Time to start quilting the North Market quilt. So I made the ol' quilt sandwich out of some fabric from a North Market apron because it's heavier than quilting cotton. I wanted to see how it would stitch out and I'm very glad I did. My machine skipped stitches. Ack! Not good. So I changed needles (three times, may I add), re-threaded (at least twice), and took out the bobbin thread and put it in again. But no. Nothing helped.
I went online to various sites and saw that for the type of fabric I was using, I should use a Universal needle. Luckily I had a few so I put one in and I am happy to say it appeared to help. I practiced with invisible thread. Once I gained some confidence, I switched to darker thread to see how well I was doing. Not too bad, I thought.
Now I picked a square that I knew I wanted to quilt with little bubbles, put on my trusty Machingers, and started to stitch. A few things I learned...when using thread that matches the color of the fabric, it can be difficult to see where I had already stitched. So that's a good news/bad news: the stitches blend in, but the final result might not be as crisp. Also, I used my Bernina Stitch Regulator (BSR). It allows you to stitch without using the foot pedal, so I was able to concentrate on moving my fabric. Dropping the speed was good for me because I could concentrate. Also, I thought I'd want a longer stitch length, but by having it shorter, my curves were smoother.
I get sloppy when I rush. So the master plan is to quilt two squares each weekend. I'll see how that goes, but that's the plan at least for now (fingers crossed).
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