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Sandra G

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Posts posted by Sandra G

  1. I have a new LA running QCT4 which is almost identical to APQS.  I've had Butler for years and know how to place and tweak my digital patterns to fit in the centers and melons as the Butler has tracking crosshairs so you know just where your needle is on the quilt top.  The melons are never perfectly aligned so I could rotate the pattern a scooch when I placed it and it stitched evenly within the melon space.  QCT4 does not have this crosshair feature so there is no way to know exactly where the pattern is stitching without using Trace.  I have tried all of the block placing methods and cannot seem to land on the one that will maintain the pattern size and still align the pattern to fit in a melon with points that may be skewed a couple of degrees off perfect vertical or horizontal.

    Is that clear as mud LOL??  Help and advice would be most appreciated!

    Sandra G

     

  2. Oh yeah, I've had this happen more than once LOL!  If your quilt has a border, just quilt the field to the edge of the border then do straight line channel stitching horz and vertical for the border.

    If your quilt has blocks all round the edge, quilt the field leaving all the outside blocks free, then do same as above to create a channel border.

    I never run my patterns off the quilt as I don't like cut off motifs.  I size my digital patterns to start and end about 1/2" in from the quilt edge.  So worst case scenario, I sew scrap strips to backing using basting stitch and can easily pull the strips away after quilting.

  3. I had the same problem on my 12' Grace frame which rolls long on the right side.  First thing I did was get rid of the thick canvas leaders.  I made my own leaders using pin striped cotton quilting fabric and I use the plastic tubing leader clamps .  By accurately sewing your sleeves for the clamp rods and lining up your quilt top using the lines on the fabric you can pretty well start out with a quilt square to the frame.  As you roll your quilt use your carriage lock to track a seam line across.  If you are lower even a smidge on one side tuck a sliver of batting under the top roll along the quilt until the seam line is even.  I do float my quilt tops

    Another reason quilts don't roll evenly is because they  are getting torqued on the roll.  When I load my quilts I put blue painters tape on my dead bar right at both edges of the quilt top.  With each advance I adjust the quilt top to make sure it is positioned correctly at both edges.

    Hope that helps!

    Sandra G

  4. Hi Kate,  I've been using the Butler for about 3 years on a MegaQuilter, and recently purchased the Juki QVP with Quilters Creative Touch 4 by Grace as a second machine. I've been quilting for clients for 8 years, started out FM and then added the Butler robotics.  I quilt about 20 quilts per month.  So far, much to my disappointment, I much prefer the Butler, and wish I had simply purchased another system like I had.  Butler is far more straight forward, does it's job without imposing a lot of "software control" that I have found to be most frustrating with the Grace programs.  Butler is not hard to master yet has the capability of doing very complex designs like irregular blocks, DWR's etc that I have found to be extremely difficult with the QCT4.

    Good luck in your search!

    Sandra G

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