Barbara's Quilt Finished

A little late to sharing, but yay!  Barbara's quilt is finished and by now should have made its way home.  :)  I had so much fun quilting this - and I know I say that frequently but I really do love my job, and I really DO enjoy quilting quilt tops up for folks!

Barbara had been concerned that her top might be too plain for fancy quilting - I'm so glad she decided to send it along despite that concern.  The truth is, for most of us machine quilters who do a lot of custom work, the simply pieced tops are our FAVORITE.  The ones that have a lot of negative space give us the most opportunity for creativity.

Barbara sent along a few photos of quilting she had see online and requested something with a similar feeling.  I can at times recreate quilting, but often times it works best for me to see a photograph of what you like and then create something new and fresh but with a similar feeling or style.  So that is what we did here.  Because the photo she sent was a tad difficult to draw directly on I opted to recreate her blocks and share with her my ideas for each section of the quilt.

 

I almost always ask for the tiniest bit of creative freedom even when a mock up is approved.  Just like any plan, sometimes ideas look better on paper than in reality.  Or, what happens more often with my work, is that I think up little details to improve on a design as I'm working.  Sometimes those little gems are what really set that quilting design off.

Barbara requested two layers of my Hobbs 80/20 batting.  For most show quilts I like to use wool layered over Hobbs, but I find that 80/20 in double layers quilts up very nice too.  Wool is slightly lighter and has a filling quality that 80/20 doesn't.

I used Glide in the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin.  I do love this combination for appropriate quilts.  As a general rule I prefer a fine top thread for dense quilting - but this quilt in particular has dense and medium/light areas of quilting and I wanted the heavier thread to compensate in those areas with less quilting to give it a more even feeling.

All in all I am very please with how this one turned out!  I think I always spot a few things with each quilt that I will do slightly different on the next...but I still think it turned out quite drool worthy!  :)

Barbara's Quilt in Progress and Red/Tan Quilt Update

I got a little bit of a late start on Barbara's quilt last week but I wanted to share a few progress photos.  I absolutely adore the colors of this quilt! 

Barbara really wanted feathers so I tried to include them in her quilt.  She asked for double batting - so I am using two layers of Hobbs 80/20 with Glide thread on top in Sand and Bottom Line in the bobbin...I'm not sure the exact shade but a tan/kakhi color to blend with the backing.  I generally like to use the same thread in the top and bobbin, but this was an instance where two different threads really worked.

I had to watch the threadyness of the feathers below with the high contrast gold on purple...it doesn't sparkle here but in true light it is very elegant and shiny!  I really love how it is turning out.

 

I am hoping to finish it up over the weekend or early next week at the latest and as always I will show pictures.  Doreen asked me to share the sizes of quilts more and I will make an effort to do that!  I want to say most of the quilts I work on are Queen or King sized.  I do get some smaller quilts now and then, but I have a few good clients who really love to send me big quilts!  This one in particular is something like 86 x 96...I'm not sure the exact measurements but I have written them down somewhere.  I do know that the 96" wide batting I carry was just wide enough on the smallest side.  

Above is the progress on my red and tan quilt.  The block is called "Western Spy" in EQ6.  Yep, still using EQ6 over here!  It took me about six tries to get it right!  I had never heard of this block before or even seen it to my knowledge and now all of a sudden it seems to be popping up everywhere!  In particular there is a free pattern available for this block (and more) on Jinny Beyer's website.  In any case I love how it turned out!  Next week I'll be working on setting this on point and creating the stars that will frame this center block.

Jane's Border Creek Station Mystery Quilt

I finished Jane's Border Creek Station mystery quilt late last night and I'm so very pleased with the outcome!  I was a little nervous with the density of those pebbles but I think with the striped/piano key border quilting it turned out very even.  I love the texture this gives - Jane sent her own Tuscany Wool batting and it always quilts up beautifully.

The back is so pretty - almost a whole cloth in itself!  I really love neutral backings that show off the pretty quilting...they also show off the mistakes too...but let's just pretend I live in a world where I never ever EVER make those!  :)

Above is the full view photo that Jane sent me - along with a bare bones mock up I sent her.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do - and I wanted to get her opinion on pebbling before I went through and drew pebbles all over this quilt!  Luckily she is a gal who enjoys pretty pebbles just like me!

I did one border with this flourish so that it looks as if the quilting is traveling out and around and framing the quilt from this one point.  I really love it!

I used darn near a full 3,000 yard cone of Bottom Line thread on this quilt - fresh and new from the package!  There might be enough left on the cone now to fill two or three bobbins...those pebbles take up a lot of thread.  

I'm so happy with the way this one turned out.  I've got the feather itch now though - and good thing too as the next quilt is going to be full of them!

Cindy's Quilt Quilted with Deja Vu Pantograph

I think I missed sharing this one!  I quilted Cindy's beautiful Fat Quarter Shop sampler quilt with one of my all time favorite pantographs - Deja Vu by Patricia Ritter and I.  This awesome top has hints of Lori Holt's Farmgirl Vintage...which is on my Christmas list!

Below is a shot of the top pre-quilting.  I love the difference the texture of quilting makes.  I truly believe that old saying that "the quilting makes the quilt".  It really does bring a beautiful top to life.

 

 
Love this panto so much - it's a pretty easy one to follow and it just gives such great movement and is so classic and elegant on anything it goes onto.   I believe I used Glide thread by Fil-Tec in Wheat and Hobbs 80/20 batting -single layer.

