One proud mama!

That’s me today, proud. Not like you’re thinking, not proud in a bad way. I am always proud of my kids but this is a special kind of proud today. My middle son(20) has always been an “old soul”, in that he is wise and mature beyond his years. He never ceases to amaze me, nor just crack me up with his one-of-a-kind “Bubba”-type humor. Last night he proposed to his girlfriend and she said YES!! We are so excited and happy for this young couple, as they begin their life journey. Her family is the best one could ask for for in-laws, they are simply amazing people and that makes us so very happy that he will become part of their family as well. We are more than happy to welcome her into our family, “officially”. No one could have asked for a better extended family, on both sides, that this couple will grow with. Here’s a pic of her engagement ring:

I have been working on a cathedral window quilt for them, but am so unhappy with it’s progress and outcome. So, time to scrap it and start a new one. Do y’all ever feel that way about a project? I do, especially when the image in my head is nothing close to what’s actually taking shape in the fabric(s). The problem with this one is the metallic fabrics for the window inserts. They are just horrible! Fraying all over the place and I just know it will not withstand the first wash, let alone many years of washing’s. So, back to the design board I go. I would really love to make the Double Wedding Ring for them, using all their fave colors. For her: Hunter Green/Mustard Yellow/Royal Purple and him: Teal. I think with different shades/values of each color coupled with some neutrals, it would look fabulous if done right. It would be sorta scrappy looking, at least in my head it is.

Anyways, just had to share our wonderful news with all y’all. Wow, a wedding. Still kinda catches my breath and brings a tear(of joy) to my eyes. He really is all grown up, how bittersweet it is. I am so very proud of you son, and overwhelmed with happiness for you both. I love you, “my lil man”. 

Hope y’all enjoy your weekend, happy quilting!

~theHippieQuilter

Never give up…

…. eventually, it will come together, I promise!

That’s right, this is my new studio mantra. As some of ya know, I have been having a lot of difficulties figuring out this quilting setup up I got a month ago. Well, I can honestly say now that 90% of those problems were indeed, operator error. I had been using old quilts I found in a hoarders house to practice with, putting batting in some and others not, just to get the hang of old Bessie. This sure has not been an easy task, as my family can confirm. One night, about 2 weeks ago, hubby came in the studio and caught me in the middle of losing it. Here I was, completely in tears and all I could say to him was “Face it, I am just too stupid to get this. Sorry for the waste of money.” What’s a gal to do once she’s reached that point?

Research! Then do more research, until you find something you haven’t tried. That’s what ya do. So, I did. To be honest, I believed longarming just wasn’t for me. But, that all changed after some good, solid advice from other LA’ers. Oh, and YouTube videos… lots of YouTube videos! I swear, I watched every one that had anything to do with longarms at least twice, if not more. Then I decided to give old Bessie one more go. I threw together a quilt for hubby’s new car and pressed the hell out of it. Loaded up Bessie and let her rip. What a difference this time! Everything went smooth, compared to my prior attempts, I couldn’t believe it. Half-way through his quilt, I stopped, and studied exactly what was so different. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I had simply loaded the quilt a lot looser than ever before. Except for the addition of two new thread guides on the top of Bessie, this looseness was the only difference. Once I figured that out I could then tell, while quilting, when it was too tight. The sound from the machine was different, the ease of movement would change. I was simply amazed that I had missed all those tiny fluctuations before.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when 3 hours after entering the studio to load this quilt, it was finished! With only 4 thread breaks, total, to boot. Since it was hubby’s quilt I rocked the studio with Def Leppard, AC/DC, Bon Jovi and some Foreigner thrown in for good measure. Those are all his top faves and that could be why it went so good. Here is the finished product:

Now, I never said it was perfect.. or even close for that matter, just that it is done. I still need loads of practice on keeping my rhythm doing loops so they are quite wonky. But none of that matters, I am just overjoyed knowing that I am not too stupid to get this. That’s good enough for me! This finished at 48″ x 60″,  and is a good size for an emergency quilt to keep in the trunk. Ya just never know when ya may be in need of one. His car is red with black interior and the dice fabric is one of those ones he seen and simply said “Now that is pretty cool fabric babe.”. It’s been ear-marked for him ever since. It is quilted with Connecting Threads “Tomato”, 100% cotton thread, and backed with a solid red linen fabric. Linen, like you would make napkins out of, heavy duty and can handle lots of washes. He’s happy, I’m happy, and I like to think that old Bessie is happy to see some action again. On to other things.

