Tuesday, December 3, 2013

KISMIF # 3-QBOMS

Whoa!  Looking at the title of this post, it looks like we're at  NASA or some other engineering thing.  Way too many acronyms!  I'm tempted to fill this post with acronyms!  Since I'm being a goofy acromaniac (is that even a real word?) at the moment, we'll just play a second.  BTW  which stand for "by the way", NASA stands for the National Aeronautical & Space Administration.   But...you already knew that!  What new quilters may not know is that QBOMS stand for "quit block of the month" and KISMIF is my nick-name acronym for my weekly thread-path machine quilting post.

  • Keep
  • It
  • Simple
  • Make
  • It
  • Fun
Since it is December, many of my clients are finishing up their quilt block of the month (QBOMS) tops that they have dutifully pieced all year.  A lot of machine quilters do not know how to custom quilt around those.  I would like to share my pathways.


I love to do continuous curve quilting with swirls on the diagonals.  First off, what is continuous curve quilting?  It is a series of arcs done to mimic the traditional hand-quilted 1/4 inch seam.  When I was new at it, I used a circular quilt ruler to create nice rounded arcs and ensure I hit the center pieced corner.  Due to years of practice, I rarely use the arc anymore, but here is a picture of it all the same!  Before I had a quilting machine, I was able to do this using my domestic machine.  However, it was not possible to use the machine quilting arc ruler shown to get the curves needed.  While someone new to it may want to consider drawing on the arcs, I did not.  With quilt being so close to you as you push it through the machine sitting down, I found it easy to get enough accuracy.

This is a machine quilting arc ruler.  When you quilt, your hand holds the circle in place as you trace the arc using the presser foot of your quilting machine.  At first, I was really afraid I was going to hit my fingers under the hopping foot of the machine and sew myself into the quilt!  Whew!  It never happened.

This blue block is a close-up with continuous curve quilting with a swirl done over the diagonal portion of the half-square triangle.  The swirls just adds so much flare!  Initially, I started doing it as I found some of my bias edges would fray in the laundry and needed to quilt it down.  Now I do it for artistic reasons!  It just ups the "cute" factor.




This is a sample diagram of thread-paths that I sent to a past customer.  As all the pantographs are that I share here, start at the star icon and follow the numbers across for completion. 


This photo shows the saw-tooth border quilted out.


While the thread-path diagram in basic form may look like this, here are some photos of my completed work on various blocks using this style.  I really enjoy doing  QBOMS--in fact I think it's my "specialty."  As you can see, this technique works on a variety of blocks.












A special thank-you goes out to Free-Motion Tuesday.  I appreciate Connie hosting her weekly linky party.  To view more, visit her here:http://conniekresin.com/ or click on the link in my RHS bar.   I also appreciate Needle & Thread Thursday's Linky Party and  sharing it with them.  They're also on my RHS button bar.  I hope you've enjoyed this post.  Until next time, Happy Quilting!  photo BlogButton_zps6185a816.jpg