Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Leah Day's Explore Walking Foot Quilting: Curving Lines

What fun!  Another Leah Day Walking Foot Design - and I already had a quilt sandwich prepared!  Even so, because I was timing something in the oven, I estimate this block took about 70 minutes for me to stitch.  I did run out of bobbin once and also later ran out of the top thread so maybe with all that stopping and tying threads that amount of time is expected?

I cut the threads a little long when the bobbin ran out, but I wanted to remember where it was so I could find the hidden connection.  And I can if I look closely.  But looks so much better than it had before rewatching Leah's videos!


I used the guide when I was doing the stitching - this kind of repetitive line stitching is so tiring so having the lines farther apart helps me finish things in a more timely manner.  I noticed that sometimes the guide turned away from touching the fabric, resulting in lines that are not parallel.  But I think close enough.

I had already done curved walking foot stitching on my Put a Little Love in Your Quilt project (before I read that curves were supposed to be tricky with walking foot), so I was not intimidated by this design.

In the post Leah shows and discusses again 'whiskering'.  She had mentioned before but I didn't understand what it was.  In looking back at the blocks I have done it seems I may have 'whiskering' on all my samples!

'Whiskering' is all the little waves in the fabric between the stitching - here is her graphic.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNAZu6uXbts8228_PY1ipmz0JeEozCL-c6vQiJVjnsC6dEry9zyLOyWJiN5PvPgtFlPkIDbLOi-8fwrIticgaX0zeYce-kXmLadSq5HtB9uWH7xkPGOR9inZ5_WReMjwpKJZkPXKkV1I/s640/how+to+avoid+whiskering.png

It is unclear to me whether this will disappear once the piece is washed, or if it will forever be visible...

Here are my six completed blocks.  I'm just grabbing solid fabric and making two sandwiches with the same color.  If I had realized how using the walking foot helps make the back look as nice as the front I would have used solid there too - and maybe I would have done the math and figured exactly how much fabric I would need and been more controlled with my color picks.  But then each of the blocks is being done on the samples of the Hobb's batting that I have so it probably okay to be sampling different colors for this project too.

In the beginning I was measuring and marking the squares as Leah had directed, but now I see I am just quilting to the side of the fabric.  So I hope that won't mess me up at the end when it is time to join these blocks.  I have Leah's book but she mentioned in one of her posts that she was looking into different ways to join the blocks.  Whatever, it is nice to have this practice project! And I vow to join it together to make a quilt that we use!

Yesterday I brought the quilt that I am going to use for my larger quilt practice with the walking foot to my group.  Only no one else came, and I forgot ironing pad, and I cut the batting too short, so I just packed things up and brought them home... So that will have to wait for another two weeks...

2 comments:

  1. Your walking foot quilting is really taking shape, June! It's fun to see all your samples laid out side by side like that. I think the scrappy back will add to the charm of the finished sampler :)

    If you wash and dry your quilts by machine, the whiskering will never show. It will just become part of the quilt "crinkle," which I love. If you're making a wall hanging that you want to lie super flat, then it might be an issue. But I wash my wall hangings, too, because to me the crinkly texture is what makes it a quilt.

    I like Leah's videos because she's a good teacher. She's very skilled and explains things well. However, I think she's a bit overzealous about certain things. I guess an instructor needs to make things look as good as possible :)

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  2. I'm glad the crinkle arising from washing will cover up the whiskering. Could be Leah is writing her notes about this for people thinking of hanging their pieces.

    If it weren't for Leah I wouldn't have tried free motion quilting as soon as I did... I'm glad this year she has things set up so we just get one book - then do the weekly projects. For two years one was supposed to get new pattern each month - the mystery part of it was unappealing to me.

    Thanks for coming by!

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