Fall is here and it's been very busy!

Since the arrival of fall my schedule has been very busy.  It started out with a week at the LA County Fair, a week in Chattanooga and this morning I am heading back to California.With fall here it makes it easy to stay in our sewing rooms with the nights getting cooler and the days getting shorter. 

 Let's look at the options for ruler work.  There are three rulers for long arm quilting that I can not live without.  The Line Tamer fits around the foot, is used to stitch on the side of the foot, and echo quilting with the pre-made lines on the ruler. 

• Line Tamer 5"
• Multi Purpose ruler
• 1/4" Brilliant Bindings for the Longarm

There are so many tips that I would like to share with you because of this it makes it hard to know where to start.  Today's tip is going to be long arm quilters.  If you are looking to quilt straight lines you have a few options. 

• Ruler work
• Channel work
• Freehand
• ProStitcher

Channel work can be achieved with locks on your frame or robotics. With the Baby Lock Crown Jewel you can use the wheels on your machine or frame. 

Freehand movement is  most difficult way to ditch stitch or channel lock. I call this stitching in the neighborhood not the ditch, since I never hit the ditch.

The final option is the channel locks are built in the Pro Stitcher.  With a click of the button you can lock horizontal or vertical.
 
Some of these features can be used on the sit down Tiara  long arm.  Be sure for either machine you have the ruler foot on the machine.  This foot provided you the height needed to use the rulers without breaking needles.  The rulers are also higher than your regular quilting rulers you used with a rotary cutter.  You will also want to install the extention table for your machine.  This is also know as a ruler base that aids you when doing ruler work.

Happy Quilting,
Denise

Teaching at Baby Lock Tech

During the past week I was given the opportunity to teach at Baby Lock's annual convention/Tech.  It was a great experience and hope the future offers more teaching opportunities.  So of you that were at Tech are asking about the instructions for the Momentum Frame.  Here are a few direct links to the instructions and images.
 http://sewspecialwithdenise.blogspot.com/search?q=momentum
http://babylock.com/longarm-quilting/momentum/

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Summer is flying by...

It seems like my summer is just flying by.  I am sure that yours summer is the same with the short spring that we had.  There are a few things on my list that I have been working on such as the Row by Row Experience Shop Hop.  If you have not heard about it check this out! http://www.rowbyrowexperience.com/

Yesterday was a busy day that started at 3:30 am getting work completed before the birds were awake.  At 11:00 my friend Barb and I did a short road trip to 8 of the local quilt shops to see what we could experience at some of the shops in the shop hop.  What fun we had.  We picked up the pattern and a few kits along our route.

When Les is out of town it is easy for me to stitch all night.  So, last night I sewed until  after 1am completing 2 rows.

Friendship Quilting: Lake Odessa, Michigan

Country Stitches: East Lansing, Michigan

Check out the MAP and see what is close to your or where you may be traveling this summer.
Time to get sewing and start the next row!

Happy Quilting,
Denise

Tips for sewing and quilting with knits

      Just wanted to share with you a few locations where you could get a few great tips for sewing on knits. 

http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/24079/tips-and-tricks-for-sewing-with-knits

http://www.craftsy.com/article/tips-tricks-for-sewing-with-knits

http://www.jocole.net/pdf/KnitTips&Tricks.pdf

http://www.sew4home.com/tips-resources/sewing-tips-tricks/oh-baby-fabriccom-sewing-knits

Happy Quilting, 

Denise