Troubleshoot a Change in Sewing Machine Tension

A student recently emailed to ask:

I bought a M7 in April. My tension was perfect I didn't have to adjust the tension. Now after 51 hours of quilting my back tension is loose. I have to put it on 3.8 is this normal? I sew on a HP foot

Fine Tune that Thread Tension

It totally can be! The auto tension is just a starting point, especially if using different threads or certain stitches. For instance, the machine will increase your top tension if you set it up through the applications menu for free motion quilting. But if I decide to use a thicker thread than usual (ie: switch to 40wt Aurifil instead of the 50wt I piece with) I might not need the top to be tighter. A slippery, high-shine embroidery thread paired with a spun polyester might not react the same to the tension setting that works great for top and bottom of the same type of thread.

Troubleshoot that Tension Change

Specifically, you are using the HP foot, which means you are just doing straight stitch. You've said your top tension is loose, so that tells me you were seeing bobbin thread on the top and so you reduced it to 3.8. Sometimes needing to loosen the top tension on your standard thread combination for a commonly used stitch, like the straight stitch can indicate that the machine has some lint build up in the tension discs, making it harder for the thread to go through....hence the need to decrease tension. Frustratingly enough, sometimes a wad of lint will cause a lack of tension.

If you consistently find that the tension needs to be changed about the same amount each time, you can go into your settings and change the master tension. On these all digital machines, the numbers tend to be lower for tension than on our more manual Janomes which tend to run at balanced tension on regular sewing thread of 3-4-5, with 4 to 4.5 the most common for most regular sewing threads.

Lock the M7 before threading

Lock that Sewing Machine

Additionally, make sure you are 'locking' your machine for threading. This is something that machines like yours with the automatic presser foot lift must do when threading the top. (Janome 15000, 14000, 12000, M7, M17, 9400/9450, S9 and S7. I'm sure other brands with this kind of system have something similar) It tells the machine to OPEN the tension discs so that the thread can go between them properly. With the automatic presser foot lift being controlled by an electronic servo motor, the traditional link between the presser foot lever and the tension discs isn't as direct as on a simpler machine where threading with the foot up opens the discs. While an extra step, it is totally worthwhile.

Preventative Maintenance for your Sewing Machine It could also be time for a service. 51 hours doesn't seem like a lot, but it actually is! That is actual sewing time. The difference between hours on and time sewing can be ridiculously different. All depends on how you sew. Having bought in April, you are coming up on your 1 year anniversary. A service person can adjust the tension manually, so that it is balanced, without you having to change anything.

Self-Care for your Sewing Machine

Also, if there is lint in the tension springs of the bobbin case, that can cause the bottom tension to be loose. Here's a video that covers this issue below.

By the way, if you enjoy my videos on YouTube, I'd be so grateful if you'd give them a Like, share them with others, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss new ones.

Adjust the Bobbin Tension?

Finally, any changes you make to the bobbin case tension will also affect the top tension. It's a balancing act. Typically, we can get a good balanced stitch by just adjusting the top tension. Using 12wt or larger thread in the bobbin call for loosening the bobbin and 80-100wt thread calls for tightening the bobbin. Otherwise, the top can balance it.

Find Janome Education in the AmyQuilts Clubhouse

Want to learn more about your higher-end Janome machine so you too can learn to use it with more creativity and confidence? Want to know how to use all the "bells and whistles?" Check out the AmyQuilts Clubhouse program. Divided into one for sewing and one for embroidery, it's a monthly membership program with a ton of lessons and access to me as a "virtual Janome dealer."

Best wishes for happy stitches,

A Few Words About Creativity, Quilting, and Judgement

 Hello my quilting peeps!

A few weeks ago Eric and I went on a little road trip to a few of my quilt shop mentors. It was a substitution for the cancelled Janome Institute, where we dealers were going to see the new machines. Alas, that's been delayed. So we decided to make the most of it and still do a business trip of another kind.

While we were in Marysville, TN visiting the wonderful Terri from Mountain Creek Quilters, we did a quick video. She is a great encourager (and quilter!) and so we decided to have a chat about creativity, quilting, and judgement. I see this in a lot of my students...mostly of the self condemnation kind! It's part of my life mission to help people use their machines with more confidence for greater creativity, so it seemed like a great topic.

