Quilting

Since teaching my first class I have had the opportunity to Long-arm quilt some quilts for the ladies in the class.

The first quilt I quilted was the quilt we put together in our first class. Rather than quilting an all over design, I decided to break the quilt up into its elements and quilt each element with a different motif. I quilted leaves both simple and a tropical leaf in the green corner squares and in the Orange boarder I quilted  large flower and leaf design.  I found 3 wonderful block designs which I free motion quilted in the large blocks, a gecko, a fish and a tropical leaf pattern.

The next quilt was one that many of you can probably identify with.  (I know I can!)The woman who made this quilt had this beautiful top finished and in her sewing room.  It had been in hiding since her daughter was in high school, it was intended as a graduation gift.  That was 15 years ago!  When her daughter asked about it, mom went on a search.  Low and behold the top was complete it had just never been quilted and bound!

Problem solved!  Now her daughter is getting a beautiful, long overdue gift for Christmas.

Did you miss me?

Beach Bag

Well, the rumors are true.  I am alive and well. (and still as busy as ever).  According to my calendar I have not written a blog post since March.  Can that be right?  WoW!  Quite a lot has happened since then.

My oldest graduated from High School and is now in College. (how is that possible?). Our beloved exchange student went back to Germany.  Both of the previous two boys were on crutches for different reasons. One school year ended and another began. We went on vacation/family reunion.  My two youngest had pneumonia over the summer, which prompted a host of doctors visits.  Band camp and Summer cross country camp came and went.  We are now back in full school mode and all that it entails.

One thing that didn't change.. I still kept on quilting and crafting.
Here are a few pictures of the things that kept me busy this summer...

Bee Blocks

Coaches Gifts

Beginning quilt class demo

cupcake pincushions

clemson t-shirt quilt

Graduation Quilt

Bee Blocks

Graduation Towels

I will go into more detail on the projects above soon.(plus a few more projects who's photos escape me;)

Multi Item Long Arm Quilting

Have you ever tried to quilt multiple things at once? The idea intrigued me. Usually the idea pops into my head after I have already loaded one item onto my Long-arm machine.  One of those, 'I should have" moments.   This year when I decided to make 6 stockings it became the perfect situation to try it out.

I pieced together all 6 stocking fronts and used fat quarters for the backing.  I used a large sheet of muslin for the lining.

I loaded the muslin as I would the backing.  Then pinned each of the 6 stocking fronts to to the Long-arm machine leaders.  The biggest difference from quilting a larger quilt was the pinning.  I had to be very careful to pin down all the edges of each stocking carefully.  Each stocking front and back had to be basted down around all edges.  It was very easy to catch the foot of the machine on the raw edge of the pieced tops.

Once the stocking tops were loaded I moved on to the back.  I quilted a different pattern on each stocking front but on the backs I just quilted a simple meander pattern.

Once each pieced was quilted.  I simply cut the stockings out using my own pattern. I think this was a wonderful way to quickly machine quilt all the stockings at once.  

Quilted Cotton

Here it is my quilt for the AMB Farm to Fabric challenge.

I am sad to report it was not chosen as one of the finalist to be showcased at the Houston Quilt Show. Although I was disappointed that I was not chosen, I had a gut feeling it wouldn't be.  I was really enjoying the quilt as I was sewing the quilt top, and then I wasn't.  It was weird.  I turned a corner one day and WHAM! I hated it.  After quilting this quilt I never really Loved it!  I was happy with it but I didn't feel it was my best work.

Then I tried to photograph it.  Oh my.  I just purchased a new camera and I had quite a lot to learn, not only about the camera but also about taking pictures of quilts.  It is much harder than it looks.  I really had a difficult time just getting the picture straight! LOL.  Perhaps next time I submit a quilt for a quilt show I will have it professionally photographed.

Hazel's Quilt {the quilting}

With all of my machines in the shop it is good to know my Long-arm is still running. (fingers crossed)  I was able to finish up this quilt and get it off in the mail.

I used an all over free motion flower and leaf design for this beautiful floral quilt.  I used the leftover pieces of my layer cake and some additional yardage of coordinating print.

For the 'H' I quilted a small leaf design to tack the design down. 

Now she if off to her new home.

Baby Quilt.

I received this modern log cabin baby quilt in the mail on Monday.

 It was a slight rush to get it loaded and returned to her before the birth of her grandchild, so I was only able to snap a few pictures before getting it back in the mail.  Her choice of fabric and the setting made choosing a quilting design simple.

To soften the square setting and sharp corners I used a free-motion ribbon. I changes the ribbon's orientation to make it look like it was circling around the center.

As for the center square.  I used the adorable whale fabric as inspiration for this little guy. 

Happy Quilting!

Go Buckeyes!

