Quilt Market

May 28, 2015May 28, 20153 Comments

Once again, I had the privilege of being asked to quilt some quilts

for Northcott, in Vaughan. Although this is a great opportunity for

me, it always makes me feel nervous, stretched, and excited.

This is what one of the quilt tops looked like when I got it. A blank canvas

so to speak. Due to time restrictions and deadlines, I have to

quickly figure out what I am going to stitch on it. Patti Carey usually gives

me her thoughts and wishes about what she would like on the top.

Because this top screams “modern” to me, I thought that I might try

some of Angela Walter’s designs. There are alot of squares on this top so

I just followed the shape and stitched in squares as well. I didn’t use a

ruler so I am surprised that the lines in the squares are pretty straight.

The backing was white and shows the quilting nicely. I used a white

40 weight thread for the top. And a variegated 40 weight for the colored

squares. Because the batting is really thin, the thread brands used on

these quilts are usually So Fine, King Tut, Bottom Line, and Fantastico.

They do have a lovely sheen to them and show the texture of the quilting.

Here is the second one that I worked on. I did manage to quilt 11 tops

in a span of 2-3 weeks. Yes, it was quite the feat but most were only

50-60″ in size. At the end of this marathon, I didn’t even want to

think about quilts at all, at least not for a couple of days.

This is a nice top. At first, I had no idea about quilting designs

but I thought that I would connect all that sashing around the brown

stars. And feathers are fast so I quilted feathers in that area using a

variegated blue thread-So Fine-40 weight.

In the brown stars, I quilted in 4 straight lines in the center of

the block and then filled in the space with swirls. It is a Judi Madsen

design. It stitches out really quickly and looks great.

In the area outside of the stars, I quilted 1/4 ” around the block and

then some straight line ruler work.

outer border

In the small outer border, I thought that something simple

would be appropriate so I did a double set of lines on an

angle to resemble the stars.

The back of the quilt was a nice dark blue.

The brown thread from the front did come through onto the

backing a little but it can’t be avoided sometimes.

Have a great week.

A Modern Charity Quilt…

May 21, 2015May 21, 20154 Comments

The Guild I attend (Kempenfelt Quilt Guild) is a very generous Guild

indeed. Throughout the year, The Guild creates and donates at least

3-4 quilts to local charities. This year, I had the privilege to be asked

to quilt this one.

I consider it a “modern” quilt because it has no border,no sashing,

lots of solid bright colors, and lots of open negative space.

Charity Quilt

Here is a side view of it on my frame. There is one spot that hasn’t been

quilted yet. I wanted to give you an idea of what we longarmers face when

we put a quilt on the frame. We have to be able to “see” what the

stitching will look like even before we put one stitch into the top.

When I first received the quilt, I had no idea of what to do with it.

But as usual, I went to the Net and found inspiration at Murdock Manor.

Janet Murdock had quilted this quilt. And yes, I did email her

and ask for her permission to use this quilting design.

How can you not like this quilt? I love the texture that the quilting

brings to the whole thing. I am quickly learning that I am becoming a

texture junkie. So, with this idea in mind, I began to quilt this top.

The name of the stitching is called “Matchsticks and Pebbles.”

Not quite original but it does describe the stitching to a tee.

The matchsticks took a long time to stitch out but the pebbles were

alot quicker. Because the background was white (and I have overhead lights

with my frame) there was a really bad glare coming off the quilt top.

After the first day, I noticed that I was getting a headache. So, the next

day, I turned the lights off and wore sunglasses while I quilted. Yes, it

was quite the sight.

When my kids came home from school, they thought that their mother

had lost it totally. It worked though-no more headaches or glare.

Matchsticks & Pebbles

It took me 10 hours to quilt and I used a white polyester thread for the

top and the backing.

The backing does show the stitching nicely.

The backing

The colors of the solid bars did show through to the backing. After all the stitching

was done on the white background, I went back and stitched around the bars

with a monofilament thread on the top. This helped so that I didn’t have to

change threads for each of the different colored bars.

I have to mention too, that when I was deciding on which way to quilt the

diagonal matchsticks. turning off the lights did help me see where I was going.

Sometimes you have got to get creative in order to finish a quilt.

Have a great week.

TinkerBell and pets..

May 13, 2015May 20, 20153 Comments

What does TinkerBell and pets have in common?

Not much but in this post, they are two quilts that I have recently

finished for customers.

Nicole finished this quilt for someone she knows who

loves pets and is also getting married. Isn’t this just the greatest

quilt for the newlyweds?

Nicole wanted a panto or all over design for the quilt but didn’t

want any stitching on the lettering. So, I placed tape on the back

of my table so that I wouldn’t quilt over the lettering. Then, I proceeded

to quilt along as usual. When I had quilted up to the tape, I moved

to the front of the machine and filled in the area as best as I could.

Then I proceeded to the other side of the lettering and kept going.

I matched thread color to the color of the quilt top. There are only

3 color so it didn’t take that much time to change threads.

The backing

The backing was made up of a brown color. You can see some of the

lettering from the front showing up on the back.

Next up is TinkerBell. How can you not love this quilt too?

This darling was made for a special little lady too, by Bernice.

It is interesting to note that the panel is made up of cotton and

the borders are flannel. I thought that it might stretch like crazy

but it was fine.

Flirtatous was the panto that we used and we used a light blue thread on the top.

I thought that it would detract from the top but it blended in well.

TinkerBell’s borders

These borders really add a blast of fun to the whole quilt top.

The backing was a hot pink and I used a hot pink polyester thread

for the backing as well.

The backing

The stitching shows up well on the back too.

Have a great week.

Frozen…

May 6, 20154 Comments

As you are proably aware, Frozen is a big hit here amongst the

younger kids. My niece has jumped on the bandwagon too.

Although this isn’t for my niece, I am hoping that some young lady

will beg her parents for it. The youth group at my Church is having a

silent auction at the end of the month. What other item would

I put into an auction than a quilt?

The panel was purchased at Fabricland. I know that is a bad word

amongst quilters but it was the only place I saw one. Fabricland even

supplied a pattern for you to follow to make the quilt.

I changed it a little because I didn’t have a lot of time to make it.

I added the white border, as one solid piece and the outer blue border.

The blue fabric also matches the panel and was purchased at Fabricland

as well.

In the white border, I used some thin silver fabric, again purchased at Fabricland.

Because it was so thin and flimsy, I added Steam A Seam to the back of it, by

ironing it on. Then all I had to do was cut it out and iron it onto the border.

I later stitched around each snowflake with a silver zigzag stitch. I even stitched

this on my longarm because it drives me crazy to do it on my domestic machine.

As you can see, I also switched up the snowflakes and stitched some in a dark

grey thread. I did try the silver metallic thread but ran into tension issues.

In the inner burgundy border, I thought that swirls would be good, as a

reminder fo the cold wind that blows in the winter time. I am glad that

is over right now.

In the outer blue border, I followed the design of the print. I really

couldn’t think of what to stitch in that space so I went with the print.

In the center of the panel, I merely followed the pattern itself.

That was actually fun to do. I even stitched in the braids for the girl

on the right. I know their names are Anna and Olga but I don’t know

which one is which.

There was a pink and white flannel for the back.

I used a variety of threads too. Polyester, Glide, and Metro threads were

all used. Some young lady is going to go home happy at the end of the

auction.

Have a great week.

Stitching Impressions

All aspects of longarm quilting

Month: May 2015

Quilt Market

A Modern Charity Quilt…

TinkerBell and pets..

Frozen…