I started stay-stitching the edges of the barn wood rails. I thought it would be a good idea to stitch-in-the-ditch. It took me a few rounds to realize I should just outline the edges of the rails instead: Let the thread show!
Now that the quilt is reasonably "stable with some stitching and the pin-basting, it's time to measure and mark out the egg and carton pattern along the barn rails.
I'm using a fancy quilt ruler, but you could just as easily use a plate or other round object. I am using taylor's chalk to mark the lines to be sewn. It brushes off easily enough and will wash out.
If I have the fancy quilting ruler, why not use that and just stitch along those hard edges? Well -- It was with this very ruler that I essentially ruined one of my previous sewing machines, quilting with rulers, when the free-motion foot hopped up over the edge and (I think) threw off the timing or something. I use that machine for parts now, and have not tried to quilt with rulers since then. Sigh! It seemed like a good idea at the time ...
Stitching the the rails.
After some trial and error with using a regular sewing foot and trying to follow the chalk marks, I realized it was just too much turning and twisting to get the quilt to line up to be under the foot. So eventually, I switched to the freemotion foot that was more forgiving of how I maneuvered the quilt under the needle.
All done with Step 2.
Now it's onto stitching the leaves and flowers.
Snow Man down the street. Did I mention that I love winter?
2 comments:
I've not tried quilting with rulers but my understanding is that you have to use a special foot to prevent exactly what happened to you. Angela Walters has some great videos and advice on the subject but I think your marking and free motion quilting probably went as fast and perhaps better than if you messed with guiding around that curve of the rule. It looks really good.
Good to hear from you, Sheila!
Yeah-- I have one of the thicker free motion quilting feet for working with rulers. Trouble was --I think I was using a regular-ish ruler, and the foot hopped onto the ruler. That's where I got in trouble. You can go broke buying all the specialized rulers and templates. This pattern worked out ok. I'm more of a free-hand free-motion quilter anyway. More to come!
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