New Tricks for an Old Dawg

Recently I have been 'trying out' the sit down quilting machines at my sister's store. They feature the Babylock Tiara and it's pretty fabulous. My friend Mary has the Juki and it is also pretty fabulous. I've been trying out all over quilting designs on both of these, assuming that they would help me quilt a larger functional quilt in a super hurry. 

  

I practiced some patterns I found on Pinterest and felt ready to quilt SOMETHING. I do have a bunch of tops waiting in the wings, including these two that are about the same size. Mary invited me over to play on her machine Sunday afternoon, so I quickly sandwiched these two tops into one and hurried over there. Keeping in mind that these are nap quilt tops, about 45x60", the idea was to get them quilted and ready for use, so they need no fussiness for the quilting.


I learned some new designs, but still incorporated some of my old stuff into the mix too. The difference in the quilting machine was the ease of movement because of the table. And the huge bobbin allowed for hours of quilting without having to change the bobbin. I learned one important thing that made a huge difference in the reverse side of the quilt. I pulled up the bobbin thread at the start and that left the back looking better. Not that it matters but that is something I never usually did.

 

 Here's the back, which because of the busy prints, the quilting is difficult to see.

  It took about three and a half hours to quilt the thing and I am really jazzed about the experience. I am ready to quilt up the remaining 10 tops waiting in the wings.