Last month I
mentioned that my old machine had gone kaplooey. It really wasn't
worth getting fixed. Well, this month I have a shiny, new Janome 6600.
It works like a charm! I'll have to sit down when I have a bit more
time and tell you how powerful it is.
I really need to get going on these challenges sooner! I'm squeaking in just under the wire... again. This month's Free Motion Quilting Challenge teacher was Leah Day. I was thrilled when I heard she'd be one of the teachers because I had already visited her site and knew what a wonderful teacher she was.
Leah showed us how to do some stippling on a "foundation" line. Then she changed it up slightly by using straight lines instead of squiggly ones. She called these "railroad tracks."
You start by making a widely spaced, free-form line...
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| My foundation line |
Then you go back and "squiggle over it. Here's my stippling piece. It looks pretty good from the front!
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| stippling on a foundation line |
Unfortunately, I forgot to check the tension. The machine wasn't making any funny noises to alert me, but I ended up with "eyelashes" on the back.
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| eyelashes :-( |
Eyelashes are where the bobbin thread pulls the top thread too much and the top thread ends up showing on the back. In a worst case scenario, you get what looks like eyelashes when you go around a curve.
I adjusted my tension before I started on the railroad tracks.
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| railroad tracks |
I like regular stippling better than stippling on a foundation line, but thought that the railroad tracks were intriguing. Someone on the forums suggested sewing a parallel line to the foundation line so it would look more like tracks. I'll have to try that. I bet it looks neat.
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| The tension was better on this piece. |
I still need to play around with my machine to get the right combination of needle, thread and tension. I suspect this needle may have gotten dull and "pushed" some of the batting through. But I was pleasantly surprised to not see very many tiny little blobs of thread where I kept sewing but didn't move the fabric sandwich quickly enough when I changed directions.
The pieces that my fellow FMQ Challengers have done have been downright amazing. And the encouragement given to beginners is wonderful. What a great group of people!
Until next month,
Happy Quilting!
Kathy R.
