In the longarm industry it isn't kosher to expose the faults of merchants publicly. They're treated like untouchables. Kind of like a mafia of sorts.

In the past when I've had problems with my machine I've played by the rules - publicly - and never mentioned names or specifics about any persons or companies.

For a couple of years now I've had several people privately email me so that they could speak freely about their own issues, which were similar to mine. All the usual stuff, but nobody else would help them. In fact, they experienced an "excommunication" of sorts from certain forums because of their cries for help.

I can tell you that nothing boils my blood more than an industry that behaves like a mafia.

Which is why I'm here today to tell you about something that is wrong with Aurifil thread spools. It's not my opinion, it's a proven fact. It's not that I have anything against the Aurifil company - if you follow this blog you know that I love Aurifil thread. In fact, they should pay me for all of the good publicity I give them, if I had a larger following. But this is my blog and I feel safe letting my few followers know of a problem so that you don't have to have your day ruined. Like mine was.

Aurifil thread behaves perfectly in almost every stitching scenario. Until you get down to this part of the spool, in the 5000 and 6000 series of newer colors:

At this point on the spool, the thread begins to pull itself from the bottom of the spool way too tightly as it attempts to overcome that slight curve at the bottom of the wound thread. I was baffled at first as to why the thread suddenly would not pull through smoothly. 

Then, I watched the spool as I pulled it and sure enough - the thread gets caught up underneath the remaining thread and causes too much strain on the tension.

Instead of the thread smoothly unwinding from the sides of the spool, as it reaches the bottom it pulls from the bottom - sort of underneath itself. 

So now the half-empty spools that are beginning to accumulate in my studio are only good for making bobbins. 

Which wouldn't be so bad except that I really really really needed the rest of this spool to finish the customer quilt on my rack today. But it was not to be so. Hours were wasted trying to rework every possible way to feed this spool evenly. Turning it upside-down produces the same problem. Feeding it horizontally made it worse. I stitched and ripped out, stitched and ripped out for hours. 

This has happened before with one other spool of Aurifil. The one above is #6001 - which did this to me a few weeks ago. The one I used today was #5001, which has the same exact defect. It began as a full spool, wonderfully stitching onto the quilt. Suddenly, when half-empty, it acted up. 

Since I use Aurifil on a regular basis I can say that this problem has not happened to me with the older colors. Ever. 

I had to order a new spool from a company that does not offer me wholesale, as well as spending up to $30 for 2nd Day shipping just so I can continue this small job. Living in the middle of nowhere, I can tell you that 2nd Day shipping means that I just might see it in a week. But if I don't pay for it, I may wait 2 weeks for that one spool of thread. That I can likely only use half of.

So there you have it. I hope I have helped you avoid a train wreck in your own studio. 

I didn't get a whole lot done today on this modern quilt made with Bali Pops. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I could tell it wanted a modern quilting design. I don't have any pantographs that satisfied my ideas, so I've been making up the quilting as I go - from the front of the machine - using an idea of straight lines and circles. 

In order to make a smooth circle that didn't require backtracking, and that allowed me to do a continuous design from left to right, I chalked and marked some basic lines and circles to follow. I straddled the chalk line and made half-circles on the first pass:

Then, I completed the bottom of the design the same way as the top: 

I like to stitch from left to right, so I did that with each row - instead of doubling back right to left. I feel like I'm more in control that way. Here is a finished section:

This quilt told me that Aurifil 40 wt. on top was fine, but not in the bobbin. So I switched the bobbin out for The Bobbin Line Light Tan #13575 poly thread from Fil-Tec. I wound it onto one of my own bobbins. I believe they sell this color in prewounds now. But it behaved absolutely perfectly in the bobbin today! On top I chose color #5001 which is a warmish, light shimmery gold.

Any day that my machine produces good tension, is a day worth celebrating! 

Another quilt is finished! My customer tells me that the name of this quilt pattern is "Sausalito". I love the colors. It was a large quilt, and I had originally thought the pantograph would take a long time to stitch out. But instead it was surprisingly productive - as well as enjoyable to execute. 

Using Aurifil 40 wt. cotton in the top and the bobbin proved to be the winning combination for good tension. I used a 4.0 needle and set my SPI to 9. About a quarter-inch of the metal stem was protruding from the white rotary tension assembly - I don't know how else to describe that! Needless to say, that's a bit tighter than I usually run the top thread. But it worked for me and for this quilt. This week.

