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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Farmer's Wife on the Frame

Rabbit, Rabbit. The first of another month. Yeah! We have made it (better than the alternative).

I have loaded my Farmer's Wife quilt on the Lucey. Poor Uncle Sam (here) won't get quilted before July 4th unless I really have a great spurt of quilting completed on FW.

This is a honking big quilt. It is 103.5" long (top to bottom). I loaded it so I would have to advance it the fewest times, so the top is at my right, and the bottom is at my left.  I got wide backing fabric so I didn't have to piece it (phew).

I still have to play with the tension between upper and bottom thread. Will it never end?  If I can't get a handle on this, I may as well give up. I ran out of my pre-wound bobbins, so I had to use the Sidewinder to wind my bobbins. I am not convinced that these are as good as pre-wounds, but that is what I have to work with. I am using Glide on the top and bottom.

I have 111 different 6" finished blocks. This is actually a good way for me to get my feet wet with 'custom' quilting. I have completed several panto quilts, but this is the first that is totally on my own.


 The quilting isn't really showing very well. I am using rulers when I think they are helpful. SID is harder than you might think. I try not to have to retrace my tracks, but it is hard not to. I have to balance that with not having too many stops and starts.

 I have no idea what to do in the (relatively) large areas in this block. Instead of stopping my progress totally, I did SID where it made sense and moved on. I will have to come back to this one.
 Another view of the overall design.

I tore this one out, not once, but twice. See those curves? They looked totally stupid when I got them done. When I re-sewed, I used my straight ruler to make quarter inch lines. Still not totally happy with it, and I still might decide to rip it out again.

I am teaching an online class right now, so I have to balance my quilting time with my real-life job.

I am linking this post to Freshly Pieced.

Thanks for stopping by.


5 comments:

Taryn said...

Love your quilt - I'm planning to make one of those. Keep going with the longarm - it would certainly be easier than the normal machine I use for my quilting. :-)

Nilya said...

Looks so lovely!

Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty said...

I can't wait to see the finished project. But honestly, just piecing a Farmer's Wife top is an accomplishment!

Marly said...

This is going to be beautiful. Your fabrics are beautiful. I hope you resolve those tension issues in the quilting soon. Doing this "on your own", as you said, is a real challenge.

junacreationsuk.blogspot.co.uk said...

Beautiful quilt, the fabrics are really pretty. Good luck with the tension and unpicking hitches.