Under My Needle, The Stackers Quilt, Part #2

I hear what you're thinking!!! Look at that jumbled up mess! Well this is the entire stackers quilt, with all the rows chain pieced together, 8 pieces of fabric per row. I wanted to see how much I could stuff behind that needle! Turns out, quite a bit :)

Particularly when "assembly line" sewing, as Eleanor Burns says, I need to be organized. Everything in its place makes the work fun, less tedious.

 Over the years I have saved little drawers from plastic rolling carts when the carts no longer suit my purpose. I use them to organize my projects. Here I have the 10 inch white strips and the 8 inch colored strips ready for their sewing.

First I join one white to one colored strip for the entire quilt, then connect by two's then fours, then close the row by sewing the short ends together. This makes a closed circle. Then in slightly random areas I cut open the loop on a white section.

By the way, I changed sewing machines. I am using the Destiny for embroidery and the Baby Lock Rachel is getting ready for her new home in a new cabinet in the family room. This is the Viking #1+, a vintage machine by now.

I have always like the 1/4 inch quilting foot from this machine. The flange on the right side of the foot is very long fits so well. Viking feet were much more expensive than the Baby Lock feet are now. This was a major purchase!

The side view of the quilting foot. I also have a acrylic Sew Rite flatbed extension table attached. Makes for much easier quilting by providing a larger surface for the fabric to lie, without tension on the stitches.

The stitch settings.

As I write this I have finished making all the strips and will be laying out the rows for this quilt. I think it might need something more, it seems a bit plain. Maybe some applique? That will be a future post.


An interesting and informative article for those who want to learn to quilt from Quilting Digest. Worth a read for newbies and seasoned quilters.


Stackers Quilt, Part #1