Wanda's Lone Star Wall Hanging

A little late to sharing this one as I've been so crazy busy here.  (I always say that - I'm sure it's annoying by now!)  The Husband surprised our little family with a trip to Niagara Falls over the weekend...just a quickie over night stay on the New York side.  We have gone several times to the Canadian side before they required a passport to visit...but now it would cost a small fortune for our entire family to go so - New York it is!  It was actually really fun to see the American side of the falls and there was no shortage of things to do.  This week football has started for my 9 year old and the 4 year old will be a little cheer leader.  School starts next week and tomorrow is the Husband's birthday...and of course I have to do school shopping yet and a full schedule of quilts...so as I said...BUSY!  LOL!  :)

Here is the quilt I finished up right before our mini-vacation...this belongs to my quilting friend Wanda who I met through Connecting Threadz...she is a wonderful lady and her quilting is just beautiful!  You'll have to take a peek at her quilts in her albums when you find the time...

I free handed the little swirls with disappearing ink in each of the corner blocks - then stitched over them and pebbled around them to give a trapunto look.

As with most of my custom quilting I used Bottom Line thread by Superior Threads...it is my absolute favorite thread for quilting.

Wanda provided me with Warm and Natural cotton batting...I was actually really  happy with the texture we achieved!

A little sneak at the back because I rarely show it.  I try to keep things neat as possible - but I'm human and hiccups happen.  My backs are much cleaner and neater than they were in the beginning...I make every effort to keep them as clean as the front!  This is a bit like showing my underwear in public...  :)

I really had fun with this one.  I am kind of obsessed with modern quilts at the moment but I won't deny that I adore traditional quilting.  These sort of really traditional patterns are my absolute favorite to quilt.  :)

...and I'll leave you with a photo from our trip!  If you haven't noticed...I've lost quite a bit of weight!  I'll do an update on that when I have a moment.  For now, I'm working on two quilts for my client Darlene that I know you'll love to see!

Darlene's New York Beauty - Finished!

It is always SO gratifying to FINISH!  I love that moment when you pull a quilt off the frame after looking at it and being so close to it for days, sometimes weeks.  This one I dilly dallied a bit with just because I had appointments and things to do this week...but I knew it was going to be gorgeous on both sides when finished...so it was even more incentive to get to work!

I am still working at finding a place or a way in my home to get great photographs.  I have had some complaints of them being dark or taken at odd angles - truth of the matter is I live in a very small ranch home and space is extremely limited...I cannot even begin to explain the lengths I go to attempting to get good photographs!  I know they are not all ideal, but I'm working on it!  Now that baby is coming soon we plan to do some renovation and hopefully, I'll have my own private studio area and a place to lay out quilts.  I cannot wait!

The back you know is always my favorite.  I feel like it's my stamp on the quilt.  :)  This is the part I feel like I'm good at, and where I get to show off a bit!  Above I did use some filters on Instagram to allow you to better see the texture.  Below are natural light images with no filters.

This design was much easier to draw out on the computer than it was to carry out!  Not that it was too terribly difficult, but I had to really pay attention to measurements and keeping things the same size.

After a lot of time and practice I've decided I'm just sold on using the same color in the bobbin as in the top.  Not that I won't use a thinner thread in the bobbin - but I'd just much rather watch my back tracking and bury threads than try to tension out two contrasting colors.  I think it turned out so nicely too!

My children are getting antsy and I have to make dinner, but I PROMISE a post on rulers up next!  :)

Progress on Darlene's New York Beauty

Happy Valentine's Day!  I had wanted to get farther than this today but life just got in the way.  Kids were feisty and I started cleaning up my sewing room (still didn't finish) and it seems the day just got away from me.  I am really happy with the progress though, and let's hope I can replicate those feathery rays and pearls on the opposite side as evenly spaced!  I think I will be able to manage it if I go slowly.

For minds that are curious I am using Bobbin Line thread by Fil-Tec in the creamy tan batik fabric, also in the blue, and Glide in the pink.  Bobbin Line is very comparable to Bottom Line by Superior Threads in that they are both somewhat shiny polyester and 60 wt.  I use Glide quite a bit but this is my first go with Bobbin Line.  I'm really liking it so far.  I'm sure I will use it again - my only gripe being I wish they had more colors!

Using my blue 12/13" arc I bought from Quilts on the Corner for curved cross hatching and below, the sort of feathered ray curved design with the pearls...I used Linda Hrcka's swag ruler again.  I'll try and post a photo of all the rulers I used for this when I'm done.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and hopefully you're not in the path of the blizzard!  We've got quite a bit of snow here and I'm longing for spring...  :)

Cindy's Sampler

Just finished another sampler for Cindy - I am really happy with the results.  :)  Lots of curved cross hatch play and surprisingly the high contrast thread on the back looks pretty  nice!

