Saturday, June 30, 2012

7 a.m. quilting

I woke up pretty early this morning and decided to go do some quilting.  Spent a couple hours in the basement working on Gemma.  I was quilting a top for charity.  I've decided to try and do all the quilting on these charity tops without using the stitch regulator.  I don't want to become too dependent on it.

When I was quilting, the bobbin thread was breaking frequently.  I loosened the top tension and that seemed to help.  This is all trial and error right now.  I am using a varigated thread, which may also have something to do with it.

After Ev left for work (he had to go in at 11 a.m. and has to work 12 hours today.  in this heat) I went over to the lumber yard in Staunton.  They sell plexiglass there and I wanted to see if they could cut me a piece to use as a ruler.  Well, cutting plexiglass is a difficult task, even for the guys that have all the right tools, apparently.  I had wanted two pieces of quarter inch thick, one 3/4 inch wide and the other 1-3/4 inches wide.  The clerk said he would have trouble cutting the piece to 3/4 inches, so I said okay, I would take one at 1-1/2 and one at 3 inches.  After breaking a few pieces, he finally got me one good edge on a 3" x 19" piece of quarter inch.  It didn't look good for getting anything smaller in quarter inch, so I thought, just for grins and giggles, I would go ahead and see if he could cut those sizes in the 1/8th inch thick.  He did that for me, no problem.

Now, I have absolutely no experience on the longarm doing ruler work, but with the quarter inch piece, I think I can do a few things okay.  The clerk was super nice and didn't even charge me anything because it was all out of scraps.  This is a lot better deal than having to buy the rulers online, which is what I was going to do.

I am slowly turning that room into quite a nice studio.  Yesterday I hung another shop light over the area where I wind the bobbins.  I'm thinking of putting a domestic machine in that area also.  Today I bought a box fan and put it in the corner, just to keep the air circulating a bit. 

1 comment:

Dora, the Quilter said...

I just love your blog--not only is about quilting most of the time, but also you are down to earth and real. However, I have a hard time being patient, hoping you will post pictures, knowing what I am imagining won't do your efforts justice! (I don't even remember how I found your blog!)
I hope the weather cools down for most of us--yesterday someone hit my car while it was parked and I was at an appointment, and that 25 minutes I had to spend on my cell talking to my insurance company while in 101 degrees was *not* fun! Yes, we need some rain and some cool!