Choosing Longarm Rulers for Your Sewing Machine

 Since I had so much fun with the curved crosshatching, longarm style, I thought I'd pick up a few new rulers for more fun. If you haven't read my post on using rulers on your domestic sewing machine to do unmarked lines like the longarmers, check it out here.

Three Tips for Choosing Rulers for Free Motion Quilting:

1. Choose a smaller size. The ruler needs to be small enough you can get your hand over it easily for most control. It should also be small enough to use to the right of the needle without hitting the machine body for the most versatility and less need to rotate your quilt.
2. It should have very clear guide lines on it for lining up with the ditch, previous lines of stitching or block elements. The rulers I chose all have etched lines and in the picture I have yet to peel off the protective paper film on the rulers from The Quilter's Rule. They are actually clear.
3. They should have multiple shapes for the most versatility. Ok, this is my cheapskate, low-clutter preference. But you can see in my photo above that I've got a wide variety of shapes from just 3 rulers. These things are ridiculously expensive so you should get the most bang for your buck.

Below is a little practice piece with my new rulers. I like them a lot. I found the slightly rude one (Can you figure out which one I am talking about?) to be a bit on the long side for using to the right of my needle in a horizontal orientation, but I wanted to get the longest straight line possible and still have good control. For crosshatching, I didn't want to have to keep sliding the ruler every 2 inches.

The jury is still out on the pink one. (Edited to add: No doubt about it, I do not like the pink ruler!) I'm not too crazy about following it's curvy lines, though it is an excellent design for modern quilts. But I do like the curves on either end. They are marked for the center line and are great for continuous curves. Though you can certainly practice and do CC free hand. I just might take this one somewhere and have it cut in half if I find I'm not using the wavy lines.

The third ruler has some great shapes but not much in the way of useful markings. I think I'll check out Quilter's Rule and see if they have more info on using this ruler.

I hope you are enjoying these posts as much as I am writing them. I'd love to hear from you or have you follow or link to my adventures. Next post will be about tips for using these rulers. It's so much fun!

"Poured Out" v.2

The dates for the Sacred Threads exhibit and entry period have come out, so it's really, really time for me to follow through on my goal to make a new version of my "Poured Out" quilt. I am using a computer graphics program to design some of this quilt instead of pencil and paper. Below is the pitcher I made with the free version of Serif Draw Plus. I think I need to go back and raise the bottom line a bit. I think it looks a bit saggy.

I am inspired by graphic art so I am trying to learn how to make my own. I downloaded a photo into the graphics program and then used the tools to trace the shape. I still have a lot to learn and I am unsure if I want to pay for the full version of this program or get the Adobe Illustrator program that is the industry standard for work of this kind.

 I bought a nice range of fabrics from my local quilt shop in a grey batik for the background. Though I haven't quite figured out how I want to do it. For this version, I want the quilt to be more about my personal journey during my husband's cancer, thus the dark background represents my struggle with depression during that time. I may use a solid or close-to-solid black or dark grey, I may piece it, or I might even paint a background, which will take some experimenting for sure. I'm still thinking on it.

 Above is the gradation going from dark down to light, and below is light going down to dark. I think I like the light going down to the dark. It's always darkest before we reach out to the Lord.

 And now is a shot, below of a blue that is somewhat like what the water will be like, though it will be appli-pieced in a curving tumult of water. This quilt will be more vertical in format and smaller than the original version.

Above, you can see one of my new long arm rulers I bought on a recent shopping trip. I had so much fun doing the quilting with the one ruler I had that I decided to get some more. Perhaps I'm a bit dirty-minded, but doesn't it have a shape that reminds you of some anatomy? I'll show you the rest of the rulers in my next post.

Anybody have any opinion on the background for Poured Out v.2? Now, I am off to quilt before quiet time is over.

Quilt Studio

I thought I'd show you some pics of my quilting space along with my current project.  I've been working on quilting this jelly roll race quilt, made with a pack of Tonga Treats, or maybe it's Bali Pops. I'm not too crazy for it and wish I had pulled out some of the darker reds and substituted some blues and greens instead. But it's great practice and a big enough size to demonstrate to my new quilting group how to puddle up a larger quilt.

 This is my sewing/quilting space! It's a mess but it's my own little space. Look at all my pretty threads! My husband opened up the awkward closet under the stairs and we tucked my counter top right in. (See here) I sometimes forget about the slanted ceiling when I reach for thread on the far left, ouch! There's just enough space for me to work at both machines, or most often, quilt at the big machine and use my computer. I have tucked in all kinds of storage everywhere I can below and above my counter top.

Above is my cutting/pressing table, design wall, and more quilty stuff. I really need to do some tidying up here, don't I? The design made up of quarter circles in the design wall is courtesy of my 5yo daughter. There's also the start of a quilt featuring Riley Blake's Rainy Days and Mondays fabric. I think I need a different arrangement of the blocks. To the left is my original drawing/painting of "Poured Out", which I am in process of redesigning so I can make a new version. I would like to point out that the big bins under this table are filled with trains and other toys, not my quilty excesses.

I do share this room with my kids. It's the "play room". When I'm not quilting much, we have company, or there's extra kids coming over, I slide the table either up against the design wall or against my counter top area, depending on if I need to guard my machines from curious fingers. But mostly, it's my sewing space.  I'm a bit loathe to admit I took over their play space, so I like to think of it as the family play room!

So when the kids are not in the room, I can spread out a bit, giving myself room to work with larger pieces of fabric and quilts. I can even set the table up so I can press fabric, cut it, and run it through my Sizzix without having to move anything.

Now I need to get some quilting done before my 2yo wakes up! I hope you enjoy what you see here and I'd love to read a comment from you.

How to Keep your Rulers from Slipping

Here's my cheap and easy method to keep my rulers from sliding and slipping on my fabrics. I mentioned it in my post on free motion quilting with rulers and the technique is so easy it almost doesn't rate a tutorial, but here it is anyway.

First, all you need is clear nail polish and salt. It certainly doesn't have to be clear, but it sure makes it easier to read any markings through the nail polish. I use the quick drying because it's what I have on hand and because I'm an impatient kind of gal. My 5 year-old daughter would prefer that I use purple glitter polish, but she's out of luck.

 

In the above pic, you can see where I've used this technique on this ruler already. I did it maybe two years ago and it's still quite grippy. But when I was cutting some narrow strip sets yesterday, I realized my gripper spots were too far apart.

Below is a pic of three spots of nail polish awaiting a sprinkling of salt. Make sure to apply the polish in a small puddle on the wrong side of the ruler! It'll spread on its own.

 

And thanks to a new camera from a generous friend, here's a close up of the salt! Now let it dry thoroughly. .

Don't rush it!

Once it's dry, you can go slice up some yummy fabric without slippage.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. If you want to keep reading what I'm sharing here, might I suggest you add me to your feed reader, subscribe via email or any other service? It just takes a click or two.

Now that I have a better camera (Thank you dear friend!) I'll be able to post better pictures on the blog. I had such fun taking macro shots in the garden this past weekend.