The next section -

 

 

To be quilted on my Red/White/Blue Panel - 

Was the top row of star blocks - 

 

And I could also quilt the top two RED borders - 

 

I could make it to the outside edges - 

 

Of the outer RED/WHITE borders on both sides - 

 

And I could go from the top of the outer RED/WHITE border -

 

To just past the middle star point on the second star block - 

 

The second/third/fourth star blocks on each side were already quilted - 

So I didn't have to worry about them -

 

But I didn't know what to do about the outer BLUE border - 

 

Or the sides -

 

So I quilted the top and bottom rows of star blocks -

 

And decided to re-hoop it to quilt all of the borders on each side -

 

One at a time -  

 

I quilted from the outside edge of the RED borders - 

 

On all three borders - 

 

The solid RED- the RED/WHITE and the BLUE outer borders - 

 

Then I slid the quilt to the left to quilt the right BLUE corner - 

 

And then to the right to quilt the left BLUE corner - 

 

I did that on the top and bottom -  

 

Then - when I did the sides - the corners were already done - 

 

And I could quilt the rest of each side in one pass - 

 

After I took this close-up of the bottom right corner star block - 

 

To show my "improvement" - 

 

I realized that I missed that top WHITE square -

 

Will I re-hoop it to finish that one? - 

 

Nope - 

 

Let it be the "one of these is not like the others" -  LOL -

 

 

I did pebbles in the solid RED border - 

 

And loops in the RED/WHITE one - 

 

And spirals in the BLUE one - 

 

It was hard to see what I was stitching in those print areas - 

 

So I had to wait until I took it off the frame to see what it looked like - 

 

 

And - wouldn't you know - 

 

I ran out of bobbin thread - 

 

THIS far from the end of last solid RED border - 

 

 

So - rather than wind another RED bobbin - 

 

I used the little bit of TURQUOISE left on this one - 

 

 

And it's quilted!! - 

 

Ta dah! - 

It still needs to be trimmed and bound -

 

And it's not my best work - 

 

But it was a terrific learning experience!! - 

 

I learned that - 

 

I LOVE my machine - 

 

But this frame is too small -  

It should not have taken me THIS long to quilt a 40" x 40" panel -

 

I think I spent more time re-hooping - 

 

Than I did actually quilting - 

 

And if it took me this long to do a small panel - 

 

A larger quilt will take f.o.r.e.v.e.r. - 

 

So I've talked to the dealer - 

 

And I'm trying to upgrade to a larger frame - 

 

Stay tuned - LOL - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew - 

 

Hello there -

 

 

When I walked into my studio this morning - 

 

I was greeted with this - 

 

Buja on her new hammock - LOL - 

 

As if to say - "Good morning, Grandma!" - 

 

 

After gently removing her from her resting place - 

 

I took the Red/White/Blue Panel off the frame - 

 

And pressed it -

 

Then decided to outline the top half areas the same as the bottom half - 

 

And to do a couple of the side star blocks using a ruler - 

 

But after the second one - 

It got a bit tedious -

And there are too many of them for me to DO tedious - LOL - 

 

So I did this one Free-Motion - 

It was definitely faster - 

And it doesn't look half bad - 

 

So I might leave the ruler work for the longer seams - 

 

Anyway - 

 

I finished a couple more side star blocks - 

 

And filled in the top corners with some Free-Motion stuff - 

 

Then re-hooped it to do the same in the lower corners - 

 

And a couple more side star blocks - 

Then took it off the frame again to check where to go next -

 

It doesn't look that bad from the back - 

 

The RED shows up on the BLUE - 

 

But doesn't show at all on the RED - YAY!! - 

 

This practice panel is great - 

 

I'm getting faster at "re-hooping" the quilt - 

 

And I'm getting better at judging where to position it -

 

In order to reach the areas that I want to quilt - 

 

The fusible batting lets me take it off the frame - 

 

And press it before I tackle another major section - 

 

To keep everything nice and flat - 

 

Since the top portion gets bunched up under the bungee cords on the top clamps - 

 

I like being able to start in the center - 

 

And work my way to the outer edges - 

 

Just like I did with my Free-Motion quilting - 

 

And the next few quilts that are "ready" to be quilted - 

 

Are already quilted-in-the-ditch - 

 

So that should help me keep them straight -

 

When I put them on the frame - ;))

 

 

 

Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -