Ruler Machine Quilting – Day 2

To quote Herman’s Hermits…..”Second verse, same as the first”!!

Today I drew out two 6.5 inch squares (because that is what fit on the practice piece) and did two more Square Spiral designs. The first was a 3/4 inch spiral and the second a 1 inch spiral…..

The only problems that I had were in one corner and I believe that was because I was right at the edge of my fabric and couldn’t get a good hold to help move the fabric properly …..

For these long lines of quilting, I have been using a ruler that I purchased at our last guild quilt show…

It is made by “Angel Oak Stitchery” and you should check out their online store for more well made rulers.

At the gym this morning I watched two videos….one by Angela Walters showing how to use her ruler named “Sid” (gotta love that she gives each of her rulers a name)!!!

There are a few things that I really like about this ruler. First of all, having all of the registration lines is amazingly helpful. Secondly, the lips on the outside of the rule (at the bottom in the photo) help to line up exactly 1/4 inch away from where you want to stitch…..

So if I have this mark lined up in both places then I know that I will be stitching directly on the line as I move down the ruler. This makes traveling over existing stitches so much easier and accurate.

The final thing that I like about Sid is that he has a rough surface on the back side which helps to grip the fabric as you quilt. On the other rulers that I own, I have had to add my own non-skid tape to it.

The second video that I watched while I Eliptical-ed (is that a word) was from Natalia Bonner. She showed another straight line design for borders and I decided that I would give it a try.

The first step was to draw out my faux quilt

….consisting of 2 four inch blocks, a 1.5 inch inner border and a 3 inch outer border.

I made a few registration marks just so I could tell when the edges and centers of the blocks would be and then started sewing, using SID this time.

The thing that I found hardest initially was to figure out where to hold the ruler to make the needle end up in the right position…..

….but it did get easier with practice.

I started with the design that Natalia had demonstrated…..

….and then kept adding on and on and on and on……..until I ended up with this design…..

Except for a few thread breaks, the entire piece was quilted in one continuous session.

What did I learn……

• using the markings on SID made easy work of keeping the lines straight
• I need to figure out how to keep the spacing correct when using straight line fillers. This was easier when I spaced them 1/4 inch apart because I could use the ruler foot as my guide…..

• I often struggle with how to turn the corner on a border and really like this corner treatment…..

Okay…enough practice for the day!!! Now I need to get started on quilting a few REAL quilts but will certainly feel more at east to add in some straight line designs in as I go.