Sunday, March 17, 2024

rsc2024 march

 


Purple is the colour for RSC 2024 March. That darkest purple is looking darker on screen than in real life.

Joining soscrappy’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2024.

RSC 2024 red

RSC 2024 green


Sunday, March 10, 2024

space

 

Some say it’s the last frontier but when it comes to quilting on a domestic machine, throat space is everything.

This machine was marketed as a quilter’s special. It’s special alright. That’s a 6 inch throat space right there.  It means that you can quilt about a quarter to a third of a small quilt before it’s impossible to push anymore quilt through that gap. 

I shouldn’t complain as it was a gift from a non-sewing, non-quilting friend and I was most grateful to receive it.  It does sew well, has a speed regulator and a nice big extension table. The walking foot is a bit wonky and no amount of persuasion can make it sit fully straight on. No matter.


The sewing machine with the large throat space is set up for free motion & ruler quilting so the plan is to quilt as much as I can and stitch the longer middle section when Ambleside is finished. 

Thankfully I have no deadlines on any of these projects. Just pootling along working a little of this and a little of that.



Sunday, March 3, 2024

answers


So the last post raised a few questions about basting with Elmer’s School glue.

Unlike spray basting glue from a can, you don’t cover the entire fabric. There are plenty of You Tube videos you can watch to see how it’s done. You only use a very thin bead of glue which is applied in a linear or zigzag motion to the quilt batting a section at a time.

Top Tip: No Blobs!

I made a few small blobs on the Ambleside quilt. I put a nice, new sharp quilting needle in the machine and it is sewing through everything. The thread has broken three times on  blobs so I was really careful not to make blobs on Jellyroll Roger.

No broken needles yet. 

What I like best about this method is that there’s no dreadful smell of the spray glue which gets on everything no matter how careful you are.

Q: Does the glue make the quilt stiff?

No. Both quilts are soft and pliable. Remember you are not using a lot of glue  - just enough to hold the layers together.

I’ve glue-basted on a cotton/bamboo batting and a wool/polyester batting. Both have worked just fine. The quilts fold up and I can leave them till I’m ready to work on them. 

Some folks use pool noodles with this method. My table isn’t big enough but with the pirate quilt I did use my clamps to stop everything slipping around. Made it easier to smooth out the fabric.

Probably best to trial this method on a small project, maybe a table runner to see if suits you. Since Ambleside is a quilt for me, I was prepared to give it a go and suffer the consequences.

So far, it’s quilting up nicely.  In the meantime, I’m prepping the walking foot machine to quilt the pirate quilt. 






Sunday, February 25, 2024

experiment

 

I saw a YouTube video on basting a quilt using Elmer’s school glue which we can get here nowadays.

You use a fine bead of glue - no blobs please - and smooth out the backing onto the wadding and then the top.

The wadding on this quilt is a cotton bamboo blend.

The glue was drying faster than I could smooth so the back is not as good as it should be but the top worked just fine and it’s holding together for quilting.

So far no issues. Of course if you decide to try this method do a test piece first. I also needed to loosen the glue ever so slightly with about a teaspoon of water.


This quilt is getting a Baptist fan design using a quilt ruler. I’m taking my time. Especially after I discovered that you are supposed to work in rows across the quilt and make the arcs from right to left.

Once that correction had been made, the quilting flowed better.

Usually I won’t work on another project until the current one is finished but I’m  trying something new. I’m working on a couple of projects swapping them out.  It will take longer to complete them but there are no deadlines to meet. I can take my time.

It’s out of my comfort zone but let’s give it a try.



Sunday, February 18, 2024

rsc2024 february

 


This month, red is the colour for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2024. There were not quite enough red fabrics in the scrap tubs (they’re not really tubs) to make this block. A sewing buddy let me raid her stash for the fabric I needed. 

 Sewing friends always come through for you.


It’s also a stretch to call then scrap bins. Let’s call it a  Scandinavian minimalist scrap collection.