Finished Quilt

 

Over the weekend I finished the above Hunter's Star Quilt.  I moved it from my "Quilting" column to "Done".  The next  move is to gift.   I'm gifting this to a friend of mine.  I did a post on this quilt which you can find here.  I've made two of these quilts (one a baby sized), and I will definitely make more.  I just love it.

I bound it using the August Wren Madras Plaid in greens, dark grey and teal.  It was a perfect marriage of the front material and the back material.  The front material was a closeout of batiks for 2.50 a yard.  It was a Leah Day collection.  It was high quality and the blue and green were prints I used in many quilts.  The back is

Joie De Vivre Around Town Michael Miller Fabrics CX9281-BLAC-D.  I used black thread in my bobbin.  It was a fantastic print that completely occulted the pieced back as well as the quilting. 

I did NOT do my usual good job with the binding.....but let me regress.

I partially quilted the quilt top testing out QuiltMaven Dave's technique of affixing the top to the backing and quilting.  It was a great way to lessen bulk through my small machine space (7.5").  I had long ago finished that, but I had not finished the backing, then I lost the backing (it is somewhere), so I elected to swap out my pieced backing (where are you?) with a whole cloth back.

Here was a perfect opportunity to try out my Juki Kirei with some straight line quilting. I used the Juki Smart Feed which was easy.  I did not need a walking foot for any of it.  I felt like I had moved from a camper to a mansion in terms of the bed space.  While this quilt is not that big, it would have seemed so on the Bernina.  It flowed through the machine beautifully.  In fact, I did not need to use my quilts suspension system.  I just stitched in the ditch.  It was VERY easy to sew straight with the Smart Feed System.  I did not have an interest in doing anything fancy--straight stitching was a perfect way to set off the lovely piecing on this quilt.  And frankly, there is NO ONE in my life who would appreciate fancy quilting.

I used the blind hem foot for the binding.  That was a total mistake as I did not have a great line of view. Total user error.  I would have been better off with another foot.

The one thing that I absolutely HATE about this machine is the chicken-shit feet.  They are cheap. Look cheap.  Act cheap. Feel cheap.The quarter inch gated foot is useless.  Not my best effort...but I'm not selling the quilt, I'm gifting it (and really sort of covet it for myself).

 But there are so many things to love. Even doing something so simple as straight stitching to have it run straight and true through the machine was a joy.  Having the automatic thread cutter made moving to the next row easy.  No tension problems.  The bobbin had regular 50wt cotton thread, and I had 80 wt Decobob in the top.  I've not tried Decobob in top and bottom. On both my Bernina and my Kenmore, I had to tinker with the bobbin adjustment to achieve the perfect stitch.  Will look to see how this performs. (P. S.  I did look at this, and magically there were NO tension issues--I expected to see some).  I also note that the regular 1/4" foot works just fine. 

So my disappointment with my presser feet is eclipsed by these useful features and huge real estate.  I have perfect feet and machines to do my piecing.  And it felt very good to get a quilt top finished.