**Edited to add - there is a block on the back of this quilt that appears unquilted in the photo - I have received a number of emails pointing it out - thank you!  It IS quilted, but in taupe thread and it looks totally unquilted in the photo...it is an optical illusion!!!  LOL  I did go back immediately after looking at the photos to make sure I don't send home a quilt with an "oops".  Just wanted to mention it before I get another email!!!  ;)

More Progress on Cindy's Quilt - and GIVE AWAY WINNER!!!

What, you think I'm going to announce the winner that easy?  LOL  No way!  Let's talk quilts first!  :)

I have received a lot of inquiries from long arm quilting pals on how I created this design on Cindy's quilt.  Well - first I should explain that every quilt that comes to me for quilting goes through a stage of planning long before I load it up on the frame.  I use a graphic design tablet to doodle directly onto the digital photograph of the quilt - and I doodle away until something fun and exciting shows up!  For Cindy's quilt, the outer geometric sashing screamed feathers to me.  I had seen Renae Haddadin's arc ruler around the blogs and thought it would be great for creating the circular movement in this quilting plan.

 

 

For the pinstripe border at the top I just used your basic ditch ruler.  I bought mine from the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Cleveland last spring - but it is just a small simple ditch ruler that can be purchased from Quilter's Rule.  Truly - it is probably my most used ruler too.

 

 

 

For marking I use a purple disappearing ink pen.  I pretty much only use disappearing ink, blue water soluble markers, and white chalk for darker fabrics.  The only marking on this quilt was for the arcs, the curved cross hatching before I stitched it, and a few registration marks so that everything was neat and even.  The feathers are all free hand.

 

Here are a few more angle shots of the quilting so far...I'm about half way through and then this quilt will be ready to go home!  :)

 

 

 

This quilt has particularly fun to work on!  Of course - it has been a learning experience in design execution as well - but a joy in every aspect.  Some days I want to pinch myself because I cannot believe that I get to do what I love every day!

 

So - almost there!  I will ask you to endure likely one more photo shoot with this quilt once it is finished, and then a quick charity quilt before I load up Barbara's quilt.

 

 

Ok...ok....ok...would you like to know who won the give away? 

 

I thought you might!  :) 

 

I have to say... THANK YOU to all those who entered!!!  There were a few comments that really  hit home with me...many of you have been hanging around for years and watched the progression of my quilting journey.  I am SO very blessed...every day I am grateful for how fortunate I am to be home with my children, my wonderful family, and doing what I am truly passionate about each and every single day.  I am also SO VERY grateful to those of you who trusted me long before I had anything to show for myself...those first quilts that were sent to me with pure trust.  Thank you so very much!!!

 

With the help of a random number generator a winner has been chosen...a the winner is...

 

Jan E

 

Jan I will send you over an email and we will make arrangements for your choice of paper pantograph or free quilting!

 

Thank you all again for participating!!!  :)







Cindy's Quilt in Progress and Lara's Quilt

Happy day after Easter!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday and were able to spend some time with family.  :)  We had a fantastic day - the girls were up at dawn ready and excited for their Easter baskets...then an early dinner with the In Laws followed by dessert, coffee, and cards with my parents.  I have to say it was just a perfect day.

I have a stack of quilts and projects to work on - the one on the frame right now is my quilting friend Cindy's gorgeous quilt she made for her daughter.  I can't get enough of the quilting on this one!  I used my new Renae Haddadin 12/13" arc ruler to mark and stitch the curves...it is a long ruler so it took some fiddling and planning to get things to come out nicely...but I think we're doing alright!  :)  I'm really in love with how it is coming along...

I also wanted to share a photo of Lara's quilt that I finished up last week!  I have been so busy this is the first chance I've had to share her gorgeous twister...many compliments were paid to this Lara while it was on the frame!!  :)

I wanted to get a head start on work this evening but tomorrow I'll be getting down to business and back to work!  :)

**I will announce a winner to the give away next post!!  There were more responses than I am able to respond to - but I hope you all know it meant so much to me that so many of you went out of your way to participate!!!  Thank you for all of the kind kind words and I am excited to see who will win!!!!  :)

Linking Up with Connie!  :)

Almost at the Half Way Point

I am almost at the half way point on this quilt - OH MY GOODNESS!!  I cannot wait to be finished.  I have half a dozen more ideas floating in my head and I have quilts coming in soon!!!  Tomorrow is our second Christmas with my Husbands family...a day of play...then after that I have to buckle down because that only gives me one more week to finish the quilting on this.

I have been getting a lot of questions about what batting or what thread I'm using.  This is Glide thread on the top and in the bobbin - the cream fabric is mainley natural muslin - meaning there are natural imperfections in the fabric.  I like the look personally - and I like even more the idea of an elegant design over what is normally thought of as an inexpensive utilitarian fabric.  I love love love Glide thread because it tends to quilt up somewhere between a very fine thread and a thicker polyester thread...it's perfect for sort of, all purpose quilting.  You can do a lot of dense quilting without a terrible amount of thread build up or you can do really simple designs and they look very elegant and fancy with Glide's bit of shine.  I wind my own bobbins and have yet to use the magna bobbins but I hear great things about them!  I also like that Glide comes off the cone really smoothly.  I have only had one cone out of the forty or more that I've purchased from them that I had to use a thread net over.  (The price is right too - and they have one all across the board price...so I pay the same for the thread as you!  I am not affiliated - just a fan!)

