Patchwork Stars and Longarm Machines

Published: Wed, 10/21/15

Hi ,

Yep, this week's newsletter is all about quilting from how to piece a six pointed star to a review of the table mounted longarm I purchased back in April.

Let's begin with how to piece a patchwork star block! The gray fabric for this block came in this month's Quilty Box.

Each month I challenge myself to make something from the supplies in my Quilty Box rather than hording them in my sewing room.

Remember - having cool supplies does not make you a creative person!

I was inspired to cut simple triangle shapes using a die cutter, then arrange them into this easy star that can be pieced in rows. Click here to learn how to piece this star block.

How to Baste Your Quilt

I'm really in the mood to try out new quilting designs and new techniques, and what better place to do it than on the star block I've just pieced?

But before I could jump right into machine quilting, I had to get the blocks layered and basted with batting and backing fabric first. My favorite way to baste a block is with flower pins and Pinmoors because they are easy to insert into the quilt without hurting my hands.

Pinmoors are also easy to see and remove as you machine quilt. Click Here to see how I basted this quilt block.

Jukie 2200 Longarm Review

Yes, I've finally gotten my act together and shared a full length, very detailed sewing machine review of my Juki 2200 QVP-S. This is a sit down, table mounted longarm I purchased back in April. Click here to watch the review video

Yes, I did once write an article on 7 Reasons Why I Don't Want or Need a Longarm, but a lot has changed since I shared that post. For one thing the prices of these machines have gone down to be around $5000 - $7000.

While that might not seem affordable, it's much more affordable than what these machines used to cost. I still hold to the main point of that article - buying a bigger machine will not make you a better quilter. It takes time, effort, and a lot of practice to master free motion quilting no matter what machine you are stitching on.

Even I was surprised by the amount of practice this machine required. When I purchased this sit-down model, I figured this wouldn't be a big change from quilting on a regular home sewing machine. It ended up feeling very different and it's taken me 6 months to get used to quilting on this machine.

Click here to read the full machine review of the Juki 2200.

If you enjoyed this review please let us know! I'm planning to share more sewing machine reviews and I'd love to know what your biggest questions and worries are when picking a new machine.

So that's it for this week! Enjoy learning how to piece a patchwork star block and I hope my review of the Juki 2200 QVP-S can help you decide if a longarm machine is right for you.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day