Sew it goes!

Look I got it done! Block 9 is finally finished.
My block of the month is done at the last minute, in the final hour... I know the image is a little grainy but the iPad camera is not that good at taking my blog photos, sorry. I am in a hurry to get this posting done and it is almost 11:00pm our time and I need to get up early.



thanks for looking...
star
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This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

This is what I have been up to. And totally loving it. This is the quilting that just makes me smile.
Thanks for looking.

Look what I found at the fair

This year I had the wonderful experience of going to the fair, and getting to see several of my customers quilts entered into the competition. I had a couple surprises, and... I knew a couple of my customers had expressed an interest in entering their quilt in the fair.


This is my customer with her Thimbleberries quilt. That quilt started quite a following, I have since quilted 5 of them, and I have 4 more waiting for me to get to them. Her quilt received an honorable mention from the judges. Way to go, thank you for letting me quilt for you.


This is another customers quilt. She called it "Canning and Tanning". You can't see much of the quilting detail, so I will try my best to describe it. On the blue border, I just quilted a feather border. On the jars themselves, I quilted detail in the jar lid so it looked like it screwed on, and I put detail on the jars that looked like curves of the jars and then added in cursive the words Kerr and Ball (like you would see on canning jars). As for the shelves, she used all black fabric, so I tried to separate the detail by creating a tile background behind the jars and a wood grain shelf under the jars. I am not sure how well I can explain this, I hope it makes sense. She was very happy to receive a honorable mention ribbon for her quilt. I am so happy for her.


This is another quilt by the same customer. This quilt is all primitive appliqué and embroidery. I just did an all crosshatch with a old style feather border. My customer wanted to keep the era an old style quilt, and asked to keep the quilting to minimum. She received an honorable mention on this quilt also. What an honor.


This is a closeup, maybe you can see some of the detail?



This customer's quilt was a major challenge for me. I put this quilt on the frame three times. When I put it on the third time I decided to turn it, I felt like I needed to change my luck with this quilt, I think I was feeling a little superstitious.


My customer ended up with a second place. What a surprise. It sure was a beautiful quilt, and I think I quilted the hell out of it. It took 10 days and too many bobbins, but... I finally finished the quilt. I was definitely intimidated by this quilt. When my customer brought the quilt to me she told me she wanted to put it in the fair. Now that it is done and I see she has done well at the fair, I am ready to face this challenge next year. (Wish me luck!) Congratulation, and thank you for letting me quilt for you.


This was the grand surprise. This was the first real customer quilt that I ever did. I had been quilting as a business for about a month, and quilting for the ladies at the LQS. This customer quilt came to me by one of the ladies that is in my BOM class, she recommended me to her friend because she had seen my work and thought I might be able to quilt it with more than a pantograph.

This quilt also took me a while, but I learned so much. I put rays behind the birds, because that is what the book that the pattern came out of had quilted (by hand) on it, and then I did my signature feather doodle in the tan border, and in the mariners compass I just did quarter inch inset rules around it, and then some swirls around in the tan part. You want to talk about intimidation. I think I sat and wondered what I had gotten myself into longer than it took to actually quilt it. I remember calling the customer to tell her I had it done, I was so scared she wasn't going to like it. I was so happy to get this done.


She received an honorable mention and an innovative judges award. I am so proud of this quilt, not so much my quilting, but the story behind this quilt. The customer actually had a group of women from her office that worked on it. It was like a quilters guild project, they each made a part of it for a co-worker that had retired. What a wonderful group of friends to make such a beautiful quilt and give it to their friend.

Now I just wish I hadn't waited so long to go to the fair. I had waited until the last Friday night to go, and I had to rush to get through everything. I only stayed long enough to get some photos and get out of there.

What a wonderful surprise the fair turned out to be.
thanks - star

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It is like Christmas around here!

Just look at what the mail man brought yesterday!





