Friday 9 January 2009

Free Motion Quilting - Pfaff Grand Quilter

I found it quite difficult to manage the French Braid quilt on the Bernina. I know it will get easier with practice however when I was in Bristol a couple of years ago I saw a Pfaff Grand Quilter being demonstrated. When I came home I bought one.

I did have a practice with it when I got it home but it was quite different to stitch with compared to the other machines I have and so I thought I would get back to it when I had more FMQ experience. I have been so busy with other things, like the Judging course and my C&G course in Creative Computing, that I never did get back to the Grand Quilter. I was feeling happy enough with my progress on the Bernina and I thought it might be better if I spent time practicing on the Grand Quilter and so I set it up a couple of days ago. It took me ages to find the manual for it! Anyway I found it and was able to thread it.

As you can see the Grand Quilter has a nice large working area. The scary part is that it stitches at 1600 stitches per minute. That's what was frightening when I first tried it a while back. I have reduced the speed to it's minimum and it's still fast. The foot pedal is so light to the touch which does take a bit of getting used to.

Itr has a knee lift which means you can keep your hands free which is great. It also has a needle down setting and you can cut the threads with a touch of a button. It has every feature a quilter would want - that's why I was attracted to it. It's time to start using it:

I started with a simple stipple design just to get a feel for the machine. I need to go out and get some more wadding (batting) but wanted to play a little with the machine with the few pieces I had left.


Since I had been stitching feathers I had a go at stitching them with the Grand Quilter.



These are the ones I did. I am finding it really difficult to follow the previous stitching like. The free motion foot is quite big and I am going to check if there is an open toed foot for this machine. I even put on my reading glasses to see if they would help, they didn't. I have had these glasses for ages and keep putting off using them until I really really need them - at the moment I don't!

I am off to search for a pack of Thermore that I have but cannot find then I can get busy with more practice pieces and get to grips with this machine.

Whilst I was out on my walk yesterday I took a picture of the moon. The sky was so crisp and clear I thought this was a wonderful sight.

Here's a closeup:


5 comments:

Papoosue said...

That is an amazing photograph of the moon, Carol. Was that taken with your Nikon?

I must say the Pfaff sounds very scary to use - the speed is frightening! Your results are worth persevering for though :-)

Sandy said...

The Pfaff seems like the answer-your feathers are good. Great moon.

lindacreates said...

I am really enjoying your FMQ. You have inspired me and I have been practicing on my Pfaff 2170. I am having a problem trying to stipple. Do you have any suggestions for a beginner? I have done searches, but haven't found anything that helps. Your feathers are beautiful and your quilt is lovely.

Digitalgran said...

Your FMQ on the Pfaff is fantastic! I used to hate FME at one time, but nw love it, but I doubt if I could do such perfect quilted feathers. I must have a go - one day. i was looking at that very same moon, but was too busy to get my camera. Pity. I have a thing about the World long ago, fossils, etc. It would be a wonderful experience to actually eat something as nice as that from that age. I think I shall get some. I'm also very gadget minded.

Tonniece said...

Awsome moon shot Carol.

I really like your feathers Carol.