Over the last 7 years I have had the privilege of quilting many Ohio State Quilts.  I am always excited to see what type of design layout the quilter has chosen for any type of sports quilt.  This design is one that is so perfectly OSU that I cannot believe I haven't seen it before.   For those of you that don't get follow College football here is a picture of the OSU helmets.

As I understand it the little stickers (buckeye leaves) are given out to the players for various 'good' plays, tackles etc.   

Now here is the quilt.

Brilliant, Right? 

I quilted this sports quilt with basic straightly horizontal lines every 2 inches.  Then I turned the quilt and quilted strategical place lines vertically down the quilt.  Now you see I don't have those little wheel locks that a lot of long-arm quilters use to keep the lines straight.  So how did I do it?  

Little tiny clamps I picked up at Harbor Freight of all places! You can see these clamps are only about 2 inches long.  The perfect size for clamping onto my wheels and keeping the machine from moving forward and backward.  This leaves only the rollers moving left to right, thus a straight line!  Awesome.  I must admit that this wasn't exactly the best case scenario, but in a pinch it worked.

A Quilt for Faith

Last week I had the pleasure of quilting this beautiful quilt for a beautiful little girl.  This new quilt will be her for her "big girl" bed and I think she will love it!  The only criteria for the quilting of this beauty was that the quilting be 'girly'.

I used a continuous line design with a leaf in one block followed by a flower.

Then alternated the following row flower then leaf.  Overall I think this design turned out beautifully.
This beautiful quilt had machine embroidered flowers made out of fluffy soft minky.  How Lovely!  The texture it flowers added was the true inspiration for the quilting.  I think the design flows so well throughout the quilt.

I used a small leafed vine pattern to run through the center of the quilt and echoed the embroidered flowers.  The backing was made of Minky and to be honest I wasn't sure how it would quilt.  I have used Minky before on baby quilts but never on a quilt so large.  All that Minky is HEAVY.  Winding the backing on to the machine was quite a task.  Minky quilted perfectly, even if I did have to clean out my bobbin casing quite a bit more than usual.  I have heard of people having thread breaking issues with mink, I however did not have a problem.  I did use a heavy #40 weight thread which I think helped.

the back

It is always a surprise to me to turn the quilt over and see how the back turned out.  I think the free motion flowers and leaves turned out just perfectly for this girly quilt.

t-shirt quilt {finish}

Hooray! It's done and off to it's new owner..
Here are a few pictures to celebrate this finish.

Table Runner with Free-Motion Feathers

I had the privilege to quilt this table runner for My Mom.  She made this beautiful table runner out of several outdoor fabric remnants.  To be honest I wasn't sure how well my long-arm would quilt through the thicker, heavier fabrics.  It did great!  Not one problem.

I started taking the Craftsy class, Free Motion Quilting With Feathers by Angela Walters in January.  I decided to use this quilt to help me practice.  Since the table runner was broken down into small block sections, I used each section to practice my feathers.

Initially, I was really critical of my feathers.  They are uneven, the petals of the feather are misshapen, I didn't fill in the space well enough.   Whatever.  I had to remember that I was learning.  Duh.  Sounds easy enough when you are encouraging someone else, yet when you have to encourage yourself, it can be utterly impossible.   This is the third Craftsy class I have taken of Angela Walters' and the one thing I absolutely LOVE about her classes is how relaxed she is about quilting.  One of my favorite quotes, the thing she says over and over in all of her classes is "There is no such thing as perfection in free motion quilting."  How Great is that!  Not only is she encouraging but she is willing to say, Hey! Mistakes are okay and part of the process.   Awesome.

It wasn't until I was finished quilting and I was able to look at the quilt from the back that I was able to see my progress.  I was improving, slowly, but improving.  The different size blocks allowed me to play with different lengths of feathers, echoing my feathers and on occasion adding a swirl here and there.  It turned out to be the perfect piece for free motion feathers.  Thanks Mom!

A finish -- The Hexie-Flower Quilt

Well, it's done.  (and even before the birth of my new niece)  Starting a baby quilt a week before the baby's due date is a bit like shopping for Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Thankfully babies pretty much come when they want and sometimes are quite late.  It did come down to the midnight hour but this baby is done.  

This quilt was made with pre-cut Moda Honeycombs in Scrumptious color way by Bonnie and Camille.  I love the bright colors, shapes and flowers.  I scattered six of my own Hexie-flowers, hand pieced in Kona Solids throughout the quilt top.  Each Hexie-flower is grouped with patterns and prints that were of the same color.  I couldn't help but quilt this cutie in an all over flower pattern adding a free form daisy in each of the Hexie-flowers.  So, stinking cute!

I wanted the back to be just as bright and colorful as the front so I added multiple prints from the same line. Fortunately Southern Fabric, has scrap bags that are made up from scraps all from the same fabric line. 

I will ship her off today with some goodies for the big brother to-be.  Hopefully for my Sister-in-law, the quilt will arrive after the baby. :)