Showing posts with label Quilting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quilting. Show all posts

Friday, March 8, 2019

Designing




Customers often ask "where do you begin?" 

A few Sashing & Border Designs

Old School Planning
Most of us begin by "doodling" on paper. We practice a lot and try to learn new designs as often as we are able. Just this morning I learned several new designs that I'm itching to get down on fabric. Designing is a huge part of what I do and I love every minute!

Customers are usually surprised by all of the design possibilities once they've been shown. Ultimately it is their decision as to how much detail or how simple they want the finished results but I love working with them in creative and unique design ideas. Pulling out various design elements within a quilt is one of the best parts of custom longarm quilting.


Thursday, July 20, 2017

Keeping it Simple


I can't imagine life without the beautiful tops that all of the creative ladies bring to me!

I recently read a quilter's blog (whom I admire very much) and she was writing about where to start when you receive a new customer quilt. I agree that sometimes design ideas in our heads will drive us crazy and we often just have to begin somewhere (anywhere), before we actually see what effects the design elements will turn into.

 Being Longarmers and business owners, we have to consider what the customer's budget is as well considerations to time frames and schedules. We want our customers to love the quilting and when they do even when it's simple, we forge on and continue to love what we do.





Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Palmyra Panthers

This was a special quilt for me to quilt for Cathy T.

As I was quilting this t-shirt quilt, I kept thinking, "this seems familiar" and thought, "its because it is an Alma-mater"... but that wasn't it.


It's funny how it took almost finishing the whole quilt before I realized that the Panther at the top was the artwork of my very own husband! Often-times he will create artwork for his own customers and ask for my input. This being a Palmyra Panther; of course I approved!

Thanks Cathy T. for letting us both be a part of this quilt!

Dresden

Joyce H's choice of colors made this quilt very pretty! It has a summer-time feel and had me dreaming of warm days while I quilted it on my APQS Lenni the Long-arm!


Friday, December 2, 2016

Purple Basket Quilt

Here is some shots of a Basket-weave quilt that I quilted for a dear friend a while back. We thought it turned out great and I was so glad that her pattern did not deter her from finishing it when things became frustrating! With a little coaching, prayers and praises this little purple gem is going to be a wonderful gift for a special someone!



Friday, August 7, 2015

Quilt Stories are Priceless

Negativity of Quilters...

First off, "sitting around" in our "rockers" is so far from reality, that it 's not even a tiny bit humorous! We come from all walks of life, ages and genders. So terms like; "old", "rockers", "boring" etc., absolutely does not apply. However, there are many older ladies who have worked hard all of their many years doing for others and are so deserving to sit in her favorite comfortable chair to sit quietly doing what she loves. P.S. we get the last laugh... if you are so niave to actually believe that your "plastic" bodies and shallow mindset isn't going to eventually give you a shocking ice plunge of a wake-up call, it would likely be us feeling sorry for you!

Designing, color selection & process are just three of the wonderfully fulfilling decisions that we draw from within our creative souls. Not even to mention the HISTORY of quilting!

The whole history of quilt making derived first out of necessity for a family's warmth. For the kind of ability to first think of building a quilt for your loved ones and carry out the process in which it is; was indeed gifts with our fore-mothers generously giving to all of us with the same kind of passion.

We are also very compassionate and a large percentage of us are creating our works of art for particular loved ones.This gives us a lot of idea to choose from and often times this can take an immeasurable amount of time and effort to make it as perfect as we imagine. Then in other instances it can be so direct and obvious in our fore-thought that the process just falls easily into place and before we know it we have a finished personal keepsake to pleasantly hand to a very appreciative and deserving individual.

 
 Once our ideas come, we then begin to put our creations into action. Part of this "fun" is that we get to go to these extraordinary fabric shops where we find more eye candy then non-quilters could ever imagine. Often times, we get so enthralled with the beauty that we find within quilt shops that our designs take a turn in a whole new direction. Just because of the overwhelming textures and color choices we find ourselves facing. (This is okay, and is just one tiny off-sided factor inside a creative soul!) We still persevere! We face these challenges with enthusiasm and are strong willed to make every quilt special for whomever is its recipient.

Those fortunate enough to receive any handmade quilt is just as special as those of us who are passionate about what it is we are creating.

In my long-arm quilting business, I get to listen to the personal stories of those making the quilt tops. Each quilt has a story and those stories are priceless!

Recently, I had the honor of quilting a beautiful t-shirt quilt that a very dear lady (and now a very good friend), made for a special loved one. This quilt was for a very extraordinary young man who would be moving away to attend a distant college. The t-shirts were his, from another school where he attended. This was her first quilt!!! She did a wonderful job at putting the quilt all together and her love showed throughout! Her story was about the young man who was a neighbor boy and generously took very good and consistent care of her and her yard as he grew into this very unique young man. The quilt was a gift for him as he was moving away! It was so obvious to me that he had become like a son to her. For me, listening to her telling how remarkable this neighbor was and to know that there are still families out there who raise their kids to be generous individuals was just so moving! I was honored to be the quilter to help her complete this keepsake to give as such a love filled gift to this individual!

So the point of this writing, was in the attempt to articulate the energy, the passion, the love and yes, the excitement that goes into our "whole-lot-less-than-boring" colorful process of creating our beautiful quilts! The same quilts that have been keeping generations of every family's loved ones warm to the core, throughout the span of time.

We love what I do!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Circle Quilt

Today I will finish the binding, but here is the second of the two quilts using the "bright & cheery" fabric. A customer wanted circles and had given me photo examples of a few she liked so I modified those to make her's similar but a little different.Then I quilted each circle different to make some pop and others more recessive. She now has a one-of-a kind quilt for her very sweet little girl!


