The quilt that ‘killed’ the sewing machine

 

Well, not really, I was improperly inserting my needles. Tightening the clamp too hard until the screw wore down to a point and wouldn’t hold the needle in place.  But this quilt is what finally caused me to just go get another machine.

ModOlives baby quilt
ModOlives baby quilt

Here it is quilted finished and labeled. Ready to go to a baby boy. It’s nice that friends are having children and grandchildren.

I love tools of the trade, anything to make the project easier or more interesting. I discovered this wonderful Quick curve ruler  and had to start playing.

As a quilter, I have a stash, a lot of fabric on hand. I was lucky to be given this wonderful  car fabric, what better for a little boy, add some solids and we have a palate.

Fabrics for ModOlive
Fabrics for ModOlive

Jenny started a QAL (quilt along) with wonderful instructions and a

Flicker ModOlive Quiltalong group

Of course I joined, and off I went.

first block
first block

As I went along, I played with the color layout.

Color layout of the olives
Color layout of the olives

All well and good, until I got to the quilting part. The missing clamp for my Babylock is supposed to arrive at the end of March. Who can wait that long?? No idle hands here! I must be creative all the time. So I broke about 15 needles, struggled with a very difficult FMQ (free motion quilting) job, but I did it!

back of quilt
back of quilt

My backs are always pieced, another way to highlight the fabrics. In this case you can really see the quilting stitches as well. Despite the effort the result is beautiful.

Final step

The label
The label

Now I get to play with my embroidery threads. I found this cute image of a flower, easy to turn into embroidery. Of course name and date and even enough room for the parents to write the name and date of birth of the baby.

I love the quilt, but that was it, I couldn’t quilt with this machine as is and I have quite a few projects on the docket.  Joel agreed, I am always working, I should have the right equipment. When I tested the Juki, it was amazing how easy and smooth the quilting was. Of course I was working on a small sample, but I have no doubt, even with larger quilts – I am going to love working on it.

Leah