Machine Embroidered Quiting vs. Freemotion

In the background of running San Francisco Stitch Co., I've also been attempting to fully and beautifully finish some of our monthly block program quilts. So to take you back in time to the beginning of the year, I was trying to machine embroider the sashings on my "Beaucoup de Bouquets" quilt so they would look perfect like the flower squares. It wasn't going well-- the quilt was just too heavy and thick for any of my hoops. I would struggle for easily 30 minutes to hoop ANYWHERE-- only for the quilt to pop out the minute I tried to attach it to the embroidery machine.

This is my photoshopped artist's representation of the finished piece-- it's lovely isn't it?

Just how to get there???!

I did buy a magna hoop, which was incredibly expensive, but seemed like the answer to my issue.

At first, it sure seemed like it was. Instead of having to hoop, the two pieces of a hoop are really strong magnets, so the piece is essentially laying flat and sticking together with
"magnetricity." (I'll coin a word, since I'm not a scientist.) The magnets are incredibly powerful-- just about to where you would lose a finger if they snapped shut on you!

Abracadabra!
I was able to machine embroider a cornerstone in five minutes!

I even digitized the half-flower 
needed for the edges and got half of those done.

Then corona crisis crept in, and I put it aside for a bit. So I got back to it this weekend-- and it was a disaster! I only have two full flowers left to do, and I did everything the same way, but the hoop was obviously slipping, and the design moved way out of position, like a 1/2", as it went along.

Instead of immediately hitting the STOP button, 
I watched incredulously, hoping it would self-correct.

NOPE!

I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I was so upset, I had to start picking it out right away. Thank goodness I was able to get all 450 1/64th inch stitches out in a little over an hour with no holes. You can still see where the center of my flower was when it moved-- a little spritz of water and those holes will close up I hope.

So what went wrong?  I think this quilt is SO HEAVY that unless I support the weight of it all around, it's going to tend to move around in the hoop. This flower was pretty much in the center of my quilt, the more successful ones were on the edges where I could support the weight of the quilt better as it moved.

So I am going to have to think this over now. If I had a regular hoop that could accomodate the thickness, that would be preferable at this point, because I'm really good at hooping. But I don't have that. So I'm going to continue with my edge flowers for now-- I will press the STOP button alot quicker if needed... and brood over how to get those center pieces done.
Tape the quilt to the hoop? Pin it?

I still have about 36 sashings to do after the flowers are done (the flowers are the cornerstones)-- placement is going to be a lot harder with that, and there's five times the number of stitches to pick out if they shift.


SO this brings me to why I bought this beauty last August...

It's a 22" Innova longarm with a ten foot table!
A major expense-- needless to say. My last baby left the nest so the room presented itself. First of all, I thought I could easily just freemotion sashing areas of my embroidered quilts to finish them more quickly to quilt show quality. Then, I also thought, I could finish up the DOZENS of pieced tops I have laying around instead of leaving a legacy of UFOs. And, last but not least, I thought I could contribute to the betterment of humanity for a change with some charity work.

No, I do not ever intend to do this for hire as I am frequently asked-- embroidery will always be my first love. 

<3

It is SO FUN and relaxing to work on it-- (as opposed to struggling with hoops). The Innova is really is a beautiful, effortless machine. This is my third piece on it, and I'm already producing passable quality work. Meaning, I can whip up a nice gift or charity piece in a short amount of time. Show quality--NOT-- and I'm not sure if I will ever get there, while knowing the flawless results that machine embroidery affords. 

I have a bit of an edge after sitting and digitizing machine embroidery quilting-- it really helps to not have any stops, and to move from one shape to the next with having to stop and break thread. If you can't draw it, you won't be able to stitch it-- that's a maxim I have heard more than once-- so this shows my little diagram of how to make a rose bud border.

I just did the most simple markings with a nickel and a clear ruler.

The fabric was "Caroline" by Brenda Riddle-- I don't remember the exact pattern name but it was one of those Schnibbles charm pack patterns. It's a pinwheel within a pinwheel which was not complicated to do, and two borders. I used two charm packs. I'll post a full picture when I finish the last border this week. Schnibbles charm pack patterns are the BEST, by the way.

So that's what I have to show for a weekend with two kinds of quilting. Hopefully at some point the two methods will work together flawlessly, but that's pretty far off in the distance.

In the meantime, I'm just having fun.

xox
Carol