Amy's Amish Bars Tutorial

Amy's Amish Bars Quilt Along Project

You've been asking, so it's high time I get the tutorial up for making my "Amish Bars" variation. It's a great space for practicing all sorts of designs with and without rulers, especially those that work linearly like sashing and borders.

Still in progress....

 All you need is two fabrics with a decent amount of contrast. My selection of a tan solid and turquiose-y Grunge has been a big hit. You can order the kits for the top, backing and binding, and thread on AmyQuilts.com.  You'll need 1/2 yard for the narrow strips (the tan) and 1 yard of the main fabric. You might be able to squeak by with less, depending on how wide your fabric is and the care of cutting, but I think this is a safe amount. The final quilt measures 32 by 30 inches.

Cutting:

    From the tan:

        Cut two 2-1/2 inch by WOF (width of fabric) strips. Subcut into 4 strips 20-1/2 inches long

        Cut two strips 2-1/2 inches by 22-1/2 inches

    From the main fabric:

        Cut one 6-1/2 by 20-1/2 inch strip

        Cut one 4-1/2 by WOF strip, subcut into 2 strips 20-1/2 inches long

        Cut two 4-1/2 by 24-1/2 inch strips

        Cut two 4-1/2 by 30-1/2 inch strips

Assemble as shown in the above image. Press well and sandwich with your choice of backing. It takes a yard to back it. Our mottled brown has been a big hit too, so there's a backing kit too.

Looks like a nice suede, doesn't it?

Feel free to adapt this tutorial to fit your own needs; vary the strip width and/or length. I think a wider center strip would look great with the addition of some applique.

My hubby said the image above reminded him of a Roman or Greek temple, which tickled my funny bone and I made up the image below and sent it to him! I thought he was going to choke he was laughing so hard.

David goes quilting....eyes up here ladies, it seems to say....

If you can come up with a witty caption I can use with this, leave it in the comments.

For quilting of this top, of course you can head over to the AmyQuilts Facebook page, but I will follow this post up with an archive of all the videos so you can watch them directly here on the blog. That makes it a little easier to follow them in order. I'll also post a list of the rulers I have used in that post.

Splendid Sampler II: Potted Paisleys

I have to say I was pretty flabbergasted when Pat asked me to contribute a block design for her Splendid Sampler II book. While I'm no stranger to making my own designs, especially since I like to do my own thing, making small 6 inch finished blocks is certainly not what I typically do.

Pat popped in for a brief visit at my shop.

Truthfully, I'm all about the quilting! Piecing, applique and embroidery (mostly machine embroidery these days as I am a Janome dealer) are just the thing I do to give myself a canvas to stitch out my heart. I am more likely to design a large block, set it on point with a bunch of negative space around it and quilt away!

I took it on as a skill builder, a challenge for myself to step outside of my comfort zone and take bite sized nibbles of techniques that I don't usually do. I think we all need to do that from time to time.

I'm getting ahead of myself! These Splendid Sampler designer posts get visited by all kinds of new folks, so an introduction is in order.

My name is Amy K. Johnson and I'm a quilter, teacher, shop owner, Janome dealer, blogger, mother and more. Not necessarily listed in order of importance, of course. You can find me at Sew Simple of Lynchburg in Virginia and online at AmyQuilts.com, where I sell my favorite rulers for ruler work, tools, fabric, and more. You can even see me over at Bluprint, aka Craftsy, where I teach Quilting with Rulers. Lately, I've been having the most quilting fun on my Facebook page AmyQuilts where I've been doing live quilting videos twice a week. We're currently doing a fun free motion quilt along using a panel and added borders to play with free motion and a few basic ruler work designs.

Quilting with rulers, also called free motion ruler work, on a stationary sewing machine is something I've been doing for quite a long time. In fact, that's how I first met Pat. She had heard the buzz about using rulers to quilt on a sewing machine and contacted me to be interviewed on her radio show on the April 4, 2016 episode and again this past September. She's an amazing interviewer. Like having a chat with a friend.

Fun fact: I'm a Janome dealer and my husband is my sewing machine tech. We joke that between us we know the guts and glory of sewing. He literally knows the guts of sewing machines and I get to use them to make all kinds of gloriously fun projects.