I hope you found this video encouraging!

I don't know about you, but it seems as if kindness, good manners, and compassion are in short supply these days. What's the saying? Be the change you want to see in the world?  We must be kind and compassionate to ourselves and then pour out the overflow of kindness and compassion on others. Oh, and I totally have yet to learn how to be kind to myself, so please forgive my hypocrisy! I am working on it.

Be well and I'll see you in the next video.

PS  I've been doing more YouTube videos these days on my AmyQuilts YouTube channel. Check them out!

Free Motion Feathers Video

I edited up one of my Facebook videos up for YouTube and thought I'd share it here. It's the first part of the video I did. On those live videos, I quilt for close to an hour!

Playing with feathers again, and making a variety of them.

I've been doing a lot of shooting videos lately, making sure I have plenty of content for the AmyQuilts Clubhouse! I'm pretty excited about it. 

The clubhouse is a membership style learning "virtual classroom" covering a group of Janome machines, It's also a community for their owners to learn and be inspired by teaching and projects made specifically for these machines. I'm still working on the details, but if you want to know more, head over to the Clubhouse page on AmyQuilts.com

The registration isn't live yet, but we'll make sure to let you know when it is!

Video Post: Pointed Oval Ruler and Freehand Feathers

Here's a video I created from the live Facebook footage from the Amish Bars Quilt-along. It features both quilting with rulers and free hand feathers. It was a lot of fun to do!

I've been adding videos to my YouTube channel nearly every week, so if you don't do Facebook, you can still see some of these segments. I love doing these free motion quilting videos!

Amy's Amish Bars QAL: The Videos

Here are all of the FB Live videos from Amy's Amish Bars Quilt Along on the AmyQuilts FB page

This QAL got off to a rough start. I started in a rush and didn't like what I did and it had a pucker on the back so we're starting with this video instead.




Absolutely adoring these whirling curvy feathers!



Next comes some tiny feathers.



Next is some geometric looking ruler work. The ruler used is one that comes in the Janome Ruler Work Kit which is a nice assortment of high shank rulers.



And more feathers.



Crosshatching using my Low Curve Mini. Can also use the QPC BFF ruler.



Some dithering about with this video as I design on the fly what I want to put into this inner border. I change my mind a few times.


Still working out this design....



Finally in the below video, I figure it out and stick with it.



This project might need to be named the Indecisive Quilt! Below is a great design for a border, but again I changed my mind.



The below video is a quick follow up to the above video as I decided to change things up!




Loving the use of this Double S ruler for my outer border!



Fair warning on the below video...I change my mind on the feathers afterwards!



Time for some curved crosshatching...



Trading the feathers for some straight line work!



Whew! What an adventure we've been on! It's time to move on to our next series, so this shows the last of the Amy's Amish Bars QAL. It will be back in its finished glory in an upcoming post.

American Valor Quilt Along: The Videos

This fun and easy panel quilt is a great canvas for practicing your free motion quilting. Come along with me as I undertake another free motion quilting adventure. A limited number of the American Valor kit are still available.

There are two videos shot live each week via the AmyQuilts Facebook page on Wednesdays and Fridays, each at 1pm eastern time in the US. The replays will be posted afterward on the Facebook page and also embedded into this post below so that you can watch them without going on Facebook at all.

First we start with a little talk about prepping a quilt for basting and quilting. Click this link to watch it in Facebook where you can see the comments. There's also an introductory blog post as well: American Valor Quilt Along Introduction.




Now we move on to the quilting in this second video! You can watch this video directly on Facebook so you can see comments and questions, or right here on the blog below. We start off with the center star and quilt is lightly so it can be the "star of the show".....



The third video in which I finally have a decent haircut and I stitch some wind into the flag stripes! Watch below or at facebook to catch all the discussion that happened during the live video.




The fourth video is below or you can watch it directly at facebook so you can catch the comments and questions. In this quilting video, I begin outlining the words towards the top of the panel and do a little star and loop fill in the background. (Note to self, do not stand while making last minute adjustments to the camera when it's already on!)


