quiltmonkey

Yes

Please be wary of trolls and unsavory people posting on this forum. I was recently victimized by someone who goes by the name Celena. This person blatantly copied and pasted my story under her name. Are people half nuts? What is going on here? I'm deeply troubled by this. To all of you kind folks here, be wary that there are some odd happenings on what should be a safe place for all of us. Here's the post I'm referring to.

OK whoever this woman "Celena" is, is a fraud. She copied and pasted my exact story. I am shocked that someone would blatantly use my story, my experience with my friend and neighbor in North Pole, Jacee to their benefit? Who is this person "Celena" ??? She's obviously a troll. Administrators, Please remove this fraudulent post from this forum. This is my post that I wrote here on the forum last year. It's an exact copy and paste. What the HECK is going on here, people!

This is an easy fix with a minor adjustment. Call the APQS headquarters in Iowa. They can resolve this for you over the phone. Before you call, remove the needle from the machine and the thread from the take up lever. This will avoid any thread getting tangled up in the bobbin area.

Agree with you. I do not float my tops - I've always felt better control with my top pinned to the leader.

Adding one more thing: I am (by nature) a very accommodating and nice person. Probably too nice sometimes. In dealing with my quilting customers, the word "no" is not a word I use, ever. Very rare situations when I need to tell a customer the word "no" ... and this situation is generally the only time I stand up for myself and say "No! Sorry, my requirement is to have 8" wider and 8" longer than quilt top." Period. End of story. I've almost hurt myself numerous times trying to quilt a quilt with barely enough backing fabric. It's dangerous. I draw the line when it comes to injuring myself because of a customer did not give me enough backing fabric.

Even if you sew scraps of fabric to all four sides, if the quilt top is the same size as the back, it's absolutely impossible to avoid quilting the extra strip's seam line into the quilt while quilting it. Trust me in my 15 years of longarm quilting, it is nearly impossible to accomplish this very difficult and extremely stressful situation. I would contact customer and ask her to provide you with larger backing fabric that is at a minimum 8" wider and 8" longer than the quilt top. My job is to quilt the customer's quilt without pulling my hair out... it's not my job to perform miracles due to the failure of the customer to provide ample backing fabric. IMHO.

Not a problem.

Hi Pat, Connie's suggestion about your leaders is good. However, I don't know if you want to...or need to buy new leaders, or if you want to give your current leaders a "hair cut" ... There's plenty of extra canvas on you rollers, if you want to try the hair cut route. These are the steps: Pin the take up leader to the bottom leader, overlapping the edges a few inches. After pinning, pull these two pinned leaders taught as much as you can. As you roll out the take up leader and roll the bottom leader canvas that's pinned to it, do this until you have about 12 inches or so of fresh new section of canvas from the top leader. Next, if you have channel locks, turn on the horizontal channel lock and using a cream colored thread in top and bobbin, slowly sew a line across on the fresh new section of the take up leader. While everything is still pinned together, roll forward until you have about 12 inches or so of fresh new section of canvas on the bottom leader. Repeat with channel locks on stitching a line of thread across the bottom leader. Leave the pins in. It's easier to trim the brand new straight line while everything is taught. The thread line you sewed on each leader is a line as a guide to carefully cut your brand new fresh clean straight edges for both take up leader and bottom leader. You will want to clean up the edges on your top leader, too. Repeat steps for pinning the take up leader to a fresh new section of the top leader (about 12 inches down), stitch a line across the top leader leader. Leave the pins in. It's easier to trim the straight line while everything is taught. Viola!

Yes. I have done this with very friendly quilts.

All I can say is, some people are absolutely clueless (I mean absolutely completely clueless) to the heart and soul and thought and love that the quilter goes through in making a one-of-a-kind ---"BLANKET" ... these people are absolutely clueless. Even though you never received a thank you it doesn't mean they did not appreciate it. Trust me, every one of us has had this happen to us. What I do is I make and give quilts because it makes me feel good and I love doing it. It's a gift that I chose to give. What happens to my gifted quilt after I have given it is no longer in my control. I'm sure that some of my gifted quilts are being used in a not so flattering ways. I'm willing to accept that fact. I know that most people are grateful and are thankful and treasure them. Sending you a hug. Don't ever stop creating and giving the things you love. It's something that makes you special and kind.

King Tut is cotton. Combining cotton threads in top and also in bobbin-- these cotton threads tend to "fight" with each other because of the natural "nubs and bumps" that are part of the cotton thread. The best combination is to use a polyester thread in the bobbin (I use Bottom Line) and use King Tut cotton on the top. I usually install a 4.0 or 4.5 size needle - the larger eye in the needle allows the cotton thread to pass through without issues. I have successfully used King Tut on top and Bottom Line in the bobbin for 12 years without any problems. Give that a try. I love King Tut. Also what Jim stated above, the loops on bottom (and even on top) are because the top thread is not tight enough. Keep adjusting/tightening until your thread pulls through smoothly - while watching the tension spring so that it is between 7:00 Pm and 8:00 Pm on the clock. Go tighter.

I think you answered your own question in your last sentence. You won't make a mistake going with APQS.

Hi Caddyhomes, Sharon gave you some great advice. I read your part about "changing spools" and that might be part of the problem. Spools don't tend to work with evenly feeding off the thread. Cones work much better for the longarm machine. Of course, you can use spools, but it's a little trickier and requires a little more patience and tweaking. I tend to use the cones and never have issues with breaking. One thing I would suggest is to change your needle to a 4.0 or even a 4.5. That is a bigger hole and might give you a little more forgiveness with breaking thread. Good luck!

Some (but not all) wide backing fabrics are made with a lesser grade than those fabrics that are made 45" wide. I read this at a reliable source. The suggestion is to buy the 45" wide fabrics and piece those together. However, I have found that some of the wide backings are a better quality grade. You have to shop around to find them.