Detecting Foot Problems.

To those who regularly read my this blog know that I have had a love/hate relationship with my Pfaff Quilters Expression 4.0. It likes to break and shred thread when I FMQ. It has been driving me crazy. So I have taken it to the shop and have the exact same machine on loan. The first night I got the loaner machine I played around on a scrap quilt sandwich and nary a skipped stitch. Hope was springing that they could find and fix the problem with my machine. Last night I decided to do a sample quilt sandwich for my Elephant quilt.

Long skipped stitch while going backwards

Skipped stitches in almost the identical spot on the next time around the flower.

What did I change from the previous night??? The FOOT!

The closed toe foot is the standard foot that comes with the machine. The open toe is optional.

 The first night I had left on the standard closed toe foot. Last night, I wanted to be more precise in my stitches, I put on the open toe. That's when the problems started.

 While the closed toe foot is better, because it doesn't seem to skip stitches, the visibility with foot is not great.

The open toe offers great visibility, but skipped stitches. I can't seem to win! When I purchased this machine, the closed toe was a deal breaker. Then they told me about the open toe, I was sold. I think this may be a piece of POOR German engineering. Maybe there is a fix. I would sure love it if there was.

I did have a little fun FMQ last night.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

My Prince Has Come!

Well, I'd like to tell you that I have been super productive and gotten lots done this week, but no THAT didn't happen. First off I needed to take Ms. Frances (my Pfaff QE 4.0) in for service. I'm tired of fighting with her when I FMQ. She shreds or breaks thread every time I go backwards, very frustrating. The good news is I have a fabulous dealer (Quilters Corner) that will fix her AND give me a loaner while I'm waiting. Meet Prince William....

How cool is it that the shop names their machines??!!

Since the Prince is the same model as mine, it fits perfectly in my table AND he will FMQ backwards!

While I was out and about yesterday, I did stop by Golden Lane Fabric shop. The place was hopping, they were having their annual 15% off everything sale. Their prices are always good, but 15% off is just crazy.  They carry a lot of Moda, including some solids. So I decided to stock up with some neutrals.

The solids ended up being $5.10/yd, the 10 FQ were under $20 and the 5 pack of blades were about $17. Can't beat that with a stick! Of course good ol' NY puts over 8% back with sales tax.

When I was up visiting my dad this weekend, I stopped at Ivy Thimble to have a look around and came away with these...

Nope, no plans, just loved them.

I also ordered some thread. Aurifil is hard to come by in my neck of the woods, so I tend to order it. Since it's flat $5 for shipping, I decided to stock up!

The purple one behind the two midnights in front is incorrect. I'm hoping to get the correct thread soon.

I did get another panel of my Elephant quilt basted. Not really exciting, it's just a plain navy panel, but work is work.

I also finished all of the wording on my Express your Love quilt. I'm really happy with how my Goddess is turning out.

Here are this weeks stats:
In-process: (3)
Elephant quilt
Express Your Love
Layers quilt

New projects: (0)

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

 

Color Me Quilty!

 

Pat

My Goddess Has Spoken!

Even though I don't have an insert that fits this machine, it worked just fine.

Okay, so my "Express Your Love" Goddess Quilt isn't really a UFO, but I am somewhat behind. The real UFO is getting my Pfaff fixed, so that I can FMQ properly. It is definitely an UnFinished Object/Project, I've had problems with this machine since I got it 7 months ago. The Isacord thread was shredding or breaking multiple time per letter. So I switched it out for my Babylock to see if it was me. NOPE, it's definitely the machine! The Babylock stitched like a champ.

I was done in no time, after switching to my Babylock Ellegante

I love how the words intertwine so that you can read them multiple ways.

The Goddess was shouting at me to finish her words. It felt good to stitch them out, to own them.

Thank you Leah for creating this powerful project. I got the panel from Spoonflower to practice my FMQ and I am coming away with so much more!

So I'm going to take my Pfaff to the dealer. I have an appointment for Miss Frances this Thursday. I can get a free loaner for the time in the shop, I want the same machine so I can see is this a malfunction or just a quirky machine. Time will tell.

I'm linking up to UFO Sunday at the Free Motion Quilting Project.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

My Goddess Is Starting To Speak

I love when I have time to work on my Goddess quilt - Express Your Love. And I had time to work on her last night. She has started to speak.

There is something very special about working on this quilt, almost a meditative quality. Thank you Leah for creating this project and inviting us in on it.

I'm linking up to the Free Motion Project for FMQ Friday!

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Excellence vs. Perfection

 Sometimes events, projects and comments keep leading me to think about things in a certain way, developing ideas and concepts that really need discussion. Over the past week, I've received several very nice comments about my FMQ, but have said they were themselves scared to even try FMQ.  At the same time, I have had some events at work about measures of mediocrity vs. measures of excellence (note: I'm a Quality Engineer, I measure stuff for a living). Both have led me to verbalizing the difference between striving for excellence and being a perfectionist.

So let's look at the difference.

Perfectionism is the individual's belief that he or she must be perfect to be acceptable. Perfectionism is black and white with no gray area. Anything other than perfect is failure. Perfectionism is an attitude, not necessarily a behavior. In other words, two people can engage in the same behavior such as trying to win an Olympic gold medal but one can be pursuing excellence and the other is demanding perfection. The difference lies in the thought process about the goal or behavior, not in the goal or behavior itself.-Monica A. Frank, Ph.D.

The pursuit of excellence is the desire to attain a goal of excellence, to achieve at a high level, to be the best that one can be but without the demand attached to the goal or desire. Pursuing excellence may require tremendous effort and focus as well as other resources. But, unlike perfectionism, it does not demand a sacrifice of self-esteem as it tends to focus on the process of achievement rather than the outcome. - Monica A. Frank, Ph.D

Excellence vs. Perfection
_____________________________

Perfection is being right.