So what's a gal like me to do when challenged to design for such a specific project as the Splendid Sampler? Well, I took my favorite quilting design and turned it into an applique block.

 That's how Potted Paisleys came to be. A sweet block with a boho vibe featuring fusible applique. I love traditional applique with a modern twist and adore ones that look like a vase of flowers. So I turned some paisleys into a potted paisley plant.

Just like any other quilter doing the Splendid Sampler projects, I started with a fabric pull. AS a shop owner, I could have been matchy-matchy, but instead I went for a kind of controlled scrappy look. I pulled across several lines by Moda and put fat quarters of several colors from each line into my project box, plus a few Grunge and white on whites. This is where I pull all the fabrics for my blocks going forward.

I think it works, don't you? I don't have a bunch of blocks to show you, but I'm trying to do a few each month.

I used my new Cutterpillar light box to trace my shapes and to flip the diagram for my placement. Tip: When using one of these fabulous light "boxes" and your pattern has printing on both sides, use a less intense light selection. Mine has 3 choices. This will let you see the lines on the top facing side far better than the back. The brightest light will make them show equally.

Building up my applique...

 Final placement on my background....

Ta Da!

Looks a bit like one of my paisley play pieces, don't you think?

Since I'm really all about the quilting, I'll be doing a live Facebook video at 1pm Eastern US time with a tutorial on free motion quilting a paisley design at my Facebook page, AmyQuilts. I'll post the recording there so you can watch when the time suits you. Don't do Facebook? Check out my YouTube channel. The video will eventually be added to it, plus there are quite a few videos on free motion and ruler work.

Don't forget to enter the activities (giveaways?) over on the Splendid Sampler page, and check out the other 3 designer's blocks for this week.

If you're looking for a great companion block to mine, I nominate Flower Child by Carolee McMullin on page 102. A match made in hippie heaven.

Roses and Arrows Quilt Along: Piece the Top

Let's make the Roses and Arrows QAL top.

Before we can quilt along (grammar-nazis, please weight in: Is it quilt-along, quilt along, what?), we need to have a top to quilt on. If you haven't gotten your Roses and Arrows Kit yet, click on over to AmyQuilts.com and get it ordered. We're getting low on the white print for the border so don't delay. We've got the blue version of the roses print as well, and will likely substitute a few other fabrics for the border before we are done. I'll be using an alternative choice for my borders for better visibility in my live videos.

Remember to fussy cut those beautiful rose borders! (Do as I say, not as I did.)

This is a very basic top and measurements are given based on the panel size that I used. Panels can be tricky with measurements depending on how they are printed, so make sure to check how your panel measures up. You may need to trim up the length of your strips if you have pre-washed.

If I had my way, panels would be printed so they are at least 2 inches shorter than the actual width of fabric (WOF). Then we could easily add that first inner border without piecing. As it is, you might be able to, but if you pre-wash your fabrics, I just can't guarantee it, so we'll start off with piecing the narrow inner border. I'm a risk taker on my own projects, but like to play it safe when giving instructions.

Basically, we are putting a one inch inner border followed by a six inch (finished) border.

Illustration does not show bias join of inner border.

The Roses and Arrows panel has a dark red printed border. From the inner edge of this border, measure into it 1/4 inch and cut all the way around it. The remaining red is your seam allowance for attaching our one inch red grunge border. Like a scant 1/4"? Trim accordingly. I trim to 1/4" and make sure to stitch my red strips on with the panel side up and sew right along the printed edge.

From the red, cut five 1-1/2" x WOF strips. 

Three of them are used for the long sides. If you cut carefully, you can get away with using the remainder of the third strip for one of your shorter strips, but I've given you plenty in the kit.

Join three strips end to end at a 45 degree angle, like making binding. From this long strip, cut:

2 strips, 1-1/2" x 43-1/2 for sides

from the remaining red strips, cut:

2 strips 1-1/2" x 26-1/4" for top and bottom

In the kit I am including plenty of fabric so that the borders can be cut lengthwise and so that you can fussy cut to make the best use out of the print (especially for the roses print).

