Thursday, April 19, 2018

OH! THE JOY OF A NEW QUILTING MACHINE



A sixteen inch throat sit down quilter! She is so pretty and so much fun to use.  I have been quilting on a juki which is a very good quilter but I wanted some elbow room and room to maneuver.  The block I am quilting is my first outing with my Tiara.  This block is the third in the Helen Godden painted birds series "Feathered Friends".  Right now I am experimenting with different size needles to see what works as it is my understanding that long arm quilting machines generally call for heavier needles.  The above was done with a size 16 and I am going to try a 14 next on the more finely detailed quilting.  The 16 needle makes a big hole in the painted fabric.

Free motion quilting practice projects are now in my project list.  First is Angela Walters FMQ Along which has 9 lessons covering basics with great videos.  
https://quilting-is-my-therapy.myshopify.com/collections/free-motion-challenge-quilting-a

Second is this WOW fabric from Hoffman. 

 If you follow Margaret Solomon Gunn on her blog:
http://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/2018/03/bitten, you will see what she has done this this panel.  You should look-it is pretty awesome! She outlines each petal and  quilts a different motif in each.   I have 2 of her books.   "Dense and Dainty" provides motifs for this panel.





And the third learning project is this panel is available from Spoonflower.com.  It was designed by Margaret to use with her classes on gridwork and to accompany her "Beautiful Backgrounds" Grid based fill book.   I much prefer free form sorts of designs but I ordered this book in error and thought I might as well make use of it.  This is a wonderful book also.


So, my friends, that is the GRAND PLAN.  You can see there is lots to work with here so my new Tiara and I will be good friends by the time I finish all this.

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Block number four of Morning Glory Designs BOM

Blue and yellow is one of my favorite combos and I love the graceful, swirly flowers.  They took forever to make and stitch down-all those little pieces.  These blocks might make a good quilt-as-you-go project.
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I wanted to show you some photos of my beautiful daughter in India.  Mary lives in Northern India in Rishikesh. 

These photos were taken late January, early February.  

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AND NOW..........YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

These are photos from above looking down from a plane of terraced rice fields in China.  The first one especially is so abstract it is difficult to decide what you are looking at but how exquisite!

HAPPY QUILTING TO YOU UNTIL 
WE MEET AGAIN!  


I am linking up with:
Slow Stitching Sunday, Bambi's Blog, Making Monday,  Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wow, 
Let's Bee Social, Whoop Whoop, and Finish or Not!, Off the Wall Friday.

11 comments:

  1. Wow! What photos. Your daughter looks so happy. I've always wanted to go to India. Congrats on your new machine. Have fun and happy quilting.

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  2. Lovely pictures of your daughter and Beautiful block. Enjoy your new machine - fun fun fun! xx

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  3. I'm glad you are enjoying your new challenge. You and Tiara seem to have gotten off to a great friendship. Your daughter looks happy and content. Blessings!

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  4. I've had a Tiara II for almost 3 years now, it's been a wonderful machine. So easy to quilt large quilts on, you will love it! I bought two of those large flower panels, just finished the white/cream one and am going to start the aqua one. I did mine all in feathers, I feel like I could quilt feathers anywhere now. I've only used 18 and 16 needles, I'll have to get some 14 and see how they work.

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  5. Beautiful work. Those pictures of the fields in China look so much like a quilt. What inspiration!

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  6. Beautiful appliqué flowers! Looks like you are having fun with your new machine.

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  7. Ohhhh Pam what a blog, I feel like I ahve just opened a top magazine on quilt Art. Love what you are doing with Helens block. I really need to pick up the challenge and start to FM Thanks for such a lot of eye candy Glenda

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  8. Oh my your daughter is beautiful. I am also very jealous of your new machine. I hope to someday have a machine that I can truly quilt on. I can't even drop the feed dogs on my machine. Those practice projects look wonderful. I am not sure that I would truly have the patience to practice though. Enjoy!

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  9. Enjoy your new machine! I have the Sweet 16, which is pretty much the same. But what is the thing on the left-hand side of it (near the front). That isn't on my machine.

    I've recently purchased one of those giant flower panels myself. And funnily enough, a book on grid-based quilting designs, although it is a different book to the one you have.

    Lovely to see your daughter. I love India, and have been there 3 times, although I haven't been to Rishikesh.

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  10. Beautiful work. Those pictures of the fields in China look so much like a quilt. What inspiration!
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  11. Congratulations on your new machine!! I love those aerial photos at the end of your post. Don't you think they would make wonderful digital fabric prints?

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