Bobbin work - longarm style

So last week I had a few minutes to spare (no, not really, but I used them for myself anyway) and I decided to attempt bobbin work on the Gammill.  I knew after taking Bonnie McCaffrey's class (see previous post) I would run with this because the amount of ideas already popping out of my brain is insane -- I wish the extra minutes in my day would balance with the ideas in my head -- then I might get ahead of myself... maybe.

So anyway, let's share -- well, I'll share, you read... 

We'll start with one full M bobbin of YLI Candlelight thread (super cool stuff).

Now I'll share what the stitch out of one full M bobbin looks like. Not much, but the effect is absolutely awesome.

Remember, we're working from the back so to help me stitch my name I used a piece of stabilizer.

And here's a close up peek at some of the detail.  Don't worry about those little glittery feathers in the bottom right corner -- I'll get to them later.

So after the first bobbin full I was happy, but not thrilled, I still had some tweeking of tensions to do.  So round two started:

Still not perfect... even more adjustments, and

Viola!  Now I was a happy girl!  Not too much build up, good stitches, perfect in my little world.  So, what do I try next... Superior Glitter thread.

 

So the Glitter thread wasn't as happy as the Candlelight with the current settings.  That is another day's spare moments.  I was happy with the adjustments for the Candlelight so I left that bobbin case as is.  I'll be ordering some more Candlelight thread and I'll be using in on my latest UFO that I worked on over the weekend.

I had a mexican pinwheel feathered star (Marsha McCloskey pattern) that had been sitting around collecting dust.  So I pulled it out -- this is what it looked like (actually is was extremely wrinkly so I gave it a real quick pressing):

Then I worked on it over the weekend, and now it looks like this (still wrinkly):

It is not a masterpiece, there are quite a few things wrong with the star -- hey, Marsha did warn me on the cover of the book with her statement of "really hard blocks that take a long time to make" -- she was not kidding - it really should have said Karen, you've got attention problems,can't follow directions, and don't always read the entire pattern, this is NOT the book for you.  And to be honest, I never finished the block her way -- the center lemoyne is hand-appliqued because after three tries it still didn't work right!  Adjust and move on!  I may add some little circles here and there -- not sure yet, waiting til it tells me.  This will be my bobbin work debut quilt -- you can see it is begging for bobbin work right?  I'm really hoping they have black Candlelight thread... really hoping!  More to come on this one.