Four Quilts Quilted

A longarm quilter friend, Mary M., came to my house on Friday and helped me figure out how to work with pantographs to do the quilting on my quilts (thank you Mary).  We started with a small quilt.  The quilting just wasn't coming out right.  My machine was so, so stiff.  We tried everything and just couldn't find the problem.  I kept at it but with less than satisfactory curves.  Then right toward the end, with only two rows left to quilt, I noticed that the horizontal channel lock light was on.  That's what was causing the drag and making my shapes all squared up instead of curvy like they were supposed to be.  It's like trying to drive a car with the emergency brake on.  Darn!

I'm so glad my top fabric had a dense print and so did my backing fabric. The quilting detail is hardly noticeable, thank goodness.  I quilted it using a very beautiful pantograph called rambler rose.   I'll have to try using that panto again on another quilt because it's really hard to tell what the pattern looks like on this quilt.  It took me 6 1/2 hours to quilt this small quilt.  It probably took so long because I was having training and we were having problems with the machine too.  Hopefully things will speed up when I become more accustomed to the process.  I made this quilt in 2005 and it's been begging to be quilted ever since then.  Now all that's left is the binding.  Here is a picture of...............the first quilt I quilted using a pantograph...........my mystery quilt (mystery was entitled Opposites Attract on Planet Patchwork.  I used Christmas looking fabric), and a close-up of the quilting, such as it is.

The machine problem was somewhat discouraging but I decided to get right "back on the horse" and loaded another UFO quilt after Mary left on Friday.  This time it worked beautifully and the finished product looks so nice.   I quilted this one using a winding plume panto.  I thought pantos were going to make the quilting process faster but this one took me 5 1/2 hours to quilt.  That's longer than I expected since it's a small quilt, but as I get more experienced and the steps become second nature, maybe the time will speed up some.  Here is the second UFO quilt that I quilted using a pantograph.  It's been awaiting quilting since 2006.  It's a stack & slash sudoku made with Moda's Sentimental Journey fabric line.  Here's also a close-up of the quilting.

Yesterday (Saturday) I loaded and quilted another quilt and it looks pretty too.   It's the Faded Memories Opposites Attract quilt that I posted last week on my blog as a UFO top I had just finished.  I quilted it using a camillias pantograph.  It looks quite a bit better quilted than it did in that previous picture, doesn't it?  This one took me 8 hours to quilt - probably because it's larger and the pattern on the pantograph is denser.  Sure like how the pantograph looks and there's something about making all those curves that makes my mind feel good. My feet, not so much. lol.

Just before bed last night, I loaded a fourth UFO quilt and finished it today.   I made the top in 2006 and quilted it using a feather meandering pantograph today - it's a nice flowing pantograph pattern, isn't it?  It took me almost 7 hours to quilt this large quilt.  That's a little bit faster than the last one, maybe I'm getting the hang of this.  It's made with the Moda's Rhubarb & Ginger fabric line.  Here's also a close-up picture.

I still need to square up all of these quilts - then put on the binding.  I'm going to have quite a few bindings to do now, aren't I?  I guess I'm set for awhile with handwork to do while watching TV.