I'll add more videos as they are posted. I hope you will follow along.

Roses and Arrows Quilt Along Series Videos

We've been having a blast with the Roses and Arrows quilt-along over at the AmyQuilts Facebook page. Have you been quilting along? It's not too late to enjoy this fun and laid back project to improve your free motion and ruler work quilting skills. I even have a few kits still available and all the videos have been posted after the live broadcast finished.

Below are the videos so you can find them easier than scrolling through the FB page and watch them without having to be on FB. Though I suggest you check them out on FB to see peoples comments, questions, and my responses. These can be pretty helpful too.

Remember that these live videos are a little more ramble-y than my Youtube videos. I'm not sure how much of these videos, if any and when, will be added to my YouTube channel. Most are around an hour long. Feel free to skip ahead through the chit chat, but keep in mind, sometimes FB doesn't load things well when you skip ahead.

To purchase the Quilt Along Kit and the Backing Kit.
There's also a thread kit which gives you a choice of two top threads and a great color to use on the back with our backing fabric.
Finally, we're using a few rulers on this panel and they are the QPC #12 and BFF or my new Low Curve rulers #12 and Mini. I've put those into a Starter set. Plus you'll want to use a straight ruler and this is my favorite straight ruler.

First we started off with piecing the panel and borders. That link is to the blog post with instructions. Here's the video on Facebook: Roses and Arrows Part 1, which is a bit of an introduction

An Intro to McTavishing

For our next video, due to a brown out at our shop following a big snow storm, I did a video at my new studio and I demonstrated the McTavishing design I will be using in the center of the panel. Drawing this design really helps! Watch this video in Facebook or watch it below here on the blog.

Beginning to Quilt the Panel

Posted on January 23rd, watch on FB or below. Showing a little stitch-in-the-ditch followed by McTavishing in the center of the panel and discussing how to work around and through the letters across the panel.



More McTavishing....

January 26 video is about more McTavishing and another way to work around those letters to make things extra swooshy.

Starting with Ruler Work!

Next we introduce simple straight-line quilting. I'm keeping it pretty basic for folks who are new to quilting with rulers. This video was shot January 30th.

Adding in Crosshatching

This video was done February 2nd and we continued with straight ruler quilting and added in curved crosshatching.



The below 2 videos had a little technical problem and was shot in two parts on February 13th. and focuses on stitching with rulers in the flying geese.





Below, February 16th is a bit of a review.



February 23 is working a very simple design in the narrow inner border.

Curved Echo Border

February 27th, my first video in the new studio! In this video below (watch in Facebook) I show a great border design.



March 6th is a follow up to the border design. Watch it on Facebook, or below.



Starting with the video below, I move to a 3 video per week schedule: Wednesday at 1pm and Fridays at 1 and 5pm. Watch this video shot on March 8th below or directly in Facebook.




The 5pm video below or watch in Facebook. I start stitching some backgrounds fills around the "pieced" blocks.



This next video, shot March 15th at 1pm, includes another background design as well as a tutorial on thread tension and free motion quilting. Watch below or in Facebook.




Next is the 5pm video from March 15th showing a design worked around the flying geese units. Watch below or in Facebook.



In the below video, we revisit the flying geese units with a stitching path that allows the entire row to be stitched continuously. Watch this March 20th video directly on Facebook.



That's nearly all the videos, there will possibly a review video before the final one. Sections of some of these videos will be edited for use on YouTube eventually.

On March 27, at 1pm I revisited the narrow border and dressed it up a bit! Enjoy the video below, or watch directly through FaceBook.



That's the last video on the quilting folks! At least until I get one of mine completely quilted and bound.

We're gearing up for another quilt along which will start April 24th. Here's a direct link to purchase the kit for the American Valor Quilt Along.

Craftsy Becomes Bluprint

If you've been a student with Craftsy, you've already heard the news that Craftsy has become Bluprint (and dang, it kills me to not put an E in bluprint) but you may have questions about what this means as a purchaser of my classes and other classes on Craftsy as well as  the subscription program.