Paying attention to the print placement, cut from the outer border fabric:

2 strips, 6-1/2" x 45-1/2"
2 strips, 6-1/2 x 38-1/4"

Using the diagram below, assemble top. Press seams toward the red fabric.

Illustration does not show bias join of inner border

Press top nice and flat. Layer with batting and backing (Backing kit) and baste well. I pin baste. Use what works for you.

I'll see you on January 16th (7pm Eastern time) for our first official video which will include a segment about piecing those inner borders if you are unsure.

Remember I'll be doing both regular free motion quilting and ruler work with my new Low Curve rulers. I'll be using the #12 and the Mini. You may substitute the QP #12 and the QP BFF as they are the same sized curves. This project can be adapted for other rulers, but I love these.

Owl Quilt-Along with Amy: Week 2

Welcome to the Quilt-Along with Amy!

Week 2 is all about the basics of machine quilting. The quilt has been basted with pins, my personal favorite method. On a quilt like this with blocks and sashing, I like to stabilize my quilt before getting to the free motion fun.

You can see the live video I shot last week for this segment on the Amy's Quilting Adventures Facebook page. I warn you it is a long one. I'm working on editing it down to a more streamlined version for youtube.

What is quilt stabilization?

It's pretty much a permanent, beefed up version of basting. Quilting some of the major lines (or bones) of the quilt keeps things from shifting, breaks the quilt into smaller areas, and helps assure that seams stay straight and don't get distorted with quilting over them in multiple directions.

For the most part, we're talking about Stitch-in-the-Ditch, SID for short.

Those of you who have followed me for a while or taken my Craftsy classes,know that I like to do my SID in free motion with a ruler most of the time, as I don't have to rotate my quilt as often when working in free motion.  But sometimes a walking foot is perfect for smaller quilts like this. Plus I want to leave ruler work for another quilt-along in the future.

What is a walking foot?

A walking foot, sometimes referred to as an even feed foot, has a set of feed dogs that help move the fabric from the top side. This allows layers to be pulled through the machine together without shifting. If you've ever sewn two squares the exact size and the top fabric has "grown" by the time you get to the end, you've seen how the regular feed dogs under the fabric pull the bottom fabric through more effectively than the top.

The basic walking foot has a lever that goes over the needle clamp and it is powered by the action of the needle going up and down. You can get these for just about any sewing machine as long as you match up the right shank type. Some walking feet are a bit lightweight and too cheap in my opinion. Others include options to make using it easier, like a SID guide, open toe options, and most have a guide bar that can be used for parallel lines of stitching.

Some machines have "built-in" or integrated walking feet and these are wonderful. They are powered by the actual machine and are synced with the movement of the lower feed dogs. Unlike the needle bar powered versions whose upper teeth only go forward, some of these systems can be used with decorative stitches too as the upper feed dogs go into reverse. Typically, they work best on simpler stitches without a lot of reverse as there can be a little bit of a lag between the upper and lower sets.

Pfaff machines have had them for quite a long time. Janome rolled out their own versions with the 6600 and 7700 models and then an improved version for their newer, bigger machines, called the Acufeed Flex system. I love the Acufeed Flex feet for my machines. In this case, the Janome 9400. I also have interchangeable feet for the base of the integrated walking foot for SID which makes this pretty easy-peasy. See more about the SD foot above at AmyQuilts.com

How do I Stabilize My Quilt?

Opinions vary, but for the most part, it's a lot like basting. Work from the center to the edges, to keep things nice and even, not creeping in one particular direction. I did my stitching in pairs of lines as shown in the graphic below. Then I went around the outer sashing and the inner edge of the border (not shown).

Once I've done this stitching, I can remove a lot of my pins as well and the layers are less likely to shift, nor is the top likely to warp its main lines.

The Stitch for the Ditch

I used my built-in walking foot, the Acufeed Flex SD foot, which is a foot made for Stitch in the Ditch. There's a guide to keep the foot moving more easily right down the seam line. I keep my guide running on the downhill side of the seam. This is the side that does not have the seam allowance under it. Get things running just right, and the stitches will hide right under the fold of the seam. In the picture of my SD foot above, the downhill side is on the left.

