Category: longarm quilting

longarm quilting · losing dad · machine quilting · quilting

I’ve Been Stitching!

Wild Rose QuilterLeave a comment

Life has been sooooo busy. I think about my little blog, and I want to write more in it, but finding the time has not been easy. I will tell you that tonight I started a draft for the post I promised I would write after my father passed away last year after battling Alzheimer’s. I got quite a good start on that post this evening, but it’s going to take a bit longer to write than my normal posts, but at least I have the draft going. For anyone that wants to read it, I plan to have it finished by the first anniversary of his death, which is the 22nd of this month. I warn you, it won’t be short. It will be the longest blog post I’ve ever posted in the 10 years I’ve been blogging here.

All that said, I have done some quilting in between the work, housework, family visiting, and caring for my mom in her failing health. Life is full of ups and downs, but I strive to focus on the ups! There is beauty in all of it, and my mantra lately is that my worst days are so much better than many people’s best days, and I must be mindful of and grateful for that!

I finished the quilting on another QOV for my guild. The next local QOV presentation put on by our guild, Friendship Quilt Guild, will be in October. I initially agreed to do the quilting on two, which is all they asked of me, but the first two went smoothly and quickly and I easily fit them into my schedule, so I offered to take another one. I truly enjoy participating in this worthy cause.

Here’s a little peek. I won’t show the whole quilt since they haven’t been presented yet. I chose Star Swirl panto by Michelle Wyman and Terry Watson. I love it for patriotic quilts. I also love the side lighting in my quilting room in our new home.

Also, I have been working on the piecing of Baby Z’s quilt, my newest grandson. I started this quilt just before or just after he was born. He’s almost 10 mos. old now. I must hurry and get this quilt done! Today, I made the blocks for the final row of chevrons, but they are not sewn to each other yet. I also decided the order in which I want to sew the different color rows, and have them laid out in that order. I’m getting so excited to get this top finished and on to quilting!

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That concludes this Sunday rundown. Stay tuned! I will be back! Have a great week y’all!

Blended family · family · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · quilting · quilts · Wedding · Widow

I Have a Finish!

Wild Rose QuilterLeave a comment

Oh it feels so good! I finished Baby C’s quilt tonight. I can’t wait to get it washed and take it to him. ❤️


I love the 10 Minute Block pattern and tutorial. Such a fun, fast and easy pattern. 

I have so many WIP’s waiting in line to be finished, but first, I must start a new quilt! Because somewhere near the end of October, there will be another sweet baby boy for this Mammy to love! I’ve been looking over patterns the past couple of days, trying to settle on one. It definitely needs to be another fast and easy! 

The wedding, by the way, was just lovely. My new husband and I sat on the front row with my step-daughter and her husband and the other two sets of grandparents, with one chair  left empty for the grandfather that was there in spirit and in hearts. It was sweet. It was beautiful. It was perfect. 💙

daily life · longarm quilting · quilting

Bird Watching and Quilting

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

It looks like the little bird will be ready to try out his wings soon.



It has done well in my makeshift, substitute nest. Mama is continuing to watch over from above. 


I finally finished the quilting on Baby C’s quilt. Baby C will be 2 in September. 🙄 Anyone want to start a pool on whether I get the binding finished before he is 3? I had better because grandbaby boy #3 is due to arrive in October! 

I finished all the freehand quilting in the blocks this weekend. When I had my A1 upgraded 2 years ago, I also added the computerized Quilt Butler system. It’s a little embarrassing to confess that I have not taken time to play around with it and learn how to use it. The past couple of evenings I watched some instructional videos on the YouTube site and felt ready to give it a shot. So after work tonight,  I started small, just putting a simple design in the diamond shapes. It went very smoothly and I was tickled to death with how they turned out. I finished all the diamonds in no time at all. I’m excited to learn more and use it more. It can’t do as much as some of the more elaborate systems, but it’s more than I had and will add some more options to my quilting. Another tool in the sewing box. 

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freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting

Successful Sunday Funday

Wild Rose Quilter1 Comment

In between the worship time, cooking, and the eating, and the cleaning, and the shopping, and the tending to elderly parents, and the sorting, washing, folding and putting away of the laundry…I did some stitching today! Slow and fast! I made some good progress on hand stitching the King size binding, and I did a little longarm quilting! What a blessed Sunday at Casa de Ortega. ❤️

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Circle Lord · feather quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting

Saturday Stitching

Wild Rose Quilter3 Comments

Did a little longarming.

Did a little piecing. The center portion of my Fons & Porter Stars & Stripes Sampler is finally complete and ready for borders.  The piecing has some issues and I will have some challenges to “quilt out”, lol. Nobody to blame but myself, hehe.

Before I left town for my work trip, I also did a little online shopping. These little gems were waiting for me when I got home, and I can’t wait for the right project to try them out! Lisa Calle’s Quilter’s Groove rulers…these things seem like they will be awesome to use!

Other than that, not much to say today. Hope your weekend is great!

longarm quilting

I ran away for a few days :)

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

But, before I did that, I loaded this behemoth on the machine and started quilting it.

