Machine Quilting-Just a couple more questions
 

Hey there,

I've finally got my top finished with the applique and borders.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]389569[/ATTACH]
I will probably quilt x's though the 9 patches and possibly just sid in the applique blocks and also the inner border. But I'm not sure how to quilt the outer border or what kind of quilting (grids, maybe?). I also don't know what to do with the thread tails after finishing a line of stitching. Thanks for any help that can be given.


P.S. Don't mean to sound vain, but I can't stop looking at the quilt top, lol. Proud of myself (especially about the borders, my first ones) and can't believe I actually made it. :o

Not vanity - joy in a job well done! I have a couple I've done that are just so joyful to me - not necessarily difficult, but joyful just the same.

I've noticed lately - starting with the Houston Intl Quilt Festival - that many quilters are simply quilting on into the borders - not doing a different pattern there - just continuing on what they are doing in the blocks. I've done that a time or two, but it still feels weird crossing that inner border.

If you have a quilting guide - a little metal ... stick? for want of a better word - that pokes into the thing that holds your machine foot - you can set it for a specific distance. So you could zigzag in/near the ditch of your inner border then use that stitch line as a guide to do another zigzag maybe 1/3 up your outer border - then use that stitch line to do another zigzag 2/3 up your outer border. Your outer border would end up with 2 zigzag lines that way.

This link shows what I'm talking about - it's the metal rod that's sticking through the foot. Of course you can always mark a line, too. Or use painter's tape.
http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/P6...=pd60-P60602-G

Those are easy suggestions anyway - let's see what others have to say!

I have that metal rod thing that Jan is talking about, but what I do in my borders works just as well, at least for me. I use a book mark and just lay it against the last SID I did around my inner border. Then I just stitch along the side of the book mark and move the book mark as I go. It leaves me with a stitch parallel to the inner border. I have different width book marks and have even just made a "book mark" out of s thin card board that worked.

Let me see if I have a quilt picture that shows the result. I quite like it, and it might work for you. (I consider myself an experienced beginner and I like things simple.) Okay, the seam line can be seen on this quilt. I use a batting that says I can quilt up to ten inches apart.

Dina

Oh, I forgot...I love your quilt. It is great!!

Dina

Well done!:thumbup: ​You should be proud because it turned out great! How about doing rows of furrows in your border as if your tractors are plowing?

If your machine has a scallop stitch that might do the rows of furrows that Tartan is talking about. I plead to being sexist - I use zigzags on boy quilts and scallops on girls. :)

You have every right to be proud. Keep up the good work.

I am not very good at choosing how to quilt in an imaginitive way by machine....I just wanted to say your quilt is just fantastic....and I completely understand how you feel about it.

Love your quilt. My great grandson Bennett would love this quilt. He loves anything John Deere and his favorite color is green. You asked what you could do with thread tails after finishing a line of stitching. I don't know if this is "correct," but this is what I do: if I'm on my Janome, I used the little lock stitch. It does leave a tiny knot on the underside but it's really not noticeable. If I'm on my little heavy duty White, I just backstitch a bit. Seems to work for me. There are no quilt police at my house.

Love your John Deere quilt! I agree with furrows in the binding - just do a winding row next to the inner border, then follow that winding row an inch or so away and then again, so you'll have three rows of winding quilting. For ending a row of stitching, I also do a couple of backstitches.

What I do with the threads is this: when you cut the threads, leave long tails (about 4"). By hand, use a sewing needle to thread the top thread down to the bottom. Tie the 2 (now both on the bottom) together with one knot. Then use the sewing needle to thread the tails into the middle of the quilt and away from the knot as far as you can. Tug on the thread a little so that when you clip the tails off, they will hide into the fabric.

As for quilting the border, I think if you X stitch in the 9-block patches, that the border would look great with a meandering stitching in the John Deer border.

Nice quilt...my nephew would love it.

Thanks everybody! I unfortunately don't have a metal rod for my machine, but I do like the idea of using painters tape.
I love the idea of furrows! May I ask what you mean by a winding row? Any pictures?
Would any of these in the picture below be what ya'll are talking about?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]389715[/ATTACH]
My machine doesn't have a scallop stitch on it but I thought that I could use a round jar or a glass as a template. Would that work?
I also like the idea of meandering but I don't have a darning or free-motion foot. Not to mention I've never fmq'd before, lol. For now I only have a straight stitch foot and a walking foot.

Thank you everyone for the thread tail advice, too. I found a video and a tutorial last night that might help others. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3gl4K8Z7XM and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2...-quilting.html

Forgot to say that I was also thinking of hand quilting around the applique.