QUILTsocial Issue 12

The center block has puffed up because the outer
borders are quilted and the center is not.
That center square almost looks worse as
I start to quilt it with fairly dense quilting.
But we’re not done yet. Don’t forget to
periodically check the back to make sure
things are going smoothly there.
8. Make sure you have enough thread
You can see that I’ve plenty of room to
work under the arm of the Designer
Ruby deLuxe. I didn’t really do anything
special in placing the quilt around the
sewing machine other than I have the
extension table attached. The piece is
small and I bunched it up as I saw fit to
make the job of quilting it that much
easier.
However, I just about had a heart attack
when I realized that even though I was
close to finishing the stitching in the
background of that block that I was
going to run out of the thread. NO WAY! I
checked my thread stash and no – I didn’t
have any more of that color. Thankfully
the shop was open and I was able to
get more. Back home and when I was
prepping for another project later in the
day, I happened to check a small thread
box that I keep for my machine quilting
class and you guessed it – there was a
spool of the EXACT same color! Well, now
I have enough for another project.
That’s one of the other things that’s
nice about using the piecing thread for
quilting. If you run out, it’s pretty easy
to get a replacement. If you’re using a
specialty thread and you run out, it may
not be so quick to get another spool.
The finished back of the quilt
I should mention that I used a regular
piecing thread on the top and a regular
piecing thread (a completely different
brand and color – green) for the bobbin.
The tension was perfect.
Running out of the thread for the top of my project.
9. Check the back and admire!
Once I had finished all the quilting on
the center square, I changed the thread
color on the front to a variegated green/
blue/purple for the borders. This was a
polyester thread, but I kept the green
piecing thread in the bobbin. Again, no
need to change the tension.
I did check the back as I went. Notice the
back has NO tucks, that center block that
looked so bad went completely flat. The
center block is not distorted because
I stabilized it before any free motion
quilting had a chance to distort things
as can sometimes happen. The stitch in
the ditch quilting stabilized all the major
lines in the quilt.
The center square is even more puffed now that
I’ve started to quilt it.
Q
48 .com| issue 12
UILTsocial