Excellence is being willing to be wrong.

_____________________________

Perfection is fear.

Excellence is taking a risk
_____________________________

Perfection is anger and frustration.

Excellence is powerful
_____________________________

Perfection is control

Excellence is spontaneous
_____________________________

Perfection is judgement

Excellence is accepting
_____________________________

Perfection is taking

Excellence is giving
_____________________________

Perfection is doubt

Excellence is confidence
_____________________________

Perfection is pressure

Excellence is natural

_____________________________

Perfection is the destination

Excellence is the journey
_____________________________

-author unknown

So, to everyone that aspires to be able to Free Motion Quilt - go for it, don't judge it. Relax, enjoy the process of learning, the joy of improvement, the excitement of accomplishment.

Linking up for Sew Thinky Thursday at Mommy's Nap Time

Color Me In the Pursuit of Excellence!

Pat

It was a dark and Starry Night

My quilt guild started an Art Grid Quilt project during our last meeting. We got a poster of a famous painting, van Gogh's Starry Night and cut it into 24 pieces. Each member (that wanted one) got a piece to recreate in fabric. There were just a few rules, the block had to be 9.5"x9.5" (9" with 1/4" seam allowance) and it had to keep to the colors in the piece you received.  My piece was part of the black tree, yikes!

Poster on the right, my block on the left

I suppose I could have done applique or paper piecing, but painting the block, of a famous painting, just seemed like the right thing to do. I used Lumiere fabric paint, a favorite of mine. You can see two other quilty projects I did here and here.

The rest of this week was spent basting and quilting one panel of my Elephant quilt.

The back of the Elephant quilt.

Here are this weeks stats:
In-process: (3)
Elephant quilt
Express Your Love
Layers quilt

New projects: (0)

Finished (1)
Starry Night block

I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

 

Color Me Quilty!

 

Pat

A Free Motion Quilting Weekend

I love long weekends, especially ones I can quilt and quilt and quilt. I think I went through 8-10 bobbins of Aurifil 50 wt. and you can get a lot of that kind of thread on a bobbin! The first panel of my Elephant quilt is almost done, or at least the most densely quilted areas.

I like the variegated thread, I think it adds interest on the solid green.

Back

Back

Back

This panel is one of three. Size is approx. 37" x 102"

I'm linking up today with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

The Elephants are on the March!

I'm really into working on my Elephant quilt. I'm not sure if I will finish it this month, a queen sized quilt is big!

I plan on quilting it in three panels, then putting it together QAYG with a green strip. I made the back for the elephant panel, green and navy stripes, hoping they would line up with the blocks on the front.

The green and navy strips is the elephant section. The other two panels will have the fabric on either side for the backing.

I wanted to try out Leah Day's elastic method to hold the backing taut. The problem was the elastic I had wasn't nearly enough, so I ran out to the closest quilt/sewing store, Barbara's Quilt Shop.

Barbara's is an Amish quilt shop, some fabric (a good selection of fabric for Amish clothing, not a lot of quilting fabric. Although, what they have is $4.00 - $6.00 /yd), notions, and other assorted stuff.  Luckily they had elastic. I bought 4 packets, all less than a dollar each.

 

I attached the elastic under the tables and pinned it to the back of the quilt.

Not perfect, but way better than tape.

I baste in my VERY UNfinished basement

Since I'm using Quilters Dream Puff (polyester), I pin basted it. Spray doesn't stick well to polyester batting

I did a lot of stitch in the ditch to stabilize, then started quilting.

I was pleased at how well my front and back lined up.

Detail of the start of quilting. I'm using an Aurifil variegated for the paisley and around the elephants.  Aurifil Midnight stitching around everything.

I'm pleased with the progress so far. But lest you think I didn't do my obligatory mending this week, I did fix a pair of pants, where the top stitching had come out of the zipper.

Can't really see the stitching, but they are all fixed.

I'm linking up with Leah Day for UFO Sunday at the Free Motion Quilting Project.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Express Your Love

I purchased Leah Day's "Express Your Love" the panel from Spoonflower, because I thought it would be a great way to practice various FMQ motifs.

All of the outline quilting complete

What I wasn't expecting was how much this project has pushed me to look within to determine what I want my Goddess to say to the world.  This will be a very personal quilt, cathartic in many ways. I plan on taking my time with this project and savoring the process.

My whole world in her hands!

A little purple sparkle on the back.

Today is FMQ Friday at the Free Motion Quilting Project!

 

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

WIP Wednesday

I really love WIP Wednesday, it always makes me feel like I've accomplished something during the week. I think because I blog throughout the week, with just some small progress, that it adds up over the course of the week.

Last week, the only quilt left on my WIP list was my Elephant quilt, and the blocks weren't even all completed. This week the blocks are done, put together and the side strips are added.

Since I plan on quilting this quilt in sections/panels, this is the first panel I will sandwich and quilt. I'm really looking forward to that, I think quilting the elephants will be fun.
















I did start two new projects this week. The first one was Leah Day's project: Express Your Love. I bought the panel at Spoonflower. I got it sandwiched and basted this week.

The second quilt I started is a bit of an experiment in curved piecing. I'm calling is my "Layers" quilt. It will also be done QAYG, so the two blocks I've completed are already pin basted.

The dots on the navy are just pins and Pinmoors. I know it's kind of an odd looking quilt at this point, but I think it will look cool when I have the 7 additional blocks completed.

So all in all, I really did accomplish something this week. The best part is I'm getting closer to projects that need FMQ, my favorite part.

Here are this weeks stats:
In-process: (1)
Elephant quilt

New projects: (2)

Express Your Love
Layers quilt

Finished (0)

I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

 

Color Me Quilty!

 

Pat