I was needing some thread to finish up a quilt, and I just thought would't this be a great time to complete my selection of Bottom Line thread?? So I now have the complete line of Bottom Line thread from Superior Threads.
I needed the So Fine brown color, but it was the perfect opportunity to get the Bottom Line. Lucky me!!






So you can imaging how happy I was to see the mail man had made another delivery to my house today. Just look at this beautiful fabric. My ALL TIME favorite "Fig Tree Quilts" new fabric line Butterscotch and Roses, and the new fabric from "Three Sisters" elegant and timeless Etchings. I bet I never cut into it, unless it is an emergency! I am so predictable.

Here is a closeup of the beautiful colors.





Wonderful creams with brown, green and my favorite tomato red that Fig Tree is so famous for. Not to mention the carmel, pink and the light blue, that goes well with everything "Fig Tree".





Then the fabric from 3 Sisters is so beautiful, it reminds me of other lines of fabric they have designed, but this line has a lot of neutral prints with it. I just love it, I will make a quilt out of this line, I just do not know when. ...

Well it is time for me to get back to the border of the half square triangle quilt. Maybe I will finish it this evening. Wish me luck.
thanks - star

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Wishing I were quilting...

The first Wednesday of the month is my block of the month at the Parkland Parish Quilt Co.. I am so excited to get the blocks finished. This was last months block, and...with a little focusing on my part, I should get this months block done and posted soon.



This is a quick look at how the quilting is going on the wedding half square triangle quilt. I am not sure if you can see the little feathered wreath? But ... It is the best shot I can get this late at night, with no natural light. I thought could get this finished, but I ran out of the brown thread. I expect to receive an order of thread tomorrow? Otherwise, I will have to let it sit and wait for the UPS man.

Thanks for letting me ramble on about the life of the long arm quilter.
Star


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There is something about half square triangles

I just love quilts that are made with any combination of them.



This is the next quilt I am working on, and I am going to do feathered wreaths. This quilt has a nice flannel back, and my customer is planning on giving it as a wedding present. I will try to post the photos when it is done.



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Working away :)

I seem to be keeping myself busy quilting. This is a quick couple shots of the quilt I am working on today.



This is almost done.



I just love the fan when I put it the wide triangle of flying geese.

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One block at a time

I never would have thought this would take so much time? But here I am plugging along, one block at a time. This is one of those quilts that is taking so long to finish that I wonder if the customer will like it. It always seems the longer it takes to quilt a quilt, the more I question my inspiration.
Here are a few photos of the quilt i have in process. It is called Checkers and Rails, and it is a ton of work! I sure hope she likes it!








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Sisters quilt show

My favorite summer quilt show!


The weather was the best it has ever been, not too hot with a nice breeze. I had a good time, I went with my sister and a friend from the Parkland Parish Quilt Shop. We spent a lot of time shop hopping and driving around the area. I didn't pickup much fabric, but I did find a bunch of good books and a few patterns, okay....maybe more than a few.
While traveling around I managed to finish two of my Rabbits Prefer Chocolate appliqué blocks. It was the end to a perfect week. I can't wait for next year.


The view of Mt. Jefferson as we were leaving the area and heading down the pass.

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Against all odds

It feels good to finish a quilt.


I have finished another Thimble Berries quilt.
I believe this is one of those quilts that I will always remember, maybe because I will have quilted 7 of them by the time I get through my waiting list. This one was going so smooth, until I discovered a bit of an issue with the new milli!

When I bought the new milli, I had the goal of not having to always be tweaking this and that. Well... so far little luck of that. I do love the machine, but...it is always something? If it isn't me, it is the machine, or it's the quilt. I know I should not be wining about a wonderful new long arm, it just seems so frustrating. With any luck, I can get connected to the new long arm. So far, I am not too sure if we are friends yet. Okay, I will shut up now.

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Sewing a little

I have been sewing a little this weekend. :)
I have not taken the time to sew like this in a while, it felt so good.



Here is a close up of the yoyo.



And here is the flower yoyo.



And here is how the cover works. It is so cute, I may have to leave my feather weight out.