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...and a view from the back below...doesn't my new stitch regulation make all the difference on the back?  Loving those tiny stitches!  :)

I'll leave you with a sneak at the quilt I currently have on the frame for my client Jane.  It's a Bordercreek mystery quilt from my understanding...and I adore everything about it.  I'm a bit behind where I wanted to be at this point with it but I still think I'll finish on schedule.  Football and cheer are over for the season so that frees up a significant amount of time three days out of the week!

A New Quilt - Reds and Neutrals

I currently have another of Jane's quilts loaded up and after a busy week of football, cheer, and now play rehearsals as one of my middle daughters has signed up to be a munchkin in the local high school production of "The Wiz" - I'm back to work.  I have made some small progress but will wait for this evening to share photographs when I'll have a much larger section to share.

Until then I'll show you my latest quilt.  Well - one of several.  I tend to work on multiple projects at once...at some point one grasps my attention long enough to finish, but often times it takes a couple of goes before I get to a point where I want to complete something!

This one has no name yet - and I'm simply calling it my "red and neutrals" quilt.  It was designed specifically for quilting since that is the part I'm truly passionate about.  I'm finding my own personal taste is for simple but pretty piecing that leaves a lot of creative room for decorative quilting.  I've been playing with a lot of non-traditional colorways as of late so with fall here and Christmas right around the corner, something red and warm really felt right.

I don't know if this will be the final color scheme but very close.  I'm leaning towards scalloped borders on the outer edge because I just love curves so much.

Because this quilt will be so much about the quilting I've already begun designing that aspect...here's a snippet:

I need to order thread but I have everything else on hand.  I think this one will be fun!  I'm planning for it to be just a wall hanging size as my dahlia was closer to a large wall hanging or even a baby/lap and I don't generally work very big.  I think the center portion will only be 25" or so?  I may make it a little larger to accommodate the quilting design but I just haven't gotten that far yet.

Well - the baby is a sleep - off to work!

Dahlia Progress - Just About Finished

Just a little sneak at my dahlia...I am in love!  I don't want to show a full on photo of the front until after it's been to a show...but I am not good with secrets and am really excited to share! So here is a little view of the back.  I have spent hours upon hours scouring every bit of this quilt and doing everything I can to correct any possible error I could find.  I learned so much but more importantly - I feel like my skills grew leaps and bounds.  I am so excited to begin on my next project. 

I still a few surprises planned for the back.  Binding will hopefully be happening tonight!  I am going to attempt something I haven't tried before.  I sure hope it turns out!

My Design Process and A Few Quilts Too...

I have been really slacking in the quality blog post department, for that, I apologize!  You can really tell when I get busy around here because my posts become more "show and tell" than posts.  Well, I'm not lacking in work - and that is a true blessing - but I do want to make an effort to share a little more about my process here.

When I talk to a potential client for quilting it generally begins with a photograph.  Sometimes that photo is after the quilt is in my possession, but because I work from home and have very little open space for photography I love when folks send me a photo before hand.  Here's a photo Darlene sent me of her Seven Sisters quilt when she asked me to quilt it for her:

The next phase in the process for me is planning design.  Sometimes an idea comes to me right away - maybe I see something in the patchwork and know a quilting element that will really work well immediately.  Other times I scour books, magazine, the internet, or my own past work for inspiration.  Even more frequently I take that photo and simply play with ideas until I get hit with something that works.  Something that is REALLY important to me is to come up with my own designs.  I may borrow elements or draw from others, but I want my own work to be unique to me.

 That was really the case with this quilt of Darlene's...she always brings me the most unique designs.  I played this one for quite a while before something I really liked hit me.  If I'm really lucky - my clients like the idea too!

I use a Wacom Bamboo tablet to draw my designs onto the photograph using software that came with the tablet set.  If you do a lot of custom work it is a fantastic tool.  There are times when something I've drawn up doesn't play well when I actually get to the quilting - so I do try to leave some room for changes.  Lucky me this time everything went very smoothly!  Here's the finished quilting - not a wonderful photo I'm afraid because I took the photo late at night just to have a few before I sent the quilt home early the next morning.  In a perfect world all of the quilts I work on will have a photo shoot before they go home.  :)

I shared this quilt belonging to Wanda in my last post but I'll show you how I used this process for her quilt too - and do so for just about all of the custom quilts I work on.

It REALLY helps me to envision the quilting before I quilt it.  Planning each and every quilt can be tedious but it is tremendously helpful in not only communicating design to clients, but also seeing how things will actually look before I sew a single stitch.  I admire folks who can load a quilt with no plan start to finish and come up with something amazing - but that method just doesn't work for me!  I have way fewer "oops - that doesn't look very good" moments if I know ahead of time to some extent what the quilt will look like.  You can get an idea of what will work with the actual pieced design and what will not.

I never realized until now how fun it is either just to sort of see the before and after photos side by side!  I'm going to have to do that more!

Now something to really watch out for...is to be sure you can execute the designs you come up with.  Since you are "just drawing" on the computer it is very easy to get carried away...or forget the actual size of the patchwork you are dealing with and create a design that is ridiculously intricate.  This sort of happened to me with Jane's Dear Jane quilt:

 When I drew up the design for this quilt I wasn't thinking about the fact that her gray sashing was only about 1" wide by 6" finished...or something close to that.  Whoops.  She gently reminded me in an email and we decided to go with the intricate design despite the small sashing because it just worked so well.  But definitely creates a lot more work than it seems in real life than on a computer.  (I'd like to think the finished product was worth the extra effort!)

I have some more amazing quilts in store for you in upcoming posts.  I cannot believe some times the quilts people send to me - they are fantastic and so very beautiful!  I truly love my job!