Quilting Tools Part 3

 One thing I love about my Janome machines is the wonderful free motion quilting foot set that is made for these machines. Above, from left, the standard darning foot that comes with the machine (altered to open toe by my husband), the convertible free motion quilting set with it's 3 toes, and on the far right, the ruler work toe I bought separately (along with a open toe with the opening oriented to the end of the machine for use with a frame system).

In the above picture, the ruler work toe is attached to the convertible FMQ foot. You can also see that the big plastic bull's eye toe looks different than what you may have. That's because I altered it for some experimenting with free motion couching of yarn. You can read about the how and why I altered this foot here.

This convertible foot is so fabulous for free motion quilting! No annoying clackity clack as it goes up and down. There's an adjustment screw too that raises or lowers the height of the foot for the thickness of your quilt sandwich or to help ease in fullness. I have also noticed that the rounded shape of the ruler work toe doesn't 'push' the fullness as much as the open toe and though I don't use it much I think it does better than the regular closed toe. Though of course, it is harder to see your work with the ruler toe.

Janome makes the convertible FMQ foot set in both high and low shank versions, so you should be able to use it on some non-Janome machines.

Look for my post on using the ruler work toe soon. Also a post on working with a commonly available darning foot and how to make it better.

If you have found these posts useful or if you have a question on how I use these tools, leave me a comment please.

Machine Quilted Butterfly

 I thought I'd share what I'm working on here and link up also at Leah Day's Vacation Link Up. As usual, forgive the crappy photos. I have finally figured out that the focus adjustment doesn't seem to work, but I just might be getting a new one! I was mentioning it to a friend at the local quilt shop and she mentioned that she had been hanging onto a camera that she had found at a resort 2 years ago, hoping to get a call from the owner. The resort didn't want to take responsibility for it. So she offered it to me!

This is a wall hanging, about 24x24 inches, with a butterfly in the middle. There's plenty of pebbling and feathers going on. But what really thrills me about this work is that I did some curved crosshatching in the corners and I didn't mark any of it! Instead I used a ruler like the long armers do!

This was so stinking fun! I love this toe for the Janome convertible FMQ foot. I enjoyed every moment of it.

Art Quilt Explorers

I started attending a group in the nearby city for those interested in surface design and art quilting. It's an off-shoot of the guild there and since it's all about learning and exploring new techniques, it's called the Explorers.

It's a bit difficult for me to make the meetings since it requires a day time babysitter. I have had two friends tell me that after seeing my work on "Poured Out" that I need to pursue my quilting and they are interested in helping me do that by watching the kids sometimes for these meetings. Love my friends!

The small local group that I am a part of is very traditional and it seems that many are at a  beginner to intermediate skill level, so I am not able to find too much instruction or mentoring there, not because I am so advanced (I'm not), but because I am a bit "out of the box". They are however a friendly group and I hate that I can't attend more of the meetings. I have talked to the owner of the quilt shop who is the group's leader and we are beginning a new offshoot group that will meet at night. I'll be the main leader of this group, and while it won't be an art quilters group, we will be trying some new techniques and trying to appeal to the more adventurous and hopefully, some younger quilters.

But the Explorers group is quite fun! Last time we met, we decided on a challenge, to make a quilt inspired by a single photo and then we did some playing with fabric paint and stamping. And I really played! I've had a collection of paints for a while, Setacolor and Lumiere, but hadn't really played with them. There's a line from one of the homeschooling methods that I employ, which is, "Let the mother come out to play!" That line was in my head as I painted and stamped, ran my fingers across my painted work surface to make a design and printed it. Fun!

I haven't officially joined the  Explorers group as I need to attend a meeting of the main guild and pay dues. Something I'm willing to do, but just haven't arranged for yet. That group is larger and has more talented quilters in it, still nobody my age, and when a group leader asked if anyone was interested in Modern Quilting, the consensus was, "What's that?"

My point of all this? If most of your quilting interaction is via internet or magazines, get out and try to find a guild! There may not be a perfect fit, but it will stretch you as a quilter and it can be a lot of fun!

Quilting Tools 2

This post probably should have come first in my series of Quilting Tools since these are the very basic, most necessary tools for me and many other quilters.

First of course is the machine, a Janome 6600P which is a fabulous machine. It has a 9" throat which is an incredible improvement from a standard sized sewing machine. It could have come with a more comprehensive manual since I am certain it doesn't cover all that this machine is capable of. Don't forget the darning or free motion foot. Janome makes a fabulous free motion foot in high and low shank versions with changeable 'toes' and an adjustable height/presser foot, and it works without the noisy clackety clack of a bar over the needle screw. Love!

Then there are the Machingers Gloves . I always use these. I have tried other methods to give me 'grip' but always come back to these.

Next is the Queen Size Supreme Slider for the bed of my machine. It really helps me move the quilt sandwich more easily. Also note that my machine is recessed into my counter top surface. This helps with handling the quilt and also helps with the ergonomics of sitting at my machine.

Also pictured is a little doodled flamingo for a sick friend who loves flamingos. I'll finish it off as a small wall hanging with a simple zigzag edge finish after I do some quilting on the background.

Now it's time to serve up breakfast, sew I gotta go.....

Edited 5/20/12 to add link for supreme slider. The slider and machingers are available also from Leah Day.