The subscription based Bluprint has been run separately from Craftsy for quite some time, though it originally started out as the Craftsy Unlimited plan. Abruptly, after the poorly handled changes in Craftsy's pattern designer marketplace, the powers that be (under NBCUniversal) announced that it would no longer use the Craftsy brand and all services would be offered under the Bruprint name.

If you read the woes of the majority of designers and pattern sellers as they scrambled to set up web shops a few days before Christmas as their patterns were removed from Craftsy, you know that these changes have been quite painful for the creative instructors and designers that had been working with Craftsy. Changes have been rolling out far longer for instructors than most Craftsy/Bluprint customers realize. They have been incredibly frustrating, confusing, and for most instructors, handled in the silence of professional courtesy.

This has left students in a pickle as well, as some classes no longer have an instructor answering their questions in their "forever classes." After seeing their income slashed by 80% on average, or their extensive class materials and even printed patterns given out for free, some instructors have parted ways with the arrangement. Their classes are still available, but the instructor gets nothing from them.

As instructors, we have been told that questions asked by subscription customers will not be shown to us, as if not having to answer students' questions makes up for lack of compensation. For the most part, we are instructors, teachers, people who share....we don't want to leave students hanging with their questions. Though we are also business people, parents, spouses, individuals with bills to pay.

I can't answer for other instructors, or even the powers that be at Bluprint, but what I do know is that I continue to answer questions, both within the class platform (assuming they show the question to me) as well as through my website, Facebook, and email. I do my best to provide the information without having to answer the same question thousands of times over, via my posts here and videos.

Yes, there can be thousands of the same question. Last year was the last time I was given a full student count and at that time it was 27,000 students for just the first class! Since then, they won't give us a student count or other basic metrics, citing that their status as a publicly traded company, we might be able to somehow calculate company earnings and conspire to do some illegal insider trading.

Some instructors have thrived under the new arrangements, with special types of classes and shows, and new instructors have also been recruited who have no expectations from how it was in the past. If it works for them and their students, fabulous!

In the meantime, if you own classes purchased outright, it appears you will continue to have 'forever access' to the classes, though you may or may not have an actively participating instructor.  If you are taking classes as a subscription member, take advantage of all the answered questions that have come before you, as well as read the class materials. There's a wealth of information in these classes already.

If you are having trouble finding your forever classes on the Bluprint platform, clicking on the "shop" tab will take you to the re-branded old Craftsy site and your library of classes.

For my classes, I will continue to answer student questions if they are shown to me in my "Instructor's Dashboard." That is completely under the control of the Bluprint web gurus. There are far too many questions and answers to be able to search for new ones as they come up in the lessons.

While many things have changed in the time that I first started to work on my first Quilting with Rulers class with Craftsy, I am grateful that they took a chance in this rather unknown and less than photogenic quilting instructor to bring my ruler work technique on a stationary sewing machine to the masses. I was the only one actively teaching it then and Westalee was still in the process of finalizing their ruler foot prototype. Thank goodness for Janome and their ruler foot.

Changes that have happened in the industry also make it possible for instructors to create video content on their own that can rival what we could do before with these big professional studios. One of my disappointments with my classes with Craftsy was being left out of the editing process. So much content was cut out!

In March, I will ramp up video production to produce my new class on free motion quilting and I'm excited (and slightly terrified) to control all the content and production.

In the meantime, take advantage of my Facebook Live videos at AmyQuilts as well as my YouTube videos. By all means, watch my Craftsy/Bluprint classes, it brings me a few pennies and you get a well-produced class with plenty of content.

If you have additional questions about Craftsy classes, access to your class library, or your Bluprint subscription, check directly with them via this link as they know their platform and changes best.

How about you? Are you enjoying the changes to Bluprint? Are you enjoying my recent live FB videos (even if you just catch the replay)? How have my classes and videos helped you? Let me know in the comments. I love the conversation.

Boho Owl Quilt Along: the Videos

Have you missed seeing some of my Boho Owl Quilt Along videos? While the replays are available on the AmyQuilts Facebook page, they aren't all that easy to find, especially if you want to view them in order.

