Is is hot where you are? We've had temps around 110 for days. Ugh. The heat does provide a great excuse for staying inside and sewing though - and maybe doing some machine quilting (and a little book-reading). Today I'm going to give my favorite tips from Angela Walters' and Christa Watson's awesome book The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.
Favorite Tip #1: When you're quilting across a border and get to the corner, it's perfectly OK to fill in with a different design. Your border design may not work rounding the corner, so why not switch to a complimentary design and then continue the first design in the next border. Genius.
Favorite Tip #2: Use a highly patterned fabric to practice your machine quilting. Why go to the trouble of drawing a design onto a practice quilt sandwich (fabric/batting/fabric) if you don't have to? You can use up those "What was I thinking" fabrics for this one. Perfect.
Favorite Tip #3: Close is good enough. When you first look at Angela's and Christa's quilts, they look perfect. But if you look closely, you'll see they're not; each design element isn't exactly like the one next to it, and it doesn't need to be. With enough practice, which both Angela and Christa strongly suggest, you'll get your quilting to a place where it's pleasing to you.
This book is packed with tips and techniques to take your machine quilting up a notch, no matter whether you're a beginner or advanced quilter. It's available here.
