Which machine am I using?

I've been asked what machine and am I using a frame.

Today I'm using a Bernina Aurora 440, but I'm not using the stitch regulator. I find it too slow. Sometimes I use a Bernina 1260. I don't use any type of frame. I normally have the inner ring of a wooden 8" embroidery hoop under the quilt. (My apologies to those on BQL and Cyberquilters who have already seen these photos. ) I never push the quilt towards the needle but manipulate it by pulling gently with a thumb or a finger (or a combination thereof) in the direction I want to go. The quilt in the photo is about 48" wide so I have virtually all of it in the harp of the machine. You can see this would be the same as working in the middle of a 90" square quilt. You can also see I don't roll the quilt, I just 'puddle' it around the area I'm quilting. The hoop is not attached to the quilt in any way just underneath it.

This photo shows how it is just slid under.
On these Patsy Thompson feathers I not using a hoop because to get the organic 'feel' you need to be able to swing round each lobe in one smooth motion.

More fun with those feathers

I outlined the feather with the curlicues as I felt whilst I liked the shapes, it didn't have enough impact. Outlining just outside the plume seems to sort this out. It might have looked even better with another colour. The fabric is a mat black not the grey it appears in the photo. The thread is very definitely a pure yellow but in photos and in life it appears green.
This has caused a problem in the next feather.

I thought it would be good to try to gently blend the colours on the fireworks feather. I used green and then yellow moving to orange then shocking pink. I think for this to have worked I would need to find a more orange yellow but you get the idea.
The threads used are Madeira Polyneons in their luminescent range (think dayglo colours) with Bottomline in the bobbin. I used a 90 Microtex needle.
I also think the stumpy bottom of the feather could do with a little more work. Perhaps a 'nib' could be drawn with thread before starting to draw the feather with thread?
Is this quilting or is it embroidery? There's a definite crossover here. I know where all those threads meet on the fireworks feather, the work is very stiff.

A Day at the Show

Receiving the Machine Quilting award (photo taken by Cherie Lumsden's DH, thank you) I now have another Machine Quilting little salver. I don't quite know what to do with them. I'd hang them up on the wall in the loo if it wouldn't be quite such a problem keeping them clean. I do admit to being proud of winning them so don't want to hide them away.

And still haven't found my keys, I have the key from XXXXX's ring and the spare set of house keys.

This must have been the wettest June on record. Yesterday was different, not the torrential downpours we've been having (think monsoons) but steady heavy rain.

I left a bit late as I knew I'd have to stay after the show to collect my quilt (so much nicer when the show is less than an hour away). When you enter some of the shows over here, you are given a one day ticket which makes entering the show a good deal. Except if you forget your ticket (grin)? I think my brain is becoming fried in the hot flashes through the night. Luckily they know me now and let me in.

This was the cup I won last year. This is a perpetual trophy which you hand back. So it sat on my sideboard and I always felt a little embarrassed as it didn't have my name on it. Your name goes on when you send it back, so I had to get this photo to prove to myself it had been mine once (grin).



I can't show you photos of the quilts as there are signs everywhere saying you can only take photos for personal use and you should not publish them. My own quilt hung better at this show than at the Festival of Quilts, but still not perfectly. They don't put it in a bag before hanging, if you ask them nicely.