Tag: freehand quilting

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Freehand Quilting and a Modern Runner

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If you have been reading this blog for sometime or following me elsewhere you may recall the tree runners that I quilted a couple of years ago…

Well this summer I had the opportunity to add my quilting to another of this customers work. This time for a more summery runner that will be displayed on her table in a cottage that is being built in Quebec.

Some quilting jobs I find the need to marinate ideas for a while and this was one was one of them. My ideas usually wake me in the middle of the night and then I know! This job was no exception.

I knew that my customer wanted my freehand quilting in the background. It is a fun way to quilt once you get past the beginning which can feel a little intimidating!

When discussing this type of quilting with others, I always say that it’s the whole picture that others see not just the early beginnings and small areas of your quilting, if that makes sense.

Playing with design ideas and doodling on a white board with a plan really helps. Sometimes I will even write a list of de-sign elements that I want to include in my quilting. Other than that I let myself play.

I do however start with a little practice piece on the side.

Before beginning this runner I added faux trapunto under the flowers…I loaded batting as a backing onto the longarm and then outlined the flowers with stitching…this is where water soluble thread could be used however not wanting to wet a customer project I used regular thread.

All of the batting was trimmed away from the flowers.

This along with minimal quilting on the flowers allowed them to pop a bit especially with the background fill around them.

I will share pictures when they arrive of this runner bound and photographed in its home. For now I share this video of where my work I left off.…

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Betty’s Globe Quilt

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My very dear friend Betty had me quilt her Globe Quilt (pattern and fabric from Zen Chic by Moda which had been gifted to her by her son and daughter in law)

I stitched the globe itself with ruler work using the angles to accentuate the 3-D effect of the globe itself and freehand fun in the background.

In addition to the quilting, Betty had me bind the quilt and add the hanging sleeve before sending it back to her daughter in law as a surprise!

The quilt has arrived and Nicole shared this picture of the quilt yesterday!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Debs Quilts

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I have long admired my friend Debs quilting and artistry. The quilts that she entered into this weekends quilt show, (put on by the Thunder Bay Quilt Guild) along with her demo on Improv piecing at the show were so inspiring!

Debs Improv Demo

I love her use of colour and her quilting. She quilts on her domestic machine.

Her backings are so much fun to see!!

This quilt is classic Deb! When I first saw it at a guild meeting I just knew it was hers and that she was at the meeting!

Of course I wanted to see the backing and an amazing quilter and artist and teacher as well founding member Jackie Black was there with white gloves to show me.

Last summer Deb enjoyed a 5 day retreat taught by Cindy Grisdela and the resulting quilt amazed me! I noticed Deb walking by

We were so excited to see each other and when she asked if I wanted to see the back of the quilt…well we had a pretty good giggle!

After restoring the quilt to its hanging position…we still dared to look at the back!

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Freehand Quilting and Practice

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This picture of a customer quilt from 2014 always makes me smile. I love the look of freehand quilting. There are many sources for learning freehand quilting now and at the time I quilted this quilt Angela Walters of Quilting is My Therapy was promoting her early books and inspiring many quilters.

This particular quilt was a lot of fun to put to use some of the techniques that I had recently learnt.

For the most part my quilting is done on my APQS Millennium Longarm which truly is such a wonderful machine .

However, I have always admired people who also quilt on their domestic machines and in the last couple of years have set goals for myself to work on that.

Another quilter who has inspired me is Cindy Needham and I have taken some of her classes over the years. She has some on Craftsy that I really enjoyed.

Lately after I finish working on customer quilts I will spend some time quilting using my Juki Haruka playing and practicing freehand quilting. I have been playing with small squares with 3” grids and loving the texture. These are some earlier examples of playing.

Just like when I was learning to quilt with my Longarm it takes what we used to call PPP practice practice practice!

My friend Ana Paula teaches so many amazing classes and one of them is freehand quilting if you want to learn and want a fantastic teacher I highly recommend her! She has also inspired me to spend time playing and growing in my freehand quilting fun.

http://www.canadapaulabrasil.ca

Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Baby it’s Cold Outside…Quilt

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Winter comes to a close later this week as far as the calendar is concerned that is…and now this fun and happy king size snowman quilt is off the Longarm and will be heading home before spring!

The quilting is a mixture of ruler and freehand quilting.

It is always such a good feeling when a large custom job is off the machine!!
Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Proud to be a Canadian Quilt

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In 2012 I quilted this quilt for a customer who had pieced the top for her daughter who is an RCMP officer. I have had so many comments and messages regarding this quilt that I thought that I would re visit it.

Unfortunately I have never been able to find the pattern and any leads led to information that said that it was out of print.

I used a combination of a Pantograph for the background and freehand custom quilting for the rest of this beautiful quilt.

Customer Quilts, Longarm quilting Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wendy's Quilting

Leslie’s Amazing Rockies Quilt

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Leslie is a local Arist who brought me her queen sized hand pieced landscape quilt depicting a scene of the Rockies. This quilt lived with me and on my design wall for some time until one day it had spoken with me enough to start. This quilt and I went on a journey so to speak, an adventure. It was for the most part fun to work on though also challenging as I wanted to be sure to capture Leslie’s vision and also bring movement and capture the light of her work.

Customer Quilts, Longarm quilting Thunder Bay, Wendy's Longarm Quilting, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wendy's Quilting

Carol’s Quilt

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Carol’s quilt was a lot of fun to quilt using different freehand designs that I have picked up along my quilting journey.

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