"NEVER MORE, quote Inka..."

[calicopuzzle]

After a year and a half I plucked up my courage and found and cleaned an appropriately large floor (which I was not afraid of scratching) and sandwiched the top from my basic course. My son and I had fun pinning. The fun stopped the moment I tried to squeeze all the bulk into the machine, starting as a good girl in the very middle-on top there was a drunkard block, so it was necessary to pivot the monster when quilting in the ditch...Catastrophy! Never more, screamed my tortured soul and body wondering, how so many of other quilters could have survived this...

My question: Are there options? (Let's forget the long arm) Have you girls ever tried cutting the batting in a wobbly line and basting it back having quilted just a part of the quilt? Or what about quilting individual blocks separately and then sewing the whole quilt together? Would you know about any practical links with step by step instructions? Thank you! Inka

[HomespunMary]

Oh, Inka, so sorry to hear about your experience... I too had the exact same feeling when I tried to stich in the ditch and had to twist and turn the quilt around all the time. It looked exactly like in your picture, and it was, in my opinion, almost impossible! All in all, a quite horrible experience, and I was only doing a baby quilt (although a quite big one)!

What I did was I started to learn free motion quilting, so that I wouldn't have to turn the quilt around all the time. Also, and quite interestingly, since I started to free motion this summer, I also felt I did better at the stitching in the ditch parts (with my walking foot), and actually had less trouble with the few turns I had to do. Still haven't quilted anything larger than a big lap size, though, but that felt like a breeze when I "free motioned" on it. (Well, apart from being all tense in my shoulders all the time, but that's a different problem than the twisting and turning...)

I don't really have any other suggestions, but I'm, sure others here will... Don't give up altogether on the large quilt, just give it a little rest... Looks like it'll be a beautiful quilt!

[kadie]

This is such a familiar sight and the main reason I quilt by hand.

[Evie]

Marti Michell has a book called "Quilting in Sections" and she goes over several ways. I did one of her ways but I was using fleece and it stretched out of shape. I imagine with regular backing material it would not have done this. It's a good book.

Also, have you tried free motion stitch in the ditch? I would suggest practicing it first before trying it on a quilt.

I think I have a page book marked about quilting in sections. I will look for you.

I had problems with my son's rail fence being very tight in the center. I did stitch in the ditch but it was too tight to pivot. So, I just backstitched at the end of the block, then skipped to two blocks below to start stitching again (with a backstitch to secure the thread). I had a lot of snipping to do afterwards.

I just bought a Juki short arm because I want to quilt larger quilts than a twin size. I also don't have the space for a long arm.

[Evie]

Quilt as you go:
http://www.secretsof.com/content/624

Here's what Marti's book looks like:
http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Quilting- ... 54&sr=1-29

Double sided quilting:
http://www.quiltingworks.com/cabin-feve ... yougo1.htm

You can go to youtube.com and browse through the quilt videos.

Also, sometimes QuiltersTV.com has machine quilting videos.

[INKA]

Oh, yes, I do humbly apologize to all hand quilters (I had thought all the good souls must be a bit off their minds ruining their fingers and spending tens of hours quilting). By hand quilting squeezing and turning the monster falls off... And the quilt is much softer and "relaxed". I am sure I will try it one day when I really care much about a future quilt. This one was/is my aprentice quilt so I am at ease looking forward to wrapping myself up in it watching TV.
Thanks for the links, I will try to have a look there. I think quilting in sections and then sewing the parts together might be a solution. And, yes, Maria, I am definitely going to practice stippling and meandering. I guess I might even like it one day! By the way, my machine has that walking foot and that is what probably saved my life last night - I can not imagine not having had one! I´ll ask callicopuzzle to post a picture of the quilt when finished (if you all promise not to look to closely!).
Inka

[happymrs]

I break down my big quilts into about baby quilt size sections, machine quilt them, the sew the top fabric together, put the batting edge to edge & cut little narrow strips of lightweight fusible interfacing & fuse them to it, then lay the back fabric over that, overlapping the seam just a little, & hand, or machine stitch it. If you don't want it to show, sew it with the clear thread. Works great & a lot less bulk to deal with at one time! You can also hand stitch these back seams if your quilt is getting to big to fit through your machine. Try it, works great!

Oops, forgot to sign my name!

Nancy/NC...

[Geneva2]

I quilt in sections too. I learned form Marti Michell's book Macgube Quilting in Sections. I have had a lot of trouble with this quilt I am doing not but it has not been because of the size. I am only quiltign the center section right now but something is going on that I have not experienced before. The batting and backing wrinkled up. Yesterday I took the sandwich apart and the batting had really bad rinkles. I had pressed it before I put it together the first time. I really think the batting is stretching. I'm using Warm and Natural for the first time. Have any of you had that problem. Anyway, I used a basting spray. We'll see what happens this time.
Geneva

[bland50]

Well ladies I put the last stitch in my quilts today will post pictures tomorrow. This is what I learned from doing them and quilting in the ditch. If you sew all the vertical rows first and then sew the horizontal rows, then tackle the blocks one by one you do not have your backing ripple in the back. Plus use the small pins instead of the large ones this helps too.

[calicopuzzle]

I have some information I will send to you about doing your quilt in sections. Meanwhile, here is my input...pin with smaller pins and very close together...it takes agillion (that's more than a million) pins but it is worth the time and trouble. Roll your quilt up into a small roll that will fit in that opening of your machine...you can use what they call "bicycle clips" to hold it (even though they are not all that great at staying in place. And just remember, once you are past that middle place, it gets easier ) I agree with Homespunmary about learning to free motion even doing in the ditch because you won't have to turn the quilt--it is the easiest!

Evie, I have a Juki T-98 also and have had it for 7 years now...love it! Nice big area to put the quilt through and not too terribly expensive!