Sparrow Studioz Quilting Contest

Here’s the deal. When Sparrow Studioz Newsletter first launched, we included a bonus pattern. (It was a limited time offer but don’t worry, you can still get the Windowpanes pattern.)
To qualify for the contest, you are going to need to make the Windowpanes quilt.
You should also subscribe to this blog (email or reader option),
and subscribe to Sparrow Studioz Newsletter (if you haven’t already).
Lastly, join the Windowpanes Flickr group and add photos of your finished quilt. and VOILA! you are entered for the following prizes….
50 bucks from Fat Quarter Shop.
25 bucks from Crafty Girls Workshop.
One of 3 Hilary Rice patterns from Bytowne Threads.
So there you are. Go sew.

Floating a Quilt Top and Batting on the Longarm Quilting Frame

I now float all my tops (ala Sue Patten). I don’t use the c-clamps to hold anything, I use them to mark where the inside border passes under the front roller(where the top would normally be rolled on to). I find I have far more control of how snug the top lays when it extends forward and over the backing bar. I find when the top is rolled on it’s bar, it has too much slack right up against the bar and I found myself basting that down with every turn(ala Sharon Schamber). The end result of all the trouble shooting was floating my tops. Every single one! I remember telling my students six months ago that I float about half my tops. Funny how things change. In the end, all you can do is try every method and see which works for you. If the end result is the same, who cares how you get there.

Floating your quilt vs. Pinning your quilt top to the leader

Question of the week…

Hi Matt,

I see you float all of your tops. Can you give me the pros and cons for doing that?

I have never tried but I think I might like it. Thanks

I can guarantee you’ll like it! If I can accomplish the exact same results without taking the time to load the third leader, the answer seems obvious to me. There are no cons to loading the bottom end of the quilt top other that the time it takes to do it. The pros for floating are…

1. You can see the rest of the top the entire time you are working on it. This gives you a chance to think about possible designs and thread colors.

2. You know exactly how much you have left to do before you get to go home to your lovely …wife. Rather than guessing what’s left on the roller.

3. Far less batting fuzzies get on your clothing, because your working up against the quilt top instead of the batting.

‎4. Time is money!

Loading a quilt with Leadergrips

What’s up my fellow thread jockeys?

As requested by many of you then promised by me, I made several videos for your viewing enjoyment. These videos are based on actual events that take place in my Edmonton quilting studio almost daily. There is absolutely no guarantee that any of these techniques are correct in any sense of the word.

Todays tip of the day: Forget about pinning your quilts, get yourself some leadergrips. What are leadergrips?  You might ask. Here is a short video to show you how to load your quilt on a longarm machine with no pins.

Like most of the shit I do, I do it my way. I am constantly trying to become a more efficient quilter. I look for short cuts as long as they don’t effect the end result. I try to save time as much as possible so I can run my life more effectively.  Leadergrips help me achieve this!

Happy new year mother factors

As we moved swiftly into 2011 my studio doors are locked for the day the lights above my millennium falcon are turned off and my thread cupboard is closed. As you can see by the title of this post I am using MacSpeech voice recognition software. Some words it knows others it guesses.  I would like to blog more often this year and the best way to guarantee that blogging  happen regularly is to make blogging easier. As most of you may not know I hate typing hate it hate it. With my new wireless headset and microphone in the MacSpeech torrent downloaded for free I am pretty much guaranteed at least a little bit of blogging success.

So here goes nothing. My fingers are crossed that this will be the first of many many many blog posts in 2011. As if this wasn’t exciting enough I have so much to look forward to as I scour the blogosphere for other quilty bloggers to get inspiration from. If you have a quilty blog you’d like me to check out please comment below and I’ll be sure to creep you often.

This was just a little trial and MacSpeech software. I’ll be back later today to discuss my New Year’s resolution for 2011.