Happy Friday!
Whew, where is September going? I feel like time is flying far faster than my needles. Alas. Today I thought I would talk about quilting, the actual process of stitching the three (or more) layers together. My APQS Lenni is my longarm, and I do not have a computerized unit with it. A lot of long armers have computerized units that allow them to set up a pantograph (the quilting design) digitally, and then the computer guides the long arm through the stitching process. Computerized long arming is a wonder to behold and if set up and monitored by a skilled quilter, is very precise and error free.
I did not get a computer with my machine because it was not in my budget when I purchased my long arm, and because I had plans to quilt predominately T-Shirt and Memory quilts with my machine. T-Shirt and Memory quilts benefit from hand-guided quilting because I often add bits and bob (buttons, placards, pockets,..) to them, and I need to be able to easily sew around them. I usually use a meander pattern because I like that it is free motion and works well for quilting around items, and that it is a good background pattern. Meandering will likely never be the star of the show in quilting terms, so it is perfect for quilts where the clothing used is the star!
The picture shows a Classic T-Shirt quilt where all of the blocks finish at the same size in a grid pattern with sashing and borders. This quilt is a 9T. There is also a matching pillow, and both the quilt and the pillow feature the meander quilting I usually do with T-Shirt and Memory Quilts.
Becoming an expert at quilting my T-Shirt and Memory quilts led to me experimenting with other hand-guided techniques like ruler work, and now I also do Custom quilting for clients and myself. Custom quilting is when more than an edge to edge design is desired for the quilt, and I really enjoy working on a custom quilt where I use rulers and outlining, and thread color changes. I enjoy hand-guiding my long arm!
A custom quilted quilt I made from a vintage quilt pattern. The quilting adds so much texture to the sweet simple leaf applique.
A combination of hand guided freemotion loops with custom hand guided ruler work outlining the star applique.
Will I ever get a computer? Maybe…I am not against computerized quilting…I could set it and work on other things while it runs, but right now, I enjoy my Lenni’s capabilities as they are. Now if I had two long arm machines….
Have a brilliant week,
Ginger
Reading now: I am about half way in My Life in Middlemarch, which I am enjoying. I am learning so much about Marianne Evans! I started the second Shady Hollow mystery…it is cozy and fun. I started East of Eden, and wow…I forgot how lovely and beautiful Steinbeck’s writing is. Those first chapters where he is describing the Salinas Valley are sumptuous. Of course Steinbeck is very like Orwell…beautiful language that is so good even when it is describing horrible things. Jarring, emotive, and so damn good. The language, sentence structure, diction…all tickle my brain in good ways. Having just finished Eliot, I find myself comparing the styles and they are both excellent and a joy to read, but they are different. Eliot likes full, complex sentences, but Steinbeck tends more towards Hemingway…or maybe he is a good in between. Simple, stunning sentences that punctuate his longer more complex words. I have to think about it more. Maybe I should diagram a favorite sentence from each…that sounds fun! Have you ever diagramed a sentence…now that is a brain tickler! What are you reading?
NPR and PBS News Hour are excellent news sources. You can find unbiased even truths.
