The good, the bad and the ugly!

The good, I made progress getting a few more items made for the studio. With the Innova set up on the other side of the room, the sun comes thru the window and shines directly on the machine and any quilt that is loaded on the frame. Fix: New sheers! I made this panel yesterday...

Working on a second pair for the other window once I pick out a rod that will fit. Eventually there will be a quilted roman shade/valance to top this window.

Another item finished is a "pocket" I made for the longarm. Also to protect quilts while they are loaded on the frame. I do a "full float" which means I don't attach the top to a leader. The top ends up hanging off the frame with the batting and is held in place with magnets. With this new pocket (that's what we call it in the drapery workroom world) both the batting and the quilt top will be safely off the floor, protected from feet and anything that might be on the floor (lots of thread :0) I vacuum each time I load a new quilt but it doesn't take long before there is new thread on the floor.

In the picture above you can see how much sun was just starting to come thru the window with the  cafe panel that used to cover half the window.

The pocket is attached by Velcro to the leader I don't use (intended for the quilt top). I used the Velcro so I have the option of taking off the pocked and use the leader when I need to. Once in awhile it is helpful, especially for a quilt top that doesn't want to play nice ;0) 

Velcro is sewn onto the leader and the top of the pocket where it attaches. I added a few small pieces of Velcro to hold the pocket in place when working on smaller quilts. 

The bad is that I made little progress with completed quilts. The hand guided sample I worked on turned out great! I am very happy with the Innova for that (forgot to take pix) This donation purple batik quilt is next on my frame to practice setting up a custom program. The learning curve for the software is pretty high which makes this time consuming. The good news is the features are wonderful and the design possibilities endless! I will be taking classes with my Innova dealer, tentatively the end of April. Wish it was sooner but I'm getting there! 

The entire design was planned out and up on the screen. With the quilt basted I was getting ready to stitch it out. I needed one more measurement (measure twice ~ sew once) and as I pulled the quilt top out of the pocket I felt a seam pull apart! 

This is the ugly part... all three of the borders and some of the blocks started pulling apart in one area of the quilt top and then a second area did the same.

I turned it over to see what was going on and saw scorch marks along the seams. Not sure what type of thread was used, it was a group project and I don't know who actually pieced and/or pressed this top. I suspect it was polyester because it looks to be melted.

Or not, it's possible that no thread could have survived this :0(  Thankfully I had only basted the sides and it was easy to take off the frame. Now to unload the backing. Wishing I still had zippered leaders like I had on my last longarm! Oh well, one more item to add to a very long to do list.  Calling this week done. Happy that it's Spring! Yea!!!

Enjoy your weekend

Spend some time in a garden and/or get in a few stitches!
I am planning to head up to the mountains :0)