Geo's Birthday Quilt Is Completed

Making this quilt tested my patience at every level. I will never use Fireside backing again unless I get a long arm machine. The thing wouldn't slide along as I was trying to free motion quilt. My sister came up with the idea of putting tissue paper underneath, so I tried paper from old clothing patterns. That solved the problem, I was able to move the quilt around with no friction. The paper was extremely difficult to remove after the quilting was done. I had to pick at it for a few days with tweezers before it was finally cleaned up. There wasn't an inch of backing to spare, I should have bought more of it. On one small section it wasn't enough to go right to the edge. I had to attach the label along there to cover the gap. As I was stitching down the binding, I noticed that some of the quilting was pulling out in several sections. The layers must have been too thick for the machine, the top thread wasn't catching the bobbin thread. I had to requilt all those areas. Now that this monster is finished, I can breath a sigh of relief. The Fireside backing is nice and cozy. Geo loves his new quilt.

Sewing Machine Cover By Linda H.

Linda designed and made a handy cover for one of her sewing machines. The quilt block pattern came from the book "Block Magic" by Nancy Johnson Srebro. This proves there is no reason to have a boring sewing machine cover. My serger could use a custom cover instead of a pillowcase. :)

Sunny Lanes By Linda H.

Linda made "Sunny Lanes" for her quilting group as a fundraiser raffle. The pattern can be found in the book "Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode. The backing fabric is a cute apple print that Linda had been saving for quite some time. It was just the right size for this quilt. I hope lots of raffle tickets will sell, it's certainly a lovely quilt.

Yikes!

I started to free-motion quilt Geo's Halloween quilt. What a nightmare! He wanted something warm and cozy for the back, so I bought some Fireside fabric. It has a beautiful texture but it refuses to slide along as I'm free-motion stitching. I even sprayed the table and machine bed with Quilt Glide, an anti-friction treatment for quilting surfaces. Nope, it didn't help. It's push, pull and drag all the way. Fireside fabric is lovely, but I think it's meant to be used with a long arm machine, not the kind of machine I have. Wish me luck!