I still had to give a slight discount however because the first 2 rows had unsatisfactory tension (in my opinion). Thankfully, I only had to pick out a few areas that were unacceptable instead of the entire 2 rows. The back looks so pretty with the khaki fabric and the leafy fans, accentuated by the Hobbs 80/20 batting:

Next up is this Bali Pop quilt that is awaiting a shipment of new batting. I'm going to use Hobbs 100% natural cotton (with scrim) in this one. I am also going to try a different quilt design idea from the front of my machine. Different for me, anyway! When I load it on the rack lengthwise I want to do straight lines all the way down the piecing. Except in the yellow rectangles. In those I want to put 3 small circles. The idea is still in infancy.

In the meantime I'll spend the rest of my work day finishing up my own unfinished quilt projects while it is pouring rain outside.

And I'm going to purposely ignore the laundry, dishes, floors ....

My tension lesson today was: make sure the bobbin is wound each time only 2/3 full. That was today's secret to tension that looked like this on the back:

I'm using a pale green on the back and I love how it looks against the khaki homespun weave of the backing fabric. 

The altered pantograph is perfect now. The laser light is in the correct position more often when the design is lower on the table. And now my machine is not getting extended way out away from me when I quilt. My back is happy, and my time is more productive.

This quilt has so far been very soothing to work on. The texture of the pantograph is just so beautiful. The pantograph itself is very soothing to quilt, and it takes big bites out of the quilting area - so that each pass really accomplishes something.

I'm purposely forgetting about having to go back and restitch the first row or two. That time will come, probably tomorrow. So today I'm enjoying the way every player is doing their job.

The pantograph "Far East Leaf" is really looking nice on this quilt! The pattern itself is a little daunting at first because of all of the backtracking in the leaves. But after awhile I decided to relax and make it pretty without worrying about every line being backtracked perfectly. It is a pantograph after all. 

Today I learned that this particular quilt likes Aurifil 40 wt. on the top and in the bobbin. I will be picking out the first row, where I used Aurifil 50 wt. in the bobbin. Oh Heaven forbid!! How dare I try something that normally works and expect it to work! I'm just glad my machine graciously accepted the change to 40 wt. and produced a nicer stitch after that.

The paper pantograph had a couple of issues that had to be resolved after the first few rows were stitched. The first issue was that I didn't want to quilt the design upside-down, so I had it on my machine like this:

But you can see that there are several inches at the bottom, which means that the head of the machine gets extended way too far away from me when I'm quilting the design. The second issue is that when it arrived in the mail it was flattened, instead of round. So there are rolling creases all the way down the entire pattern. They are worse in real life, and the picture didn't show the worst parts. This is problematic because when the laser is trying to follow the design lines, it gets distorted and won't make a nice smooth line. 

So I began fixing the pantograph by removing it from the back of the machine. I turned it over because it wanted to roll that way and I didn't want to fight it. I could see the design through the paper, so I used my rotary cutter and long 24" ruler to trim off the design. This edge had to be perfectly straight all the way down:

I didn't get a picture of how I solved the second issue: I ironed the entire pantograph. I used a cotton setting and no steam. The result is almost completely flat now:

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Mine will be full of yard work. And no solid food....

: )

The lighting in my studio doesn't do justice to the spa-like colors of these fabrics. They're incredibly soothing! My customer has requested the pantograph "Far East Leaf" by Lisa Calle:

I'm excited to get started on it, because I've been intrigued to feel how this design will quilt up. I love the look of it. At first I thought of using a variegated cotton that has the cool blues and tans. But there isn't one out there. And if there is, it probably wouldn't work on my machine. So I've chosen a 40 wt. Aurifil cotton - which sounds boring but isn't - in a shimmery creamy light tan #2310. Looking at this thread in the light was all it took for me to be sold on it. Not to mention the fact that I'm still a bit gun-shy due to my recent tension issues. If this tried-and-true thread gives me even one problem, I'm switching to either a) Mettler 60 wt. cotton embroidery thread; or b) YLI 100 wt. silk in Natural #239. I don't want a fine-thread look. But I'll take what my machine will give me. And smile!

 : )

Which reminds me. I'd like to start this quilt tomorrow. But I'll be 174.28 miles away from home getting railroad tracks installed in my mouth. Twenty-five years late.

This large Feathered Star is finally done!  The center is difficult to see, but is a combination of feathers and circles:

I used a stencil for the feathered wreath in the center, and I followed the outer edges of the chalk lines to make each feather:

Here is the finished quilt, showing the top border:

And turned around to show the bottom border:

Before:

After:

And now for something completely different...

