On Deck - the baby quilt for the new great-grandson

All babies are special, and the ones in my life get a quilt.

I know I have said this on multiple occasions, but my granddaughter Cheyanne told me via FaceTime that she was going to have another baby ON MY BIRTHDAY. I was just giddy! But a sequence of events has pushed the arrival to an earlier date. I finished piecing the baby quilt top in November, but had put off the quilting of it until we got a little closer to the April due date. But we also know that babies come when they tell you they are coming, no matter what the calendar or the OB-GYN says...so this is my current project.

In my quest to continue creating edge-to-edge quilting designs, I thought about digitizing some sayings and interspersing them with stars and other symbols, but then I remembered that this is a larger baby quilt, and I always tell the parents that it is not an heirloom, and I fully expect the quilt to serve duty as a cape, part of a fort, perhaps a mini-picnic quilt when he's pretending to serve an outdoor meal to his stuffies...or slinging mud at them. It is all good. 

So, nothing complicated for this quilt, and finished is better than perfect! I digitized an intentionally sloppy meandering edge-to-edge design that measures approximately 173mm x 317mm, or 6.8" x 12.5". Just before I sent the design to the Luminaire, I started thinking about the built-in edge-to-edge quilting designs in it. I have never tried them, and I have had the machine for almost two years. I watched a YouTube video showing how to do it, moved to the Luminaire, made my selection, entered the quilt's dimensions and hit OK. The machine calculated 20 hoopings--four rows, five columns--and off I went. 

Now I'm old school, and I always start my quilting in the center whether I'm doing free motion quilting or edge-to-edge with the embroidery module, or quilting by hand. If you're using the Luminaire edge-to-edge system, you're starting at the upper left hand corner of the quilt. I used my DIME Monster 10" x 16" hoop (since I had selected it when the Luminaire made the calculations), and was finally able to manhandle the quilt into the starting position. This brings me to where I was when I was quilting the secret project last year; I felt that quilt was too large to use the technique, but I persevered and did it anyway. I think this could also be a substitute for strength training...but I would have to do it at least three times a week to notice any progress. 

Hiccups:

• Manhandling in general, and for the last stitch-out on each row--the size of the design overshot the right edge of the quilt by almost an inch. I recalculated the size of the quilt, but my measurements were spot on. When you notice this while arranging your quilt for that stitch-out, the Luminaire gives you the capability to shrink or enlarge the design to the left or the right to make it fit. I love that. 
• Having the space to arrange the quilt on the hoop. This quilt is not big! It is only 46" by 53". But lining everything up, getting the top of the hoop on straight, only to find that you haven't got the quilt in the sweet spot required by the machine, and having only so much room to move my butt...is frustrating. And I am reminded about how much I miss my longarm. 
• Tuesday, I started the stitching with a Schmetz quilting needle sized 75/11 and the thread was 40 wt Star quilting thread by Coats & Clark. A couple of times the thread hung up during the stitch-out and I have a couple of longer stitches that I'm going to live with--but Wednesday I changed the needle to an 80/12 and noticed that things ran more smoothly.
• The other thing I noticed was when lining up the needle to the last stitch from the previous stitch-out is that I believe I need to calibrate my projector. I would always align the red "T" to the needle point of the last stitch, but the stitching would start about a millimeter or two away. I'll be looking into that this week. 

Overall, I liked the process. The Luminaire gives you clear direction as to what you'll do in each sequence during the quilting process. 

The backing

Back to the space issue, I came to the opinion that I need to clear off more of the table...so I moved the  ScanNCut and a tall embroidery thread tower that I seldom use back to the fabric room. They were taking up the space to the left of the Luminaire, along with a machine embroidery thread tower (which I rarely use), and that space could be available to aid in hooping the quilt (or any machine embroidery project, for that matter).  

And I am happy to report that my right eye is doing great post-surgery, and I can see much better out of it! Before surgery I could see nothing out of it and my left eye was doing all the work. I drove Tuesday for the first time since surgery and was pleased to notice how bright everything was! And now I'm noticing how not-so-great my vision is in my left eye, so I'm looking forward to the next surgery.

Yesterday I had planned to square up the quilt, but a quick run to Walmart due to the impending sometimes-annual Snowmageddon that starts Friday and thinking going earlier in the week would be better than waiting...HAH! I parked in the North 40 and by the time I had walked to the entrance and learned there were no carts, I turned around and headed back to the North 40 because that was where the first cart could be located (hey, I got more steps in!). And talk about a cluster...I managed to get out of there within an hour, but forgot to pick up a Rx. Oh, well. 

So now that I've gone to Walmart, talked on the phone with Sony about our television protection plan, reviewed the new prescription coverage included with our health insurance, talked to Cindy about her latest trip to Marshall Dry Goods and a new-to-us quilt shop in Searcy, and talked to my friend Vicki about coming over to sew, I picked out my binding fabric and called it a day. 

I'll square up the quilt today, and I hope to get it bound, too. 

I've been on a roll this month, and I couldn't be happier. It's helped me stay focused. Next project hasn't been decided, but I am considering staying in the digitizing lane of the highway because I'm noticing that muscle memory is really important in creating the designs, and I also know I will soon hear about the homework for the April classes with Lisa Shaw. That means I will either work on the Sharing the Process quilt or the Girl Gang DIY Sampler. 

Thanks for reading--go make!