I had my computer lesson on Thursday, and by the end of the day my head was about to explode! There was a lot to learn and absorb in a short time. On Friday, I loaded a small quilt and made a good start. Then I got discombobulated trying to advance the quilt and sewed over the previous row. I consulted the manual and tried again. Oops! I did it again. I know how to read, so I read the instructions again and managed to get the row in the right place. Cropping the last row didn't go as planned either. There was a gap between the last two rows. Hmmm... I left it in. I was beat. It took a full day to quilt a 38x42" quilt, and my back couldn't take another minute.
Originally, we set the machine up facing the design wall so I would be closer to the domestic machine.
With Andrea's help, I quilted a beautiful sample of quilting. Then it was time for the real thing; my own quilt.
This is what the pattern was supposed to look like. Most of the quilt has this nice, neat, quilting.
Here is the quilt. I was so tired, I didn't get it trimmed. I finished it the next day, binding and everything!
Oopsie-daisy! Here are the screwed up rows. No picking out here, it is a give away quilt.
Nice plaid on the back.
Saturday was gray and cold. A good day to be quilting. I loaded the second guinea pig quilt and started anew. I got all the way to the second to the last row when Mr W came in and told me the storm was coming and we needed to unplug the machines. Oh no! I scrambled to find out how to do this without losing my pattern, and finally turned everything off and unplugged it.
There was a lot of wind and a brief thunderstorm, but nothing like what they had northwest of here. It's so awful to see the news reports of the devastation from the tornadoes. It is catastrophic, and heart breaking.
After there storm passed, I booted everything back up and attempted to resume quilting. I must have done something wrong because the design wasn't in the right place. After a bunch of monkeying around and watching Youtube videos, I finished the quilt. Not perfect, but done.
Another small donation quilt.
I tried a square spiral type pattern on this one. These are patterns that come with the machine. I haven't tried to import my designs yet.
Route 66 backing.
Today dawned sunny and cool. I made a Sunday French toast breakfast and filled up before going to work in the studio. I had one small quilt left to experiment on, so I went at it with a bit more confidence.
Mr W planted this ornamental grass by the driveway, and it looked really pretty in the morning sunlight on my way to the studio.
The leaves are gone and the garden is asleep for the winter. It's still pretty.
Down in the studio, I had this quilt ready to go. If you're eagle eyed, you noticed that we turned the machine table around. I didn't like having the cord hanging down to the floor in the walking space. I don't want a customer to trip and fall.
Time to get going!
This one is almost perfect. That dang gap between the bottom 2 rows happened again.
I don't know why, but I will by the end of the day tomorrow!
This pattern is an assortment of leaves. They don't show up very well on this busy fabric.
A bit better on the back. I used a gold thread for the quilting.
Well, it takes me a long time to do each small quilt. I have to stop a lot and read directions over and over, but I'll get the hang of it soon. I have three more quilts to practice on, so we'll see how it goes. I'm happy with the machine and really happy to be back in the studio quilting.
Now, if my back would get better, I'd be even happier.
