Hi ,
Josh hinted in last week's newsletter that we had a big announcement coming and yes! I'm finally ready to share that we are expecting a new baby in August 2021!
If you listened to old podcast episodes, you'll know that we have been trying for this baby for nearly four years. It is such a blessing to have our prayers
answered and we are all super excited to meet this new person this summer.
Of course, being pregnant again has been challenging. I forgot how utterly exhausting the first trimester can be!
I haven't been able to share new videos lately because I've been so tired. I'm hoping as spring comes, my energy will return and I'll be able to share new quilting ideas with you. I have many ideas for new baby quilts and fun designs to play with on our newest hoop frame...
Grace Company is coming out with a new tiny quilting frame - the Cutie table top frame. This frame is designed to sit on any table surface you have in your home and collapse down when you're finished quilting so it can easily be tucked into a closet or under a tall bed.
Please note these Cuties are currently on Preorder and will begin shipping on or around February 25th.
Yes, as you can see, this quilting frame is MOBILE and totally collapsible!
This was the goal behind the design of the Cutie Frame. It's smaller with thinner rails and a quick back rail release. Your home sewing machine is easy to set in place because the handles are designed to slot under the quilt.
This Cutie Frame can fit on any sturdy flat surface, like a sewing table, kitchen/dining table, countertop, or foldable table for easy access to quilting anywhere! It's light and easy to maneuver for easy storage, and can be broken down for transport to different locations and even taken on vacation.
New Downloadable Pantographs
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Over the summer, Josh and I realized that folding 144 inch-long pantograph pages was no fun! We both looked at each other and asked - can't this be easier? We struggled to keep our pantographs in stock because they required so much work folding and packaging and so much space to keep the designs
organized.
For the next several months I dove back into pantograph design. I wanted to make our pantographs more functional for a wider variety of machine sizes. This was a tall order because there is such a huge difference in the size of designs home machines can manage versus our larger longarms.
That's when I came up with Mix n' Match Pantograph designs. Each downloadable pantograph includes two sizes of the design. If you have a home machine or longarm, you can quilt one row of this design: But if you have a larger longarm, you can mix and match the pantograph rows to create a unique design for your quilt AND maximize the quilting space on your machine. This means fewer advances of your quilt through the frame, which means you'll get your tops quilted even faster.
Our new pantographs are designed to fit home sewing machines with a harp space 9 inches or more, up to any length of longarm.
Yes, these downloadable pantographs require more work on your part. They also cost less and have no shipping charge and will never go out of stock. Win win!
You will need to print multiple copies of the design pages, print them in full color and actual size, trim the pages and tape them together to create a pantograph the correct length for your frame and your machine.
New Mix n' Match Pantograhs ~ $4.99 each
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Note - these are downloadable paper pantographs. All Mix n' Match designs need to be printed and followed with a laser light on your frame.
These are not QCT or digital quilting designs. That's a whole different quilting style.
Wish you could learn more about pantograph quilting?
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Each design includes basic instructions for quilting with pantographs, but if this is your very first time, you may need more help.
I've also updated and revised the Pantograph Quilting Guidebook to help you understand how pantograph quilting works. While this is one of the simplest forms of quilting for your quilts, when it comes to advancing the design and evenly spacing the rows, this can get quite complex.
This guidebook goes into a wealth of detail on centering the pantograph design on your frame, where we commonly make mistakes when placing a design on our quilt. How to begin with a full row and partial row and how to advance a quilt on both a Rolling Rail Frame like the Continuum II, and a Hoop Frame.
I've also included an updated troubleshooting section with more information on quilting pantographs on a Hoop Frame. This can get tricky, but with practice and patience, you will get the hang of it.
That's it for this week. This ended up being quite a long newsletter, but really this has been months and months of work experimenting, learning, designing, and tweaking, and I'm so happy to share these new pantograph designs with you. Many more fun things are to come, but for now, I'm off to eat a healthy snack and take a nap!
Let's go quilt,
Leah Day
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