Quilt top is almost done!
Originally uploaded by kerner
To distract myself from the chaos that continues to be what I shall henceforth refer to as “the kitchen floor situation,” I spent quite a bit of time on my sewing machine during last week and during the weekend.
I started this quilt in January (oh-nine, thank you very much!) with the plan of making a king-size log cabin quilt for my bed. I hadn’t worked out all the details, but I know how to sew log cabin squares so I just started sewing, and sewing, and sewing.
Needless to say, even though I was string piecing and trying to be as organized and efficient as possible, I ran into so snags. I didn’t have a good estimate of how much fabric I needed, and I started running out of certain colors. By the time I went back to the fabric store, she was sold out. I started ransacking my fabric stash & local fabric shops to find something that would be color-and-pattern equivalent to the fairly unique Amy Butler & Alexander Henry prints I had selected. (Thank you, Christmas gift card from Uncle Charlie!) I finally found some replacements that more or less filled the bill, more cutting, more sewing… burnout. I just got sick of the project and didn’t touch it for at least 3 months.
This summer, I’ve kind of lost my knitting mojo, but I have been sewing quite a bit more. Why not the quilt? I picked it up to discover that all the squares were done, I just needed to join them together! I added some off-white sashing to balance out all the crazy prints, and I must say, I’m pretty impressed with myself.
So, now the question is… how in the heck am I supposed to quilt this thing? It is truly king-sized, and I just have a regular sewing machine (not long-arm or anything). Is it even possible? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Well, I’ve heard of people machine quilting large quilts on their regular machine, but frankly I still haven’t gotten up the guts to tackle my 48″ square quilt (so much for that deadline).
The other option is to explore who takes on long-arm projects for hire in your area. The best might have waiting lists, I know my mom’s favorite machine-quilter does. I bet a local quilt shop would have either recommendations or a bulletin board with flyers and cards.
I want to see your quilt. Maybe you can just sew 1/4″ straight lines for your quilting. I am not sure if I am explaining it correctly. You can check out the site called Red Pepper Quilt to see her quilting. She does most of her quilting that way. Good luck and I can;’t wait to see the finished project.
My sisters that quilt and even my very experienced Aunt who has literally made hundreds of quilts pays someone to do it!! They say they just do not have the right equipment. If you decide to do that, I could find out who Aunt Edith uses and what it costs. Cassville prices might be better than S-field and a trip to Grandma’s on the way is a nice perk!!
Oh jeez, I’ve never made anything that big. My mom does all the time though and made several with a regular sewing machine before she went fancy. I’ll send her this blog and ask for her advice.
In the meantime, good luck! I’d bet it is going to be gorgeous!
Zarah;
To quilt a king sized quilt (or any sized for that matter) simply fold the darn thing into the center (they call this wrapping the package). When the sides are rolled into the center, then fold in the bottom to the top. You get a kind of “package”. Sit down at your machine with the package in your lap. Unwrap the top and feed it into the “keyhole” of the machine. I would recommend stitching in the ditch for starters. Bring up the bobbin thread to the top, fix, then simply sew in the seam line from the top of the quilt to the bottom of the quilt. Always go the same direction. Move to the next section by unrolling one side and rolling up the other. You get the picture. When one side is done, do the other. Then re-wrap the other direction so you can do the vertical seams. Once you get the grid done, you can move onto stippling, or any fancy stuff you want to do. Just remember, when you stipple, you need to put the feed dogs down, so that the foot can free motion over the top. Don’t worry about the bobbin, it will follow.
Write if you need help.
Karel Donley
My grandmother, who sewed hundreds of quilts, used to hand quilt, but when she became unable to do that always had someone else machine quilt. Good luck!
I’ve become a big sissy when it comes to machine quilting myself. The last time I had a quilt done I found someone local who has a huge machine for quilting and paid her to do it. I supplied the backing and batting. But she did have her own batting I could purchase. -
I went to this lady because I wasn’t to happy with how my baby quilts and one full sized quilt that I had quilted myself had turned out. I still have a Lone Star quilt top that I made 8 years ago that I have to have quilted, because I’m so scared to screw it up!
So, what’s going on with “the kitchen floor situation” these days?
I have no ideas for quilting something that large but it’s going to be beautiful when you’re finished.
Umm… time for a new blog post lazy bum!