About Quilting

A quilting panel discussion was arranged for our Seattle MQG meeting last night, which was really interesting. Four of us shared a variety of info about our personal quilting routines. I was the only one that primarily uses a domestic machine, Matt/@odditease has a mid-arm, and Dionne/@dinglebobbins and Pam/@pamjcole quilt on long-arms. I wish I had notes of all they shared, as there was alot of good information, but no. So here's what I shared [in brackets], including some photos.

1) What machine do you use for your quilting? [Juki TL-2010Q]

2) What thread do you prefer? [Aurifil 50wt all the way]

3) Favorite marking method. [Hera marker (The others all answered after me and said, 'as little as possible." I didn't think of that, but that's true for me too. Also, I often use the edge of my walking foot as a guide. But if I do mark, it's with the hera.)]

4) What is your go-to quilting design? [The majority of my quilting is some kind of straight-line done with my walking foot.] Examples:

Matchstick quilting

Wavy straight-line

Zig-zag

Ghost-quilting

5) How do you prepare quilts for quilting/basing method? [505 basting spray]

6) Most terrifying quilting moment/a make it work quilting moment. [Big quilts cause me the most grief - and quilting in the middle of them and trying to handle the bulk.]

7) Perfectly consistent stitch length, does it matter to you? [Yes, I definitely prefer it! Am I obsessive about it? No.]

8) Tips, tricks, and suggestions? [I'm pretty committed to setting myself up for success by changing the needle, cleaning and oiling my machine, and winding a few bobbins before I get started quilting a new quilt.]

9) Work you are most proud of and why. [Basically, I enjoy exploring new designs and trying something that I think really accentuates the quilt's design.] Examples:

Fancy straight-line

Diagonal orange peel

Miscellaneous straight-line

So that's that. It's always good to hear what others do, and since I was the only domestic machine user, it was especially interesting to hear about some of the differences from my fellow members. I really enjoyed seeing the work each person was proud of too! If you'd like to share a quilted project you're especially proud of, leave a link in the comments!