Sometimes I am asked to find a backing for a customer quilt…this week my friend Betty and I went to Fix Sew and scissors to take her machine in for a repair. While there I noticed the fabrics that they are selling for a friend and they had a perfect fabric and at a great price!
As sometimes happens the quilt maker had planned to quilt this piece herself and had fused batting to the top and it wasn’t budging.
We decided to leave it attached and add another layer of Hobbs 80/20.
Adding the pantograph bubbles was a fun and perfect fit for the quilting!
More often than not I am asked to choose the quilting design when quilts are left with me. In this case I had a few ideas and sent them to my client. She chose the pantograph Tickle Too…a fun to quilt design that adds swirls and feather plumes to dance all over the quilt.
This design has a perfect density for a bed quilt.
The quilting really shines on the back doesn’t it!
Starswirl is a beautiful pantograph design, it has a really nice flow to guide my machine over creating a beautiful even density of stitches over the quilt.
The stitches are so pretty and really shine on the blue backing! The daylight was not overly cooperative yesterday, the first picture is a truer image of the green in this fun quilt.
The quilt is trimmed and ready for binding. This quilter is making quilts for each grandchild and saving them for when they are grown.
Betty and I have been friends for many years! I have always been so appreciative of her friendship and life guidance over the years, she is an encourager and cheers me on.
We first met when I was a young Mom, and I have been quilting for her for almost 19 years. At 89 yrs she is still making quilts!
Betty pieced the pattern Polychromatic by Elizabeth Hartman for her son. He and his wife chose the pantograph Belly Bop for the quilting design.
My pictures does not fully capture the beautiful brightness of this quilt.
The gray background fabric is Essex Linen which is made with 55% linen and 45% cotton. This fabric is a looser weave than regular quilting cotton and has a bit of a stretch and also frays very easily. Betty told me that it was a challenge to work with.
I kept a close eye for stray threads that migrated from their place to lay under the lighter fabrics as they really showed up.
My view this morning…I love the snow laden tree look!
I am almost finished binding the second of the two pink quilts!
A couple of posts ago I shared a picture of the backing fabric being prepared for this quilt.
In my opinion it is well worth the time to do things well. This includes pinning and making sure that my end result is a beautifully quilted quilt that lays flat without puckers or pleats. I know that there are short cuts, however I also know that shortcuts can result in issues that I am not happy with.
It’s a wonderful feeling when I finish a quilt that I know that my customer will feel proud of.
The backing:
Joan has been using her stash to create fantastic quilts!
I really enjoy a good splash of colour in my studio!
Her quilt is trimmed and the binding prepared and ready for pick up.
What are you working on? Do you use your scraps?
Most of my quilting time is spent helping my customers complete their quilts. I do however schedule in time for myself to piece.
I like to have a few projects on the go at the same time, do you?
My current fun is the scrappy postage stamp quilt which I will be working on for a while!
Now that the holidays are once again ready to be tucked away and added to memories of Christmas pasts, I am ready to get back to sharing my work!
My longarm has new wheels and is ready to get back to work!
Preparation is key to great results! I often piece customer backings and as I have mentioned before there is no additional cost for this service.
In my opinion most backings when piecing yardage look better when the pattern is matched and so I do take the time if there is enough fabric supplied and my customer wants it done.
Preparing both the top and backing with a good pressing, also enables me to double check before loading just in case there might be issues that can be corrected easily before quilting. Loading freshly pressed backings also assures that there won’t be puckers or pleats in the quilt after quilting.
As I enter my 20th year of Longarm Quilting for customers, I am looking forward to continue helping others to complete their quilting projects.
Christmas Morning…no snow and above zero Celsius temperatures! There isn’t any snow in the forecast and temperatures continue to be very mild.
Winter solstice was very welcomed, without snow the darkest days of the year seemed even darker as the snow does reflect what light there is.
The extra lights from the tree and other Christmas decorations are so welcome and add such a cozy feel to life!
Our family brunch which we host the Sunday before Christmas has become a wonderful tradition and this year was no exception. It’s a very busy fun filled day and one that I don’t have pictures to share but lovely memories to cherish.
Eriks Mom hosted Christmas Eve with a beautiful dinner that has become more of a potluck style meal as the grandchildren are grown, though she still roasts the turkey makes her famous amazing mashed potatoes, carrot casserole, salt fish sandwiches and moccasins as the children call this very traditional Finnish treat.
My daughter and son in law invited me to share their joy of Christmas morning with them and Joy it was watching my granddaughters see the transformation of their family room with tree decorated and lit and gifts and stockings from Santa.
I gifted myself with time to hand sew in the afternoon, as we were invited to my youngest daughters for Christmas Dinner. It was delicious and a truly beautiful evening!
It’s been a very busy season of quilting for my customers and making sure that their quilts were ready for gifting. I am so thankful for my customers that entrust me with their quilts!
December like November seems to be flying by! We had a dusting of snow overnight however with the projected temperatures it will disappear by noon and now we have unseasonably warm temperatures for the rest of the month and no sign of snow! It might not be a white Christmas this year.
One of the quilts that I have finished is a fantastic example of using colour values in piecing a quilt top along with the value of saving and using scraps.
Marilyn has made several of these quilts, one for each of her grands I believe. I have met two of her granddaughters that absolutely treasure their Grandma and also her gift of quilts.
As a professional Longarm quilter for almost 19 years and a quilt maker for close to 40 years I know how much time and love goes into making quilts for others. (Along with the expense)
I have always strived to give each quilt job my full attention and providing my customers with quality workmanship.
I was recently asked how many quilts I work on a month, following me on social media she is able to see many of the quilts that I am entrusted with.
My response is that it depends!
It depends on the size of the quilt as well as what that particular order entails.
I spend time preparing each quilt before loading onto my Longarm. I sew yardage for backings for some and also carefully press the quilt top and then the backing in order to prevent issues afterwards. Such as puckers and pleats.
This isn’t a race, I like to give each quilt the time and attention that I give to my own.
I absolutely love quilting and spend an average of 8 hours most days quilting. (I enjoy a short commute to work).
This is a busier season and most of my customers let me know in advance if they are working on a quilt for Christmas and so have their quilt placed in my queue.
If someone asks to fit one in before Christmas who isn’t in my queue I will do my best to work a little overtime and fit them in. 🎄
Marilyn’s quilt is trimmed and ready for binding.
Let me help you bring your quilting projects to completion.
This memory popped up, Liam has always enjoyed quilts and quickly crawled into the middle of this customer quilt just as she arrived to pick it up! Thankfully she was delighted to see how much he liked it. (Liam is now 12yrs old)
I am currently quilting another half square amazing quilt by Marilyn… I have lost count however this may be the 5th or 6th this was taken on the weekend I did get a few more rows quilted after this picture…however….
Yesterday we had a fun filled day with our grandson 3 yr old Jaxson!
His Mom sent us this picture she took on the way home. He is big into dinosaurs and the puppet in his hands was a gift we bought last summer but when he first saw it, it was scary…yesterday he told us it’s not scary anymore.
After supper, I attended our local Quilt Guild meeting, we had 3 in person meetings and have now resumed Zoom meeting for the winter…I was thankful for that after such a full day.
She did a wonderful and informative talk about her Collage Quilting…she was very inspiring.
The day also held a big surprise which I will share a little later when we have some daylight. Our hours of daylight are noticeably shorter each day right now, making me look forward to the Solstice.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 