These are shot on 3 different machines, 4 if you count the Janome 9400 and 9450 as separate models. Most of it is done on a Janome with an 11 inch throat (9400/9450), then a standard sized sewing machine with a 6-7 inch throat, as well as the Janome Artistic 16SD, a sit-down style long arm.

While I still plan on editing them down and putting a good portion of it on my YouTube, it turns out that editing twice weekly videos that run for an hour each takes more time than I have available right now.

The first video is worth skipping as it's just a brief intro. You can see the information on piecing the Boho Owl project here on the blog. You do not have to do your panel the same way as I do, or even at all to glean tips from this series.

Please remember these were recorded live, so they are not "polished" and there's some sound issues in the earlier ones. This is as close to being right in my studio for a class without being in my studio!

The link to the actual replays on Facebook are given for each video if you want to see the questions and answers as well.

Week 2 Talk about basting and stabilizing the sandwich by stitching in the ditch. For this project, I used my built-in walking foot on the Janome 9400. Click to read more about quilt stabilization and walking foot quilting from this segment.



Week 3 We start with the free motion!



Week 4




First Saturday video, October 6th. Trying to move faster on this project so we can do more Quilt Alongs, each video will only be referred to by its date and they are being done twice a week. Stitched on the SD16, a sit-down style long arm from Janome.




October 10th First video with the new mic and the sound is much improved. Also on the SD16.




October 13 Starting on the background fills, using the Janome 9400.




October 17th Some sound issues on this one, the new microphone was confused and kept changing sound levels between the machine and me. Straightened it out for other videos.




October 20  This video was deleted as there was an uploading issue with Facebook. Sadly, I was quilting on the small Janome 4120 which is nice for those of you using a smaller machine. Th next video is done on a similar sized machine.

October 27th  Quilting on the Janome 4300, a smaller machine.




October 31  Halloween night. Quilting on the Janome 9450 and using the ruler foot. Doing a tiny bit of ruler work tonight, but most of the quilting was done without rulers.



November 3rd Fun mix of background fills tonight.




November 6th Starting on the sashing! 




November 10th




November 14th  Two more sashing designs



November 17th Part 2 While you can see the first part of this video on FB, there was a glitch and this one pretty much covers the whole of it. Doing a little detail work on one owls followed by the design for our larger sashing.



November 28th A design for the cornerstones and revisiting the wide sashing design.




Finally, the last full video, covering the border on December 5



I have really enjoyed doing this series and after getting our sound issues worked out, it's been a lot of fun and the feedback I've been getting tells me you are enjoying it too. I will be offering more of these in the future.

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!

Amy's Quilting Juggling Act

Hard on the heels of teaching at the Janome Education Summit, I've been dabbling in quite a few quilty projects, though only a few or them involved quilting with rulers or ruler work. Click on the above link to read about the summit and links from other fabulous participants.

Janome passed along some photos from the event, so I thought I'd share them with you too. The Summit was my biggest class yet in teaching free motion quilting with rulers. Thank goodness we all had the same machine (Janome 9400), ruler foot and the Janome Ruler Work Kit for our rulers.  That made it a lot easier even though some of our participants hadn't done free motion quilting before.

Here's a great shot of Sarah Ann Smith! It was an honor to have her in class as she's been an inspiration over the years. She totally did her own thing with the project and gave a fabulous write up on the quilting with rulers class segment on her blog.

Have you seen the Jelly Roll Rug yet? Just had to make one of these fun things. I used a jelly roll and two rolls of pre-cut batting strips, but it's an excellent project for using up scraps of batting.

The trick to getting a nice flat rug instead of a ruffled thing my husband said looked like a swimming flounder is to make sure to sew on a large flat surface (pattern gives a suggestion how to set up machine next to a table if you don't have a machine cabinet) and to ease the fabric around the curves. I loved using my Horn cabinet for this.

As soon as I returned from the Summit, I had to get cracking on my shop's Row by Row pattern and project. Row by Row (aka rxr) is like a giant shop hop, all across North America (possibly elsewhere? Unsure) where travelling quilters collect either free patterns or buy the kit from shops. If you are the first to show a finished "row" quilt with 8 patterns from row shops, to a participating shop, you will win a bunch of fabric. It's something really fun to add during your summer travels.

