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Quilting Heidi

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  1. Like
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from Jamie.bennett@hotmail.com in Sewing room finished   
    Nice space and I'm really glad you are back to quilting!  
  2. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Robin in Surf Song Bargello   
    Just off my quilt frame this week, "Surf Song" bargello.  From the book Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts by Eileen Wright.  Needed a king size quilt for my bed and instead of adding borders to make a king sized "Surf Song" I kept building the bargello to the edges.  I quilted it with IQ and the panto Ripples by Lorien Quilting.  I will make coordinating batik pillowcases and of course still need to bind the beast!!
    Robin in MT


  3. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to LeannM in Client's Labrynth Quilt   
    I finished this quilt recently for a client.  She absolutely loved the way it turned out.  It's great when the pieces fall together and the client celebrates the job with you!!!




  4. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Gator in Taking care of the canvas   
    Whew, thanks Heidi.  I thought I was the only on who never changed her canvas.  My machine is a 2009 and I do the same as Heidi.  Every now and then I zip them together and give them a spritz of water too.
  5. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Quilta93 in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    Thanks for the update Heidi. She has been in my prayers and continues to be. 
    Deb.
  6. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Mary Beth in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    Jennifer still gets teary-eyed when she looks at Haylee's quilt. 
  7. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Oma in Sewing room finished   
    This is the other Koala cabinet. Try to see past the mess. I'm working on a quilt so I don't want to move stuff. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. LOL.
    You can see the peg board in this pic too.

  8. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Oma in Sewing room finished   
    This is a close up of the Studio Cutter cabinet. It doesn't match the koala cabinets, but it is well made and is PERFECT for all the AccuQuilt stuff. I found it cheaper than the AccuQuilt site and free shipping and NO tax! The price was great!

  9. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Gator in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    I work 9 hours a day but could make a block, if anyone was thinking we should make her a quilt?  I remember when we used to make them on here for members.
  10. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Mary Beth in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    Thank you Heidi. I have been wondering too. 
  11. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Gator in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    Thanks Heidi, sad to hear she's still in the hospital but glad she's recovering.  COPD is not your friend when having surgery, especially if it's a long one.
  12. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from Mary Beth in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    I remembered I had the email of her DIL and emailed her.  Rita is still in the hospital.  She had breathing related complications but seems to be doing better as of this week.  I'll let you know if I hear anything further.
  13. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from Gail O in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    I remembered I had the email of her DIL and emailed her.  Rita is still in the hospital.  She had breathing related complications but seems to be doing better as of this week.  I'll let you know if I hear anything further.
  14. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from dbams in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    I remembered I had the email of her DIL and emailed her.  Rita is still in the hospital.  She had breathing related complications but seems to be doing better as of this week.  I'll let you know if I hear anything further.
  15. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from dbams in OT-Can't find it here, so can anyone tell me how Rita is doing? Did she have her surgery in December?   
    I haven't heard anything either!  I sent her a personal email and didn't get a response.  I sure hope she is ok.
     
     
  16. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Sharon Deming in Blog post and quilter's strip poker   
    I just published the latest Quiltniques blog post: http://quiltniques.blogspot.com/  Enjoy.
  17. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to RitaR in cervical surgery.   
    Thanks  Hieid, as of now, I'm getting butterflys  In my stomach.  rofl
    We have things to do and places to go, everyday between now and then,
    I'm trying to crochet dish cloths,  not doing it very good, but it keeps my hands busy.
    I passed the Pre op with flying colors.
    Today I have the 6min walk test.,  don't  know why they call it that when it takes half an hour lol ;o)
    He will fuse C1 thry T8..I will get a Buster Brown hair cut high  on the back and let the hair grow in with the brace.
    They fitted me in the brace which I'll have to wear for 3 months, and I won't be able  to nod or shake my head at all. 
    It,  goes from my jaw, down to mid chest, and in back from middle of head/and down , I think he said to about  t11 or t12. 
    I have to shower with the brace on.
    Living this way for 3 months is going to be a VERY DIFFERENT experience, and I WILL, WILL, do it.
    Christmas blessings to all,  may it be Healthy and Safe.
    God Bless all,
    Rita


     

  18. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to RitaR in cervical surgery.   
    Thanks, Heidi...   Prayers are always welcome, and freely given. what the twins do the first time they see each other again.


