Pfaff Quilt Expression 4 – 1 year (and a half) review

Sorry folks, I’m a little late to the table with my 1 year review but as I have had a few requests for an update I thought I would put together my final thoughts on this machine.



There are many feet you can use that have better contact with the feed dogs, in place of this horrible recessed quarter inch foot the machine comes with. Keep in mind that the feed dogs on this machine are 9mm apart to accommodate all the decorative stitches. This can make smaller piecing that only touches one feed dog more difficult, however, I have not found this to be an issue as I don’t piece with tiny pieces but its worth considering depending on what projects you are interested in doing, and what’s more important for you.



Choose any foot that you feel gives you better contact with the feed dogs for your project. The seam guide foot has better contact so if small piecing is your thing, have a play around with this in the shop and see if it helps.

I purchased the Pfaff foot book on Ebay and found it an interesting read as it gives you some alternative uses for some of the feet. The manual really should contain this information but at least this is available to buy.



I now exclusively use Aurifil thread (orange spool) for piecing and quilting, this produces little lint which means less time spent cleaning the bobbin and my thread cutter works most of the time. The thread is so thin that it means that I can fit loads of thread on to a bobbin and when the machine tells me my bobbin is low, it actually is low.

I recently mocked up another Kaleidoscope piece to see if experience has taught me anything about bulky seams. It turns out that I have learnt quite a lot over the past year and a half. Using my more stable quilting foot I now begin my seams a quarter if an inch in and back stitch then forward stitch to prevent the machine chewing up my fabric. The thinner thread I now use helps massively with thicker seams, as does pressing each seam as I go and spray starching each piece to give extra stability. (I do all of these things as standard now, and would do on any machine as it produces better quality results in my opinion.)

I think when I first made my kaleidoscope quilt I was trying to open each seam as I went along but I should have pressed them all to one side and opened just the final seam. No problems with this at all now. As you can see from the pictures below.

Here are the 6 intersecting seams that I want to put together:



Here is a quick video of me joining the seams and the end result:

A couple of smaller stitches over the bulk but the machine didnt have to much trouble this time due to preparing the fabric properly.



and the front:



Free Motion quilting. Spring motion vs Sensormatic

When I first began to FMQ, I didn’t like the sensormatic mode at all. I thought the machine didn’t like the bedsheet I was using but that had nothing to do with it. I just didnt reduce the pivot height.

During the first 3 months of this year I got a lot of FMQ practice in. I successfully managed feathers and swirls. The new open toe sensormatic foot I purchased made life much easier and I actually prefer this mode now to spring motion as you don’t get the hopping of the fabric and the needle just glides over the fabric effortlessly.



If you're thinking about purchasing this machine make sure you either buy this foot seperatly, or check that you get the open toe version with the machine.(I have been told they are selling these in place of the old foot with the machine but be sure to check this.) My initial problems with this mode stemmed from my own inexperience. Its essential that you adjust the pivot height to match your quilt thickness otherwise you will get skipped stitches. -2 or -3 normally works for me.

If you're getting skipped stitches and you’ve already adjusted the pivot height try going slower when creating curves and try setting the speed on the machine so its one less thing to think about when you are trying to control your feet and the movement of the quilt at the same time. Also, if your thread is cross wound lie your spool down in the horizontal position and use a spool cap.

Well thats pretty much all I have left to say about this machine. Yes there is a learning curve, but trust me it is worth it! and yes the manual is rubbish on detail but the online community and links I have provided in previous posts on this machine have made life much easier, and there are many, many happy people out there with this machine, its normally just the unhappy people who post topics about it!


:-)

A Colossal Finish

So here it is, after 10 months, this huge double quilt is finally completed. I began cutting fabrics for this way back in November. The pattern is taken from material obsession and as soon as I placed my eyes on the front cover, I new I had to make it. I enjoyed all the hand quilting even all the crosshatching:-). It's definitely more enjoyable when I dont put myself under pressure or give myself deadlines, even if has taken me 6 months to quilt, I can honestly say I've enjoyed every moment of it and have given it 100% throughout.



I used a smaller scale print for the dots than the book. I think this was the trickiest decision for me, as although I love the Michael Miller ta dots I wanted to save these for the petals. The tone of the red on the ta dots was very bright aswell and I wanted something a tad toned down so I settled on some Tanya Whelen red and white polka dots.

For the backing I went budget and used a white Tesco bedsheet I bought a while ago. It hand quilted easily and the thinner fabric even adds to the crinkley quilted effect, you would never know it was thinner as once it has batting between the layers it looks no different.



It took some serious effort to find somewhere big enough to display this quilt for photographing as it measures around 68.5 x 97.5 inches, but there was just enough room on the fence to get a fairly good picture.



I can't believe there are just two more weeks of the school holidays left. My youngest Jacob will be going off to big school this September. I have a mixture of emotions. I thought I would be exited as I'll have a lot more time sewing time, but I will miss him dearly and he will be one of the youngest in his class so I had a bit of a worrisome night feeling a little anxious about how he will feel about it all.



