Quilt 113: Zoe The Giraffe (and Q-Matic Headache) - DONE!

I mentioned last week I was having trouble with doing end-to-end quilting on the Bernina Q-Matic.  Here's an example of what was going on...

Here's the stitch pattern I selected for the quilt from the library that comes with the Q-Matic.  As you can see, it's circles which are overlaid, creating an interesting design: "Half Moon Border 03". 

With the Q-Matic, you can select this design and have it repeated on the quilt, effectively stitching from left to right in rows.  As you advance the quilt on the frame, you have to keep things lined up and spaced properly - something the Q-Matic is supposed to do automatically with it's "Re-align Safe Area" function. 

But I was having trouble with that when I did the quilting on this project. 

In the photo below, you can see the result.  After the first set of rows, the Q-Matic just wouldn't line up the next rows correctly.  Instead of adjusting the Q-Matic's area, I had to get as close as I could and then manually shift the quilt on the frame to match up what the Q-Matic was wanting.  It was, frankly, a nightmare.  In the photo below you can see the worst-matched row (look in the lower left corner, and you can see the points don't match up as they should).

(doubleclick any picture on this page to see a larger image)

I'm certainly glad I didn't select a more elaborate design. I managed to do OK with this.  I don't think you'd notice the incorrectly aligned rows without me pointing them out, but I certainly have trouble seeing anything else...

Here's the finished quilt.  It's made from a single printed panel, with a 3" border of solid tan fabric, and solid dark brown for the binding.

40" x 48" - quilted on the longarm (Bernina with Q-Matic) - cotton batting

Fortunately it looks just fine.  I used gold thread for the quilting, and it fades well into the pattern on the top.  And here's the backing.  With the patterned backing fabric, you can't see any goofs at all because the green swirls just swallow  up the stitching.

The quilt is fine - just not quite to my usual standards.

And, as I reported last week, I did finally find a video showing how to realign the safe area, and managed to get one of the 2 methods they show to work consistently for me. 

I've got another quilt mounted on the Bernina and expect I'll be able to report a very happy success next week!