Tuesday, April 23, 2013

machine quilting diane gaudynski

After a weekend of very miserable quilting on Isa's wedding quilt, I spent last evening ripping half of the stitches out. The rest will come out soon.
So I reset, got some advice online about machine quilting, and recceived the Diane Gaudynski book I'd ordered weeks ago. Guide to Machine Quilting.
The best and most consistent advice I got was to relax and take it slowly. Also the wine and soft music really clicked in my brain.
After work tonight, I first took an hour to familiarize myself with the book, reading up to the point that I felt ready to quilt.
Also needed some quilter's quality wine. What better wine than one I bought last fall at the Val d'Argent Quilt show, served in a 70+ year old glass? For music I chose Melody Gardot and Michael Buble.
Here are some pics of my tools and the much improved results. Yes, it's still jerky, but so far I haven't been breaking thread, even on the heavily-pieced sandwich.
The first test piece is stitched at 30% speed, the next at 50%, and the last is a sandwich with seams on both sides. Very tough, that last one, because the bottom seams can get caught on the machine base.
The blue stuff? Plain ol'  anti-slip drawer liner, which I prefer to any kind of glove.




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