SheriR

Givio, I certainly didn't think of that design on my own. Thank you Pinterest! I got a lot of ideas there!

Ganny, I was trying to finish this before my sister left. I even looked at it AFTER she was gone, I had it sandwiched by then, but tried to figure out the easiest way to add a border. I decided if I didn't just finish it, it would turn into a UFO!!! My sisters last quilt sat sandwiched in a bag for two years because the guy I bought my sewing machine from told me it would be way to hard for me to quilt a king size quilt on my new machine.

givio

SheriR, you made a good decision-- she will probably be excited to have the quilt than wait longer for a border. And you did a nice job on your binding. Green is my favourite! :-)
Soooo... what was the end of the story? Did you quilt the king size one?

SheriR

Yes. I pulled her quilt out one day before what would have been my moms birthday. I did "stitch in the ditch" on all the straight lines then I thought. "That's all I can do..." I called the QS where I bought my machine and signed up for a free motion class given by Paula Reid. At that time Ms Reid had quilted over 1700 quilts on a domestic machine, 1/4 of them king size. My biggest lesson that day was.....if she can do it I can!!! I've been muddling by ever since. Here is my sisters quilt. It's roughly 110"x105". Boy was she surprised because I hadn't told her I was finishing it after TWO years!!!

givio

Oh, what a great finish! Good for you! I'll bet you learned a lot in the class. I've been thinking that one of the keys for using a domestic machine on really big quilts is to have tables, or surfaces around your machine that will take the weight and bulk of the quilt. So far, I've done big ones by hand, but I've been researching tips for how to do it with my domestic machine. I think the method of dividing the quilt into pieces, quilt them individually, then sew the pieces together seems like the route I'm going to go.

SheriR

Paula Reid taught me to "stuff and fluff" and orient the smallest portions of the quilt through the arm. I have been asked to quilt another king for a PERSON. I'm nervous. I'm no pro. Maybe she thinks that way I'll be cheap...hahaha

Gannyrosie

Sheri it is beautiful. I just can't get the FMQ down. I think because of two reasons. One my machine sits on top of a table and I find I don't have enough space to place my hands and two, I'm so busy making other things, I don't allow myself time to practice.

SheriR

My machine sits on a table too, Ganny, but I have an acrylic extension for it and I put another table behind for extra space. I use that to store my projects and move them when I need that space for free motion.

Gannyrosie

I know I need to either cut a hole in the table or get an extension, cause I just can't get my hands around the quilt good enough to do free motion. Maybe one day when I have nothing else to do, or win the Lottery and then I won't have to quilt anymore, just travel. LOL.

Janice McC

Sheri, fabulous quilt! I congratulate your gumption as I'm terrified (did i finally admit that out loud?) to try fmq'ing on my machine! I've done a couple of very small pieces by stitch in the ditch and I was dissatisfied with the results. I think I need to just give fmq a whirl; if it isn't perfect, at least it will be done. I have enough lap size quilt tops meant only for myself so what can really go wrong??? Nobody else will really see them...