The quilting is done. The Birds in the Air quilt, to be known as “Liftoff” from now on (thanks P.!) is quilted. I am finished with it. Mom takes over from here to trim and bind it. She doesn’t like the look of machine binding, so she’s looking at a good 8 to 10 hours of hand sewing.
Do I love the quilting on it? No. Not really. I learned a lot, though:
- The most important thing I learned was to think about where your needle will go in relation to seams. My “simple” idea turned out to be a pain in the butt and there are a few visible quilting lines where I don’t want them to be seen.
- I learned (remember, this is the first quilt with this new machine) that just because you CAN wind a bobbin while you’re quilting, doesn’t mean you should. Especially if the bobbin winds unevenly without supervision.
- I also learned that, if you are winding bobbins when you are not quilting, you MUST remove the bobbin case and unthread the machine at least as far as the little upper-downer thingie. If you do not, you will get a bird’s nest (pun intended) of thread in and around the bobbin area that takes approximately 15 minutes to remove. Each time. You’d think I’d learn after the third one.
- Finally, I learned that standing so long causes my piriformis muscle (deep inside the hip) to tighten, which leads to compression of the sciatic nerve, which means my outer left thigh is completely numb. Time to go stretch…
Piecemeal Quilts 
What an outstanding quilt! I love, love, love everything about this one!!! Glad you liked the name suggestion too. 🙂
Your quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I love it! Good for you for having learned so much on this one quilt. You know of course that since it is a “finished” quilt, it is therefore “A PERFECT QUILT”… I just thought to remind you of that!
hugz
I love its colors and pattern. That is great.
It looks great!
This quilt looks so great! I love that you shared what you learned about you quilting with your new machine. I learn something new each time I do a quilt. Your Lift off quilt sure has a lot of seams to quilt, but that is part of the beauty for sure!
The quilt looks fabulous! I hope you’re all stretched out and back to feeling normal 🙂
It is so gorgeous. The effort that you and your mother put into it is amazing.
It’s marvelous!! Hey, my local longarming friend uses a saddle-type stool when she’s working – something like these: http://www.industrychairs.com.au/winbex.php
Wow, what a gorgeous quilt!
The quilt looks great!! And the name is wonderful!
i love seeing your machine in action. and seeing the chair where i usually sit if i can make it to sewing days gives me the warm fuzzies.
Oh wow! That is amazing! And thanks for the quilting tips!