My "row" is actually an 18 inch block as they are allowing different pattern sizes this year. I played with my machine's decorative stitches and a couple of different weights of Aurifil thread on it. I'll write up more about Row by Row closer to the launch date of June 21st. 

I'm really excited about this fabric line by Hope Yoder that we've got in the shop, especially the panel. I decided to order two more bolts of the panel in the thoughts that this might be the basis of my first either Quilt-along, or a new online class. I've got kits for this quilt featuring the panel in the shop right now, but I'll let you know more about what I want to do with it soon. Need to get the additional panels in before I launch something online.

Speaking of hosting a Quilt-along or a new online class, I'm working on two big changes for you  and my business/teaching.

Ever since we bought our bricks and mortar shop, Sew Simple of Lynchburg, I've been neglecting this blog and my video making. I've been scattered in several places online too and it's been quite a juggling act. To make up for my lack of blogging and video making, I've been shooting more live Facebook videos and they certainly helped me feel more connected to you in my online audience, but I've really been spread thin. Live videos are fun and easy to do, but lacking when it comes to organized instruction.

I finally reached out to a pair of mentors of mine and asked them what to do with my websites. I was afraid to hear how bad my sites were as I'm the one who set them all up, so they're a bit amateurish, though fit for my tiny budget. Their advice? It was that I need to condense the various sites into one site if possible and shorten the url. If you've ever heard me struggle in a video to say "I'm Amy from Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures," you know they're right!

So....I'll be transitioning everything over to AmyQuilts.com!

I'm excited about the change though it will take a lot of work and a bit of time to get everything moved. If you follow the blog via a feed reader like Bloglovin' or something else, I'll let you know when the blog makes the switch and you'll want to change your settings to the new blog. This blog will stay online, but I won't be adding to it once I make the switch.

Lastly, I'm looking at doing some of my own online classes! These will fit somewhere between the highly scripted classes I did with Craftsy and my very casual, informal Facebook live videos, or even my YouTube videos. This will give me better control over the content I teach and how I teach it. Some classes will be free, others will be paid. All will be full of great information and taught in my laid-back style.

I'm very excited about these changes and I hope you will be too! Let me know your thought in the comments.

McTavishing Revisited

A while back I was asked to quilt a piece for Laser Cut Quilts, a wholesale only laser cutting company. I rarely take in pieces for me to quilt for others, but occasionally I am persuaded and I knew this piece would be a nice one to show some swirly, whirly, McTavishing. I was told I could take my time, but I did leave it be for longer than I should have. So I've been stitching away at it and if you follow me on Instagram or maybe Facebook, you've likely seen some of my progress.

First I outlined all the applique with FilTec's monofilament thread, Essence. This clear, super fine nylon thread is soft, flexible, and works great. It has been mistaken for blond hair here before. If I accidentally popped onto the applique, you can't tell and it allowed me to travel over some of the applique to get to other small areas of background.  I did a video of part of this step.

This video may look familiar, Janome shared it out in an email last month. Then I switched to Aurifil 50 weight thread in white as I wanted the quilting to give texture and movement, but not take away from the intricate applique. Even though all the applique was done by someone else, I can really appreciate the time saved by using this laser cut kit. The detail boggles my mind!

I decided that I wanted to mimic the pine branches (spruce? I dunno.) with some of my quilting. With the intricacies of the applique, I knew I was either going to have to quilt loosely enough to not quilt into every nook and cranny, or I'd have to quilt densely to get into all the little spots. Since it's a wall hanging, I had no qualms about going dense.

I used my trusty purple pen of disappearing ink to mark wedges of three lines. The wedges represented the branch stem down the center and the outer edges of my 'branch.' My branches had to be a little bigger than the appliqued version or I would have had to microquilt in order for them to stand out from the background.