My first thread audition

I used a pretty dark violet colored Glide thread and you can hardly see it, down in the ditch. In fact, when doing the live video of this process, I stitched over and area I had already stitched and it took about 6 inches before I saw my earlier stitching.

The darker violet thread below is what I used and you can see the backing I chose there on the right. This busier back will help the dark thread blend in a little better. If I had not been doing this quilt on camera, I would have used the lighter thread. I may use it for some of the background spaces.

The stitch itself is just a straight stitch with a fairly good length of 2.4mm. I did alter my needle drop position (by adjusting the width setting) so that it was one needle position off of center towards the downhill side, changing it as the downhill side changed.

After stitching the lines represented in the diagram, I went back and stitched between the green and purple sashing strips. With the other lines stitched, I didn't need to do those from the center out, but did it as felt best as I moved from area to area.

One thing I did that seemed to surprise my viewers on the video is that I pulled up my bobbin thread before I started the SID. This just gives a neater look to the back as the bobbin thread tail doesn't get stitched up.

There were several short lines that I would have left until doing the free motion and done with a straight ruler, or possibly even free hand if I hadn't said this was going to be a ruler-free project.

Next: the Free Motion Quilting!

The next segment will be done via live video again on the Amy's Quilting Adventures Facebook page on Wednesday September 26 around 7pm eastern time in the US. I will post the recording on the FB page too, so you can watch it later. We will get started with the free motion around the owls and I'm excited about it. Join us, won't you?

Sew much fun,

PS If you have questions regarding any of the feet or products I show, we likely can fix you up with the right foot or whatever for your machine (or other fun supplies!), even if we don't list it at our online shop. Just shoot me an email at amy@amysquiltingadventures.com

Quilt Along with Amy

Ever since I shot my first class with Craftsy and couldn't include as much information as I wanted to due to following their content format, I've wanted to do my own classes for free motion quilting and quilting with rulers.

I've been doing a lot of work in the background, prepping to do just that, but there are a lot of "ducks" to get into a row.  If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I've been doing a lot more Facebook live videos there instead of my usual YouTube videos.

If you're lucky enough to catch me live, you can ask questions and I'll even "Quilt on Demand!"

Until I'm ready to launch my own classes, I'm getting more involved with these live videos as it's a great way to practice, learn the lighting and audio techniques I need, and yet, because it's done live, I don't have to do the very involved and time consuming editing work that my own actual classes will need.

I'm launching a little, informal, quilt along this Wednesday evening, approximately 7pm eastern time in the US, on my Facebook page. This is the first project that I'm selling the fabric I'm using and folks can follow along. If you haven't been watching my Facebook content or aren't on Facebook, I apologize for the short notice. I have been talking about it on Facebook and Instagram for the last 3 weeks, but neglected to put anything here.

As I said, it's informal. This is a good way to decide if you like my teaching style, before I launch my other classes this winter. I will be quilting up an adorable owl panel and discussing how I choose quilting designs for something like this. Unlike many quilt-alongs, there isn't a mandatory pattern to follow and pardon the pun, I will largely be "winging it" when it comes to quilting these adorable birds as that is the best way for me to share my thought process with you.

I will be cutting the 4 owl blocks apart and piecing some of the coordinating fabric in between and adding borders to get a final project that makes for a nice throw sized quilt. I will share that information here, but you can just watch if you want, quilt just the panel as-is, or piece up your own version. You can find the panel and coordinating fabrics at AmyQuilts.com

 If you've watched my classes at Craftsy and my live videos, you'll see that there's a big difference in my delivery with highly scripted classes like with Craftsy. My upcoming classes will be more scripted and edited for clarity, but since they won't be shot in less than three days (like Craftsy) I can take my time and present more information in a more relaxed way.

I'm really looking forward to these classes and all this Facebook live video practice has been fun for me, informative for my followers and a good time for all. I hope to "see" you Wednesday evening live at Amy's Quilting Adventures Facebook page, but don't worry, the video replay will be available to watch at your convenience.

This is going to be sew FUN!

