my Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP - the Free Motion Couching Foot Set or as I call it, the couching foot.

With this foot you can apply yarn to your fabric projects to create interesting textures and effects. It takes a bit of trial and error with this foot, but stick with it and you can create some spectacular designs.

You can watch the video below or on my Youtube channel. 

Have you ever tried the couching foot? Leave a comment below on the results you achieved.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel to receive automatic notifications when new videos are posted. You can also click on the Chatterbox Quilts logo in the lower right corner on the video itself to subscribe. Please like and share my videos with your fellow creatives.

Creatively,

Vintage Quilting on the Handi Quilter Infinity

I've been playing with my Handi Quilter Infinity, learning how to use it, trying out different threads and practising various free motion quilting designs. I'm sure that this machine is smarter than me and it works its hardest at making my attempts look as good as it can. Having said that, I definitely need to practice more to achieve the perfect quilt motifs I hope to one day create.

While filming my on-line course, The Joy of Vintage Sewing Machines, I needed to create several samples of the projects created in the class. I hadn't yet quilted some of these samples, so they were perfect to play with on the Infinity. The only challenge with this particular sample (the vintage sewing machine cabinet cover) was that I had used the pillowcase method to create it, so the quilt top, batting and backing were already stitched together. I attached extra fabric on both sides so I could use my grippy things to hold the edges of the quilt out to each side. Yes, "grippy things" is a quilting term. This worked very well and I had no issues with tension in quilting this project.

I used the seamed fabric as a registration mark for the bumps, hill, monster's teeth quilting: I put two of these motifs in each fabric strip - or tried to. 

If I'd really wanted the centre squiggle design to be even, I could've marked it. Maybe I'll try that next time.

I like swirls, but am used to making them over a larger area. The challenge with these was to keep them in the white strip of fabric. I need to work on making them look rounder, rather than an oval or deflated O.

I stitched in the ditch around each seam - always difficult to do without a vertical locking system on the long-arm. I winged it and didn't do too bad. Maybe next time I'll try to use a ruler for this part of the quilting. I suppose you don't have to SID on a long-arm machine, but it does stabilize the quilt more and can make certain areas of the quilt more prominent.

As you can see, I used simple designs on this project. I could've stitched it with white thread and smaller motifs to just give texture, but I wanted to try out the Superior Thread's So Fine variegated thread that I had recently purchase. Plus, I love the green and aqua colour of the thread.

Let me know your favourite quilt motifs so I can try them on the Infinity. Just leave a comment below.

Creatively,

Telecast Thursday - Book Review: Moda All-Stars All in a Row by Lissa Alexander

Have you been swept up by the row quilt craze? I have yet to make one of these, but they do look like fun. 

I recently received Moda All-Stars All in a Row from That Patchwork Place (a division of Martingale) and wanted to share my thoughts about this book with you.

First, it's a book about creating row quilts - I guess you could tell that from the title :) This book contains over 24 rows (designs) from some of my favourite designers. There are pieced rows and appliquéd rows, so it appeals to all types of quilters. The designs in the book allow you to create your own custom row quilt or not: there are suggestions for combining rows to create wall hangings and other smaller projects. 

I liked the designs in this book a lot and while I don't know if I would create an entire quilt, I could certainly see me making a table runner or small wall hanging using these rows.

Watch the video below or on my Youtube channel to see more of Moda All-Stars All in a Row.

Have you created a row quilt or or considering doing one. Let me know your thoughts on row quilts in the comments below. To get your own copy of Moda All-Stars All in a Row, click here.

Creatively,

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