    I keep praying for Landon. I'd love to be there to see the twins when they first see each other again.  Very precious moments I think. Hugs to all,

  19. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to RitaR in cervical surgery.   
    I will have pre-op on Dec. 20,
    Hubby turns 81 on the 23 rd,
    and I will have surgery on the 28th.
     
    More to tell but I keep losing the print.
     
    I  Thank All of you for your prayers and good Thought,
     
    Please pray for me and all involved with the Surgery.
     
     
    God bless you all, have wonderful holidays and stay safe and healthy.
     
     
     
     
  20. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to Bonnie in Ok in Machine lighting kudo   
    I bought the light advertised by Mike Ferris on this forum and I really like the change from my old style fluorescent light on my Mille. The added plus is the added view of the sewing area checkout his site. Many others have also gave good reviews on the light just search the forum for them.
    Thanks Mike!
  21. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to jimerickson in Long arm needles   
    I've been quilting a series of whole cloth charity quilts on my Gammill, and decided that such a quilt offered an excellent opportunity to compare stitch quality and tension variations of the MR and SERV7 needles.  Being whole cloth quilts there would be no piecing seams, or variations in patch fabric to mask actual results.  I did a random meander, so I sewed rather rapidly.
     
    Now both needles performed well.  Both needles were 18/100.  I used Tex 40 YLI Longarm Professional as a top thread, Bottom Line as a bobbin thread, and polyester batting. All stitching was done from the front of the machine.  No skipped stitches, and no occasional loop on the back was noted with either needle.  (I've had an issue with the Gammill leaving an occasional single stitch loop on the  back recently, but increasing the tension on the thread take-up spring seems to have eliminated that problem)  I closely examined the stitch appearance both top and bottom, for both needles.  The directional tension changes was my focus.  While the difference was not great, I think the Schmetz SERV7 needle out performed the Groz-Beckert titanium coated MR san 11 needle.  The Schmetz needle produced more uniform stitches.  Going in bad directions (back and to the left) the Schmetz stitches were more balanced, making all the stitches look more uniform.  I emphasize again, there was not a great deal of difference.
     
    While the difference was not great, in my opinion, it is enough to convince me that the Schmetz SERV7 needle gives me better performance.  I plan to switch and use the Schmetz needles in the future.  Jim
  22. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to jimerickson in Long arm needles   
    I said that I wasn't going to experiment with the Organ needles anymore.  Well, I had a couple of small jobs, and decided to try the Organs out again.  The only problem I had was that I broke the thread once.  Now this rarely happens with the YLI Longarm Professional thread I usually use.   It might have been due to a quilt sandwich that wasn't just right, or more likely because of timing.  You'll recall that I re-timed Zelda for the Schmetz needles, but not the Organs,  You'll also note that the scarf of the Organ needle is the smallest of the needles I've been testing.  It could be that the hooks meets the scarf a bit higher than it should, and that "lack of space" was responsible for the break, or maybe I was just sewing too fast, I'm not sure.  I slowed down and didn't break the thread again.  In fact, I sewed the second project with Glide thread, sewing relatively slowly, and had no problem with that thread either.  The Organ needle worked OK.
     