This is the next creation, being made for my life long friend and the closest thing I will ever have to a sister. I had been quilting another quilt, I think I mentioned it before a few posts back..?, for her but was so unhappy with the way the FMQ was going on my Brother that I decided to scrap it and make her something else. As for what I’m a-gonna do with that one, I haven’t a clue. May just finish it and donate it, or put it in the trunk of another vehicle round here for emergencies. I think the problem I have with it is the variegated thread, I’m just not sure. All I do know is I am not happy with it and refuse to give anything I am not okay with myself. It is 60% quilted, with wonky lines that were s’posed to be straight lines. I reckon that’s why people use a walking foot to straight line a quilt instead of free-motion. LoL! I hate using the walking foot on anything bigger than 40″ square, it is just too dang hard to keep the lines straight and frustrating to squish it all in a 8″ opening. Ah well, I could never get bored with “making something else”.

On the flip side, hubby has been working on redoing our bed frame the last few months. Stripping it all down and putting just a clear polyethylene coating on it. He only gets weekends to work on this and the weather hasn’t exactly been co-operative so, this has been a truly slow process. But the headboard is done and looks amazing! We have a rustic theme throughout our house and this fits perfectly. He didn’t strip it all the way down and let a lot of the variations of the wood speak for itself. I can’t wait to sleep in this bed when it’s all done, and of course it will have an old-fashioned rustic quilt to top off the ensemble. Take a look, see what ya think:

Doesn’t that just have a rather homey feel to it? Love, love, love it!!

Well, I reckon this is a long enough post so I best get back to finishing my latest “creation”. I do hope all y’all are enjoying your spring, as it is, we have been. Til next go round, Happy quilting!

~theHippieQuilter

Some days are just destined to be an “Adventure”!

This was yesterday, for me.

I took apart the machine, again, but even more this go round. I took her all the way down to bare bones and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned her. Then a good solid oiling and put her all back together. Thanks YouTube! I am still having tension issues but they are getting better. I just wish I wasn’t still trying to figure out the exact tension required for a complete pass. Grr! At this point, I have learned so much I don’t even know what I didn’t know, but I sure do know it now. ^_^

Yes, that totally makes sense. To me anyways. I s’pose I shouldn’t even be calling it tension issues as the stitches look great. Nice and even tension there. Just the dang ole top thread randomly breaks and that does get a mite bit frustrating, if I do say so myself. But I do believe it is tension related. The top tension has to be so tight, in order to not get the loopies on the back, that I think it is why that thread keeps snapping. I am noticing that if I tighten the bobbin just a slight bit and then loosen the top tension a bit, the stitches still are balanced. Maybe I am on to something here..? Eventually, I hope, this will even out and be just right.

 

Yes, I know you are not s’posed to go over and over the quilt. Like I’ve said before, I don’t have a high opinion of the Quilt Police and they don’t ever come round here so, I will continue to go over and over until I learn this machine. I am no longer intimidated nor afraid of it and will not hesitate to grab the nearest screwdriver(which is always on the bed of the table) and start taking her apart. Yay! me. Hubby just shakes his head and “warns” me not to mess it up or break it. Puh-lease! I have tore apart 4 of these old girls and put them back together, correctly even, many times. Granted the other ones were all treadles with the shuttle bobbin and this is a rotary bobbin(which I have never messed with, too finicky IMHO)

Now I have to admit, at one point yesterday I did have a “teeny-weeny-accidenty”. There I was, sewing along and actually making a long pass when I looked down and saw it. ….. A tiny screw. o_O  “Ah shite, where did that come from?”  It so happens I had taken off the entire bobbin assembly to clean and re-time it. I thought I had tightened the 3 screws that hold it in place. Hmm, I reckon not.

