For the Sugaridoo BERNINA quilt along I have quilted one quilt with rulers. But I also made a quilt in grey and blue fabrics, which I assembled in three sections.

I’m quilting these sections with a walking foot. A very easy quilting method, no straight lines, no complicated pattern, but it does give a wonderful look to your finished quilt. 

Walking foot

The Bernina walking foot is perfect for straight line quilting on your quilts. It has a great wide grip and pulls all the layers of your quilt through the machine with ease. But you can use it for more then just straight lines. 

In this quilt I wanted organic, wavy lines. Straight lines are never perfectly straight, so wavy lines are perfect for beginner quilters. It allows you to get a feel for quilting a quilt, whiteout having to think too much or work very precise. 

Three parts

Quilting the quilt in three parts makes a big quilt, like the one we made in the Sugaridoo BERNINA quilt along, much more easy to manage under your machine. Especially when quilting only long wavy lines in the same direction (like you see me do in the video), makes sure there is no pushing and pulling big chunks of quilt around while you’re quilting. 

I planned to share next week how to assemble the three parts of this quilt. But with going into a new lock down due to Corona and having our little mister at home, that post got rescheduled till the 7th of January. 

The quilting

So for this quilt I decided on wavy lines, quilted in one direction. The lines are between one and two inches apart. 

For the thread I went for something different than I would usually go for. I used a 12wt thread. That is a very thick thread, which results in beautiful hunky stitches. For stitch length I picked 3.5. 

To quilt with 12wt thread on your machine I found a blog post with tips by Suzy Quilts. The main things I learned where to use a 90/14 needle and to use normal weight (40wt or 50wt) in your bobbin. 

In the pictures below you can see the difference in thickness between the 50wt bobin thread on the yellow backing and the 12wt top thread on the top of the quilt.

Isn’t that texture of those stitches on that soft squishy batting just the best thing? 

I love how the thin silver/grey bobbin thread blends in with the yellow backing, like I used a yellow thread. A thin thread will blend in much much with your fabrics than a thick thread will. 

My Bernina 770QE did not need any adjusting in tension or something like that for the 12wt thread. It quilted all the stitches as if I was using a normal weight thread.

Wavy lines

On instructions on how to make wavy lines I don’t have a lot to say I think. You start at one end of the quilt, and move your way across to the other end. Trying to make a line that is not perfectly straight. In the video below you can see how I’m holding and moving my quilt.

I have my hands pretty far away from the foot. Just gently guiding the quilt, so that it is not pulling under the table or anything. The walking foot will quilt the quilt through the machine. You can just hold the quilt and steer it in the direction that you want to go. 

Till next year!

This was my final BERNINA blog post for this year. Thank you so much for all your enthusiasm and the joy you bring to the quilting community. It was so much fun to write these blog posts and read your comments. 

For now, stay safe, stay healthy. I hope you will have wonderful holidays even though it will probably be a very different Christmas this year. See you on next year!

With love,
Irene