Binding Quilts with the Janome Quilt Binder Set

I love to free motion quilt my quilts, but once I get done quilting them, especially if I've gone a little over the top with ruler work and dense fills, I tend to stall out on the binding. So I finally got around to using the Janome Quilt Binder Set.

I am totally in love with the quilt binder set! It's perfect for just getting these quilts bound and done. And I'm a big fan of done over perfection any day.

People usually wonder, "What about the corners?" Well, I think my corners are possibly better than my usual traditional method. I've got a pictorial tutorial for you and I will hopefully follow up with a video at some point. (This is not the easiest process to get good video footage while still getting my hands where they need to be.)

Four fabulous corners and #2 is where I joined the beginning and end!

This is the Janome Quilt Binding Set, not to be confused with the simple binding foot, which can't handle the thickness of a quilt but does a great job with binding raw edges of garments or making thin straps. If you have something other than a Janome, check with your dealer as I would think some of the other brands would have a similar product.

It attaches to the machine, in part, by replacing the bobbin cover door with the base of the binder set, so it's important to get the right one for your machine. It's only meant for the bigger machines as you've got to have some room to work.

It does a half inch binding using a 2 inch strip of fabric. There are other binders that are compatible that do different sizes, but you need the base from this set to make them work with means another purchase, which can get spendy. So just stick with this one unless you've got your own sweat shop going.

I cut my strips 2 inches wide and join them with 45 degree seams, then press to one side. I've tried to press them open but the binder just pushes them to the right as it is fed through, so to one side they go. I also make sure to load it with the seam allowances going to the right.

 As you can see in the above picture, the attachment wraps the binding around the edges. That 90 degree positioning/fold of the binding really helps get the quilt fully into the binding. There are several adjustments that the various screws allow you to make, including angling it for a curved edge and making the bottom fold stick out further than the top fold of the binding.

It comes with a foot but I chose to use my narrow Acufeed Flex Foot (a built in walking foot that is perfectly synchronized to the regular feed dogs) for more even feeding of the quilt layers and binding. It works fabulously together.

You can use a straight stitch but using a decorative stitch ensures that you'll catch both edges of the binding for sure.  In these two samples, I used pretty wide stitches because they looked great with the quilts, but I have used a narrow serpentine stitch, blanket stitch, and straight stitch with great results.

When you get to a corner, you stitch right up to the edge. Then you lift the foot and pull the quilt straight back about 10-12 inches (away from you) and put the foot back down on top of the binding and finger press the folded binding hanging out the back of the machine. Don't skimp on how much you pull through the back or you won't have enough to comfortably work with.

Then you fold the mitered corner down in front and secure with pins or tape, then the same for the back.

I now prefer Kimberbell Tape to do this. I do not sew over pins and when using them, as soon as I took them out, it would shift. I can sew right through the tape and it picks out easily without gumming up my needle or fabric.

Then you pull the quilt towards the back and insert into the extra binding that was pulled out. Then you carefully pull the binding backwards through the binder attachment, moving the quilt backwards as you go, until you are at the corner ready to continue stitching.

Gently pull until the binding encases the edge and you are back at the corner

Since I use the Kimberbell tape, I don't have to futz with pins. Just start stitching again. For the record, I wouldn't use any other brand of tape for this even it it does look like paper bandage tape. It's been made for stitching through.

And how do I join the ends of binding? There are a couple of different methods, but I am now a fan of joining the ends at a corner! This means I can use the binder as much as possible. If I joined along a side, I'd have to wing it to secure the binding on either end of the join.

 So I just hand tuck the raw ends to make a nice mitered corner and stitch it down. If I stitch all four corners down at the miters, it would be super duper hard to tell the difference. My friend and one of my favorite customers, Ann, took a look at this quilt and totally approved.

Because the attachment covers the bobbin cover door, you'll want to start with a full bobbin. Learn from my experience! Also, I don't recommend using a super complicated decorative stitch for this reason; uses more thread.

I wouldn't use this for show quilts, but if you want something to help get quilt binding done, this is fabulous. Great for charity quilts, utility quilts, and in my case, shop samples. I know some will say they prefer to hand bind, that's it's relaxing. I actually agree, but I am strapped for time and this helps.

