# trying to catch up a bit on UFOs



## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

And getting some much needed practice on my HQ Fusion. 










I sewed a bunch of smaller backing pieces together and loaded that up on the machine. I have several of these small pieces to quilt. They are mostly for cabinet covers, which I really need to get finished and on the cabinets to protect them from accidental cat claw marks. 

I'm making a lot of mistakes - but leaving them (DH says I don't need more practice ripping stitches out LOL!!). I know I should probably put cloth on the machine to just practice, but it seems like waste of effort when I can practice on these - and have something I can use when done. And it's reducing my rather large stack of "waiting to be quilted" UFO's. 

Though after this stage, I"ll have a larger stack of "waiting to be bound" UFOs - but hopefully that won't take as long!


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

on to #2 - more ruler work and some micro work. I have to remove the micro handles to do the ruler work - but at least they are very easy to take off and put on this machine.


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## Gretchen Ann (Aug 30, 2010)

Looking good there, very nice. It must feel good to start working down the stack of ready to be quilted tops.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

At the end of the winter...I stop and work outside. Now that it's too hot in the afternoons, I tell myself I should work on the unfinished projects...and I start something else. I have quite a stack going now...guess I know my winter will be busy. My husband says it keeps me out of his hair. LOL


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

This year I'm really not handling the heat (dealing with "the change") so yesterday DH put the window AC unit in the window next to my longarm. We've got portable units, but the cool air wasn't getting all the way to that room. I sure hope next summer will be better - right now I can't handle heat above 75. 

Here are some of the smaller projects I've been working on. 

Practicing feathers on this one.










The next two are now quilted, but I forgot to get a picture before they got rolled up.



















This is the current one on the frame - I think I'll switch to black thread and stipple over the black blocks. 










I was doing this one all without rulers, just for practice. I kept having spots the carriage didn't want to move correctly, and then it dawned on me - I have a different carriage! I bought the Pro-Stitcher (computer driven) and it came with a carriage with the drive unit on it. And I forgot all about having the re-set the front track so it fit the carriage. It's easy enough, just loosen the screws from below, run the carriage back and forth to get the track properly aligned and tight it down.

No more "dead spots"!!! Between fighting with the tension and the track problem, I as starting to regret my purchase - so much happier having the track problem fixed - still working on the tension though. But I've been using variegated thread, and that seems to cause problems no matter what. It's like the different colors cause the thread to feed differently, I don't know . . . the first few I did with solid color thread were fine. 

I'm also using up smaller pieces of backing I got from garage sales, and it may not be the best quality, so that could be causing problems. Won't really matter for cabinet covers, so I'm not going to get too worried about it. 

I also learned of a new techinique online - Shadow Trapontu - so I had to try that out.


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## commonthistle (Oct 13, 2014)

I love those last two, they are amazing!


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## maxine (Jun 22, 2004)

You are doing an amazing job,, wish I had one of those machines !! have fun and keep cool..


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## Tinker (Apr 5, 2004)

Looks like you are really getting the hang of it Macy. I love the piece you are working on in the 1st pic, and the hearts too. Sounds like you will be caught up in no time.


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