Saturday, October 29, 2011

Eureka Quilt, pt. 14 -- Quilting

Quilting...  It takes an hour to make one full pass, and I wasn't moving the machine slowly.  Four and a half passes are complete.  I am using Dream-Poly batting.

Back in days gone by, I used nothing but polyester batting in my quilts.  I never recall the stuff getting lumpy; the fabric wore out first!  Polyester battings are generally better quality than they used to be.  If quilting density recommendations are followed, there is seldom a problem with it breaking apart or getting lumpy, even when washed often.

But after reading a number of horror stories about using polyester batting with a longarm machine, I wondered what would happen when I tried it.  A customer had given me a package of Wal-Mart’s batting to use with her Wildlife quilt – and it was thoroughly and tightly wadded and crumpled into that package.

I’m happy to report that I had no trouble whatsoever; my HQ16 handled it with aplomb.  I had to work at it to get all the wrinkles and creases out, and it’s too fragile to just grab it and pull to straighten it out; I had to smooth it down gently and often as I went along.  (Not as fragile as the cornhusk batting a quilt shop owner recently showed me, though!  That stuff disintegrated when I breathed too heavily on it or shuffled my feet in its vicinity.)

The quilting through cheap poly bat being a rousing success, I had no qualms about purchasing Dream-Poly for the Eureka.  It’s sooo soft and fine, and has a lovely drape.  Furthermore, it is much lighter weight than cotton batting.  I have made several king-sized quilts with Warm & Natural cotton batting that were so heavy, I needed a hand truck to transport them from the quilting studio to the bedroom.  And, while cuddly and warm, they press down on arthritic toes something fierce.

The Dream-Poly cost me $36.50 for a piece 120” x 120” – it was $10.95/yd.  A bit more than some battings, but the quilt will be a Christmas gift, and I want it to be extra-special nice. 


I got the batting at a cute little quilt shop in Wakefield, Nebraska, called 'Quilt Shop'.  (That's what I would have named it, too.)  Victoria and I stopped there during our excursion to various quilt shops to our northeast and east Friday, October 28, 2011.








Thursday, October 27, 2011

Eureka Quilt, pt. 13 -- Loaded on Frame

I am finally back at work on the Eureka quilt!  It's all loaded on my frame, except for the batting.  I will buy some tomorrow when Victoria and I take an excursion to our northeast, east, and southeast to visit various quilt shops.





Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Label for Quilter's Garden Quillow

Here is the label.  Nothing that can't be improved upon; but I don't have time to learn how to make it really fancy yet -- and, furthermore, I only have two spools of embroidery thread
to my name:  purple and pink.  This will do.  It's better than my sloppy attempt at pigma penmanship, at least!




Saturday, October 8, 2011

A Quilter's Garden Quillow -- All Done!

I'm done, I'm done!  Binding is on an' ever'thang.  Oh -- still have to make a label.  And now I have the machine to do it!  If I can just figure out how to make multiple rows of print...

Teensy adores quilts.

Hmmmm... where is he?












Ah-ha!






Thursday, October 6, 2011