The Queen has Arrived!

My new Bernina Q20--the sit down quilting machine that I've affectionately dubbed "The Queen"--arrived almost two weeks ago and I've been busy getting to know her.  A technician from the local Bernina shop delivered the five big boxes it took to ship her and her table, got the machine and hydraulic adjustable height table all set up, and gave me some basic training.  Then I was off and running!

Although she is a big machine with a 20" space from the needle to machine back and a table that is 72" when fully extended, she fits nicely into the south side of the basement.  Coupled with an old but cherished hand-made cherry table and a little Elfa rolling cart to hold my quilting supplies, the new quilting center was quickly up and running.  It's been love ever since. 

Here's the view from the machine towards the rest of the basement.  The TV sits on its rolling stand behind The Queen and we roll it out a bit when we want to watch it.  

The Queen's only purpose is to quilt layers of fabric and batting together.  It will not sew a seam or do other sewing tasks.  But because it only does one thing it does it very well!  

Some quilting machines are automated and you can set them up and walk away while it does an overall quilting pattern on the quilt.  And some quilting machines have big frames that you load the quilt and batting onto and then you stand up to move the machine's needle over the fabric sandwich to do the quilting.  

My machine doesn't do either of those things.   It's not automated and I move the fabric underneath the needle with my hands to make the quilting pattern.   I chose not to get a frame, instead getting a table that moves to either sitting or standing height with the push of a button, so I can sit or stand while I do my quilting.   Because its function is so limited and because I already have a Bernina sewing machine and because Berninas are such great quality, learning to use this new machine  has been easy and fun. 

Just to get the hang of things I quilted three small quilts that will end up with hospitalized kids.  

Then I started quilting a lap throw featuring Hawaiian fabrics, which you can see in the second photo above.  That's going to take a while to finish so I've also gone back to the Sunflower wall hanging I finished earlier this summer and added quite a bit more stitching to it, as you can see if you compare this detail....  

...to this one. 

The Queen really showed here stuff on this piece, stitching through all the thick layers without any trouble.  And she's fast, too.  She can do 2200 stitches per minute compared to the 1000 stitches that my Bernina 740 sewing machine can do.  She's pretty amazing and I'm a pretty happy camper!