Sunday, March 15, 2015

Always time for QOV!

With the warmer weather and Spring knocking at our doors, I often wonder how I will get everything that I really want to, finished. Then I realize that there are just as many things that I want to do that I haven't even started. Oh, but to be completely honest... there are just as many on the list of "in progress" projects as are on the other two lists!!

I can't imagine life without ideas and creativity!

There is always time to finish a Quilt of Valor for our very deserving service men and women and it is always pleasing to have them ready to be shipped back to my coordinator!



Sunday, February 8, 2015

Ready to be Quilted

Anxious to get this on the Long-arm for my customer. She loves it and that makes me super happy!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Bright & Cheery

These are the fabric color choices for two quilts that I am working on for a client. The weather has been dreary, cold and the forecast calls for two more inches of snow. Not a worry... I have bright and cheery spread out all over my design wall and in my studio! Oh, how this selection makes me love what I do even more!



Wednesday, January 21, 2015

It feels good to finally get back into the studio and just practice and work on some older projects. I could use a bit of organization in here as well as some new fabric to begin the many to choose from ideas swimming around in my head. It seems the weeks are already flying by and before long I will be wanting to be outside in the garden! Oh, the thought of warm sunshine on my face and the smell of well conditioned garden soil is a wonderful thought. Thankful to be a semi-patient person, but I get all dreamy-like when it comes to gardening.

Here is a small clip of some practicing of background fill that I wanted to play with on a table runner that I started last fall. This weeks plan was to make up a sample book of some fillers and design work, so now that I got that UFO finished, I can start on the samples.

Have a wonderful Wednesday


Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Quilt for Christmas

This quilt was designed by Christopher Florence. My husband and I went to a show in Springfield, IL where one like this had been entered and was getting a lot of notice. My husband seemed to find it most memorable of all the selections that I drug him to see over and over again while there. (I can never get enough quilt eye candy). I bought the pattern from my favorite quilt shop, The Hickory Stick Quilt Shop in Hannibal, Mo. with the intention of secretly making it for my husband. As it turned out, I decided that like another quilt that I made that still hangs over the banister because it's just too neat to use, Labyrinth Walk would also likely just hang over the banister instead of getting used. We knew that the adult kids in our family needed quilts this year for Christmas gifts, so this quilt was needing the daughter who is a senior interior designer in a major city. We were excited to give it to her when she was here and we hope that it warms her and her home.


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Finished the Modern Quilt

This is a quilt that I just finished quilting yesterday. When I bought the fabric I knew whatever design I went with would have to be "modern". I started out with a theme in mind which did consist of wonky squares, but really didn't have a "plan" per-say. After playing around with various layouts, I finally settled on these designs. Once I began quilting it, I felt that it was all coming together nicely! I chose the name; "No rhyme, No Reason" for this one. It is to be given to a daughter for Christmas and we hope she like it!




Lady Liberty




QOV longarm quilting pleasures



Quilts of Valor. I was not the one who did the piece work on this quilt and I don't have the first name to offer the credits to. Thank you who ever you may be and keep up the great work! 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

What an Honor it is to quilt for QOVF!

To the brave men and women who sacrifice more than I can imagine... Thank you for your service!

 I cannot take credit for the beautiful piece work. I am a longarm quilter and I volunteer my quilting service to Quilts of Valor Foundation. I am one of few who gets to turn a top batting and back into a quilt by stitching the three layers together. Truly an honor to be a part of this foundation!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Honey Bee Hive Quilt

I designed this quilt for a dear friend who made my husband and me stewards of four of her bee hives! As a beekeeper, I know how hard a decision that must have been for her and I felt like I was taking her "babies" away. She had been a beekeeper for 30 some years. I knew that I needed to make something meaningful and filled with the kind of love for our honey bees as only a beekeeper can really understand. So here are pictures of my heart-felt gift to her!









I really like how it turned out and have to believe that she will, too!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Wiggle My Nose & Snap My Fingers

I am so wishing that I could wiggle my nose and snap my fingers like Samantha did on Bewitched back in the seventies!

Do you ever have one of those weeks where there are more ideas inside your head than there is time to complete all the tasks involved? Well, that's my week!

I love that I can work in my jammys if needed and no matter how early I get up to tackle office work... I still find that organization is forever needing improvements! BUT... I am a very head-strong and determined individual so I'm patting myself on the back for even the tiny-est of accomplishments!!! Yay me!


Monday, June 30, 2014

Playing with Lenni


Lately the awesome and beautiful and very much LOVED seniors in my life have been keeping me busy. Today, I thought I'd get some quilting practice while I can. Here are a few strips of scraps I used to doodle on. I seem to be drawn toward the "organic" style of quilting and design. I'm a "country girl" maybe that's why?!?!







My Momma had to have three stints put in her heart on Friday. She was awesome and got to go home on Saturday.

 Anyone who can bare ten kids in the era long before there were epidurals and all the other instant gratification things of today is practically a Saint in my book. The hospital staff loved her and one teased about adopting her as his own... not sure if for Mother or Grandmother, but he called her an old lady (in a joking way) to the Doctor, so I assume Grandmother. All in all she never complained a bit and is home healing!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Four Generation Quilt

I call this one a 4 generation because, when I was a wee child, my dear Mother copied pictures from my coloring book and hand embroidered the little animals onto blocks. The printed fabric blocks are from clothes my siblings and I wore Mother made and blocks from my own first projects as a young seamstress. I saved these and put the quilt top together when my daughter was a wee little one. Although it was not properly quilted, she still used it and enjoyed it. Well I got my Lenni and it seems like it came full circle. Now my daughter has a daughter and she is having a birthday very soon, so this will be a special gift to her!

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