My daughter is certainly happy to finally have her first quilt done. She pieced these 10" squares together and then we split the quilting. We each quilted every other block, and then it sat....waiting for its binding. Now it's all done!

Now, it's not cheap. But time is priceless. Many dealers don't keep the binders in stock because of the price, but I do, now that I've seen how easy it is to use. You can find the Janome Quilt Binder Set over at AmyQuilts.com in two versions for different machines.

Finally, yes, I'm back to blogging here. Turns out our online shop's blogging platform makes it difficult to format a decent article and more importantly, it didn't allow me to respond directly to comments! That's a total deal breaker, so this will become the blog for all of my sewing and quilting adventures.

Quilting with Rulers: Continuous Curves on Hexagons

I shared this pillow with you last week. I used ruler work to quilt it with "Continuous Curves" except as I shared, I didn't work out my stitching path ahead of time and my results were far from continuous! A couple of hexies in, I realized what my path should have been, but by then I had already stitched up my own quilting roadblocks and had to made do with several detours.

I did have a blast with the quilting anyway, using a Simple Circle template for my curves on my new machine with the new Janome ruler foot. (Janome Quilt Maker MC15000) I love quilting with rulers on this machine.

Making curves continuous takes discipline and an orderly mind, something I'm in short supply quite often. (I'm not the only one, am I?) You've got to just say no to completing one entire hexagon. Just don't do it! Instead, think "angle, angle, over, back. Angle, angle, over, back.

 Starting from the fushia at the bottom is the perfect illustration of  A, A, O, B. So is the green on the way down. But at some point you end up with something like the orange line. I don't want to cross over to the right for the horizontal motions of  'over and back' instead waiting for the purple pass to do that leg of the journey.

As I mentioned, I'm not the most orderly, being easily distracted these days (I need more sleep!) so I actually talk these steps to myself as I quilt. "Angle, angle, over, back." So far no one has come to fit me with an extra long sleeved sweater or for a vacation in a padded room.

There you have it: my orderly stitching path for continuous curves on hexagons. It's a fairly simple quilting design with rulers and suits this pillow perfectly.

How about you? I bet I'm not the only one who speaks the shapes or directions out loud when quilting. At least I hope not.

Happy quilting!

How to Tell the Shank Type of a Sewing Machine

When it comes to doing ruler work, there are two hard rules that I teach (besides have fun!):

• Make sure you use a ruler foot on your machine to safely keep the ruler from popping over or under the foot. 
• Make sure the foot is down before lowering the needle (conversely, raise the needle before raising the foot).

Today I want to talk about how to tell what type of shank is on your sewing machine. I get a lot of questions about what ruler foot is needed for various machines. (Shank type really doesn't apply to sit down long arms.  Most of the time, the machine owner just doesn't know which shank type they have. Once you know the shank type, then you can match up whatever brand of ruler foot you want to use.

So how do you know whether you have a low shank or high shank machine or some other shank type?

Easy peasy! First, remove the shank or foot from your machine. We're going to measure from the center of the screw hole where the shank or foot attaches.

Some machines have feet that attach at this hole, while other machines have a snap-on shank and the feet are easily interchangeable. Removing whatever is attached at the screw hole makes it easier to see the measuring point.

Now lower the presser foot lever. We need the machine to be positioned like you're ready to sew even though the foot isn't attached.

Again, make sure the presser foot lever is down.

Now measure from the bed of the machine to the screw hole.

If the distance is 1/2 inch, you've got a low shank machine.

If the distance is 1 inch, it's a high shank machine.

Above machines; low shank on left and high shank (with my beloved Janome ruler foot combination on it) on the right.

Those are the easy machines. But there are some machines that don't fit into these two main categories.

First there are some machines that are high shank machines, but the needle position is different than regular machines. These are the straight stitch only machines like the Janome 1600P and its clones: Brother 1500, Husqvarna Mega Quilter, Juki 2010, etc. These are considered a high special by Westalee.

