Tag: longarm quilting

feather quilting · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stencil quilting

Wednesday WIP, 5-27-09

Wild Rose Quilter14 Comments

More 9P & stripe…26.5 hours into it…y’all are going to get tired of seeing this one.

000_8989

000_8992

000_8995

000_8998

000_8994

I’m not sure I am making all the right design choices…but, this is a learning project for me.  A project to expand my skills and challenge myself, so I’m ok with that.  For example, I’m not sure the large size setting triangle feather is working that well, but even so, I’ll probably just go forward with it.  I’m having fun!

That scroll-y design is a Karen McTavish stencil.  The setting blocks are stencils, as well, but I forgot to see who from.  I’ll get that later, for anyone interested.  I’m at work now, but remembered that I forgot to mention that.

feather quilting · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stencil quilting

Quilting Feathers, Feathers, & More Feathers

Wild Rose Quilter17 Comments

First, I cannot let Memorial Day go by without stating my thanks and appreciation for all the brave men and women that have served, or do serve in the armed forces, to afford the rest of us the wonderful freedom that we enjoy.  So many sacrifices they have made, many the ultimate sacrifice.  And thank you to their families.  Though saying thank you  doesn’t seem enough.

With the crosshatching behind me, I got to start quilting feathers today.  I love feathers.  Love quilting them, love the way they look.  I did not want to crosshatch the striped border, even though that would have matched the stripes in the interior.  Instead, I chose this pretty stencil by Barbara Chainey.  I’m liking it.

First, is the chalking.

000_8955

Then the stitching begins.

000_8967

000_8956

000_8962

Three hours later, one border done.  (it didn’t feel like it took that long)

000_8969

000_8971

000_8972

Much more fun that crosshatching.  So, I guess I have about 9 hours left to finish the other three of these borders.  This one is going to be on the machine for awhile yet.  I have a plan for that little inner border that matches the setting triangles.  I have a plan for the setting triangles.  I have not yet decided on the very outside border…maybe swags.  Maybe not.  Maybe more feathers.

I took time out this morning to relocate this litte guy from the back patio, to the front flower bed, so he would be safe from Tuffy and Libby. I took the top off of Tuffy’s feeder to catch him with.  The lizard was not happy about it…if he only knew, it really was for his own good.  Tuffy would have caught him and eaten him, eventually.  Libby would have just killed him.  I like lizards.

000_8951 (Medium)

Now he lives here.  Plenty of cover and should find lots of bugs to eat.

000_8953

longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Sunday Reporting…What Was I Thinking??

Wild Rose Quilter20 Comments

When I said to myself, “crosshatching would probably look good on both the 9P blocks and the stripe blocks, why didn’t myself say back to me, “Well yea, it will look good, but it’s going to take you at least half the rest of your life!  Are you nuts?”  And that is assuming that I still have quite awhile left to live.

000_8920

000_8922

000_8924

Are you thinking that’s not so bad? Well, between loading this puppy on the machine,  the SID stabilizing, and the crosshatching, this is as far as I have gotten on it.  And this took me 7 hours.  I’m kind of slow.  And I intend to use stencils and feathers in all that other space you see.  And this is how much is left.

000_8923

It’s 110″ square.  Yep, gonna take me awhile.  This will be the Wednesday WIP project for quite awhile.  OMGosh! What was I thinking?!

On the upside, though…this one is MINE!!  And all the fabric in it is from my stash.  However, it doesn’t change my numbers this week, as I’ve already accounted for it, in previous reports.

longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing · stash busting

Sunday Stash Report

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

Wow, I went a whole week between posts.  But it was a busy week with my day job, so there wasn’t much to say.  Not that I could post about, anyway.

I do have changes to report in my stash this week.  I busted 10 yards for backing, and it is just barely going to be big enough for my top.  I knew it would be close, but I really want to use this fabric for the back of this quilt.  It’s flannel, so I think there may have been a bit more shrinkage than I might have had with a regular cotton.

000_8222

000_8223

As you can see, it’s a real tight squeeze on the sides.  I have plenty extra the other direction, though.  I will make it work!

I also ordered 8 yards for a one block wonder class I’m taking next month, for quilt guild.  I tried my best to find something suitable in my stash, but the only two that I thought would work, I did not have enough yardage.  So I had to order some.  It will arrive some time this week, but I’m going to go ahead and count it as incoming today.

