The Customer Is Always First

April 15, 2014Uncategorized

I’ve been feeling guilty lately.  Guilty about not posting sooner, but that’s where priorities come in.  In order to get quilts back to my customers, I have had to put some things on the back burner.  But the up side is, I have quilts to show you!  The 1st quilt belongs to Pieceful Pasttimes , The quilt shop located in Norfolk, Nebraska.  Isn’t it so much fun?  Beautiful bright colors separated by black and white!

Just freehand ribbons quilted on this one.  With so much  color action, to add a lot of complicated quilting would only make for confusion and chaos.

Over the winter I quilted two extraordinary identical quilts,  made for a set of twins by their grandmother.  Beautifully embroidered in a gorgeous blue pallet.

This was quilted by following the preprinted  quilting lines in the blocks.  Those preprinted designs are definitely not meant for machine quilting!   One quilt had meandering in the sashing, both had stars in the sashing corners.

That’s all for tonight, but there are many more quilts to come!  Just stay tuned.

   March 2, 2014
Have you ever started a quilt with a  holiday theme  only to not get it finished in time for that holiday?  Did you then put it aside because the holiday was

over and you have another year to get it done?  Several July 4th holidays had come and gone for this quilt, so I decided it was the perfect 1st quilt for Millie to complete.  This quilt had begun its life as a demonstration for beginning quilters.  What better pattern for a beginner.  Simple and striking.

At the February meeting of the Cedar County Piecemakers, an alternative binding technique was discussed.  Instead of folding and pressing the binding strip before applying to the quilt, the pressing was eliminated.  Of course with a quilt ready to be bound, I just couldn’t resist trying out the new (to me) technique.  Initially I wasn’t sure that I was going to like folding the stip in half as I went, but found out after just a few inches that it was not a problem.  I do think it made it easier to join the ends together without the crease.  The binding was done totally by machine and I do believe it looks good.  

Welcome Millie!

February 7, 2014Uncategorized

Monday was Millie’s first day as a member of my quilting team.  Let me tell you she is the sweetest thing!  I tell her what to do and she does it!  You just can’t beat that.  I so love the computerized quilting I can do with her.  And when I want to switch to hand guiding her–she puts up no resistance.  Mmmmm.  Quilter’s heaven.

I have one more piece of muslin that we will practice on, then it will be on to a real quilt.  The quilt is ready to go, and I have selected a design.  How exciting!  It is a quilt top that was started when our quilt group, the Cedar County Piecemakers, were demonstrating techniques for beginning quilters.  It is a simple rail fence quilt, which has been sitting here, completed, for probably a couple of years.  Just like the carpenter who doesn’t get his own house finished, longarm quilters don’t always get their own quilts quilted–at least not timely.    So hi ho, hi ho, off to the studio I go!

Saying Goodbye

February 3, 2014Uncategorized

Mattie, my quilting machine for nearly 8 years is for sale.  Last night as I was giving her a little TLC and mounting a quilt sandwich so that a prospective buyer could check her out, I was surprised by a wave of sadness at the prospect of seeing her go.  I’ve always had a difficult time saying goodbye to people I love, and to pets and even sometimes to a cow or calf that I have a special fondness for, but a machine?  Really?

Quilting with Mattie could make me forget everything else that was going on in life.  I could lose myself in a world of creativity.  The process was all-encompassing.  Relaxing.  Food for the soul.  With exceptions, of course.  There are always “things” that come up in the quilting process, and some of those things can cause a great deal of stress.  But like other things in life, the mind comes back to the beautiful outcomes.  The good times.