Jacob turned 4 just last month, I do hope his days at school will treat him kindly.

TTFN

***Blog sale now open: Books and fabrics***

I have some books for sale that I thought I would post on here. U.K only please. I accept personal payment only through paypal, and have provided a list of various delivery options to suit you. All books are like brand new apart from the tilda sew pretty homestyle as I've worked from it but its still in very good condition as you can see from the picture.

Material obsession 2 £5 plus £4.45 recorded or £3.50 second class standard

Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance: £5 plus £3.50 recorded or £2.50 second class
SOLD TO WENDY

Sew Pretty Homestyle £5 plus £3.50 recorded or £2.50 second class

I Love Patchwork: £5 plus £3.50 recorded or £2.50 second class

The practical guide to patchwork: £5 plus £3.50 recorded or £2.50 second class

Please note I will not be responsible if royal mail loose your item, so I would recommend choosing recorded delivery for this reason, however its up to you.

Fabric sale: I have some bargain designer DS/Kaffee/Aneela/Sarah Jane half yard fabrics up for grabs, they are £5 per design and postage is £2.50 (2nd class) or £3.50 recorded for up to 8 fabrics. First to leave a message on this post with their numbers of choice will have priority.

Ready, steady, go!

xxx

Phew...

I have finally finished my friends memory quilt that I made for her little girl in memory of her daddy who sadly passed away 2 years ago. I'ts actually been finished for a while but I havnt seen her to give it to her. It wasn't without it's challenges, I had to stabalize vertually every square as most fabrics were stretch/jersey with various thicknesses,there were a few shirts but the fleece was the worst to work with. I think it turned out ok considering all the different types of fabrics used. I backed it with a brand new white company duvet cover, and filled it with a throw I've had for a while. I can't say I enjoyed making it but I will enjoy seeing my friend happy when I've given it to her (hopefully!)

I'm still plodding on with my dresden quilt. I have half left to cross hatch by hand, then on to the details and as its my turn to receive my bee plane blocks Ill be working on my paper peiced plane quilt, plus I've started another pillow.

Plenty enough to keep me out of trouble :-)

xxx

March/April bee blocks and a prize

These are my last set of bee blocks before I start working on mine. I felt a bit more confident with playing around with pattern orientation and I think I prefer making them all a little different.

I have finished peicing my friends memory quilt, but Ill post about that when its been quilted.

Also, im thrilled to learn that I won a prize for my Busy Yo! scraps quilt and I get to spend $35 at Pink Castle fabrics. There are so many lovely fabrics to choose from I'm thinking long and hard about it... more on that later.

At last, the Easter break.

At last,the end of term! we can all relax. March has been a very busy month with my husband working away lots, poorly children and making use of all this lovely weather. The sewing for pleasure show in Birmingham was ok, my favourite quilt supply shop was there so I left with a few purchases but I wasnt blown away. I think I've been spoilt with the quilt show, so Ill definitely be going back in September.

My daughter and I have been busy working on her Easter Bonnet and I'm pleased to say she won the competition for her class at school today!. It was a boost she needed as she got told that her drawing she made for special acheivement day, was not a special acheivement and that she needed a medal, certificate or trophy.

This puts me in an awkward situation as you can only get those if your child gos to after school classes, but we cant all afford to go these, yet these acheivement days happen monthly which I feel is too regular, and she ends up panicking as she has nothing to bring in. She's still working on learning to ride a bike, so I can make her a certificate for that when she gets there but I could really do with some ideas of what else I can do to make these days more positive for her, any ideas?

They seem to expect so much from 5 year olds these days, and apart from the cost of after school classes, I really just want her to play outside in the nice weather after school and have some down time, but I'm really feeling the pressure to conform right now and I dont like it. Please tell me I'm not alone in this???

I'm taking part on the Stale Stash swap over at Charm About You and here's what I have on offer:

Cath Kidston fabric 17.5 x 19.5 inches so a tad under a fat quarter, which is a bit cheaky as I ordered a fat quarter when I bought this, but Im throwing it out there just incase and thought it was best to be as honest as possible.

x1fq of AMH Swopped with Marian

1FQ Robert Kaufman tiles in Marigold: SWAPPED WITH KAREN

x2 fq or half yard of Michael Miller painter canvas in lemon SWAPPED WITH LORI

Michael miller x2 FQ or 1 half yard: Please note this is more orange then red but does have a few petals that are more red.

Lotta Jansdotter x2 fq x1 FAT QUARTER GONE TO JESS x1 fat quarter gone to Marian

Kaffe Fasset x4 fq or 1 metre

If your interested in swopping, I'm after any tangerine toned fabric think Micahael Miller ta dot in tangerine or grey fabrics like ta dot in stone. I like Heather Ross, bright sunshine yellows I like spots and stripes but will take a peak at anything as something might speak to me :-)