A Weekend WIP!
Mary, an employee at my local quilt shop, looked at my scrappy squares and mentioned a cushion cover. Turns out the idea was excellent and so I started quilting the top.
Actually, I first had to stare at the pillow top for awhile to decide how I wanted to quilt it, but my very favorite dense 1/4" lines won out.
Of course, nothing ever goes as smoothly as it should.
Yes, the Beast is again behaving badly. My beautifully turned corners have skipped stitches. The Juki technician blames the skipped corner stitches on the fact that when one lifts the presser foot with the needle down to turn the fabric, thread tension is released. Which I am thinking means HE does not want to blame the beast.
He advised me to barely lift the foot, then try sliding my fabric into the next position. Like, fool the beast into thinking I am not really trying to turn my fabric. I am sorry but that does not sound like a technical answer to me. Additionally, I enjoy turning the fabric this way and that way before starting to sew in a new direction.
All beast troubles and bad advice aside, I love the cushion cover, and how it is shaping up. Dense quilting gives the top such a nice quality, and I have one of my fabulous AMH prints all ready for the backing.
Monday is a volunteer day at the South Carolina State Pre-Fair so I don't expect to sew. Working the pre-fair is very cool, however, and I must say even trumps quilting--gasp!
Looking forward to beast-wrangling later in the week.
Hugs!
Debbie
Actually, I first had to stare at the pillow top for awhile to decide how I wanted to quilt it, but my very favorite dense 1/4" lines won out.
Of course, nothing ever goes as smoothly as it should.
Yes, the Beast is again behaving badly. My beautifully turned corners have skipped stitches. The Juki technician blames the skipped corner stitches on the fact that when one lifts the presser foot with the needle down to turn the fabric, thread tension is released. Which I am thinking means HE does not want to blame the beast.
He advised me to barely lift the foot, then try sliding my fabric into the next position. Like, fool the beast into thinking I am not really trying to turn my fabric. I am sorry but that does not sound like a technical answer to me. Additionally, I enjoy turning the fabric this way and that way before starting to sew in a new direction.
All beast troubles and bad advice aside, I love the cushion cover, and how it is shaping up. Dense quilting gives the top such a nice quality, and I have one of my fabulous AMH prints all ready for the backing.
Monday is a volunteer day at the South Carolina State Pre-Fair so I don't expect to sew. Working the pre-fair is very cool, however, and I must say even trumps quilting--gasp!
Looking forward to beast-wrangling later in the week.
Hugs!
Debbie
Sounds like our beasts are conspiring against us again. I am sorry you are having more troubles, too!
ReplyDeleteI have found that when I need to pivot my quilting, it works better if, when I get to the pivot point, I change my stitch length to 0, take one stitch in place, pivot, change back to regular stitch length, and continue sewing. This prevents the possibility of a skipped stitch at the pivot point because of that extra stitch there.
ReplyDeleteMachine quilting is always problematic for me! I love your scrappy squares!
ReplyDeleteI agree - doesn't sound like very practical advice. :) I hope you get it worked out. I really like the look of dense line quilting, and I can't wait to see the completed project!
ReplyDeleteUm ... that technician doesn't sound very technical at all! It does look like the timing is getting thrown when you go through thicker fabric like the seams? Sometimes a blunt needle is the cause of this as it takes the needle longer to punch through the thick section and it misses the bobbin turn ... but I reckon you've probably tried everything! I'm very jealous of that lovely AMH fabric you'll be putting on the back of your cushion - it's delicious :)
ReplyDelete