Friday, November 30, 2012

It's finished! Christmas in New Jersey (part 3)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway from my last post. I was also thinking of having another on Monday since it is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Anyway, here's the finish:

 The top
 The back

This is the first quilt I finished on the new long arm :)

I learned a few things too. Make sure you have plenty of extra batting and backing fabric on the sides. If you don't, then you get too close to the clips and it makes it difficult. Also, if you have extra, it makes it so you can have an area to test on. 

Also, I used the King Tut beige colored cotton thread that came with the machine. I don't usually use cotton thread, except hand quilting thread which I use to sew hexagons together. I'm also faithful to Gutermann brand thread. 

Does anyone have any experiences with long arm quilting and cotton vs. polyester, or what are good brands (and value)? I did notice that the bobbin and needle area get loaded with lint buildup. That is definitely a downside to cotton.

Well, I have to get back to finishing the twin sister quilt to this one.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway. I will probably have another one Monday. I am thinking of giving away some leftover Christmas fabrics, including the fabulous Robert Kaufman boot fabric that everyone keeps asking about!


Until next time,

Mike.

Pin It!

7 comments:

cspoonquilt said...

Hey Mike,
I pretty much use Gutermann's 100% poly thread in my Longarm (apqs) sometimes I use 100% cotton. You will get less fuzz with poly but you just need to develop a system for cleaning it out every so often. Every machine and operator is different, I would try several of the primary brands, YLI, Mettler etc. have fun, cheers, Claire W.

gpc said...

Wow! I am not in your league of quilter -- beautiful!

Nita said...

I don't have a long arm, but my rickety old kenmore will only work with Gutermann thread. Your quilt is beautiful, congrats on the finish!

Peg said...

Ooo lucky you, I love your long arm machine, I've watched them being used but never used one myself. I imagine its going to be a huge time saver for you. I'm yet to brave FMQ but am determined to try.

Enjoy

Peg x

Bev said...

Great job on your quilts! I'm so jealous of your long arm! I would love to have one but they are soooo expensive! Your quilts are so beautiful!

Cheery wave!
Bev

MalinisQuilts said...

Your quilt looks awesome! Congratulations on getting the long arm machine. That's awesome.

I personally don't have experience with long arm but I really love books and follow Angela Walters who is a long arm quilter:
quiltingismytherapy.com.
She uses superior threads So File#50 for her quilting and her quilting always looks great. May be you can give that a try.

Good luck!
Malini

Lynette said...

Love the boots!! fun!