There are some machines that fall somewhere in between high and low. Westalee categories these as medium shank machines. These are usually Pfaffs, but not all Pfaffs are medium shanks. Before declaring your machine a medium shank, make sure the presser foot lever is in the down position. Pfaffs that use a special half-way position for free motion are considered medium shanks.

Berninas are....well, Berninas. There is an adapter shank that can be used with Berninas to use with other brands' feet. This supposedly the #77 adapter, though I'm not well versed with Bernina, and will make it like a low shank, though the series 7 and 8 machines can be manipulated to use the medium ruler foot from Westalee. This gives the ability to use thicker rulers, though now Bernina has its own ruler foot for the series 7 and 8 machines.

Once you know the shank type of your machine, you can match up the foot version you need from what ever source-- we're really partial to the Janome ruler foot combination and the new Janome ruler foot for the MC15000. BTW, this applies to any foot for the most part, not just a ruler foot. At my shop in Lynchburg, we sell a lot of Janome feet to owners of Singers, Brothers, Vikings, and other machine brands not supported by a local dealer.

I hope you find this helpful.  You can see the ruler feet I sell at my site and I can help you further there.

Stitching on the Swirly Bird: Free Motion Quilting Swirls

I'm trying to finish up some small projects and have been free motion quilting around this bird which was appliqued using the Artistic Edge cutter and then machine embroidered on a Janome MC14000.

It was my first attempt to digitize my own MEA design and it wasn't completely successful. Watch the video to see how I dealt with the excessive thickness of the satin stitches by adjusting the foot's height as I went.

Thanks so much for all the positive comments on my quilted window from my last post. I think it was a hit!

Quilting Tip Video: How to Remove Stray Threads Inside the Quilt

I've got a great little quilt tip on video for you today. Have you ever found after quilting your top that there are dark threads showing under light colored portions of your quilt. How annoying!

Watch and see how I fish those little stragglers out.

I cannot believe how easily I hooked that thread out! Trust me, while it's not hard, I rarely hook it that fast!

Now I'm back to quilting on this sampler. I love how it's turning out, but I am so ready to be done with this piece and move on to something new!

Free Motion Quilting with Rulers Video: Baptist Fan Template Demo

Last week I shot a video demonstration of the TopAnchor Baptist Fan Rotating Template for the maker of these templates at their request. It's a bit of a tricky template for those of us who move the quilt instead of the machine to free motion quilt, but they were getting questions about using it with sit down long arms and since they use the frame mounted variety when developing their templates, they asked me to demo it.

I've told the company that I find it tricky, thus I wasn't sure I'd recommend the template for use with stationary machines, since this design can be done with other methods, but if you did a lot of this design, which is great for a cuddly quilt, you might find it an excellent help.

The closer to the center anchor point, the harder it is to use, but being able to use one template for this design is pretty awesome. If I were to use it, I'd start farther out from the center and if need be, use a different design to fill in the center.

For a frame mounted long arm, I bet this thing is awesome!

Now I'm off to go quilt on my ruler work sampler. I even have the new TopAnchor Celtic Knot template prototypes to play with. I can't wait to get these listed in the shop! I may offer them as a pre-sale option. I started this sampler for my Craftsy class, Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine (25% off discount link there) and it is just ridiculous that I have yet to finish it!

By the way, I totally revamped the shop for easier navigation last week. I'd love to hear what you think of the new design.

Free Motion Quilting Practice: Feathers Top to Bottom

Yesterday I shot a video demo for the folks at TopAnchor Quilting Tools. They make these incredible rotating specialty templates for quilting with a long arm. Since I started using and teaching about using rulers and templates to quilt with stationary machines, many of their products have also been sold to users of (mostly high shank) sewing machines and sit-down long arms.

I showed how to use their Baptist Fan template. It's a very tricky template to use on a stationary machine, but they tell me that there have been plenty of quilters curious about how to use it on a stationary machine, so a video is one of the best ways to show it.

I'll be uploading that video to YouTube shortly, but in the meantime, I used the sample to do a bit of free motion quilting practice. I got home from work dead-dog tired. I love working at the Janome dealership, and am full of enthusiasm when I'm there, but I am an introvert and I kinda crash after a full day there.