So here’s my yearly totals.

  • Incoming Yardage to date: 8 yds.
  • Outgoing Yardage to date:  30.5 yds.
  • Total Stash Busted to date: 22.5 yds.
I also finished the binding on the memorial t-shirt quilt, and made the label.  I just have to attach the label and it will be completely finished.  I was able to use some of the scraps from the first quilt, made of his plaid cotton shirts, in the back of this one.
000_8219
000_8221
000_8220
I also made some good progress on one of my stash quilts today.  My Boston Commons top.
000_8224
Now, I have to decide how I want to quilt my 9P & stripe, that I made the backing for.  It is going on the longarm next! And it’s MINE! Yay!
Have a great week! Try to find time for something you love to do!
love of my life · quilting

Sunday Stash Report

Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

No change in my stash numbers, but I did finish up my customer’s Spiderman quilt.  Yay! I have a wallhanging size to do a pantograph on next, and then one of my own is up!  And it’s a king…so that is gonna use up a nice chunk of fabric for backing.

And Happy 12th Anniversary to DH & me!!  Yes, I’d marry him all over again if I had it to do over. 🙂

And Woohooohooo, Bobby Labonte got a 5th place finish at Las Vegas today!  Yes!!

000_82021

000_8203

000_8204

000_8199

freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting

Wednesday WIP, 2-25-09

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

Still working on Spiderman.  What I thought was going to be “light custom” is taking me much longer than I expected.  This is part of the longarm learning curve I am still trying to get around, determining what quilting goes in which pricing level.  This one is much more time consuming than I had envisioned it.  But live and learn.  I find these kind of quilts quite challenging to begin with, and I just hope my customer likes how I have decided to quilt it.  I am quilting word related to Spiderman, and the child’s name in the outer borders, along with some spiders, and then just an angular meander around that.

000_8182

000_8185

I am putting four spider webs, in the four corners of the inner borders, treating them as one, then doing the same angular meander in between the webs.  For the very inner blue border, I just did a good old puzzle meander in the red thread.

000_8183

000_8176

I decided to do a bit of outlining on Spiderman, and will quilt on the webs behind him, in the center panel.  I still have some outlining to finish, and I think I will connect the spiders with a wave black line.

000_8177

000_8178

Yeah…”light” custom….well, I’ll know better next time…lol.  If it has Dorothy and her little dog on it, or cartoon characters, etc., unless doing a pantograph allover, it’s full custom. 🙂

longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Just Catching Up A Little

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I was going to do a Valentine’s Day post, and just never got around to it.  I also didn’t get around to my stash report yesterday, but it’s unchanged from last week, so no biggie there.  Thanks to everyone who participated in my thread discussion.  I enjoyed reading the comments.  I spent most of Valentine’s Day working on a customer quilt and/or playing with my new IPOD Touch, that my sweetheart gave me for Valentine’s.  My son gave me some candy and an ITunes gift card.  He helped me get it set up, and we went through his song library and transferred what I wanted from his list, and then he taught me how to get my own music.  There are times when it’s really helpful to have a teenager in the house. 🙂

The customer quilt is a rather challenging one for me, as it’s completely outside of my tastes, but perfect for the youngster who will be ending up with it.  Say hello to Spiderman.

000_8165

My customer wants “light custom” that includes some spiderwebs. Cross your fingers for me that my interpretation of that meets her expectations.

Of course, yesterday was the Daytona 500, so I watched that.  It’s always kind of a let down when those races that you expect to have an exciting finish, end under a red flag due to rain.  Congratulations to Matt Kenseth.  At least it wasn’t Kyle Busch one of the drivers that I can’t stand that won. 🙂

My son made a new discovery this week that tickled us both.  Starburst came out with FaveReds.  A bag of all the yummy “red” flavors, with none of the yucky ones in there.

000_8170

Hope you have a good week ahead! I need to go spend some quality time with Spiderman.

quilting

Thread Tales

Wild Rose Quilter17 Comments

Oh boy, oh boy, ohhhhh boy…

000_8158

000_8164

Ohhhh, So Fine, so pretty!

