Why a defined space is best By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador In my recent post about building new habits, I talked about doodling to become a better machine quilter. And I promised to explain why it's better to doodle in a defined space rather than on a blank piece of paper. Doodling over [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador I just finished quilting a throw of my own design on the HQ Capri stationary longarm and boy, did I learn a lot! This is Hugs and Kisses, designed, pieced and quilted by me! All it needs now is binding and a label. Let's talk about some of [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador This is my best machine quilting trick. It's easy to do and it looks great. I've done it most often on smallish quilts but I've used it on a throw-size quilt, too. I tried it for the first time on this little red quilt, which is a free [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador There are many times when you need to know exactly where the needle of your sewing machine is going to enter the fabric. It's true with a domestic machine like HQ Stitch and it's true with a longarm quilting machine. These times call for target practice! I love [...]
By Diane Harris and Mary Beth Krapil This is a followup to a recent post where I wondered how to quilt a top I made called Vintage Zigzag. It's one of those love-hate projects because it wasn't easy to sew (bias edges for miles), but the finished product gives me goosebumps. Vintage Zigzag from [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador I'm in the habit of keeping something always going on the HQ Capri, so that when I have a few minutes here or there, I can sit down and quilt! Of course the InSight table can be adjusted for standing, but recently I've been sitting. I was on [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador I'm mostly happy with my recent finish, this baby quilt in peachy pinks, yellow-greens and grays. I pieced it at a retreat a few years back but wasn't motivated to quilt it until now. I am surprised and delighted to find that I actually want to quilt my [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador I've been watching machine quilting videos, and a lot of them. I bought them as classes over the past dozen years or so. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't taken time to view many of them before now. I'm watching now because recently, a popular [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador The HQ Capri stationary longarm with the Insight table comes as a set, and together they're proving to be a great team. I've been quilting a lot on the Capri to get my feet wet, but sometimes it's as if I've fallen headlong into the lake! And I [...]
By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador Yesterday I shared the story of this UFO, which has now happily become an FO: Finished Object! It feels great to have this one done. I kept the quilting simple but that's because Mary Beth Krapil, my tutor in all things machine quilting, has taught me to ask [...]