It’s my first leap back into doing real “custom” quilting since sometime in 2010, before everything happened with Greg. I’ve only gotten some of the straight line ruler work done, but so far so good, I think.  And, I’ve been totally enjoying the process.  I will share a little peek with you. 🙂

Nothing too exciting yet, but still, a big step back into my life for me. 🙂

Now, about that running away.  I really, truly did.  All the way to Jamaica! 😀  It was wonderful!
And, it was another big step for me. I had never been out of the U.S. before.  I went with one of my best girlfriends and we had a great time.  She moved to Arkansas awhile back, so we don’t get to see each other that often anymore, so that made the trip even more special. I really needed that little getaway.  We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay.

This is me standing on our balcony before we went out to dinner.

And, one of me enjoying a refreshing tropical beverage and the beautiful view before we went shopping on our last day there.

That’s it for now. I think I will go do a little more stitching on that quilt!

grief · longarm quilting · quilting · quilts

Quilting to Report! :)

Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

For many months after Greg passed, I just couldn’t get back into my quilting. He was so involved in that part of my life. Very interested and so supportive. I just couldn’t get my mojo back. But, finally, the fire is burning within me again. I am working on my projects and it’s bringing me joy. I am trying to turn all my WIP’s into completed items. Or, at least make a good dent in them before I start on new ones. I know that I will not be able to refrain from starting a new thing, here or there, before I finish ALL my WIPs. In the past week, I have quite a little bit of new progress to report.

I finished my “chicken quilt”. Just a simple turning twenty made with mostly chicken themed fabrics, quilted with Willow Leaf studio’s Fancy This panto. I had everything but the binding finished close to two years ago, now. Now, it’s finally draped over the back of my sofa, ready to snuggle up in during the chilly Fall/Winter months. I actually took a little nap under it yesterday.

I pulled out a little pre-cut table runner kit I have had for probably three years now. I  bought it from Chery’s Quilt Corner, in Guymon. It was designed by Judy Rice. I am so happy to see it on my table in time for pumpkin season this year! I quilted it on my longarm. For the pumpkin vines that were supposed to be done by machine or hand embroidery, I just threaded my longarm with some green thread and did them as part of the quilting.

That little table runner just makes me smile. I love pumpkins!

Last night I loaded the Oklahoma Backroads (pattern from Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville) quilt that I started making for my Mom, back before she was diagnosed with lymphoma. So, I know this has been a WIP for over two years. I pulled it off the longarm just a little bit ago. It’s a scrap quilt, with pretty much bits and pieces of any and ever quilt I had previously made in it. I could have done a better job with the fabric values, which would have made the stars and “roads” stand out better, but she will love it for snuggling up in. It’s so busy that I decided to do a freehand “paisley-ish” allover meander on it, just to give it a nice texture. Also, being that I really avoided my longarm for over a year, and the year before that it was barely used, these little projects are a good way to sharpen up my skills again. I’m a little rusty and these are good confidence builders. I am pleased to report that my longarm just took right off, and is working perfectly, even after all that sitting, waiting for me to come back to her. That was a big relief.

Now to get the binding and a label on it, and it’s soon to be a finish, as well. 🙂 I’m ready for it to go live with Mom!

Greg was in one of my dreams last night. At first, I wanted so badly to dream about him, because it would feel, in a way, as if he was still here, as if I had seen and talked to him. And the funny thing is, those dreams didn’t come right away. Now, when they do, I have really mixed emotions about it. Waking up after one is certainly  more painful. Because, it does feel as if he was just here, as if I just talked with him, saw him, and possibly even touched him. And then, I wake up.

I alluded to a “special someone” in a previous recent post. Yes, I am seeing someone. But no, that takes nothing away from the loss of what I had.  And, he lives six hours away. Long, but sweet, story. Someday maybe I will share it here. 🙂

In the meantime, I will be trying to figure out the best way to reply to your comments. While I was away, it seems WordPress changed the comment notification emails. It used to be that I could reply directly, and privately to the commenter by replying through the notification email that WordPress sent. That is no longer the case. I can click on the email address of the commenter, and send a whole new email, which is probably what I will begin doing. If I reply through the WordPress email, it posts directly here on the blog, but I don’t know if the commenter gets notification that there has been a repy. Do any of you know? I do read all your comments and have been very lax about responding during these past many months. I intend to start doing better about that again! Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for all the cyber love you have sent my way. 🙂

longarm quilting

One More Done and Out the Door

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

I finished the quilting on Betty’s 30’s prints quilt.  The 30’s fabrics were from a jelly roll that another friend and I gave Betty for her birthday last year.  I love 30’s prints and I think it’s a very lovely quilt! Betty is one of my dearest friends and I enjoy quilting for her.  She loves me and always loves her quilts. The quilting pattern is Sunny Daze by Deb Geissler.

longarm quilting

Sorry for the Absence

Wild Rose Quilter6 Comments

I’ve been so busy with Mom, and Derek’s college orientation, and just trying to keep up with my customer quilting in what little spare time is left, that there just hasn’t been much time for blogging.  Eventually, life will slow back down a bit, and I will get back into a more normal routine.  That may still be a while off, though.

I’ve done a couple of allovers for customers, and a small custom job.  Since it  almost Independence Day, I will share that one with you.

My client wanted fireworks…she plans to add some crystals to them.  I used metallic thread in the center…decided I’m not crazy about quilting with that stuff…it was pretty fussy to mess with, at least for me.  I used King Tut for the rest…love that stuff. I used my Circle Lord to do the outer border design, and for the inner border, I free handed those little spinning swirlies, in the hopes that they resemble spinning firecrackers.

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!