My blog has been kind of boring lately.  I am still battling sinus headaches, and just feeling completely drained lately.  So, I thought I might liven things up by inviting you to participate in a thread discussion with me.  All of the above thread is So Fine, a beautiful polyester thread from Superior Threads.  I love this thread.  It comes is so many beautiful colors, and is perfect for that quilting where you need a thinner thread.  One example would be motifs that require a lot of backtracking.  With a thinner thread, the thread buildup is not as noticeable.  So what are we discussing?  What are your favorite threads and why? Are you a cotton purist? Or do believe the more kinds of thread the better? Do you love lots of color, or prefer muted, neutral colors for quilting thread?  I have some customers that don’t care what type thread I use on their quilts, and some that want cotton only.  I love Signature cotton and King Tut cotton.  There are some quilts that I much prefer to use my Signature cotton, as I want the stitching to really show up.  I like prominent quilting stitches in many of my quilts.  The poly’s seem to have many more color options.  I know some people worry about using poly threads on cotton fabrics.  I have read, and been told, that this is true for your piecing, where the fabric and thread rub together in the seam, but that it’s not an issue for the quilting thread.  I don’t worry about this too much in my own quilts, as I figure they will all outlast me, at the very least.  How do you feel about it?  Are most machine embroidery threads poly?  I know the ones I have are poly.  I’m not going anywhere with this.  Just thought it might be an interesting topic and would love to hear any thoughts you may want to share about thread.  The floor is now open for discussion! 🙂

(BTW, Superior Thread is having a Valentine’s drawing for a $50.00 gift certificate–check it out on Mother Superior’s blog!)

embroidery · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · stash busting

Sunday Stash Report, 2-1-09

Wild Rose Quilter5 Comments

I used 1/4 yard up making labels this week, and 1/4 yard making guild name tags for myself and my friend.  So my official “out” for this week is only 1/2 yard.  However, I am plugging away on stash quilts I have going, and soon should have some big numbers to post.

YTD totals:

  • Incoming Yardage to date: 0 yds.
  • Outgoing Yardage to date:  17.75 yds.
  • Total Stash Busted to date: 17.75 yds.

I have border and backing fabric for the 2nd of my 9P & stripe tops, in the dryer as I type.  I pulled this  yummy Robyn Pandolph flannel from my stash, for the backing. My current plan is that this will be the next quilt of my own to land on the longarm.

000_8133
I’ve been sewing on my Boston Commons top, during my lunch hours, and have all the end triangles sewn to the 72 strips.  I have started sewing them into the big rows.  I am surprised at how quickly this is actually going together. Please ignore that I haven’t pressed the seams yet.  That is why it looks wonky.  It isn’t really.
000_8136
000_8137
I also got the memorial t-shirt quilt quilted.  Here is a snippet of the freehand quilting on the back.  I will post a pic of the whole quilt after I get it completely finished.
000_8134
I have to say that t-shirt quilting is not my most favorite.  I feel like my machine is moving through sludge when I hit the shirt areas, and I had some thread breaking issues. That said, the quilt came out nice, and I know the family will love it.
My friend Betty and I needed name tags to wear to our guild meetings.  I loaded a small “quilt sandwich” on my longarm, quilted it up, and then used my embroidery machine to finish our tags.  They came out cute.  I finished mine out by just stitching a satin stitch edge around, in the lighter green thread, after I took this pic.
000_8128
Such a small project, but it still took me almost three hours to do these.  I enjoyed it, though.  And while I had my embroidery machine out, I made labels for two quilts that I made for my Mom, but gave them to her before I had the labels on.  She reminded me recently that I still hadn’t brought the labels to stitch on.  So next time we go to visit, I have some labeling to do!  🙂  One of her labels took 99 minutes to stitch out.  The other was almost an hour.  Embroidery is fun, but it’s not fast.  I love that I can work on other things at the same time, though.  Good job to my hubby for getting me the stand alone machine, rather than the embroidery upgrade for my Aurora.
Tomorrow starts another week at the day job.  I hope y’all have a great week!
freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting

Isn’t it Friday yet?

Wild Rose Quilter28 Comments

It’s only Wednesday, and for some reason, I woke up more tired than when I went to bed.  I feel absolutely exhausted this morning.  I just want to crawl back in bed, but I have to go to work.  It’s only 14 degrees outside, too.  Good day to stay in bed, all warm & snuggly.

I finished Joanna’s quilt, and it is in the mail on it’s way back to her.  Thought I’d share a couple of pics right quick.

000_8101

000_8104