Thursday, May 29, 2014

Almost done......

I was about to take this quilt off the long arm but as I was unrolling it, I noticed I missed a couple spots, so I am done for the day and will finish this up tomorrow or Saturday.
 
 
I do have a pleat that needs to be fixed in one of the setting triangles.  I had a couple suggestions on how to deal with this.  One was steam it with an iron, but I couldn't figure out how to do it with an iron upside down.  I don't want hot water running down my arm.
 
Another suggestion was spritzing the affected area with water and then using a very hot hair dryer on it.  I tried that, but it didn't work.  That might be due to the fact that the owner of this quilt pre-washed her backing before giving it to me and there is just no shrinkage left. 
 
So, I am going to stitch the two areas I missed and I may just take the quilt off the long arm and see if I can do something with it manually.  I even thought of sewing a couple running stitches and doing something of a "gathering" so that I can spread out the fullness.   I have more time to think about it. 
 
Anyways, I am thinking my classes with Karen McTavish are paying off. 


Saturday, May 24, 2014

Halfway done.....kinda.....

I got through the pale gray thread on all the teal areas. 
 
As I was re-rolling the quilt, I thought the back looked kinda good at this point.
 
 
 
 
hmmm....don't look too close
 
I do have a little problem area that I need to fix and then I am on to the white areas.
 
Feathers, here I come. 
 
 





Thursday, May 22, 2014

Putting into practice.....

 
ok...here I was at Karen McTavish's classes last week. 
 
I learned ruler work and feathers and now I am going to put that all to practice on Rita's quilt.
 
 
I got home Saturday and put Rita's quilt on the long arm right away, but had to catch up on laundry, family, etc. before getting back to work on Monday. 
 
So today was the day, I spent 8 hours doing the ruler work on her quilt. 
 
 
Here's a fan type design on the teal logs; and I did piano keys on the borders using a very pale gray thread that seems to pick up the color of the fabric that it lies on. 
 
 
I petered out with one more row of blocks and one final "short" border.  Once I get back to the quilt I will rewind/reload (backtrack) the quilt and do all the feather work that I have planned in the white areas with white thread.  I did use a purple air erasable pen to mark some of the feathers, but I think those pictures are on my phone.  I will have to see if I can figure out how to get those off the phone and on here.  I just want to make sure that my feathers are flowing in the right direction before I start stitching. 
 
Getting excited to see this one completed. 
 
 
 

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Back from Louisville!!!

 
I just got back from classes with Karen McTavish (on the left) that were held at the APQS store in Louisville, KY  that is run by Angela Huffman (on the right).  I have been friends with Angela for probably over 10 years where we started our friendship on Alex Anderson's message board. 
 
Anyways, I took McTavishing, Victorian Feathers, and Heirloom quilting from Karen and had such a good time and learned so much.  Only down side is that Karen says I can no longer consider myself a "newbie" to long arm quilting.  Guess I am going to have to do a lot of practice so that I don't feel like a newbie. 
 
 
Anyways, at the APQS store we all had a long arm to work on with a partner.  Karen taught and then we went and practiced what she preached.  She is such a hoot.  So funny, yet so full of information.  I absolutely loved taking these classes and am so glad I did it. 
 
By the way, did you know that the speed limit in Ohio is 65 and that if you are going 80 and get stopped and pulled over on the side of the highway, you run over "junk" and get a flat tire?  Then you can wait two hours in pouring rain  for a tow truck to come and hopefully they  fix or change your tire to only end up going to Walmart Superstore and get a new tire?  For the cost of a ticket AND a new tire, one could "fly" to Louisville much cheaper  rather than driving from MI.  Just thought you would like that little tidbit of information. 
 
So, here are some of the samples that Karen did for us that we had to replicate. 
 
 
There were feathers, too, but apparently those are on my phone and for some reason I can't get the pictures off of my phone right now. 
 
I took three consecutive classes and while my friend, Shirley (who is quilting here)....
 
 
took one more class, I ran around Louisville (thank goodness for GPS) and found a couple great quilt shops.  One was Among Friends Quilt Shop (my favorite as it was a Quilt Sampler feature) and Cozy Quilter.  Didn't buy a thing as I was more focused on long arm stuff this week. 
 
Then later that night Karen had a trunk show and everything was just awesome. 
 
Here are a few of my favs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here is the four of us after our classes were finished.   
 
 
 
When I get myself together a little more than I am right now, I will share some pictures of "my" practice pieces  and might just show you the quilt that I now (somewhat) feel confident to tackle after taking these classes.  Remember, I am not supposed to be a newbie anymore.  We'll see how it goes. 
 
Glad to be back and am so ready to give all this knowledge a try now. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Off to some classes.....

I should have lots to report when I get back from taking classes with Karen McTavish this week. 
 
You can see the list of classes that are available here. 

 
So excited. 
 
See you when I get back. 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Sneak peek (and only a partial one at that!)

I just got a queen-sized quilt off Millie Faye; but it is a challenge quilt....in fact...it is a dual challenge quilt. 
 
So here is the panto I used on it. 
 
 
It's banana leaf. 
 
That theme goes with one of the challenges.....Hawaiian.
 
The second challenge was a particular pattern that I won't share just yet, but I decided to incorporate both challenges into one quilt (killing two birds with one stone).   Since I don't seem to ever do anything "small", I thought one quilt would do the trick.  The only problem is that I can't stand waiting to share with you. 
 
So, I think I said in the past that I bought a pink and orange batik for the backing that had hibiscus flowers on it.  (Hawaiian theme). 
 
So here is the only sneak peek you are going to get right now. 
 
 
I hope you can see the banana leaf stitching on this. 
 
I am going to use the pink batik for the binding, so I had better get busy. 
 
The big reveal will be mid June on the top, so stay tuned.
 
Now my goal is to get a couple smaller tops onto Millie as I want all the practice I can get as next week I will be taking some classes from Karen McTavish. Although I've hardly done any custom work, I wanted to make sure that I knew my machine well and felt comfortable working on it.  I am hoping to learn lots from Karen and then "custom quilting, here I come!!!". 
 
 


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Completed another one for the first of the month.....

Just took this one off the long arm. 
 
 
This is my sister-in-law's alternating 9-patch. 
 
We belonged to a group eons ago. I think she said 10 years ago, but I hate to think it has been that long that we exchanged these Robyn Pandolph 9-patches.  I have all these blocks plus more that I haven't done anything with yet. (omg!  I just checked and I have over 133 of these blocks!!!)  I have to give her credit....her quilt turned out really great.  I love all her scrappy solid blocks.  This quilt looks so warm in its gold tones.  It is soooo her. 
 
Anyways, I quilted it in a panto called "ribbons and roses". 
 
 
Here's a real close up.
 
 
I think Robyn Pandolph fabrics from 10 years ago (sigh), just called for this floral panto. 
 
Here's a pic of the backing.
 
 
I hope she loves it as much as I do.  It may just have inspired me to get to my 9-patches and do something with them. 
 
I do know that I am going to cut up some shabby chic fabrics soon  so that I can use this panto for myself,  too. 
 
Well, onto the next quilt.  The next one loaded is the challenge quilt....dual challenge quilt, so I won't be showing it as soon as it is off the long arm, but I do have a couple more smaller quilts that are waiting in line after that and hopefully I will be showing you those very soon. 
 
Hope you enjoyed the mini show-n-tell. 
 
 
 


Michigan quilters, take note

  Come see us at our first Quilter's to Quilter's sale.   Don't know what that is?  Well, it will be 28 quilters/vendors selling...