Long Arm Free Motion Quilting Marathon

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A few months ago, I finished up the Double Delight quilt top (from Quiltville) and am finally getting around to doing the free motion quilting. So excited!!

The long arm machine is the workhorse for this queen sized quilt. As much as I enjoy quilting on my Brother sewing machine, the size of this blanket is a bit much to scrunch into the throat on that machine. I put in a brand new needle, oiled it, picked out and installed my first color of 50 weight Gutterman thread. The quilt frame fit everything with plenty of room to spare. I fussed over the sandwich and admired the set up. Now it's go time! Woo hoo!!!

After a few bad starts, breaking thread, and the bobbin thread not being consistently caught, I became quite discouraged. Looking over the machine a few times, I discovered I hadn't threaded the upper thread correctly. I hate it when that happens! Once that was fixed, everything began to work beautifully.

My outer edge will have large feathers running around the entire brown border and there is a cute little over and under wave pattern to fill the yellow stripe. So far, so good!

There is a wonderful blog that I visit regularly called Ivory Spring that has wonderful quilting ideas. I am pretty sure I got this all over pattern from there. Half of my top will be covered with this pretty floral design. Isn't it just great?

 

The other pattern I will use is a large curved diamond shape with small tulip-like triangles blossoming out from the center of the diamond.

 

The stitch in the ditch guide has helped keep my lines pretty strait. I am using verigated purple thread in the main part of the top, yellow thread in the yellow stripe, and a brown thread in the border. The results are very nice but sometimes it is difficult to see where I've stitched when the colors are too close in tone.

 

I began the free motion quilting today and am currently 1/3 done with the entire piece. It helps to be very motivated to get it done. Seeing good progress helps a lot too.

 

Next month, I will be giving instruction on FMQ at my quilting club meeting, Second Saturday Quilting Club. This lesson will be demonstrated on a table top, portable sewing machine. I am looking forward to bringing the fun of FMQ to others. It has been a wonderful journey for me!