I have a client who loves working with Batiks like I do and so I ordered a few new Pantographs with this style of quilt in mind. This one is called Whirlygig and the large scale of this design with it's points and swirls really complements the piecing on this quilt.
Now that fall is upon us with it's cool breeze and changing colors of the boreal forest I am settling back into my shack. No hibernation for me, I seen to be finishing quilts faster than I can post them. A client from Alberta left her quilt with me this summer while she was staying at her cottage and said "no rush, it's for the cabin here and we won't be back until next summer". Here it is September and it finished... I'm surprised I waited that long :) 
I must admit that even thought this quilt is very large I do enjoy quilting it as it has so many possiblities. I also realized that if I just do one a month or every two months I enjoy the process more. My client used a solid fabric on the back and not the busy print that goes with the collection and it is so nice to actually see the quilting on the back of this one.
The local quilters will recognize the blocks in my clients quilt as they were from a guild BOM a few years ago. This is a special quilt in my eyes as it has a very special story behind it. The blocks belonged to Florence, a guild member that passed away a few years ago and her friend Blanche (and other guild members) have spent many hours over the years completing all of Florence's unfinished projects. Florence was an avid quilter so you can imagine how many unfinished projects she would of had! This is the last one. Blanche did a beautiful job putting it together and I'm so glad that I was asked to quilt it.
It's the middle of September and summer has finally decided to show up, making it a bit difficult for me to get back to my quilting studio. Part of me would rather be sitting on the dock with my feet in the water but as you can see I did get back to work. School didn't start until the 10th so i do feel behind on my quilting, so I'm assuring my clients that if their quilts aren't ready that's okay!! I have quite a few that were dropped off at the end of June so I'm starting those first.
Summer was my time to work on my own quilts, I mean what fun is it to own a longarm if you can't play on your own quilts. So now that the kids will be going back to school in two days I was very happy to finish my quilt on time this morning and I'm now get ready to start quilting for clients again. This is my quilt which was the guilds Mystery Quilt Project and I custom quilted it to the point of being ridicules! By that I mean I will never pebble quilt that much again! I was too hard on my hands, but it does look nice. 
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!
Remember in my last post i was so happy that i had not had a carpel tunnel attack in my wrists for 6 months....well just as i was finishing this quilt for a client at the end of June my right wrist decided it was time for one!!! I think i jinxed myself. I now know my limit is 52 quilts in 6 months and NOT one more.
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.
