Beautiful ruler work made easy

Let’s quilt our Spring Table Runner! Piecing for many quilters is what brings joy, but quilting, well, quilting can be a challenge. I decided to make the simple-to-piece Spring Table Runner this week so I could practice using quilt rulers. In yesterday’s post we sandwiched the Spring Table Runner and quilted it with some in-the-ditch stitching. The PFAFF performance icon has made quick, precise work of the project so far. Today I’ll use the Free-Motion Ruler Foot and try my hand at ruler quilting using the Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set.

I added the extension table to the PFAFF performance icon to give me a larger flat surface for working. It easily replaces the accessory tray. The area between the needle and the Multi-touch screen is already really wide – and high too – and the addition of the extension table creates a nice, large workspace for quilting.

Extension table added to the PFAFF performance icon

First attempt with quilting ruler

Okay, so I may have been a little too excited to try out the rulers! The information printed directly on each ruler helps you line it up accurately so when you move the ruler to the next position, the design flows nicely. One small detail I overlooked in my excitement was the size the quilting design would be when completed – the size information is also printed on the ruler. It turns out the quilting design was much too small for the space.

The quilted motif was too small for the area.

After using my seam ripper, I decided to change my quilting plan and use the heart ruler template instead. I started with it in the focus fabric block and quilted four hearts in a circle. I liked the design, so I did the same thing in each of the nine patch blocks. The large quilting area and bright LED lighting on the PFAFF performance icon made it easy to move the ruler across the block and see what I was doing.

Using the heart template ruler in the nine patch block.

The registration marks I made on the fabric helped me line up the template and complete the second half of the heart. I was encouraged by how quickly I figured out how to move the ruler while moving the table runner under the needle; remember the machine is set to a free-motion setting so the feed dogs are lowered.

Registration marks on the nine patch block.

Four hearts quilted with heart ruler

I liked the scale of the heart ruler with my patchwork and decided to keep using it to add more quilting. This was not my original plan, so I was thinking about how else I add more curves to the top when the guide marks on the ruler inspired me to quilt half circles around the nine patch blocks themselves. I simply used the seam as a guide to line up the ruler and went around the blocks.

Using the top curve of ruler

I decided to keep the theme going in the open spaces in the background. More hearts! I must tell, you at this point I was getting so confident in my ability to move the ruler over the runner and decided to use the Start/Stop button to put the machine in charge of moving the needle at a consistent speed. I wish I had done this earlier, as I immediately noticed an improvement in the stitches at the curves! The PFAFF performance icon has so many features to help make quilting easier, and I sometimes have to just stop and think, “What else can I use?”.

Quilting hearts on the background side triangles.

These hearts went quickly and smoothly; I put one in each side triangle with the point facing in and one in each corner square with the point on the outside edge.

Hearts quilted with heart ruler template

Using the quilting rulers from the Inspira Ruler Foot Template Set was easier and more fun than I expected! The features of the PFAFF performance icon made this an enjoyable way to quilt the runner.

Tomorrow I’ll add some echo quilting to my Spring Table Runner and attach the binding. See you then!

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Perfect stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with the PFAFF performance icon

Go to part 5: Echo quilting make the Spring Table Runner complete

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