No biggie, the other 2 screws were tight and nothing had moved. Popped that screw back in, tightened it and off I was again. Now hubby doesn’t get why I have so many problems with Bessie. He says “She used it for 20 years, must have worked just fine for her… what’s your problem?”. (Oh yes, I am so proud of him in moments like this) :rollseyes:  So I says to him “Well, mayhaps it did and mayhaps it didn’t. HOWEVER, in 20 yrs it WILL work fine for me too. Ya arse-hole!” LoL! Isn’t 23 yrs of marriage just “grand”? I love it when he just shakes his head at me and walks away, leaving me to my “mess”. Then I can concentrate and not “break it”.

So, how did I come this far in just one day? Did I mention YouTube? If not, it was all thanks to a morning spent on YouTube. Google search totally sucks and gives me nothing. Ever. I don’t know why I still use it when I am looking for something. So, go to YouTube and search longarm. You will get tons of videos, most are actually relevant and helpful, the rest ya can just pass over. I have watched all of Sharon Shamber’s(?) videos, especially those that deal with longarms. There she has a video for another guy that covers your tension assembly. This video was spot-on and so incredibly helpful as I was no longer afraid to touch that part after just watching it. After that, I found a video by Jamie Wallen that literally was perfect for my issues. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1mRhcquZTM . It is called “Taking the stress out of Longarm tension”. Now this guy is amazing, I have watched a lot of his videos and he is just so laid-back and nonchalant, most definitely not one to say “you MUST do it this way to get this result”. A very relaxed kind of teacher, I would highly suggest taking a gander at some of his vid’s and seeing if they offer insight or just a few tips for ya. You could apply a lot of his tips to domestic sewing machine quilting even, not just for longarms.

So this weekend, thanks to Sharon’s vid’s, I am gonna add 2 more thread guides and see if this helps to relieve some of the drag on my upper thread. Can’t hurt to try it, right? Of course, that’s after a much needed break with a trip to the OKC Zoo tomorrow with the grandson, Chunky. ^_^ Happy quilting to yuns!

~theHippieQuilter

A week later…,

…. The adventure continues…,

This last week has been full of ups and downs, believe me! Unfortunately, more downs then ups but I am glad it’s over. Mayhaps this next week will be a bit smoother? Lord, if you’re listening, please make it so! I know what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger but, this is a bit ridiculous if I may say so.

I have been surfing the ‘net for any info I can get a hold of, and trying everything that is suggested.

So, these are the problems and fixes(if found or figured out) that I have been dealing with:

Tension. Ugh! This was the first thing I encountered once it was loaded and ready to sew. Took 2 hrs of fiddling with it to “fix”. Tried 40 wt. thread, 50 wt. thread, tighten bobbin, loosen bobbin, tighten upper, loosen upper. Re-thread upper, re-thread bobbin. Wind a new bobbin, try it. Tried different needles, some same size and others a smaller size, all of these things in numerous combinations. This is what I discovered; you just have to keep at it until something works together. There is no easy fix for tension unless you just have one problem with it to begin with. If you have loops on the bottom: tighten upper tension. If you have loops on the top: tighten bobbin tension. That is the simplest problem I have been able to fix, and can spot it a mile away now.

Skipped stitches. Grrr!! This one is my downfall and if the machine wasn’t so damn heavy, it would have been out the window and on the lawn already. I am not talking a 2 stitch span of missed stitches, I am talking inchES of them! I have tried so many things, countless times and nothing has permanently solved this one yet. However, I just popped over here from one of the yahoo groups I am a member of and happened on what may be THE fix for me!       :happydance:    It was suggested over there that maybe my frame is up too high off the bed of the machine. I did raise it up during the last quilt I finished and have not moved it back down since. Hmm, I think I will try that tomorrow and see if it works.

Breaking thread! Oh my word, if I can ever get through one pass without having this problem… it will truly be a miracle! This one I don’t know how to fix either since a fix that works one time doesn’t work the next time. I am thinking there are a number of issues at play here, all at the same time, that are making this an on-going problem. Sometimes it’s the thread itself, other times I have no clue why it broke. Maybe this time it was a tension issue, and next time it will be a threading issue since that seems to happen a lot. Why does the thread come out of a thread guide while sewing? One in particular, the thread guide just above the needle that guides thread into the needle, refuses to stay “threaded”. Damn thread slips out of it on the first stitch every single time!