I am using two layers of batting - and I prefer two layers of a lower loft batting to one layer of high loft batting.  It just gives a better more fuller look in my opinion.  Dare I say I even like the look of a "faux" trapunto look with two layers of batting and dense quilting versus real machine trapunto over top another layer or two layers of batt.  Or maybe I'm just lazy and would rather quilt the crumbs out of my quilt instead of cut away batting...  LOL!  :)

The top batting is Hobbs Tuscany Wool - I have never used this brand of wool before this quilt and I have never made a quilt this size with wool, but I do like Hobbs 80/20 quite a lot and they are very consistent so I thought it would be a good wool to start with.  I do love the fullness and the loft...but I don't like the memory retention and the sort of looseness of the batting.  When on the frame I like to poke the sides of my quilt where there is no top with pins while I am adjusting things and wool doesn't make a very good pincusion!  :)

The bottom layer is an off brand equivalent to Warm and Natural.  I have no real strong feelings about Warm and Natural either way other than to say that Warm and White tends to beard and beard bright white through my fabric so I rarely if ever use it anymore.  I honestly don't care for cotton either because I'm a machine quilter - I feel like poly and poly blends show off the quilting better and I like even more that poly batts tend to retain fold lines less.  I do however really like the look of these two batts together (wool and cotton) - though in the future to get more bang on the back I will probably layer wool with Hobbs 80/20.  Hobbs and Quilter's Dream have been my two favorite battings so far...and both are pretty economically priced.

Alright, happy sewing!  Hopefully I'll be DONE next time you hear from me!!!  :)

More Progress on Stockings and Laura's Quilt

Making more progress on my stockings.  This is one I am working on this afternoon while the baby is napping...

The last of the customer quilts for the year is being shipped off shortly...and I'm looking forward to working on some of my own projects over the holidays!  My first goal is to get these stockings finished.

This is the first stocking and to the right, the reverse side.  I decided I am going to just do all three stockings backs with feathers...and each front will be a different design.

Above is another shot of the backing of stocking one. I just can't get enough feathers I tell you!  :)

I also finished up Laura's quilt yesterday...it is a very special quilt.  I'll let her share the story on her blog...but it truly moved me to tears.  What a beautiful quilt and what beautiful friends you have Laura!

I really really love ribbons...if I get some time here in the coming weeks I'll show you how to quilt them.  They are very simple but they are so cute and sweet!  I thought they complimented the fun whimsical nature of this quilt.

So much to do and so much to say!!  I want to get in as much sewing time over the next few weeks as I can so I am going to run.  This is truly a magical time of year...I hope you all are enjoying family and preparing for the coming holidays!  :)

Sharon's Quilt Finished! :)

Yay!  I just finished quilting up Sharon's quilt...I'm off to trim it and send it back home.  :)

I used Sigma thread on this quilt - which I find to be a lot like Isacord although Sigma tends to come off the spool too fast for my machine.  I use a thread net...but still I get looping on the bottom which is a real pain because then I have to go back afterwards and tuck those babies back into the quilt.  I had a very nice woman approach me at a local meeting recently asking about some looping on the underside of her quilt that she had just had long armed by another quilter...I didn't think to suggest to her it might be the thread!  There are a number of things that can cause looping when free motion quilting or long arm quilting...lint is another possibility and also burrs.  I know in this case it was the thread because it is a recurring issue I have with Sigma that I don't really have with any other thread.  Glide does require a gentler touch - but it is my favorite thread by far.  :)

I do love look of this thread though - especially with fancy intricate quilting...the shininess just looks like pearl to me...it's elegant!  :)  LOL

Tonight I will start loading up Monica's quilt...she sent me two beauties to work on.  I am excited to get going too because they are going to be just lovely.  :)  Also hoping to start squeezing in some work on my dahlia quilt.  Deadlines are fast approaching and I've been so busy I haven't touched it!  Eek!  :)

Creating Curved Crosshatch Quilting on a Domestic Sewing Machine

I know I promised how to do feathers, but I just wasn't set up to do that today!  Here's a really quick and unprofessional video on how I created the curved cross hatch diamond in this little quilted project.  YOU CAN DO IT on your HOME SEWING MACHINE!  :)

Quilting Progress

Well - I was going to chat...but my one year old is having a tantrum and my 10 year old is about to join her.  Progress...this was NOT on the long arm.  :)  I'll get there!

I think the back turned out as cool as the front!

I uploaded a silly little tip on Youtube.  I'll link it later!  Children call!!!