I've been playing with Jenny Pedigo's Quick Curve Ruler, which makes these curved nine-patch blocks very simply. The finished block is actually supposed to be an Urban Nine Patch block, but I can't get my groove on with the way the outer pieces make a square-in-a-square. Check it out on her blog if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about: Sew Kind of Wonderful

So instead, I'm going to try to make a quilt out of only the curved nine-patch blocks - and that's why I'm auditioning sets, above. I have an idea in my head that just won't go away - it's a big quilt with wonderful colors on a background of grey cotton. I love the magenta colors, but I can see that I need more purples. Which means I'll have to buy more fabric. 

: )

This "light custom" has officially become "full custom". With big meandered borders. I don't think I have a specified price range for that combination. I would never put those two together. But sometimes a challenge gets the best of me. This is that time.

To stitch the corner motifs I first drew out the design using - of course - stencils, and my purple Marvy Marker:

I used Aurifil 50 wt. cotton in a pale yellow for the top and the bobbin to match the background fabric. Prior to using this combination, I spent the morning tearing out dark thread. Yuk. And a different design. Terrible. So, I returned to my comfort zone and didn't grow creatively one bit.

However, I got to use my favorite Fine Line Continuous Curve ruler from Accents in Design. I love this ruler! It makes perfect curved crosshatching every time:

I increased the SPI to 12 and did a stipple around the feather. When I got to a flower, I stitched it and then stippled around it too.

The last job of the day was basting the bottom of the star. Everything is lying flat still, so that's good.

I'm eager to SID the orange and red tiny triangles in the star, so they will "pop". She put so much time into the center of this quilt, that I want to be sure to give it my best. That large green floral in the center is still an unknown right now. Logic tells me that nothing I quilt in there will be seen. But it is the center. So I will have to come up with something. On Monday...

Have a wonderful weekend!

: )

This is one incredibly long post today... 

It starts with pictures from yesterday's finish. I love how the pantograph looks in the red "heart" shapes on this quilt. The tension was nice enough that I didn't have to give a discount, which is good for me. And, I don't have to pass off bad tension to my innocent customer.

Next up in the studio today is this large Feathered Star quilt, which will be receiving a light custom treatment:

The quilt is laying lengthwise on the rack, so you will notice that the top borders are not symmetrical with the bottom borders. This presented a challenge at first. I fully intended to treat each one with something different, with SID in between each new border. However, all of these border seams are pressed open. So - no SID. 

My next idea was a pantograph to fill in the huge border areas. But then I noticed that those large green triangles are also pressed open, and can't be SID'd. The only place I can start SID is with the orange-y floral triangles that surround the white fabric. As I tried to figure out how in the world I would do a panto - avoiding those green triangles - I began to feel faint. 

Meanwhile, I found the backing looked like this when I unfolded it:

I'm pretty sure my customer didn't know there were 20 inches missing on one half of the length of this backing. I could see there was plenty of fabric, it just wasn't where it belonged. So I took it to my cutting board and hacked off the extra 20 inches on the one half (notice my new ruler guard):

Then I split the piece in half (these are folded), so that I now had two 10" X 43" pieces:

I stitched them end-to-end to make one 10" X 85" piece to add to the end of the backing. Which will actually be the top of the backing when I load it onto the machine:

Before the quilt top could be loaded on, I decided I'd better fix this:

Normally I never trim a customer's quilt top. In this case it was necessary. So I pressed it and trimmed it to look a bit better:

To make a long story short, I called the customer and asked her if an allover meander would be acceptable in the borders. I could seriously not think of any other way to handle all of that non-symmetrical real estate. She said she thought that was a fine idea, as long as the center of the quilt would still be special, as we had previously agreed on. 

Well, those large green borders were killing me still. One on top and one on the bottom, but in different locations. The thought of chaotic meandering on a green canvas was just too much for me. So I got an idea from looking at Kim Stotsenberg's "Just Leaf It" book. I chalked some lines....

And had some fun....

I didn't want a vein down the center of these leaves. I don't like the heavy thread build-up. So I used the chalk line to act as the vein, and stitched the leaves:

If you've ever wondered how to bury a knot, well you're in luck today. I warned you - this is an incredibly long post. Anyhoo, this is the curved needle I use:

And the knot is buried:

For the leaves I used Sulky Blendables 30 wt. cotton #4006 on top with a dark green Aurifil 40 wt. cotton in the bobbin. I used dark green because I knew there would be little dots of bobbin thread on top, and I wanted it to blend in. I used a 4.0 needle and set my SPI to 10. The tension was nice overall.

When the time came to quilt the meander, I changed thread to Aurifil 40 wt. #2240, which is a burnt orange color. I wanted it to show up on the green, and it really did:

I finished almost half of this quilt today, about 75 photos in all. But the rest will have to wait until tomorrow. I would be surprised if anyone could even open this post today because I didn't have time to resize all of these pictures.

The bottom border will be different than this one, but the same. Makes sense?