Quilting Fresh Salsa part 2

Darning feet for Janome, the center metal foot is adjustable.

One of the monumental challenges I faced is what happens when the machine gets to an area where many seams cross. The foot would get caught on the "lump" and not move.  Then when I tried to force it I'd get a few huge stitches, which didn't look very good.

My goal is to create as even a stitch as possible. It stumped me for a little bit, and I realized why many quilters send their tops out to be quilted! Then I remembered that I could adjust my darning foot. (See image above, the center metal foot.)  All I had to do was spin the little wheel above the needle bar until the foot was high enough to just skim over the lumps.  It took awhile, but I found the correct level. For a complete blog on darning feet check out my earlier blog. For Bernina owners, Diane Gaudynski has a method to alter their darning feet check out her blog to read about this.

Altering the darning foot. If you have the above, clear style darning foot, many people find that it drags above the throat plate, even if the pressure on the foot has been reduced to zero.  This isn't a manufactured recommended procedure but it works:

• Remove the foot from the machine and slightly bend the little bar down (area shown below the arrow).
• To do this, turn the foot upside down, and firmly press the bar onto the edge of a table or something substantial to do the bending. Bend it just a little.  You will feel it "give."
• Do be careful, as you can damage the surface of the table when doing this. Your are responsible, not me.
• Re-attach the foot on the machine, if it is still dragging, remove and bend it a little bit more.

So much for darning feet, let's get back to the quilting.  I completed the center quilting by continually consulting my plan as shown in blog "Machine Quilting Fresh Salsa." This wasn't the fastest quilting job I've ever done, but I followed the map and finally reached  my destination.

Now it's time to quilt the border. How in the world am I going to quilt it?

Ann Fahl