A bit ago Kalissa and I had a shopping day.
It was so fun. Â We really needed an outing. Â We laughed and laughed that she had become an old lady all in one day.
-she shopped for plants
-she bought hanging baskets
-we had lunch
-we went quilt shopping.
Yep. Â You heard that last one right. Â Kalissa -my final kid hold out as a non-quilter- went fabric shopping willingly. Â I had wanted to stop at the quilt shop. Â You know it’s likely been at least six month or more since I’ve shopped at a quilt shop.
I was on a mission. Â I wanted to find something for the borders of my Star Struck quilt. Â Of course I didn’t have the blocks or anything with me. Â I didn’t intend on stopping there with Kalissa as she’s not into quilting. Â She’s not against it but not a sew-er yet. Â The day was going so great that I thought I’d mention stopping and if she was for it, we’d go..if not I’d skip it.
Well she said yes.
I was shocked.
There might be hope for her to be a quilter yet. Â She does readily admit that she isn’t very patient to sew. Â She wants fast results and quilting doesn’t give you them unless you buy a panel like this.
Cute..right??
I love things A-B-C and she does too. Â If you can see, the quilt was just a panel that was machine quilted and then bound.
I said, “Maybe you should make that for the baby”….she smiled. Â She knew I was trying to sucker her into quilting.
I said, “I’ll pay for it and help you.” Â She said well I’d want minke for the backing and it’s expensive. Â I said I didn’t care.
Then she said, “Well it’s not really sewing. Â All I would be doing is machine quilting.” I suggested she sew some solid square together and make a border of squares. Â I also said it’s cute as is.
She smiled. Â She knew I was trying to sucker her into quilting. Â Then she said, “I could machine quilt it?” Â I said, “Yes…I can help you.”
She smiled. Â She knew I was trying to sucker her into quilting. Â Then she said, “I think I want teal minke. Â They don’t have any here.”
I smiled. Â I said we could go shopping another day.
She smiled. Â Â She knew I was trying to sucker her into quilting. Â Then she said, “Okay.”
THEN I SMILED. Â I smiled really big. Â I might have just suckered her into quilting.
Then she said…”Hey, I like this quilting design on the quilt. Â Can you do it?” Â UGH. Â I didn’t want that to be the deal breaker. Â It was an ABC pantograph. Â I don’t to pantographs. Â I never have. Â UGH. Â I said, “No, how about I look into it. Â We can try.” Â Oh I hate learning something new. Â UGH.
Well progress on getting her to sew was progress. Â I’m not going to take a step backwards now. Â I’d have to try to figure it all out.
While she was busy looking at baby things, I got my things….this was our take home….The panel for her…two options for sashing for me. Â Some neutrals for me and some tempting fat quarters.
So now I’m home writing this blog post remembering that she wants an ABC pantograph design. Â Hmm…
I looked online and found this…
I think it’s what they had at the quilt shop. Â I bought it. Â You can see it here at Country Traditions. Â If I was ever to do a pantograph I can see that is one I might use often on baby quilts.
Well now I am off to see if there’s a Youtube video that will show me how to do a pantograph. Â I don’t want to look like a fool if Kalissa actually comes to quilt the panel.
Oh UGH. Â Now I’m starting to wonder who suckered who into doing what. Â Maybe it was me who got suckered…. Â I’ll keep you posted.
Nope! Looks like a win win for both of you especially that you’ll be sewing & quilting together now! Enjoy!!
I think it’s sweet that you both went out of your comfort zone a little bit! I have had a long arm for just about a year now. But, we moved in the middle of the year and the long arm sat for several months. I feel like I’m starting over again. I’m trying to alternate between pantos and free motion designs. Some of the best advice that I was given was if things aren’t going well, take a look at how tightly you are gripping the handles! More often than not, you need to loosen your grip. I get so tense, following the pattern and I do really tighten my grip. When I do loosen back up, things seem to go smoother. Can’t wait to see another post about how the project turns out!
I ordered that Panto. Love it! So I got suckered too???? :-)
Sparrow Studios has an excellent video on using a Longarm, with fantastic lessons on pantograph quilting. The video is for complete beginners and demos loading your quilt and pantograph quilting. https://youtu.be/pEGU_3KhgO8
I have done that panto it’s really easy and looks great.
Wonderful! Both of you will be learning something new, together on the same project. Hopefully, the first of many sewing fun projects to come!
Kalissa looks so cute too!!! There will be more grandchildren down the road, so enjoy the process!
I love that panto and am ordering it today. I do a lot of Longarm quilting of charity quilts for my guild and for Project Linus and this will work great on many of them
Oh the irony of trying to get Kalissa to learn something new and not wanting to yourself :) hahaa Sounds like something that’d happen here! :D
I don’t do pantos either!!! I’ve tried and it’s really hard to follow a line!!!!! If you do a tutorial on it I will follow you with it!
I taught myself how to do pantos. They are fairly easy, but it is best to have a laser light to follow the pattern and to set up for spacing. I check where the highest spot is on the row when I finish it, and drop the needle just above that. I then advance to the next row. When the laser light hits the bottom of the pattern in the back on your sheet, you should have advance it enough. Pantographs are nice for an all over pattern. The Abc one looks like it would be great for baby quilts. I think you will get a lot of use out of that pattern.
I use pantographs a lot with my short-arm set up. The “dashed” design at the top and bottom of the pantograph are to help with spacing. When you finish quilting a row, put your needle down in the highest point of the dashed design along the bottom of the pantograph, then roll the quilt until your stylus or laser light is in the same position on the solid pattern. I usually go a little above the high point so that when I tighten the backing and top again, it’s right on the mark. This will give you correct spacing between the rows of quilting. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it.