Adrienne21

hi Rob,
i just noticed in your post that you have the Brother PQ 1500S. Do you have any problems with large skipped stitches.
If so, do you have any advice. It is so frustrating, to the point that i have stopped FMQ with it. It works so beautifully in its other function. Any input greatly appreciated.
Adrienne

kyquiltlover1942

I hope to finish piecing and putting the border on a quilt I have been playing with for the past week. Since I put myself on a fabric ban, and did not have anything to blend for the sashing, I have been making do with decorative stitching on a little off color fabric. Seems like it is helping to blend the different color. Then I have to figure out what I have that I can use for the borders. Not a show quilt, but for MY bed.

NJ Quilter

This is the first time in forever that I've even had something to work on; correct timing to be be able to join in! I'll be finishing up the last block of a 3 yr old sampler UFO. After finishing up that block I need to go to the LQS to find some sashing fabric as I didn't get that at the time of the sampler class...grrr. I also want to check out a class at the LQS to see if I can 'observe' what I think is part 2 of the class. And if I'm really ambitious - I'll do some hand quilting on another ancient UFO that keeps laughing at me from the ottoman!

romanojg

My weekend was actually Wed thru Friday, since I had to go to work on Sat. Even though if a stranger walked into my house he'd think what a mess, I'm very happy with what I did get done. I haven't been able to sew in my Sewing room for over a year, for most of the year I couldn't get into sewing anything due to losing my grandson. Last fall I started taking my serger classes again but decided to try and get back into garment sewing since I couldn't get my quilting mojo going. I had one machine set up in my spare room another in my dinning room just because for the year that I was doing nothing it seemed my sewing room became a catch all. Plus the dust, I have bad allergies. I started going thru stuff and organizing, I got rid of a few things, found a missing how to CD, I got most of my machines set up in there and even managed to do a little serging last night in my room. I did go to serger class where we learned how to make a heirloom bolster cushion, its very pretty. I still have lots more to do but at least my sewing, etc will be done in the right room. I'll still do most of my sewing in the spare room only because I have a large dinning room table set up in there and its more my height than the one in my sewing room.

I usually start my work week being frustrated by getting nothing done or at least in my view nothing done but I feel good this week. Even my 6yr old granddaughter noticed how much I'd done. I hope everyone gets lots done this weekend.

romanojg

Cindi, great quilt. My granddaughters would all love it. We hit it lucky, we were supposed to have lots of rain Tue night thru Friday, it only sprinkled on Tue night. Then they were calling for snow this weekend and now its been down graded to a possible flurry. This is the best winter we've had in a long time. Only one snow that really counted. Its cold but at least its dry and no frost on the car this morning.

Macybaby

Copycat - I did a scrappy binding with 4" strips on the bias. I really liked how it turned out. I wasn't sure how much I'd end up with, and still have about 7 yards of it for another project (I guess I made a bit more than I needed).

I cut the strips, sewed them together, cut on the bias and then attached those strips together into one long one.

This is the quilt it went on - made from fabric I got from my sister, each 5" block is a different one. The binding was all from the different solids she had.

romanojg

Very pretty Macybaby.

Macybaby

Yesterday I spent an hour at the LQS and picked out colors to fill in what I couldn't find in my stash - only had to buy 6 out of the 26 fabrics needed. It also takes plain black - I have plenty but didn't put it in the picture. This is getting put away until I get some other things wrapped up. (no batiks, I'm not a fan of them)






the last few weeks have been devoted to getting a handle on my scraps. When I started quilting several years ago, I bought out a scrap collection at an estate sale. Ended up with 5 laundry baskets of fabric after I washed it. I gave away about 2 baskets of stuff I knew I wouldn't use (lots of flannel) and sorted the rest by color.

I did the 365 challenge last year, and had resorted the scraps into dark and light, and had a large tub of each. By the end of the year I was ready to be done with scraps!

I've been working on cutting them up - this is a set of 1.5" squares, one of each fabric, though I expect I've got some duplicates in there.



And 2.5" set



I also want to do a HST quilt, so this is 3.5" squares and Half squares for that, I've got 2-3 of each fabric for this.



And then 2.5" strips, 1.5" strips, and "strings" - at least 3.5" long, but less than 1.5" wide



While cutting them up, I saved out a chunk of each for the last project - along with all the bits and peices that couldn't be cut into strips.

I ironed them and sorted by color, and put the groups together into bags and have been assembling them into 8.5" blocks. Once the blocks are done, I'm going to sash around each on in a coordinating solid, then sew them together.



I can get two blocks out of most of the bags - and have 25 more bags to sew up.



Here is what I have done already - 44 of them. I'm aiming for 80-100 blocks.

rryder

Hi Adrienne,

When I'm having problems with stitch formation while FMQ these are the things I try:

1. New Needle- sometimes a needle that has gotten dull, slightly bent or a burr on it will cause skipped stitches and thread breakage.
2. Topstitch needle in size 90/14 or 100/16- Topstitch needles are very sharp and strong which helps them go through all the layers that make up a quilt sandwich. They also have a larger eye and a larger scarf both of which help to protect your thread.
3. Check your top threading to make sure you haven't missed one of the guides.
4. Check your top tension, I find that my PQ needs a slightly looser top tension when FMQ than for regular sewing.
5.Check your bobbin case to make sure your bobbin is inserted correctly and that your bobbin tension is correct.
6. Feed dogs down and presser foot pressure adjusted to lightest.
7. If you are using a floating foot instead of a hopping foot you may need to adjust the foot down so that it is closer to the surface of the fabric. A foot that is tooo high off the fabric will cause all kinds of stitch formation problems including skipped stitches.

Hope that helps.

Rob

pandamommy

My oldest DGD keeps telling me that St. Patricks Day is the only holiday she doesn't have a pillowcase for. So what is a Gram Gram to do? Went to JoAnn's yesterday when I was in town and picked up some shamrock fabrics so today will be pillowcase day one for each of the 2 DGDs.