More Grid-Love

So When I took the sample down to the shop from the Last one I made listed HERE.    

It was received well. So well Cindi wants me to teach it as a long arm class. :) I think channel locks weren’t a feature that was really on anyone’s radar…and now ..well lets just say they may be. Rob is going to buy parts and install them on machines locally….so he will make a little business out of them. He’s going to refine them, make them look prettier. Mine aren’t as professional looking..and he knows how to fix them now. So if he can offer them at a significant less price for his own fabricated ones..I think that will be motivation for people to get some and also learn my new quilting technique. If not –it can be easily accomplished on a DSM using a walking foot.

We decided to make a simple quilt pattern…and then make it divisible by 3…and then make a 3 inch grid. I had Brianna sew the sample for me..cause I just don’t have time for everything. She is a fabulous piecer. But I think quilting is fluid and sometimes you just can’t make everything perfect.

I am trying to refine the process of grid quilting myself…I marked 3 inch lines on the sides of the quilt so I would know where to use my channel locks. I made extra careful to load it straight. I also tried to use the pattern of the blocks to follow the lines..Because I knew right where each 9 inch mark was because a new border seam was a true mark. There are still some wonky lines. Quilting is fluid…and the machine can only make straight lines…it’s a machine..so even when I was in a seam it didn’t follow the seam perfectly..it was driving me bonkers! So not every box is uniform…but closer than the last few that I eyeballed….(maybe)…but despite that I think your eye corrects it when you are looking at it..unless you look at a seam? You can see this side view that it’s not exactly straight..that could be sewn or loaded…There are so many factors when quilting it’s hard to control everything. But it you veer from your quareter inch foot just a hair..well it shows up when you are trying to get perfectly straight lines. So what I am saying? There is a learning curve to this and I am going to figure it out!

So we chose different shades of gray..it’s a modern type of block. There is another sample as well…all free-motion designs..I will be teaching that class as well.. but Cindi is making that sample.  If there are any locals quilters interested all the info will be available Monday and I can get you the details.  That sample is a different pattern and different colors. :)

So I think this GRID-quilt is Fabulous! I love it! and I also tried to focus on the fillers….different kinds of fillers to fill your grid… it’s not uniform in the center…just so you can see several options..but I think it’s a great example for a class. It was hard trying to choose which design..I have to say..there are so many.

The wind was blowing this morning..{frustrating me}..so I couldn’t get the best photos. I see I missed the corner stones in the final borer ..which were my favorite..you can see a small bit I guess. I only used one layer of batting..I was going to use two. But thought maybe since the boxes were 3 inches that it would be big enough and I kind of wish I used 2 layers. But it’s good to know how big I can go. Lesson learned. Here’s the back. I *heart* plain backs.