TGIFF is At My Studio This Week! Modern Scrap Petal Garden Baby Quilt

 Hello, and happy (almost) Friday! I'm delighted to be hosting this week's TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finally Finished) Friday linky party, because I am head over heels in love with this sweet modern baby quilt that I just finished quilting for a client.  

36 x 42 Scrap Petal Garden Baby Quilt with Jessica's Abacus Chevron E2E

The machine appliqué pattern for this quilt is called Scrap Petal Garden, from Cabin in the Woods, and it's available on Etsy here if your local shop doesn't carry it.  I love the fresh, bright flower petals against my client's low-volume background fabrics, don't you?  I know everyone loves the before and after quilting photos, so here's what the top looked like before quilting:

Scrap Petal Garden Top, Before Quilting

The digital quilting design we chose is called Jessica's Abacus Chevron, and it's one of those fabulous geometric modern pantos that would be impossible to quilt on a long arm that wasn’t computerized.  I would not get perfectly round circles and perfect straight lines if I was trying to trace a paper pantograph version of this design with a laser pointer.  

Setting Up the Bernina Q-Matic to Stitch Jessica's Abacus Chevron E2E

This was my first time quilting with the Bernina Q-Matic program, and I found it super intuitive coming from my previous IntelliQuilter computer robotics program.  I love the larger screen and increased screen resolution in the Bernina program, because it makes it so much easier for my middle-aged eyeballs to figure out where I am in a design when I'm zooming in and out to get everything aligned the way I want it to stitch out on the quilt.

Borrowing The Demo Q24 at Creative Sewing and Vacuum, Stonecrest

My new Bernina Q24 long arm machine was delivered several weeks ago, but the Q-Matic computer robotics package is backordered until August.  My Bernina dealer is letting me use the demo Q24 in his shop in the meantime, for any quilts I need to get done that I can fit on their little 8' frame (which can accommodate a quilt with at least one side 70" or smaller).  This is a mix of inconvenience and added convenience, because I'd MUCH rather be quilting on my own machine in my own studio, but it was awesome to have someone right there to answer questions  as I was learning the new system.

Backing Side.  I Love the Stitch Quality on This Machine!

Trouble-Shooting Skipped Stitches with Fusible Adhesive Products

The only challenge I had with this quilt was figuring out which needle would stitch through the fused machine applique petals without skipping stitches.  My client stiffened her background fabric with Terial Magic, which is a fabulous liquid stiffener that gives enough support for embroidery or machine applique without using an additional stabilizer product.  Instead of ripping or cutting away extra stabilizer after stitching, this product just washes out when the quilt is finished and laundered.  I am dying to try this product myself.  I had zero problems quilting through the background fabric that was stiffened with Terial Magic...  But the flower petals were done with Steam A Seam 2 Lite, a product that has a fusible adhesive on one side, and a repositionable sticky adhesive on the other side.  That was gumming up my needle and causing skipped stitches, with several different needle sizes and types.  The magic needle solution ended up being a Schmetz Universal Pro needle in size 100/16.  The "Pro" designation from Schmetz indicates that the needles have a chrome plating that resists heating up from high speed stitching.  Chrome plating also helps to resist adhesive products sticking.  In addition to the magic Pro Chrome needle, I also slowed the stitching speed considerably every time the machine approached a section of appliqué  and sped it back up again when it was only stitching through the background fabric.  

Glide Thread in Color Lemon Ice Blends With Appliqué Fabrics

I wish I could see this quilt after the Terial Magic was washed out!  Right now it feels like a crisp canvas or heavy paper, but it should be really soft and snuggly after washing because we used Quilter's Dream Bamboo batting.  I used Glide thread in color Lemon Ice so the quilting would blend into the flower petal fabrics and stand out more against the neutral background fabrics.

That's my finish for this week.  Now it's time for you to show me what you've finished up recently!  Whether it's a completely finished project, a finished flimsy, or just a finished block, we'd love to see it.  I'll also be linking up todays's post with some of my other favorite linky parties: Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More, Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts, & Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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