Here are some additional image of the covers.




This is the cover I made for the bernina.



And this is the little singer.
You have to make one, it was pretty creative and fun.

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Back in the saddle

Yay! I am glad to be home and quilting again.



This is the latest quilt on the frame. This is not a really good photo, but I am thinking it is a nice photo to show some of the color. I just love blue quilts! The color is so timeless on them. This is a customers quilt. She made this for her daughter, I am quilting it with a simple pantograph (just the way she wanted it), I hope she likes it. I will try to post the final photos when I get finished, hopefully this evening.

Tonight is also the dinner and auction that will benefit Neal and his family, so I will not have much time to quilt.

Thanks for looking - star

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Finally at market

I am sorry this post is so late, I seem to be having some trouble with my blog.

Here I am at market and I am anxious to get started. Today was the schoolhouse was great. But... I am a little tired. I am now ready to get sewing. I can't wait to get home, sew, sew, sew...



This is a little hard to see but I think you can see the booths are starting.



One more shot and then I have to run off to dinner. I am a little tired, but this day has definitely got me all fired up.

I also want to thank Tim and Kathy for a great dinner, thank you.

Live from Salt Lake City - star

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Where does all the time go!

Well I have managed to get some time to do some piecing :) nothing makes me happier than cutting up little pieces of fabric, sewing them back together, and pressing them making nice crisp flat blocks.
I have started this quilt, I think it will be a pretty quick pattern made from charm squares and some yardage.


The pattern is Thimble Blossoms, Wild Thing. I am pretty excited to get going on this, and I hope I can finish it before we go off to quilt market.


Here is a look at one of the final blocks. Well, if I am going to finish this I had better get going.


Hopefully I will have my customers little rose quilt finished tomorrow.
I will enjoy finishing it and getting the quilt posted.


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What's going on...

Here is a look at what I put on the frame last night. It is a pretty little quilt that has very large boarders. I am in the process of a large feather meander and a bead board boarder.


I am going to have to think on what to do to the center of this one. I am at a loss for what would be just right. Part of me wants feathered wreaths, but they would be so large. I am not a big fan of really large wreaths, bot maybe I can mix it up a bit? I will see, maybe I will have a new post tonight?


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It is a new day!

Finally, I am feeling better, and I have moved onto a new quilt :)
I am still not a 100%, and I do get tired pretty early, but... I am getting better. I feel like I can quilt again.


This is a sneak peak at this cute quilt that has beautiful scrappy hearts and the squares that are so perfect for putting a feather wreath. I am always so happy to quilt feathers. I will also be putting feathers into the hearts, and why not the quilt is so perfect for all the pretty feathers.



The feathers are a little difficult to see, but the camera on the iPad is not that good(and my goal is to keep the blog moving by using the iPad as much as possible) so I hope you don't mind too much.
Thanks for letting me ramble on about quilting - star
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Lessons learned.....

DO NOT quilt when you are not feeling well. You may have to reverse your stitches. It is sad, it takes 15 minutes to put the stitches in, and then 3 + hours to remove them.





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Still working on the Easter quilt

Sometimes things go so slow....
But, I am feeling better today! And, if I can make up for my downtime...that would be awesome.





Getting the stitch in the ditch DONE:)





Getting the cherry borders feathered!





Coming up with a good background for the alternating checks. I think I like it! I am getting close to the end! I can almost say I am three quarters of the way done!! Yes it should be done in a couple days.

Quilting on Easter Sunday :)

So... in an attempt to get my blog up and showing some of the quilts I am working on. I will be attempting to keep my posts updated with my customer quilts I am working on. I am going to try to take the photos with my iPad, and I am hoping they will look detailed enough to share.


This quilt is going so slow, not because of the quilt, but because I am fighting off this cold. It has never occurred to me that a cold can affect how I quilt?? But this appears to be the case? I hope I can pick up the pace tomorrow?


I have so many wonderful spots to quilt it would be nice to know I can get it done.