I finished all I could do on my frame for the 'Dutch Cottage' quilt top. I was told that I should only plan on working with a hands width for any design across the quilt with my frame, and my problem here was that I wanted to do something different than an all over pantograph design. I adapted a single motif for quilting each of the squares of the Dutch Cottage fabric and I could have done these on my Brother Galaxy machine using the embroidery frame - but decided I didn't want to go through the bother of keep setting the quilt into the embroidery frame for each motif, and then heaving all the fabric of the top through the machine each time. After all, that was why I wanted a long arm in the first place! However, budget meant that I had to opt for a cheaper solution and now I was up against he budget options limitations. So my solution was a part and part quilting process. I would do the squares on the frame, and then quilt the rest of the top with my walking foot following the outlines and 'stitch in the ditch'.
Quilt loaded using fleece for the backing and no wadding, and so I began. I used a variegated green embroidery thread from Empress Mills and this time had no problems with breaking thread or bunching on the backing. I actually used a strip of 'Hugo's Amazing Tape' loosely wrapped around the spool on top of the machine and this seemed to stop the very slippery thread from unwinding too quickly and looping on itself. I bought the tape off Amazon and have now used it on all my thread spools to stop them unravelling. The tape is easy to undo and reuse and is not sticky as it is like a very thick cling film.
Anyway, back to the quilt. I went into major panic mode when I realised I had to put the quilt onto the frame lengthways as it was too wide having added the borders. So as I neared the end with five staggered block rows to go I thought I had reached the limit of space available. I didn't fancy having to take off the quilt and re-attach it the other way round to finish off. However, with some tighter re-rolling I managed to 'just' have enough space. The motif stitched out at 4.75". I have now taken the top off the frame ready to begin the rest of the quilting on my Brother machine.
Quilt loaded using fleece for the backing and no wadding, and so I began. I used a variegated green embroidery thread from Empress Mills and this time had no problems with breaking thread or bunching on the backing. I actually used a strip of 'Hugo's Amazing Tape' loosely wrapped around the spool on top of the machine and this seemed to stop the very slippery thread from unwinding too quickly and looping on itself. I bought the tape off Amazon and have now used it on all my thread spools to stop them unravelling. The tape is easy to undo and reuse and is not sticky as it is like a very thick cling film.
