Remember This One

Well my Winner's Bouquet quilt it is still not quilted.    I believe I post a picture of it in May when I finished piecing it and the 'sit and share' design method that I have been using for 8 months hasn't helped too much.  So today I got it out and posted a few pictures on a quilting forum to get some ideas going. I know what I want to do in the colored batik shapes it is the beige background with it's odd shape that has me stumped.  One quilter suggested repeating the football shape and fill it with pebbles and that got me thinking of a few designs.  So here is what I have doodled so far using my plexiglass design board. Is this design too 'over the top' for this quilt?

Which do you prefer the design in the left football or right football?  And if you have any suggestions on how to quilt this one I would be very happy to hear them.

I'm starting to think I'm crazy for wanting to quilt this design on a queen size quilt ( 94"x110").  It's a biggy.

Change of Plan

So I had a grand plan to meander feather this quilt of mine.  See the feathers...no....that is because I picked them all out!  When you decide to feather a quilt make sure it is a quilt that will look good with feathers, this one did not.  I looked like someone barfed thread all over it! Seriously it looked terrible. I realized that quilts with busy prints really don't suit that type of quilting, good lesson to learn on my own quilt.  So out came my Butterfly Charm panto and I am much happier with the results even thought I didn't get to practice the quilting I wanted to.

This quilt is a 'just because' quilt. It doesn't qualify as a stashbuster as I had to order $75 worth of fabric online for the green sashing, border and backing.  Then when I added the butterfly border I thought I had ruined the quilt, the butterflies are quite dark compared to the softer colors in the center .  I ordered my favorite fabric from these collection (Heavenly Hollyhocks) and it really wasn't the best choice for the border.  One of the other floral ones probably would have been better but once I added the green binding I was able to relax as it looked better.  These are not the types of fabrics I normally choose and is the last collection from my Northcott winnings...I am afraid to total the cost of all the fabric I bought to go with my FREE fabric.  The expression " nothing is free" is so true but it was still fun to win.

Today was suppose to be a baking day as my youngest has the day off school.  But unfortunately his is laying on the couch with a bucket as he now has the flu.  Poor little guy, a day off school and he gets sick.  That's a real bummer.

Fleece Throw

  

It's December and time for me to put the closed sign on The Tamarack Shack giving me time to play on my Millie.    I'm going to quilt all those 'just because' tops, you know the ones you make even though you have no idea what your going to do with it. 

So this morning I picked my first project to quilt, a fleece throw.  Now this was an assignment in my Feather Bootcamp online class last February that I never got to do and I really wanted to try.   Better late than never right!  A friend picked up some fleece for me when she was in the states, 3 1/2 yards for $18....I can't even get 1m in Canada for less than that. Thanks 'E'.

So here is how the fleece throw this is done.  I used two layers of fleece, blue on one side, brown on the other, no batting.    I started with a large meander spine and then feathers one side.

I then feather the other side of the spine.   Roll, meander, feather repeat.

This is more the color of the fleece, the florecent light in the Shack really dulles the color. 

Not too bad for my first try.
Here is it with the edges fringed.

The next test will be to try this on a real quilt.  Stay tuned!  :)

Christmas Mystery

Here is a clients Mystery wall hanging project that she did in a Christmas theme.  I was waiting for the snow and then a sunny day before I took pictures of this one.  This was my first attempt at the Ribbon Candy design which is in the light border. I had to turn the quilt on the frame as I knew I wouldn't be able to do that one sideways on my first try.
Well I hit my quilting limit this month, the magic number 14.   That is 14 quilts finished before my wrists started to object to the amount of quilting I have been doing recently.  Tim said I should rest my hands this weekend so no quilting.   Resting is something I'm not very good at so I found a quilt top to piece...he didn't say I couldn't piece :)  I also did a lot of online shopping, lots of great deals.  If you like to shop at the Fat Quarter Shop today is the last day you can use this coupon code "blackfriday" and you get 20% off.  Just used it this morning!!
Today my wrists are much better and I have 3 more quilts to finish before my Dec break and then on to my own projects.

Garden Frills

Here is a fun little girls quilt made by yet another great quilter in the making.  Yup, another first quilt by someone who has caught the quilting bug and will soon learn it's addictive side effects!
I thought my new panto called Garden Frills really suited the fabrics in this quilt.  I really debated about buying this pantograph as I can do this design free hand.  Am I getting lazy?  Maybe.  Or maybe I just really like how evenly spaced pantographs look on a quilt.
Tonight we eat cake as my youngest son turned 11 today!  Tomorrow we eat cake as that is when his friends come over for a sleep-over party! 