Then it was time to swish and shwoosh my way all over the place with McTavishing. The design is named after Karen McTavish and I did a month-long series on it back in 2014. McTavishing Monday Series

Check out the series to learn more about this design. Look at the texture! I still struggle with my McTavishing a bit, but it's getting there.

I've just got a few more tiny bits left. Small spots that are enclosed with appliqued pine needles, so there's a lot of stops and starts. Hopefully, it will be done this weekend and I'll share a tip I use when I need to move between small parts of quilting without having to break thread each time I stop and bring up the bobbin thread each time I start.

Have you done any laser cut quilt kits before? I know many shops use them in their Row by Row kits.

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 with Rulers: Feather Template

I've had several requests from students in my Craftsy classes asking about using templates to make feathers. I kept meaning to do a post and a video on the subject and finally got it done.

It's hard to give a good unbiased review of using this template or others like it as I prefer to make my feathers free hand. I definitely think that a quilter should continue to work on learning to stitch feathers without a template, but the template could be a good tool to help make them in the meantime.

I only have one size of feather template though Westalee makes them in at least 4 sizes. Having multiple sizes could help give the needed range of sizes and shapes needed for quilting feathers with templates, though spendy. A single size can be manipulated to create some variation in the size and shape.

Using a straight spine can make it much easier to place the template evenly. I used a curved spine and that made it much more difficult to place the template and make the plumes meet the spine in an elegant way.

I think I'm on the fence about this template. As I stated in the video, if I couldn't make feathers free hand, I might love it. I do like the Feather Wreath template I sell from TopAnchor as it makes a perfectly spaced and shaped round feather wreath and has an anchoring system that I prefer over that of similar rotating templates from the maker of this feather template, but it's only suitable for high shank machines and long arms of all types.

I used the Janome foot with this template and based on some comments I've gotten recently on a few of my videos, some may give me flak for this. The Janome foot works just fine with these templates. I think there are some 'marketing' factors playing into some of those comments....to put it kindly without mentioning details. (To put it bluntly....don't come into "my house" to bash my efforts in order to promote your own classes, products, or those of someone else even if you're a very happy customer....use your own platform, blog, site.)

(In case it sounds odd that I put this little disclaimer above, I did get exactly the type of comment I was warning against, but they left it on a previous post.)

I don't have this template listed in my shop, though I do have maybe 2 of them in the 4.5mm thickness that I can sell as a custom order if somebody wants these and can order more. This is definitely a shape that those using low shank machines need to get in the 3mm thickness.

I hope this video helps those who have been wondering about this template. Let me know in the comments if you've tried it or want to try it. Got quilting friends that would like this? Feel free to share, pin, etc. giving credit where credit is due.

Keep on quilting.

Quilting with Rulers: Dahlia Template

I got out a neglected, partially quilted project to try out a new size of the Dahlia template that we carry in the shop. It's a pretty striking batik panel in black and my favorite turquoise. I've been quilting on it with specialty templates by TopAnchor. We've had these rotating templates since the online shop first opened in the 9 and 12 inch sizes, but they recently released the new 6 inch size.

I shot a video while I used this template on the Janome 8900QPCSE in my shop, Sew Simple of Lynchburg and it was the first time I used my regular camera mount in my new studio area. I still need to tweak the lighting and the mount itself. It was twisted off to the side a little bit.

A note about videos: I was having trouble uploading the video without losing the quality. After getting quite frustrated and changing the file types, deleting and re-uploading, I discovered that my video quality settings had been changed with YouTube. This means YouTube was resizing (so to say) the video to a lesser quality.

I record in high def, and many people now have high def capable devices, so you might want to check your settings. You can do this by clicking the gear icon at the bottom right hand side of any YouTube video. It will show you a range of quality sizes and which one you are currently set on. (I think my setting got changed when using my phone which has a lesser quality resolution.)

I love these rotating templates from TopAnchor! They make fabulous designs without marking, have very clear markings on the templates to keep you on track, and the patented anchor post is easy to insert as you do it from the top of the quilt.

The only downside is that they are a full 1/4 inch thick so they are harder to use with a low-shank sewing machine. Not impossible, but definitely harder. Some of their templates are easier than others to position so they aren't behind the foot where there is little clearance.

