I bought this pattern at the Quilt Saskatchewan Show in May and found time on all these rainy days we have been getting this summer to piece and quilt it. I tried a new style of swirls and just love them. They would be great for a wind or water effect.
I probably shouldn't show you this but what the heck. This is my friend Lori using my Millie! ( no it's not for rent). Lori is an AWESOME friend and i like to call her my 'creative coach'. She knows how to gently push me out of my very small comfort zone and encouraged me to reach my dream of owning a Millennium. As she held my hand through this whole process of buying the longarm and traveled with me to Winnipeg to buy it, i told her she could use it anytime....well anytime i wasn't!!! So this week she finally took me up on the offer and spent 14 hours quilting her bargello quilt. She did a fantastic job and got the hang of the machine quickly. There were only a few "... how do i stop this thing" moments and one broken needle. Hey, not bad considering that with my first quilt i blew fuses, had the belt drive slip and had a bearing seize in the motor. So in comparsion.....it went very well!
The Kickass Quilting Shop in Plumas, MB is sponsering a contest that will be displayed at the Neepawa Lily Festival in July. So of coarse Lori sees these kits in there store when she was there this spring and buys one for us to do. The kit was 36 charm squares of christmas fabric and the rule was you had to have a piece of each square in the wall hanging. We pretty much stuck to Lori's first idea of a word being the center of the hanging and then i came up with the idea of miniature Magic Tiles for the border. Little did we know that it was take 4 afternoons to just piece the magic tiles! And if we (okay I) had read all of the instructions i wouldn't of developed the problem of 'why do i keep getting 2 of the same fabrics in one block...AAHHH!'
Here is another Mystery Quilt from our local guild. My client choose sunflower fabric for her focus and i love the orange she used, it just gives the quilt so much life. For guild member trying to figure out why it looks different than the other mystery quilts, my client used two background fabrics to give it a new effect. I quilted free-hand sunflowers and leaves all across the quilt.
A client brought me this quilt and i was worried that if i quilted it using the longarm i would ruin it. The backing fabric is Fireside, a very soft fuzzy fabric, and the top is a mix if cotton, chenelle and fireside. My concern was the back of the fireside is very slippery and with no batting (that would make it too heavy) how would it react to quilting? I shared my concerns with my client and she assured me that whatever i do will be fine. She even had the store she purchased the quilt kit from call me to let me know that their samples were quilted on a longarm. So with this information i gained some confidence to start quilting it....my biggest fear is ruining someone's quilt!! I used a dark red thread and realized as i was quilting i couldn't see where i had just quilted....the thread just disappeared into the fireside fabric...even the white blocks! So i was quilting this one blind. I just did a row at a time so i knew where i had been and that seemed to help. Once i finished and took it off the frame i was happy to see that i didn't cross over any of my stitching, but i did come very close in a few spots!
This is the second one of these Thimbleberry quilt i've done on the longarm for a client. I have two more waiting there turn in the Shack. I have challenge myself to quilt them differently and try new patterns on each one. But there is a few areas that really call for a particular designs, like the green and beige checkers really look great with Continous Curves so they will all be done like that. And of coarse all the chimneys will be brick!
When I was at the Quilt Show in Saskatoon i found this cute apron pattern. I'm not much of a cook so it not for the kitchen but what i did need it for was when i'm working at the longarm machine. I'm ALWAYS covered in batting fluff when i'm quilting since i lean on the batting at the front of the machine. My black velour lounge suit that i love to quilt in is never black for long! ( I don't always quilt in my PJ's!). So here is my new solution and i love it! I have made a few and they might make great christmas gifts this year too.
This quilt really grew on me as I was quilting it. The colors are so soft, its a beautiful summer quilt. The client wanted the dragonfly panto on it and she gave me wool batting which I had never tried before. The wool batting really allows the quilting to pop and this 100"x100" quilt was so light after i took it off the frame.
Okay, i guess i could admit that i did get this quilt finished before i left for Saskatoon but i mean just finished, there was no time to post a picture. 
I really love the colors in my clients Scrappy Bear Paw quilt. I used the Maple Syrup pantograph across this one which gives the geometric piecing a softer element. I actually quilted this one in January and my client had not seen it until this week. She has just returned to Flin Flon from being down south all winter. I don't think she was expecting to see the snowfall when she returned, matter of fact i don't think any of us here would have believe we would be getting this much snow in MAY. Good thing i have my quilting to keep me sane.
A client of mine made this cute little baby quilt which has chenille strips on the front and chenille on the back. I was very pleased with how well the Daisies Galore pantograph showed on the chenille backing. I'm sure you won't be surprised when i tell you that when she showed this quilt to a friend they said 'can you make me one' and she did (and i got to quilt that one too!).
The Double Plume pantograph turned out beautiful on my clients color-blend quilt that was pieced with a pastel fabric collections. This definitely will be a wonderful Mother's Day gift and i'm sure she won't mind it being a week late.
My client made this quilt with beautiful oriental designed fabrics. I free-motioned a water motif across the center and added a swirl in the outer border. I'm sure she will have a few family members fighting over this one :)
