Phase One: Vanish Lite

I am preparing to use some White Sew Sassy in my Red Bobbin case.  I have finished stitching in the pattern using Vanish Lite.  Now I will turn it over to quilt and follow the stitching which will dissolve with a spritz of water when I finish.  I think I will try my leather roller foot but I do not know what I will use on top.  I am going to get out my sample sandwich and see if I can use the 5001 Fantastico.  Here's hoping!  I had so much fun with the Baby Long Neck Ruler.  It was great practice for learning to use rulers.  I still need a lot of practice getting my stitching even.

Blooms for Julie Quilt as Desired

What to do?????  What to do?????  The cone of Superior Vanish Lite on top of the monopoly on the upright spool pin did not work.  The thread was constantly breaking.  I put the cone in a tall canning jar, re-threaded and re-inserted the bobbin case, and all was well.  I sewed about 60% of the pattern on my quilt sample and then I put some Masterpiece up top and the Sew Sassy in the red bobbin case that is used for bobbin work on the Bernina 780.  I used the 20D open toe embroidery foot and it stitched out quite nicely.  I think I will use my leather roller foot or my walking foot when I actually work on the quilt.  I went back and used some Superior Rainbow Thread and stitch 414.  The stitching is very uneven.  I do really like the rainbow thread, but I think I will save that for the border stitching.  I think I will do some free motion squiggles in white Masterpiece around the white Sew Sassy ruler work.  This should be fun.  I wonder if  one spool of Sew Sassy will be enough.  I hope so.  I am still thinking of doing Big Stitch on the borders.  Hopefully I have the right size curved ruler to do what I want.

Blooms Julie June Progress Report

 The ruler work odyssey begins.  I decided to follow the quilting plan in the project so I set about trying to find an S curved ruler but did not have one that would fit properly.  I made one out of foam core.  I chose a variegated beige-brown-gold  Fantastico Superior Thread #5001 which I put in both the top and the bobbin.  This quilt is a learning quilt- not a competition quilt- so I decided not to bury my stitches and to use the knot feature on my Bernina.  I am using the Westalee Ruler Foot with a Bernina adaptor.  My stitches were not wonderfully even so I thought I would use the on/off button instead of the presser foot.  My thinking was that since that speed is at a constant setting, I would only have to think about moving the quilt and the ruler about.  During my first effort the speed was too fast.  After slowing my roll my next attempts were also unsuccessful because I could not hold on to the ruler and push the button to stop the machine,

I was surprised that the quilting shows so little on the striped fabric.

I decided to use Sew Sassy 12 wt  on the white fabric in the center.  I tried using a #100 needle, Sew Sassy on the top and Bottomline on the bottom.  It did not work.  I tried Masterpiece as well.  It did not work.  Neither bobbin thread would capture the Sew Sassy and I was left with a loose piece of Sew Sassy on the top.  I decided that I would try to put the Sew Sassy in the bobbin.,,,after all I have not really used my red bobbin case yet.  Problem!!!  I had spent yesterday working with my ruler, a scanned printout of a section of my quilt inside of a sheet protector, my Quilter's Rule Tube Template Tester with a wet erase marker (wrapped with a bit of tape) inserted.  I  had a plan for my quilting using the Baby Long Neck Quilter's Rule Ruler.  The plan was based on positioning the ruler on the little grey squares,  If I am bobbin quilting, I cannot see those squares.  

New Plan.   I decided that I would use my spool of Superior Vanish Lite with my ruler.  New Problem. I do not have my Deely Bob or my Cone holder with me.  Solution?  After a bit of pondering I put my cone over a spool of monopoly.  I think this will work just fine.  I have made a small sample sandwich and will see if my plan works

My quilting adventures have focused on applique and piecing.  Now I am enjoying learning how to do the quilting in all sorts of ways.

My Home Made Light Box: A Success

 My Blooms for Julie Quilt is now sandwiched and I am planning the quilting.  I am going to use the suggested quilting design that came with the project, but I am going to try using rulers with my home machine for the quilting.  I spent time reviewing my course: Amy Johnson's Class on Quilting with Rulers from Craftsy.  My S curved rulers are not the right size for the blocks.  The instructor mentioned that you can make a ruler out of foam core so I thought I would try that; however, I was planning on making a light box based on the instructions from Will at  EpicFantasy's YouTube Video .  I needed to make that first so I could use the leftovers for the rulers.

You need four sheets of foam core  with cutting tools for the foam core (I used mostly an X-Acto Knife and my cutting mat), glue gun and/or Elmer's school glue, LED Light Strip: Lighting EVER Lampux 12V Flexible LED Strip Lights, LED Tape, Daylight White, 300 Units 3528 LEDs, Non-waterproof, Light Strips, Pack of 5M, Power Supply for lights: Lighting EVER® Power Adaptor, Transformers, Power Supply For LED Strip, 12V, 3A Max, 36 Watt Max (both available from Amazon.com), and 2 sheets of Lexan or Plexiglass or the like (available from Lowe's or Home Depot or Ace Hardware)

There was not much foam board left but this is what I need to make a ruler for my quilt.

Here is my light box.  I made mine bigger than the one on YouTube.  They suggested using an 11 by 14 inch sheet of the Lexan or Plexiglass.   I used 18 inched by 24 inch sheets.  Instead of making mine 4.5 inches tall as in the original plans.   I made mine 2.875 inches tall. 

Here is a side view of it sitting on my mother's couch showing the power supply.  The dimensions are approximately 2.875 by 18.75 by 24.75.   You are supposed to sand the edges to neaten it up.  I am happy with it as it stands.  I may add some tape around the top edge to secure the Lexan.  One of my sheets is a quarter in thick and the other is only an eighth of an inch thick.  The quarter inch thick piece I already had on hand.  I had been  using it on top of under-counter fluorescent lights to make a light box.  That one worked well enough but I had three separate cords to plug into the wall.  Now I only have one.  I should also mention that I used a piece of freezer paper between the sheets of Lexan to act as a diffuser.  The video was using a piece of foam board that had had the paper removed.  I tested the foam board that I was using and the paper did not come off easily.  I abandoned that notion and substituted the freezer paper.  I also used the 18 inch wide aluminum foil to wrap the piece of foam board upon which I secured the led lights.  

I should mention that I was a bit careless with the glue gun when I assembled the light box.  I was gluing the sides to the base and some glue leaked out of the corner where the edges meet.  I burned my pinky badly.  A cautionary tale....please be careful when using glue guns.  Use some common sense and anticipate that when you push things together the glue could ooze out.

Early OMG Finish

The back for Blooms for Julie is finished...........I think.  The width is seventy inches and the quilt is 66 but I have no extra for the length.  Time to get the measuring tape and see if I have to add a bit on the edges of the top and bottom.  I do like how it came out.  I have a Creative Grids 10.5 inch square ruler that I used to make the blocks for this quilt.  That was a great purchase.  I have used it over and over again.  Now to sandwich and quilt and bind.    

June Goal Setting: Blooms for Julie Continued

My June goal is to create a backing out of these striped fat quarters for my Blooms for Julie Quilt.  I like to make two sided quilts and I like to use stripes on the backs of quilts to disguise different colored quilting.  The disguise won't happen this time because I think I will be using grey or white thread 12 wt thread to do some big stitch, I am looking forward to the next steps in this quilt.