Those arcs are made with the Baptist Fan template

Doing some completely free quilting, no need for a finished project, helps fill my batteries! I grabbed the sample and began to use the stitched arcs as feather spines.

Feathers, made from bottom to the top.

It wasn't long before I reached the top of a feather and decided I really need to practice stitching feathers from the top down. I always, always stitch my feathers from the bottom to the top. It means planning ahead to how you will get from the top of a plume to the bottom to finish out the other side. But I know there are talented quilters who can do feathers 'backwards' so I decided to give it a try.

First run of 'backwards' feathers, going from top to bottom of the spine.

In the picture above, my seam ripper is pointing down the feather in the direction I stitched. (No cute pointer hand this time; my son took it with him to Grandma's house!) The first plume wasn't bad as there was no other plume to fit it against. Then I was committed. It was a bit wonky after that, but like everything, it got better (mostly) with practice.

Not too bad. Everything gets better with practice.

The last two rows of plumes were stitched backwards as well. Some were pretty wonky, but it wasn't too horrible. I tried to picture in my mind what the whole plume looked like as I stitched. It was hard to keep from over-doing the lower curve of each plume and to get the area where the plume met the spine from being to wide and straight. But it was good practice.

I like to think of such practice as good exercise for my brain. I wrote about how quilting is good for preserving the gray matter in my newsletter that came out this past Tuesday. You are signed up for my newsletter, aren't you? You can sign up over on the right sidebar.

I'm sure some of you will wonder if I will carry the Baptist Fan template in my shop at Amy's Quilting Adventures. While I aim to provide a great collection of rulers and templates for ruler work, right now I'm not carrying it. As I said, it is very tricky and probably best suited to long arm systems (sit down or regular) but you can certainly buy it through TopAnchor.

My question to you is: What ways are you challenging yourself in your quilting practice? Are you trying new shapes, threads, designs? Maybe you are wanting to try ruler work (You should check out my class at Craftsy- Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine!) or even try a new piecing technique.

Let me know in the comments what you are doing to stretch yourself when it comes to quilting or creativity.

DIY Cone Thread Holder

If you do a lot of quilting your own projects, you can really start burning through a lot of thread. And because you can never have enough thread, it doesn't take long to realize that buying the larger cones is more economical.

But you've got to have the right holder for cones of thread. They feed thread off the top of the spool. A vertical spool pin won't work, and the newer horizontal spool pins/holder aren't really made for cones and won't fit the really large cones.

Horizontal spool pin on the left, vertical spool pin on the right.

The Janome Skyline S5 has a nifty spool cap for the horizontal spool pin for use with 1000M cones, which is just absolutely brilliant! They work on other Janomes with horizontal spool pins, which is all but the lowest end machines, though I don't know if these little things are available individually yet.

My previous machine, the Janome 6600 already had cone thread holders built into the machine and so I have a ton of cone threads. My new 8200 doesn't have cone thread holders! There is a 2 cone thread holder accessory for this machine that screws into the back of the machine. I have one ordered, but in the meantime, I'm making do.

You can buy a separate cone thread holder and they are handy--IF the base is nice and heavy. There are some really cheap plastic bottomed ones that just don't work well.

I rigged up a temporary solution, and while it's noting new in concept, I thought I'd share it with you in case you find yourself needing one.

• I used a wide-mouthed pint Mason jar, but you can also use a coffee cup. Then came the ugly part- a wire coat hangar and since I couldn't find any wire snips in the house, I couldn't make it pretty. 

• First I straightened out the hanger (sort of).

• Then I determined the height I needed to bring the thread above my machine. It needed to be high enough that the thread wouldn't get tangled up in the foot storage area on top of my machine or cut by the bobbin thread cutter (a handy feature when winding bobbins!) 

• I bent a curlicue into the end for the thread, not a closed loop as I just want to hook the thread into it, not actually thread it through.

• Then I wound up the excess around the jar to create a base for the wire. It doesn't stay tightly around the jar, but is somewhat self-supporting.

• Finally, I used my handy-dandy painter's tape to secure the upright portion to the jar.

It sure isn't pretty, but it works perfectly!

Now I can use my large cones of thread with no problems. Off to quilt!