This is Part 1 of a 4 part series featuring the fabulous Janome Quilt Maker Pro18 long-arm quilting machine. I’ll go into depth describing all the fantastic features which let YOU be the artist to create and FINISH your quilting masterpiece more quickly and easily with more satisfying results. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to the JanomeLife Blog so you don’t miss out!
With precuts continuing to grow in popularity, a quilt top can now be made faster and easier than ever. This is fantastic as there’s an never-ending supply of inspiration out there for new, exciting projects.
However, I hear from so many quilters that this is where their life in the fast lane grinds to a screeching halt. The top, the piecing, is done in record time, but it’s the actual quilting process: layering the backing, batting and quilt top together and securing all layers with stitches, which is what slows them down. They have a growing pile of quilt tops, but not actual finished quilts.
Raise your hand if this describes you. 🙂 Don’t worry, there’s no shame involved! I’m the President and CEO of this group! With quit tops, or UFOs or Flimsys as sometimes called, climbing steadily in the double digits, I’m the first to admit that I HAVE been guilty of devoting more time to the piecing process than to the actual quilting process.
Why emphasis HAVE? Well, I’m very proud to say that HAVE is in the past tense as there’s now a fabulous and exciting new weapon in my quilting arsenal to eradicate those UFOs for good!
Enter the fantastic new Janome Quilt Maker Pro 18!!! YES! Janome finally has a long-arm quilting machine of their very own!
I know, gorgeous, isn’t it!? Gorgeous and functional and oh SEW fun to use!
Since making it’s Canadian national debut at Quilt Canada in June, the Quilt Maker Pro 18 http://janome.com/en/products/machines/quilt-maker-pro/ has created quite a buzz in the industry, and has completed countless quilt tops of very proud owners. 🙂
At 2200 stitches per minute, almost twice as fast as the fastest domestic machine on the market (our very own Janome 6700P), even a King size quilt can be done in a matter of hours. Yes! HOURS – not years, months, or even days – hours! YAY!! All without kneeling on the floor using hundreds of curved safety pins to baste the layers together. Ask me how I know about that grueling experience!
After crawling around the floor for over an hour using over 400 safety pins on a Queen size bedspread quilt I was making for my niece, I decided I had had enough. There HAD to be a better, easier way to get my quilt tops quilted! I could barely stand afterwards, so no free-motion quilting on my domestic machine that night.
When I finally got around to quilting, it was difficult and frustrating to wrestle all that fabric and batting through the throat of my machine. I didn’t have the luxury of the 11 inch throat of Janome’s Horizon Memory Craft 15000 Quilt Maker (as I do now 😉 ), but even if I had, when trying to quilt a big quilt quickly and easily with minimal physical exertion, bigger is definitely better. The 18 inch throat space of the Quilt Maker Pro18 means that there is a larger area in which to quilt so you don’t need to roll up your quilt as often. Huge timesaver and a lot more fun in the process!
The biggest difference of the long-arm machine is that you are not moving your quilt, you are only moving the machine head. Your quilt layers are rolled up independently onto separate rollers so they feed smoothly and evenly as you quilt layers together. There is no pre-basting necessary, no crawling around the floor with safety pins, nothing! Think of your quilt as your canvas on which to create your stitching masterpiece. It stays stationary while you move the needle of the machine head, which is your brush. An array of thread of any brand and type, the Quilt Maker Pro18 can take it all, is your paint.
Now, the actual quilting process is more fun and easier to do with more satisfying results. It’s actually something I look forward to, whereas in the past it was something I dreaded and avoided – hence the growing pile of UFOs in my studio. I’m VERY happy to say that I’ve finally begun making a dent in that pile, the results of which you’ll see in upcoming blog posts.
Want to multi-task, save even more time and have even more fun in the process? Simply add the Quilt Maker Pro-Stitcher computer to your machine and let it do the quilting for you! I’ll go into more of what the Pro-Stitcher computer can do in future blog posts.
Now, don’t worry and feel left out if even the thought of standing in front of the quilt frame for hours tires you out. Janome has YOU covered as well!
Enter the fabulous Artistic Quilter SD-16!
SD for Sit Down. lol! They think of everything! 16 inches of throat space. 8 inches of throat height, by the way, so plenty of room for even a King Size quilt. No pushing and pulling necessary! I’ll go into more detail on the Artistic SD-16 in future posts, but I’ll quickly mention that this fabulous sit down machines includes a Stitch Regulator option, which typically other brands do NOT. Again, Janome thinks of everything. http://www.janome.com/siteassets/artistic/long-arm/aqsd-16/aqsd-16-sell-sheet.pdf
It may seem a daunting task, but round up your UFOs and imagine them all beautifully quilted and bound and off to their final destination – being used, or viewed and enjoyed. That’s why we make quilts! To be enjoyed, to be loved, not to sit unfinished in a dark hidden corner somewhere.
Contact your local Janome dealer for more information, but also consider joining us in the Janome booth at the upcoming Creative Festival, Hall 5 at the International Centre in Mississauga, ON. October 26-28th. IT’S TIME FOR THE CREATIV FESTIVAL IN TORONTO
It’s the perfect time to see the fabulous Quilt Maker Pro18, or Artistic SD-16 up close and most importantly, give it a test drive to see for yourself just how smooth, easy and oh SEW fun it is! UFOs? What UFO’s? lol! 🙂
Be sure to come back for Part 2 when I’ll delve into what makes the Quilt Maker Pro18 so unique and ultra-easy and fun to use!
Janome Life 