Sally Said Sew

A couple of months ago I purchased a used HandiQuilter HQ16 set up to replace Patience, my Voyager 17 longarm machine. Why the change? I couldn't get my stitch length regulator to work properly and was getting frustrated with my machine. After doing some research, it seemed that this was an issue from the start. I could upgrade my electronics and stitch length regulator but that would cost me several thousand dollars. An investment I wasn't willing to make. On a whim, I started searching on craigslist for a "new" machine. That is when I found Hope. Yep, I named her Hope because I hope to improve my longarm skills on her.  I figure the cost of buying this set up less what I will sell my Voyager for is about the same as what the upgraded electronics would have cost. "Hope" I was able to transfer over my Red Snapper system, light bar and batting cradle that I made. I float my batting and like to keep pet hair off of it. The clear vinyl cradle does the t...

For Christmas this year, I made my son and daughter-in-law a quilt. It was my biggest one yet. Although the sizing said queen, it measured 105" x 105". A very generous queen size quilt. I wasn't sure if it would fit on my quilting frame but it did, with a couple inches to spare. It just fits! With some much appreciated help from my mom on finishing the binding, the quilt was delivered yesterday. Gregg & Markey with their quilt I need to find a way to photograph these big quilts should I ever do one again. Whew!

My sewing space occupies the former living/dining room in our home. With the exception of a butt-ugly chandelier in the dining area, there are no additional built-in light sources. None. Nada. Zilch. During the day it is not an issue - I have plenty of daylight available. The lack of light has always been a challenge when I want to use the long-arm machine in the evenings after work. I have a couple of LED gooseneck lights over the machine itself and a old floor lamp to use, but it is never enough! This past week, I had three quilts to get done for family members plus I had to work during the day. I needed a better light source desperately! I did a little thinking and came up with a way to suspend two shop lights over my quilting frame. $100 later, I have light and lots of it! Needless to say, I got the quilts done and shipped off to my mother and sister so they can finish them up. Mission accomplished!

I am getting lots of practice in with the Hinterberg quilt frame. I've completed the quilting on a lap size quilt for my mother, a throw size quilt for one of my granddaughters, and a wall hanging that my mother pieced. the wall hanging was definitely a challenge. Three different quilt motifs -- stippling, a free-form half flower, and then my first attempt at doing feathers. I also had to do blanket stitches on my other machine for the appliques. While the wall hanging is far from being perfect, overall I was satisfied with the finished product. Hey, its good practice. If I don't keep trying and learning, what's the point of having a quilting frame? Granddaughter's Quilt (before the frame was stretched) Mom's Wall Hanging Closer  Look at Wall Hanging

When I bought the used Hinterberg frame, it came with six foot poles. Sounds big enough, right? Nope. Even with doing a lap size quilt, I had issues with having enough space to quilt all the way across the top and still be able to access the drop in bobbin on my machine. To remedy this problem, I bought ten footers to replace the sixes. The poles are EMT thin wall conduit used for electrical installations. After a bit of prep work including increasing my leader cloth widths and re-leveling the frame, I now have plenty of space to load larger quilts. I have also added 2 LED clamp on lights to give me even more light. What a difference they make! Especially with the grayer wintery days and shorter daylight hours. I have new ball bearings for the carriage on order along with thrust bearings to make things easier when quilting. I will be able to turn the poles easier without having to loosen the knobs on the ends every time I advance the quilt. The next thing I want to do is to add Bow...

One thing I quickly discovered when loading a quilt onto my quilting frame is the inordinate amount of pins required. Five, count 'em FIVE rows of pins an inch or so apart. I despised having to pin all those rows. I looked at different systems and decided to go with the Red Snappers method. On your leader cloths, you sew a small casing and insert the hollow tubes. Then you load your quilt using the small clamps to start and putting the longer pieces across to hold the backing, batting and top. Red Snapper Kit Is this my last row of pins? Sewing the casing on the leader cloth. Quilt Back loaded using the Red Snappers I had to watch the video on the website to make sure I was doing things correctly. I couldn't figure out how to attach the top and batting to the back roller since the back Snapper already had the backing installed. Well duh! It was so easy to understand after watching the video. You use your machine and baste those layers across close to that back ...

Back in mid-September, I came across a listing on craigslist that peaked my interest. It was for a Hinterberg quilt frame and Janome 6500 sewing machine combo for sale. While not a longarm system, it is a good start for a home quilter. So I bought it! I signed up for two Yahoo user groups - one for the Hinterberg frame and another for the Janome. I posted on the Janome group asking a few questions about speed controllers. A wonderful lady from Wisconsin posted that she had a set of handles and mounting frame for the machine specifically matched to the Hinty frame. She had upgraded to another machine and these were in her attic. If I was interested in purchasing them, she would sell them to me. So I bought them! Here is my new frame set up in my living room. It currently has 6' poles on it but I can expand the frame up to 10 footers if I buy new poles and ends. I am still learning how to use it and I have a test quilt loaded on the frame. I was struggling trying to free motion q...