Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[jeria]

I forgot to ask, would the design I did above be okay on an entire quilt surface, like the full size I'm about to do? I hate straight line quilting, would rather do an all over design.

I would use it as an all over. Here is a fleece blanket that has a feather design that I use often as an all over.

 

[jeria]

Dang it loaded it 3 times. Sheesh.

 

[speckledhen]

Jeria, that looks nice on the blanket. I have a hard time doing that kind of feather for some reason, but I'll eventually master it. Meanwhile, the paisley seems to be more natural for me so I think I'll use that. Maybe in the center of the stars, in that yellow square, I can do this bumblebee motif from this awesome site:
http://theinboxjaunt.com/quilt/free-motion-quilting-tutorials/

Each design has step by step instructions.

 

[jeria]

Speckledhen, the reason I posted that was to say take any design and make it overall. It's fun. Those over the top feathers took years of practice for me, getting control and confidence. When I started quilting quilts I didn't even know they existed. It will take me some practice to get my control back when I can again quilt.

Jamie Wallen and amazing male long arm quilter has some cute bug designs as does Irena Bluhm. Jamie puts a bumble bee in every quilt he quilts, it is his signature. FYI his classes are a blast. I have a number of cd's of his. I love teaching CD's because I can put them on and quilt with them--I have a TV in my studio area.

In the long arm world there is PPP as a mantra. Practice, Practice, Practice. It takes training your muscles on domestic or long arms. To do that it is hours and hours of drawing designs and quilting them. I learned to love white boards and kindergarten writing tablets, I stock up on them when there are back to school sales. The kindergarten tablets are amazing for planning and practicing thin border designs.

I use scrap paper @ work and doodle quilting patterns.

Use cheap fabric and cheap batting and do practice quilts. FYI animal shelters love them. Stitch around the edges, trim them and any dangly threads. The animals don't care what they look like. Draw on the fabric pencil or ballpoint works well--you don't care about getting it out and go over and over and over it. It helps with accuracy, muscle memory, and control.

I now buy bolts of seconds at a local fabric manufacturer that opens their doors to anyone with a retail state tax ID #. I've often been given ends of poly batting bolts for practice, some of that has been donated to my former guild making charity quilts. Ask you never know what you might find that is available, if you hunt your area for some options.

 

[jeria]

Speckledhen, FYI I have 16 years of longarm experience so it takes time and PPP.

 

[jeria]

Working on prep for 1/2 square triangles. There are about 500 in this quilt. the prep before stitching takes so much time.

 

[User395221]

I think that paisley design or the feather design would look great on a monochrome project, a white on white would look nice. I love those, but I'll never ever be able to have one with my grotty and completely undisciplined pets. It's bad enough having a grey Westie.

Use cheap fabric and cheap batting and do practice quilts.

How much thread is used by intensive stitching like that? Even with cheap materials, it could prove quite costly getting up to a standard?

I gave away the quilt I started (hand quilted), but I'm watching with interest the machine work. One day, I might like to have a go on my treadle.

 

[speckledhen]

I think that paisley design or the feather design would look great on a monochrome project, a white on white would look nice. I love those, but I'll never ever be able to have one with my grotty and completely undisciplined pets. It's bad enough having a grey Westie.

How much thread is used by intensive stitching like that? Even with cheap materials, it could prove quite costly getting up to a standard?

I gave away the quilt I started (hand quilted), but I'm watching with interest the machine work. One day, I might like to have a go on my treadle.

It depends on the cost of the thread. If I use Maxi Lock serger thread and I've gotten it on sale like I did last time, it is very cost effective. A cone is 3000 yards.

I got five 1200 yard spools of Connecting threads cotton for $14.99.

 

[User395221]

Thanks, how much might you expect to use on a quilt with a lot of stitching? How many cones?

 

[jeria]

Really no clue about the cost of thread, it is soo hard to gauge. I charge $5.00 per quilt and $3.00 on a baby quilt. It's strictly a thread charge. I needed something to show the state tax dept. besides batting to keep my wholesale tax license and my clients didn't complain. Thread can add up as can batting. I buy batting wholesale so usually do the norm of 50% more than I bought it for, I generally stick to the local prices though on it. I prefer to use batting on a roll rather than packaged stuff with lots of creases.