With the addition of this new size dahlia template and the Celtic Knot templates from TopAnchor several months ago, I want to finish up this project since I'm starting to feel the burden of being overloaded with unfinished projects. So many ideas, so little time!

Ruler Work Video: Adding More Lines for More Impact

A quick reminder that today is the last day to for my 15% off Spring Fling sale at Amy's Quilting Adventures. Enter the promo code SpringFling15 at checkout and get the best prices on ruler feet, rulers, templates and more.

I'm still working on finishing up this ruler work sampler from my Craftsy class, Creative Quilting with Rulers (25% off link there!). The basic motif from the class is fabulous, but I wanted to add more to it. We couldn't pack anymore content into the class so you get to see it here. (Want to learn more about ruler work? Take my classes at Craftsy. Their camera work is so much better than my own and you can watch them whenever.)

Bit by bit I'm getting this done. I'm working on my super special project and all of you that have placed orders with me at Amy's Quilting Adventures are a huge, wonderful part of it! Yes, I'm a tease.

I can't wait until I finish the rest of these areas and then dress them up even more. Stay tuned, I'll make sure to do another video.

Creative Quilting with Rulers, More Techniques and Motifs

Wooohooo!!!!!! Today's the day, launch day, time to see what I've been working on for the last 4 months, the unveiling of my new Craftsy class. Can you tell I'm excited?

photo credit Craftsy.com

This is the perfect follow-up to my first class and a great class for those who have already begun to do some ruler work and want to learn more designs and gain understanding of how to work with the rulers you may already have to develop your own designs for your projects. I also use larger projects in this class to help demonstrate how to manipulate rulers and quilts together.

In lesson 1, I give a brief intro and a few quick reminders about using rulers safely and effectively before jumping in to how to decide on and develop quilting designs for your own projects.

Lesson 2 is all about working within blocks with echoes and block designs. I'll show you designs that are great for emphasizing piecing and for quilting large blocks as a unit, even when you don't have big rulers.

Then we head outside the block with the rest of our lessons. First there's sashing designs in Lesson 3 followed by working with rulers in the wide open spaces of negative space and background areas of both traditional and modern quilts. Then we take it to the border and look at three great designs for quilt borders.

Finally, we wrap up with Lesson 6 and get a little fancy while creating motifs using rulers not only for a simple block motif, but also for larger whole cloth inspired designs.

Here's the class trailer:

To entice you to go ahead and buy the class instead of waiting for those predictable Craftsy class sales, I'm giving you a special discount link to get my NEW class at 25% off!

Still Haven't Tried Ruler Work?

My first class, "Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine," has been incredibly well received with reviews like:

"Loved the class. This is exactly what I was looking for to go to the next level of quilting on my home machine. I do free motion quilting and now with the aide of rulers I feel like the sky is the limit."

 --- Pattimorrow.

"I have purchased over 30 classes on Craftsy and this is one of the best. Amy has clear, informative lessons and creative ideas. I love that I can stop, replay, go back to, and review all the lessons...forever! I have been watching Amy's videos on her blog for quite awhile, and was so excited she did a Craftsy class.
Thanks, Amy."

--- keynotegal

If you haven't taken it yet, this is a 50% discount link from me to you, so what are you waiting for?

Sharing the Ruler Work Love with a Sale

Because I want more people to enjoy the fun and creativity of using rulers to guide your free motion quilting, I'm also having a sale site-wide at Amy's Quilting Adventures! Until May 15th, take 15% off of your order with the promocode SpringFling15. Make sure to enter the code, I can't add it after the fact.

That makes it a great time to finally order a ruler foot for your machine or to expand your collection of rulers. There's a great selection of rulers to choose from and they're all rulers that I find most useful and more importantly, usable with sewing machines and sit-down long-arm machines.

Lastly, I've got some winners to announce!

The winner of the official Craftsy class giveaway is maddie90 and the winner of my own giveaway for the class is Pam A. I'll be emailing these winners shortly with a code for their free class.

Goodness! I think I'm more excited than I expected. I've got butterflies fluttering in my tummy. Let me know what you think of the new class in the comments.