Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Jingle Status Update: Designing, Planning, and Online Shopping

This needs to be short and sweet today, as I have about a bazillion errands to run before choir rehearsal tonight and if I even stop to blink, my clock will spin from 10 AM to 5 PM while I'm not looking!


Current Favorite Quilting Plan for Jingle, iPad Sketch Detail
I haven't had a chance to get this quilt loaded yet, or even spent any time at all in my studio since I last posted about it, but my iPad is with me everywhere I go so I've continued to experiment with sketching different quilting ideas on top of a photo of the quilt top in my Notes Plus app.  I'm currently leaning towards doing the feathery thing on the red and green inner setting triangles, along with the two different geometric ruler work designs on the outer setting triangles, all of the red triangles in one style and all of the green ones in the other style.  Then each of the pieced blocks will get some kind of custom quilting and the applique blocks will be quilted in the ditch and then the backgrounds will be quilted down with different fill designs, cross hatching, etc.

iPad Sketch & Notes, Zoomed Out

At first I was drawing the feathers in ALL of the setting triangles, and I decided that was boring so then I started changing up the outer setting triangles.  I'm liking the idea of alternating between the two designs for the outer setting triangles but keeping those feathery things on all of the inner triangles at the moment -- provided I can actually QUILT those feather designs.  Just because I can draw something on my iPad does NOT automatically mean I can quilt it with my longarm machine!  I think I'm going to have to mark them somehow and/or use a template for that center pointy petal shape in the middle of each feather.  I'm remembering how Judi Madsen uses tagboard templates for curvy shapes that she uses in her quilting; need to find her Quilting Wide Open Spaces book and review her method.




Threads for this quilt will be Superior's invisible monofilament Monopoly for all stitching in the ditch, both pieced blocks and appliqué, because it's so forgiving of the oopses and wobbles, paired with Bottom Line 60 weight polyester in the bobbin.




Then I've got some lovely Antique Gold Metallic from Superior planned for the feathers and ruler work in my red and green setting triangles.  Yippee!!  I ordered a Medium Brown Bottom Line thread to use in the bobbin with my Antique Gold Metallic thread.  If the metallic thread behaves nicely, I might use it in the pieced blocks as well.  


Detail of Irish Lass by Judi Madsen, photographed at APQS Quilt Week in April 2019
As some of you remember, I traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to take LOTS of longarm quilting workshops with Judi Madsen and Lisa Calle back in April.  There was a special exhibit of Judi Madsen's quilts at the show and it was wonderful to be able to go and look at them between classes, with all of that fresh, front-of-mind information about how and why she quilted them the way she did.  I was surprised to discover that Madsen's Irish Lass quilt, from her Quilting Wide Open Spaces book (detail pictured above) used Superior's Antique Gold thread over all of the non-white fabrics, with white thread against the white backgrounds.  That's what inspired me to buy a giant cone of the Antique Gold Metallic thread from Superior's booth in the vendor mall.  This is also the quilt that Judi refers to in her book when she talks about making templates to mark shapes on her quilt, such as the dragonflies and some of the larger swirly hook shapes.

Finally, my off white appliqué backgrounds will get quilted with an off-white thread, probably So Fine since I have the right color on hand already, and then I'll likely add some details to the larger appliqué shapes in matching threads.

In addition to the bobbin thread that I'm waiting on, I also ordered LOTS of Quilter's Groove longarm quilting rulers from Lisa Calle's web site.  I purchased a 5" Pro Circle template and a Pro Echo 11 arc template from her when I took her Rulers for Rookies class and I really like all of the markings on her rulers that some of the others don't have.  So I've ordered all of the remaining sizes of Pro Circles and Pro Echo arcs to have a complete set of options for curved crosshatching and all sorts of block designs.  When they get here I'll be able to pick out a few options to use on Jingle and then I'll let Santa wrap up the rest for Christmas.

 

One more goodie on the way is this adjustable height saddle stool so I can sit at the longarm when I'm working on the detail quilting around all of that appliqué.  I'm looking forward to seeing whether I have better control for detail work when I'm seated at the machine as well as whether I can quilt comfortably for longer if I can switch between sitting and standing.  This particular stool had quite a few positive reviews from customers who mentioned using it with their longarm quilting machines, so I'm hopeful that it will work well for me.

Meanwhile, the "quick blog post" has taken nearly an hour to write, as usual.  Gotta get out the door and get busy on those errands!  Have a wonderful week, everyone.

I'm linking up today's post with:

WEDNESDAY

·       Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
·       “WOW” WIPs on Wednesday at Esther's Blog

THURSDAY

·       Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

FRIDAY

·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
·       Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
·       Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

10 comments:

Kathleen said...

Lots of good ideas in this post. I need to try notes plus. I haven’t looked at that app yet.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I have heard of those saddle stools let me know what you think of it - I have at times thought to get one for sitting at my quilting frame for better posture as I heard they were good for that too.
All your designs look great - you are moving forward!

MissPat said...

This is going to look spectacular. Have you used metallic thread with the long arm before. I used metallic threads many years ago on my DSM when I took a class from Carol Taylor, but the last time I tried I had all kinds of issues with breaking thread and skipped stitches so I gave up.
Pat

Rebecca Grace said...

Hi, Pat! No, I haven't used metallic thread on my longarm yet, but I like to live dangerously... ;-). Actually, I don't live that dangerously -- I do a LOT of research and learn from the trials and errors of others before attempting something new. Skipped stitches and breaking could be all sorts of things -- most likely culprit is the thread itself, especially if it's one of those small, skinny spools because those are almost always wound too tight at the factory. I'm going to use Superior Metallic thread from a cone (metallic thread behaves better coming off the top of a cone, and Superior's brand has been recommended to me by Judi Madsen (who uses it on lots of her quilts) as well as by APQS. I've looked into recommendations for the best bobbin thread to work with it, the best needle size and type, and I know to use a thread net halfway up the cone and to skip some of the holes in the thread guides, and to reduce the tension. I know to slow down, and since I know for sure that this particular thread CAN work in my exact machine for exactly what I want to do with it, I am confident that it's going to work. And I have people I can reach out to -- my APQS dealer, the Superior Thread company, and/or APQS Tech Support, as well as to the teacher (Judi) who recommended it in her class. Superior has some really good educational articles and videos on using metallic thread on their web site, and they also have charts you can download with recommendations of tension adjustments, needles to use, etc for all of their threads, one chart for longarms and the other chart for domestic sewing machines. You ought to give it another try!

Raewyn said...

I loved the Jingle quilt when it was being released and still love it now! Yours is beautiful. Your quilting plan is going to make it extra beautiful.

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

What a beauty of a quilt. Stunning quilting...you are a pro!

chrisknits said...

Good luck on finding time to get in your studio!

Preeti said...

I love your vision, Rebecca. I am wishing you loads of sewing time with total cooperation from your sewing machine and zero interruptions of any kind. Time to make that masterpiece!!!

Kate said...

Your quilting plan looks amazing. Hopefully you've gotten a good start on it in between errands.

dq said...

I am drooling over your quilting. It is amazing and inspiring!