Now, out of those 3 issues, breaking thread is the biggest headache for me. I know I said skipped stitches were my downfall but once I do get it to stitch nice and even… yep, the friggin thread breaks. So, I reckon those 2 actually go hand in hand. It skips and that puts too much tension on the thread so it then breaks. Makes sense to me, how bout ya’ll? “Am I still having fun though?”, believe it or not, yes I am. I am not one to back down from a challenge and I refuse to let “Bessie” and her big ass beat me! LoL! I will win, it just may take several more weeks and lessons from Bessie to teach me how to win. So, here is a pic of what I have managed to get accomplished in the last week:

Left one is while it was still on the take up bar during the last part of quilting it. Right one is the top and my sad attempt at loops! But, the stitches look beautiful despite the hours it took to produce them. So maybe I am doing something right, sad part is, I don’t know what in the hell that is!

That quilt has been finished and I have a new one on the frame already. Thus begins my problems all over again. Ah well, life’s a journey right? I do hope all ya’ll have a great Easter and enjoy your weekend!

~theHippieQuilter

So much for “enjoying the weekend”!

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it, I just worked my arse off through the whole thing! So, what did I do? Well, friday hubby and I went and picked this up:

“What the hell is THAT?”, you ask. It is a quilting machine setup like a longarm. Sweet, huh? LMAO!! This is the condition I found it in, after agreeing to buy it and move it. Now, I have helped this woman 4 times over the last 2 yrs, clean out her moms house. This is the woman that was kind enough to build my stash I mentioned some posts back. Twice I have cleaned off this machine, and twice it has been re-buried. Grrrrr, was all I could think when I walked in that house! 2 hrs later, it was still cluttered but you could see several spots on the table. Went back the next day, dismantled it and brought it home. To a 13’8″ x 9’2″ studio. Yeah, this setup measures 12′ x 4′. So, this is what it looked like late that night in there:

Oh you bet it’s a tight fit! I had to move my Brother machine and table out to the dining room to get this one in. Through the window! That was the only way it would fit.

While I was out for 3 hrs yesterday needle shopping, Organ 16 x 231′s are hard to find here in OKC, I guess..?, hubby surprised me by re-wiring the machine. Awesome-ness!! It works, and runs beautifully at 3500 stitches a minute. Sounds a bit like a lawnmower, according to the kids, but it totally works. I am so excited to learn the curve on this baby, I didn’t want to do anything but clear it off and play. But, had to organize the space left in this room first.

There she is, cleaned, oiled, table recovered and ready to go. Sadly, I am not. I have no idea how to work the industrial bobbin winder! Google sucks and isn’t telling me anything either. I couldn’t even tell ya where this dadgum thing goes. It needs cleaned up and the cord(not shown) needs rewired as well. For some reason, I really don’t think a cord that has been lengthened twice, by splicing, that then runs to the presser foot, that has also been spliced and lengthened, is all that safe. Do you?

What do I know about this setup? I will tell you. The head is a Singer 96-45, made in 1941, and cancelled in March of 1946 with a notation that recommends upgrading to a 245- something or other. The frame and machine mount is modeled after a KenQuilt system and was special ordered by this woman back in the 80s. She quilted for 20+ yrs as a business, right up to her death with this setup. Back when it was made, she paid $2500 for it! Or so the daughters say. Who knows? I don’t really care if the facts are real or not, I am just glad I was able to grab it for a song and am really looking forward to learning it and using it for some years to come. I do admit though, the story is rather touching and has me hooked already. The girls were asking $3000 for it! Now I wasn’t about to and didn’t pay anywhere near that amount, but the final price took 2 yrs of haggling to get it down to just a fraction of their expected price.

That’s not all either, after 2 months of not seeing my middle son(20) hubby took me down to Duncan to see him today. So, that made my weekend of back-breaking work worth it.

Buddy, the Boxer, is settled in quite nicely too now. When I got him, he weighed all of 10 lbs and was skiddish as hell! Now he is a little over 20 lbs., twice as big as he was, and after a week of the “Hershey Squirts” followed by 2 weeks of pooping twice as much as he ate… he is a normal, healthy puppy. Sleeps through the night, is crate-trained, and almost housebroken. Yay! I say almost because, well.., sometimes I get side-tracked and forget he needs to go out. LoL! It’s all good though, he still thinks he’s a lap dog and is definitely my buddy.

How was all ya’lls weekend? Hopefully some of ya actually got to enjoy yours with some relaxin’!

