Time to Quilt

I loved the idea of this quilt but the pattern for it? I’ll just have to censor myself and say “I’m not a fan”.

The braids finished 10″ shorter than the measurement in the book so the size quilt was way off. It much have been a typo so I looked online to see if there were any pattern corrections. The book was self-published and no website to check.

I added an extra plaid border with a couple of bright homespun prints I still had left. I’m happy to have used the last of this type of fabric. The 6″ finished wide border was part of the original design and because the quilt was already shorter than I expected, I had to leave it this large, otherwise I’d have been tempted to trim it down to 4″ finished.

And, if the whole experience wasn’t frustrating enough, my longarm decided to act up again. 😦 I removed the quilting, spent most of the day trying to figure out the problem, and then re-quilted it.

Less than a year ago, I replaced the bobbin case. I thought then that I may have dropped it at some point. Now that I’m having the same problem I’m beginning to think the bobbin case itself has a design flaw. I’ve ordered two cases this time and at $99 each I’m hoping it’s not going to be an ongoing expense. The long arm is less than two years old and Innova no longer has any certified technicians in the state.

The machine itself has a 10 year parts warranty and the company I purchased it form, Tops Vacuum and Sewing adds a 10 year labor warranty on all the machines they sell. Innova pulled their machines from that store so now Tops won’t even service the machine so I have to guess at how to fix things and hope the phone tech support can help. In this case, they weren’t much help. If I could re-sell the machine, I would!

I kept plugging along and used a pantograph by Urban Elementz called “Modernish”. With that wide black border I knew the quilting would really be noticeable to I chose a design I hoped would blend well with the style of the quilt.

The best news of the day – I’m ready to move on to something else! 🙂

After the disappointing news that Innova no longer has any technicians in the state of Florida, my husband took a look at my machine and was able to get it up and running.

I noticed two places where the quilting skipped stitches so some more tinkering is ahead. My friend recommended changing the needle (just in case the new one I put in as a burr on it) and that there is not lint under the anti-backlash spring in the bobbin case.

I’m grateful for her support and suggestions of new things to try. Most of all, I appreciate that she listens to me vent without a fuss. Everyone needs a friend like that! While I’ll miss her when she moves, our text communication will keep us connected, and I truly understand her positive reasons for relocating and I wish nothing but the best for her. ♥

This is the 4th patriotic quilt (so far) that I’m making to be presented to a veteran by our local community center on July 4th.

It measures 52″ x 70″.

And, here are the three previous patriotic quilt.

I’m preparing scrap fabric kits for a guild workshop I’m scheduled to help implement of string/scrap quilting so it’s going to be a busy two weeks ahead! I have another top to quilt and bind so keeping my fingers crossed I can fit it in. &&

My Innova long arm is giving me problems this week.

I’ve tried everything I could think of and, that Google and Chat GPT suggested but nothing has worked. So, now it’s a waiting game until I can get a tech here to check it out.

At least I managed to finish this quilt before the problem began.

I’m donating a patriotic quilt to the Greenacres Community Center for presentation to a veteran at their annual 4th of July celebration. It measures 48″ x 68″.

Our guild is wrapping up a two-year project to finish over 400 quilt tops that were in storage. There wasn’t enough time, quilt tops, or fabric for our guild to make and donate patriotic quilts again this year, so I’m working hard to create as many as I can.

The machine problems may have the quilting part out of commission for a bit but, I can plan, cut out, and sew a couple more tops while I wait. So, I may be down (temporarily) but I’m not out! Not yet anyway.

My goal is to work on a bucket list quilt, a simple pattern, and then a scrap/string top.

This week is the simple pattern. So simple in fact that no pattern was necessary, just a photo found on Pinterest for inspiration.

The finished quilt measures 48″ x 72″. Close enough to my 50″ x 70″ goal.

Our guild donated several quilts last year for the community center to present to veterans at their 4th of July “Ignite the Night” celebration.

We no longer have any tops in storage but we also no longer have the expense of maintaining the unit and that’s a good thing. Since we’ve been focused on finishing the 400+ quilt tops that were there, we haven’t had time to plan quilts for this year’s celebration. I’m making as many as I can to reach our goal of 12 quilts, the same as last year. I think I can do it!

This week I ordered two bolts (30 yards) of patriotic fabric from Marshalls Dry Goods to use for backing. That should back about 10 quilts. It’s 45″ wide so if I seam it horizontally, I’ll have about 18″ cutoff to use in other other tops.

So many of the patriotic fabric choices are out of stock at Marshalls but, they have a few available here and here. That’s not a white streak on the bottom of the first photo. It’s just a reflection of the plastic wrapper.

I finished quilting a scrap patriotic top yesterday and cut another top out today. Hopefully I’ll be able to machine bind it tomorrow after I get home from my monthly guild meeting and begin piecing the next one. I love a good challenge! 🙂

I completed hand stitching the binding on my project while driving to our family reunion on Saturday. We had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted after the 10-hour round trip, so I was glad that I was able to get if finished during the drive.

Luckily, I was able to take it outside for a photo today just before the rain came through just a couple of hours later.

I used dense quilting and chose a lighter textured grey backing, matching the binding to the border so the emphasize would stay on the quilt’s center.

It finished at about 61″ square.

This is the second Cindi McCracken pattern I’ve made that begins with a Dream Big panel. I made this one a few years ago.

I was surprised when I looked at the picture and noticed I used the same quilting design. It’s probably the only other time I’ve used it.

Because I’m trying to rotate between a bucket list quilt, a simple pattern, then a string or scrap one, the next up is a very simple patriotic quilt. If I don’t force myself to rotate, the quilts on my bucket list will never get made!