Luckiest Longarmer...That's Me!

I can't believe my run of luck with beginner quilters.  When my client brought me this quilt she said it was her first quilt.  This is a pretty ambitious first quilt and she is obviously a natural.  She also knows how to pick complementary colors for a quilt as well, and in batiks!!  It rolled onto my frame beautifully and I just can't help but brag at how lucky I am to be surrounded by amazing quilters.  Must be something in our northern air!  

After looking at this quilt for a few minutes I suddenly realized that the blocks were from our local quilt store BOM project in 2005.  I have quilted about 5 of these quilts so far and have another one on my list for January.  But done in batiks looks like a completely different quilt.

I used my Whirlygig pantograph with light sage green thread to blend with the batik colors.

Iron Rant

That's right my $150 Rowenta iron is in the garbage!!  GRRR!  When I was sewing on Friday I noticed a few drops of water off the bottom of the iron so I quickly unplugged it as it looked like it was coming from the area around the cord.   I few minutes later when I came back to look at it my ironing pad was soaking wet! All the water had drained out of the iron onto my ironing pad!!  Double GRRRR!   I bought this iron a year and a half ago and I had heard the stories about how some Rowenta's leak but usually the ones made in China.  This one is made in Germany.  So off to Walmart I went and got a new $40 T-Fal iron.  I like the T-Fal irons, that is what I had before the Rowenta and I know they will last more than 1 1/2 years!

I have been busy quilting but most of what I have been working on are clients christmas gifts and since I was told by a follower that she caught her hubby checking out my blog one night I though I better be careful what I post!  Too funny!

I updated our guild's blog this morning ( link on the left sidebar), lots of great quilts to see there. We had a retreat and you can see my project there.  Also added a post about the great Trunk show we had by two past presidents at our Nov meeting. 

Here is a peek at what I was piecing when my iron crapped out.  The fabric collection is called Let it Snow by Moda and since we now have a lot of snow here I was in the mood to cut it up and get this quilt made.  I'll show you more once I get it quilted in December.

Hollyberries

I have been coveting this fabric collection called 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain since I first saw it this fall.  So when my client opened up this quilt top when she brought it to me, I gave out a squeal of delight ( in my head that is, I wouldn't want to alarm her!)   The backing is a beautiful red with a snowflake pattern so I was challenged again with red thread in the bobbin and white on the top.  I can't imagine using white on the back as it would have ruined the beautiful snowflake pattern.   There are a few quilters on the internet that insist on teaching people to quilt with the same colored threads on top and bottom so I just want to briefly stand on my soapbox and say don't be limited by what you are told.  The tension dial is put on your sewing machine for a reason so just try it!  

I hope these pictures put that myth to rest!

I used a new pantograph call Hollyberries by Lorien Quilting.

Grad Quilt

My client asked me to quilt this amazing grad quilt for her granddaughter.  She had photographs of her GD arranged on the quilt like someone just placed them down on the quilt so I quilted the quilt like the photos were placed on top after it was made. ( got that?)    I quilted the lines to follow the shapes in the piecing and not the photos.  I stippled the red squares and center triangles and made tiny loops in the black triangles to make the photos stand out more.( hard to see the quilting in the pictures I know).  The outer red triangles I quilted straight lines radiating out ( love that) as I didn't want to over quilt this quilt, the photos and the center embroidery is the focus.  The backing is red so I used red bobbin thread and was able to balance the tension when i used white on top.  I REALLY don't like the look of different colored threads on a backing, it just looks too messy for me, I would rather spend the time getting the tension just right.   
Just woke up to our first significant snowfall so it looks like winter is here.  I'll take some pictures today as I love the first snowfall of the year, especially when I don't have to drive in it! 

November is Going to Be Busy!

This week I quilted a few baby quilts for a client. You may remember this quilt in pink from a few months ago, now here is her blue version.  It just cries for custom quiting, it's so cute! 

I have also been sewing costumes for the local production of Alice in Wonderland and they have 5 girls playing Alice. 5 Alices equals 5 Alice costumes!    I made 3 of the blue dresses for Alice and 5 Alice aprons.  I am glad to have helped but that is about all the time I can give to this project as November is my busiest month for quilting.  I take December off so try to squeeze in as may quilts as I can in November.

Here is another one of my clients baby quilts and I used my new Hearts Galore pantograph.

And another that I stippled and looped around the 3D pinwheels.

Tomorrow our guild will be raffling our Irish Chain quilt at the local craft sale.  I think I'll be buying a few tickets on this one as it is a real beauty.