~theHippieQuilter

What a busy 2 weeks it has been round here!

And that ain’t accurate enough to describe the chaos here, let me tell all ya’ll. Wow.

2 weeks ago, I adopted a little guy they had named Felix. Now this “Felix” was 10 weeks old at that time and was a sad looking little thang, I’m telling ya. He is mostly Boxer, mixed with a little Pit Bull and just cute as can be. I really didn’t like the name they gave him and he most surely didn’t know that was his name so, I changed it. Now this little guy is Buddy, as he hasn’t left my side nor my lap since I picked him up that day! He is a really laid back pup that loves to chew on absolutely anything and everything, as all pups do. Needless to say, Buddy has kept me on the run in addition to all the other things I have been doing the last 2 weeks. I have kept him on a leash tied to me thru the days til he is housebroken. This works great as I always know what he’s in to or trying to get in to. I have noticed that he is a blanket lover, steals every one he can reach and claims them for himself! Here is a fun pic of Buddy for all ya’ll:

I taught myself to weave on a lap loom, well, still learning that one as the edges still get pulled in due to too much tension there but still I am learning. Also taught myself  loom knitting and have made 3 hats and a partial scarf already! Partial due to running out of that particular yarn, LOL! I have even managed to get some more FMQ’ing done on that special quilt I told ya’ll about. *whew* am I pooped just thinking about all that!

This week, I have spent most of my days with a 4″ paint brush and a gallon of Kilz 2. Our hallway is small but the dark brown with tan trim just made it feel ever so much smaller so… what’s a gal to do? Why, paint it, of course! I got the first coat of Kilz 2 done and today will be rolling the 2nd coat to save some time and energy. I did the first one by brush due to the really bad “texture” job the previous owners attempted on the walls in this house. There are so many bumps, valleys, and cracks that a roller just won’t get in there good enough to cover the prior color(s). That’s why there are still gray spots here and there in the brown coat, which were driving me nuts so I just had to fix this.

As I sit here writing this, my 4-yr old grandson is terrorizing the house and the dog so I reckon it’s time to get on my way and “be productive”. Thanks for swinging thru, I appreciate all ya’ll!

~theHippieQuilter

Glue basting: Easy, fast and CHEAP!

Well, I just can’t offer any more praise than that for this method of basting! I have been using this for months, after reading about it over at quiltingboard.com. You MUST  try this on your next project, it will save time, energy, backaches, and money. Especially if you use “official” basting sprays. I will note this though: Make sure you use washable school glue, I use Elmer’s when I can find it on sale but have had just as much luck using the generic/store brands and these I can usually find 2 for $1. You can do this method using your dining room table, the concept is the same, just do smaller sections and let dry for a while longer before moving on to the next section. I have a dedicated design wall in my studio so that is what I will be showing you how to do. It doesn’t matter if you start with the front or the back, you do them the same way so, grab your batting and let’s get started shall we?

First, I hang my batting(already cut to size) on the design wall then pin along the top edge, oh I’d say 3-5 pins, just to secure it since I will be shifting the rest of it quite a bit. Then I lay the quilt top or the backing, whichever one I grab first, over it. If it’s the top, I leave a few to several inches of the batting extending all around the edges of the top. If it’s the backing, I try to line the edges up as close as possible. Once these layers are smooth and centered, I put big pins in a line across the middle, 5 of them. Like so:

 

 

Next, I lift up the bottom of the top/backing and pull it up to the pins, folding and pinning this part higher then the middle so I can start the grid of glue underneath it. Even though I had done the top before deciding to do a quick tute, this pic shows what I am talking about well enough:

 

Once you have a unglued part of batting exposed, start making your grid of glue. I have done many different “designs” with the glue as it does get a bit monotonous drawing out straight lines so, have fun and make it however you wanna! 

 

The glue is a bit hard to see here but believe me, it’s there. Make sure you get as close to the edges of the backing/quilt top as you can so as to avoid problems with those areas once quilting has begun!!

 

Don’t ask me, just trust me.

