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Nancy's Quilt Story
About a year ago I made this memory quilt for my 15 year old grandson. I didn’t have any instructions on how to make it. I just cut out squares and sewed them together. Then I sewed the batting and backing onto the front. I gave it to my grandson as a birthday present in April 2017. A few months later I realized it needed to be tacked down. I looked up quilting places online and found Longarm Quilting Services. I asked Linda if she could quilt it for me. She talked to me for a long time on the phone and explained that she couldn’t. She could not quilt material that stretches or moves under the longarm machine, like t-shirts. She said if I wanted to make it right, and if I wanted it to last, I would need to take it apart and stabilize the t-shirt squares. At first I had no intention of doing that. It just seemed like way too much work. But then I decided I wanted to make it right. I made the decision to take it apart and redo it. I took out all the stitching while I watched tv. That took about a week or two. Then with Linda’s advice, I ironed on interfacing wherever it was needed. I just took my time. I made the squares straighter than they had been, and I sewed the squares back together. It looked so much nicer than it had before! That alone was a big difference. The whole process took me about two months, as I worked on it off and on. Now I have sent it to Linda to be quilted. I’m so excited and happy that it will be done right. It was totally worth the effort. And it really wasn’t that hard. I’m so grateful to Linda for taking the time to talk to me that day last August!
Apr 09: First contact. Leigh has two 90" wide quilts she wants longarmed this month.
Apr 16: Using Acorns & Oak Leaves. Apr 19: It's here. The fabric is a tightly woven flannel that is very soft. There are issues with the dimensions I will try to remedy or cope with it. Backing is prepped but still need to trim a bit from the side(s). Apr 20: Backing is prepped ready to load. Got the batting cut. Leigh selected Magnifico Orange Spice for her thread. We will use Bottom Line Copper (same color as the top) bobbins. Apr 21: Leigh finalized her density at 11" rows. Prepped the top. My EQ7 rendition was wrong so I tweaked the programming, paying attention to where the pattern falls on the borders. Magnifico requires a larger needle & looser top thread...tension is set. Loaded ready to quilt. Apr 22: Started quilting. Have a communication error on my system I have never seen before -- IQ stopped talking to the longarm. Once I found them, I wiggled & pushed in 3 wires like the online help said to do & it worked. Scary stuff. Quilting again. 4 rows done leaving 6 for tomorrow. Apr 23: Quilted & shipped. Joan's friend Anne pieced this quilt. Joan is helping her finish it.
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