    Now unless you have easy access to Organ needles and problems with buying either the Schmetz or Groz-Beckert  needles, there doesn't seem to a good reason to change.  In fact the smaller scarf might be a reason not to use them.  All the needles I tested seem to be priced pretty much the same when purchased in 100 needle packs (some where between $30-$40), so cost shouldn't be much of a consideration.  All the needles tested worked well.  No missed stitches when the timing was  set properly.  Because of the different shapes of the needles, the Schmetz and Organ needles poke a smaller hole in the fabric than the MR needles.  Supposedly, that allows you to use one size larger needle of the non-MR with the same fabric appearance.  So you could use an 18 instead of a 16 with the same look.  Larger needles are stiffer, so that could be a benefit of moving away from MR's.  On the other hand the MR's are probably more timing forgiving.  You decide.  I like the Schmetz SERV 7 enough to switch.  I bought 50 each of 16's and 18's, and will use the MR's I have on my Gammill.  Jim   
  23. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi reacted to jimerickson in Long arm needles   
    For years I've puzzled over sewing machine needles and the vast range of nomenclature to identify them.  It started more than ten years ago, with my wife's Babylock serger, and has been a puzzle for me ever since.  Little by little I'm beginning to unravel this mystery.  Heidi's post of a week or so about Schmetz needles got me going again.
     
    I have used Groz-Beckert 134 MR GEBEDUR FFG/SES needles almost exclusively, with an occasional Singer 1955 MR needle thrown in.  They've served me well, but I'm always interested in trying new things with the hope I might find something that I like better.  With that in mind, I just ordered some needles made by Schmetz, and Organ that I think will work in my machine (this is where the mystery comes in)  It is difficult to know exactly what needle works in my machine from the package nomenclature.
     
    Here are the package ID's of the needles I use, and the ones I ordered:
     
    Singer                  Groz-Beckert  Schmetz*           Schmetz              Organ
    1955-01-MR4.0   134 MR           CANU:20:05 1   CANU:20:05 17    135x5
    Set/R                   1955MR          134R                 134R SERV 7      DPx5
    134    135x5        134 SAN 11     135x5                135x5 SERV7     135x7
    797     DPx5        DPx 5 MR        SY 1955             DPx5  SERV 7    134R - 1955
                                                       DPx5
     
    The Schmetz needle with the * is the one Heidi is using.  The other is the one listed as the long arm needle on the web site link that was referenced by someone else in that thread.
     
    Now I do know what some of the designations mean.  For instance the MR stands for a needle configuration intended for multi-directional sewing.  The 1955 represents a style of needle I think, and is probably duplicated by the R, and Set/R designation.  The DPx5 I think means the same as the 135x5 and the 134 which I believe is the length of the needle, and the position of the eye.  The CANU 20 I think represents the thickness of the needle shank.  I know that the SAN 11 is important, but I don't know exactly what it means.  Perhaps, how large the scarf is.
     
    The MR (multi range) needle provides a particular blade configuration and shank that is stiffer than others to proved needle deflection resistance.  The SERV 7 design provides the same sort of benefit as the MR, but in a bit different way.  Both have a larger and deeper thread groove in the front of the needle.
     
    Interestingly, the size needle recommended by Superior Threads, deals not with what you're sewing, but rather what thread (mostly size) that you're using.  I notice that they recommended using an 18 or 19 size needle for King Tut, and a 19 or 21 size for Lava.  Perhaps folks who use these threads (I don't), and have problems, have so, because they are trying to use too small a needle.  The size of the groove in the front of the needle being the issue, not the needle eye size, needle diameter, or the fabric being sewed. 
     
    I plan to experiment with the three new to me needles on the list, and find out if, and how well, they work.  I'll up date this thread with my impressions and thoughts on each.  Jim
     
    BTW, I'm not quite sure about the nomenclature on the second Schmetz, and I'll check it, and make any appropriate corrections when the packs of needles arrive.  Also, anyone who know exactly what any of the designation codes mean, feel free to share your knowledge.
  24. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from delld in Two of Three Pirate Quilts   
    I have this pattern.  My DIL wanted it if she was having a boy but we're having a girl!  
  25. Upvote
    Quilting Heidi got a reaction from delld in Two of Three Pirate Quilts   
    Dell they are adorable and we discussed it but DIL decided she didn't want Pirate theme for girl.  Not sure what we'll do yet other then it will be aqua and lavender.  
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