Once the grid is made, let out the pins used to hold up that portion of the backing/top used earlier. This can be a bit tricky to bring it down without getting glue on the front side so if you need to, grab an extra set of hands to help you!! Now that it’s unpinned and hanging loose, smooth, smooth, smooth it over the grid you made. Keep the middle pinned while you do this, you can take those out later. I let my newly glued section sit for 20-30 minutes while I take a quick break, longer if it’s not 100% cotton fabric being glued. Sometimes the blends will take longer to adhere to the glue, a lot of people go over this section with a warm, dry iron to help speed the process. Do it however you want to make it easier on yourself. Here lately, I have been letting that section sit while I do a section on the top. It seems to go faster alternating the bottom and top sections, maybe because I am always doing something? LoL! 

When doing the top part, this is where those center pins come in handy, I pull the top of the backing/quilt top down to those center pins and just let it hang there while I make a grid above them on the batting. Remember, make your grid the entire width of the quilt sandwich, or length if you are doing it sideways. I forgot to mention that before, sorry. I “part” my sandwich out in 4 sections or rows, if you will. I do bottom, top, bottom, top. 

Now that your top grid is on there, and starting in the center, reach under the loose section that is hanging and smooth it up over the glue. Grab a pin from the center and use it to pin this section just above the glue grid. You don’t want to put your pins in the glue, again, don’t ask me just trust me! Then I continue smoothing the backing/top up and over that grid, using the center pins to pin the newly glued section in place. 

Maybe that pic helps it make sense..? See the loose section hanging, and the glue grid above it on the batting? Reach under that loose flap there and smooth it up over the glue. Just watch out for the pins under that flap when smoothing it up! As always, if you need an extra pair of hands or are like me(short) and need a step ladder, get it now!! I am only 5’2″ and my design wall goes up all 8′ to the ceiling so I keep a step ladder right next to my sewing table. 

Like I said, now I alternate between basting a section of the bottom, then a section of the top, back to the bottom and finish with the top. Once that last section is basted, there should only be pins along the top edge of this part sandwich. I let this whole thing dry for an hour, maybe more if I get side-tracked by something. You know, “Oooooh, shiny!”, lol. You want it to dry a good while since you will be handling it a lot to flip around to do the other side. I, myself, am a Taurus and never, ever do anything the most efficient way so when I do flip it to the other side I also turn it upside down. What was the bottom is now the top. For some Taurus reason, as my hubby says, this makes sense to me and I’ll tell you why. 

If you quilt a quilt using straight lines that all go in one direction, your quilt will become skewed in that direction. ie, you start stitching all lines at the top and go to the bottom. What happens? Everything shifts in that direction and your bottom is now skewed. So, in my thinking, if you baste all in the same direction your basting skews the layers towards that direction. Clear as mud, eh? This is why I turn it when basting the other side. So far, it works and the quilt doesn’t skew out of shape.

Now that I have exposed myself and my “thinking”, let’s move on to the other side.

 

Okay, the sandwich is now flipped and turned. This is what you will see. It is most helpful to start your basting with the quilt top first as this allows you to see where your backing needs to be to cover the top. Especially if you are using a directional backing. I have found with this method that stripes and directional backings are now usable, since you can line them up perfectly and the glue holds so well that it won’t shift out of place and become tilted, crooked, or even wonky. Hoorah!! Use up those previously unusable backings, folks. 

Now that you have the basics, I hope I have explained them well enough, from doing the first side, you can apply them to this side and have a basted quilt ready to go whenever you are. Glue holds for quite a while so there’s really no rush to get it quilted. I do let the sandwich hang overnight to ensure the glue has dried completely before quilting it. There will be hard spots form the glue but I have had no problems going through these with any of my machines or needles. Your stitches in these spots may look crooked or off but relax, once it’s washed you will never know. The best part is, once the quilt is quilted and bound I just pop it in the wash and the glue washes right out! Wish I could say the same for some of my marking tools. Although, you may have to wash it twice if the glue went on a bit thick but there are work-a-rounds for this too. You could wash on warm water, that seems to help, or if that is not an option, try thinning the glue with some water. Not only will it still hold being thinned out, you can then double your glue supply.

I hope this post helps you out, and is understandable enough to be of some use to you. Once you get the hang of it the first time, it really does get quicker and easier. My first glue basted quilt was a generous twin and it took 4 hours. Now I can baste a king in 3 hours, which is a lot less than any other method I have tried. Believe me, I have tried them all! 

Good luck to ya, and happy quilting!

~theHippieQuilter