The First Quilt Top on the Juki TL2010Q

I've put together the first quilt top on my Juki and the love affair continues. One of the drawbacks on my Janome 7700 is that the presser foot lever is large and low so when I feed a lot of fabric under the machine I find that the lever catches the fabric. This doesn't happen on the Juki! The sewing area is wide open, front and back, so I have an excellent view of my quilt in front of the needle and behind! So far I am more than happy with my Juki TL2010Q.

I also mentioned in a previous post that the 1/4" foot is narrower than the Janome foot so it doesn't catch my pins.

Angie noticed that I pin parallel to the edge rather than perpendicular and she ask me why I pin in this way. I thought that everyone pins this way!

When I first learned to sew I learned to construct garments and that's how I was taught to pin. I simply transferred those skills to quilting. I can sew a seam without removing pins until I've sewn the entire seam. Pinning this way prevents fabric shifting and I don't have to worry about sewing over pins. In this picture you can see how I pin at the end of the seam. I pin parallel to the seam but at the very end I place one pin perpendicular to the seam because it prevents fabric shifting.

My Mom has been making these Lazy Punk blocks like crazy. I've already quilted one quilt for her and she has made enough blocks for two more quilt tops! This is her second Lazy Punk quilt top that I pieced for her on the Juki. The light is shining though the quilt top so it looks like stained glass! Next time I show it to you it will be sandwiched and ready for some Juki love in the form of quilting!

This is the fabric used in the side setting triangles and that will also be used for the backing.

Mom found it at our local fabric store for $3/m! What a bargain!  It gives the quilt a very fresh, summery look. I think it will be very pretty when quilted!

The inspiration for my Lazy Punk quilt was Jen Kingwell's Steam Punk quilt. The block is based on a pattern that was published in the Kansas City Star (KCS) in 1938. The name of the original block is Air Ship Propeller. There is also another version of this quilt shown in the book Cotton Candy Quilts and it it the block is also named Wagon Wheel. Whether it is Air Ship Propeller, Wagon Wheel or Steam Punk, all are pieced blocks but I decided that it would be much easier to applique the propeller blades and hub cap. I figured out a fast, easy way to make the blades with no thread basting required!

A little bit of glue stick is all it takes to make the blades. I then glued them to the background so that they could be hand or machine appliqued . Because it is so fast, easy and a lazy way to make the blocks I called my quilt Lazy Punk! You can find all of the links about how I made my Lazy Punk quilt under the tab Tips and Tutorials. This is the quilt top I made.

I am eager to try quilting my Mom's quilt on my Juki but I'm not sure what I will do. I'm thinking about a simple allover meander. I've never done that before but one of the quilt shops in the Merchant's Mall at Quilt Canada had this quilt on display.

The shop is called Stitch and the owners describe it as "a sanctuary for knitters, quilters and needle artists".  The shop had a gorgeous display of all sorts of treasures big and small including a Steam Punk quilt shown above. It was quilted with an allover meander design and it looked like a well washed, well loved quilt! Maybe I'll quilt some feathers in the side setting triangles as I did with Mom's last Lazy Punk quilt and then just meander quilt the rest of it! I'll make the decision when I put the quilt under the needle! Before I do that I'll sew together the rest of Mom's blocks. She would like the next quilt top to be a straight set rather than on point. That will be a fast, fun and easy bit of piecing!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H