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!
We have been experiencing normal deep freeze winter weather here for the last week or so ago. For the most part winter weather doesn’t bother me.
I do love a bright sunshiny January day and yesterday was one of those days!
I am over due in sharing this special quilt that was made during 2023 for my daughter Mary. It has a lot of significance personally and was a joy to make.
After quilting the quilt with the pantograph Butterfly Charm and a beautiful variegated thread, I added additional quilting with my domestic machine and wonderfil Glamore thread to add more glitz.
My daughter loves purple and butterflies and she told me that she had wanted a quilt with this quilting design from the moment it first arrived in my studio so many years ago. When she saw the quilt as a kit on a Keepsake Quilting Catalogue she quickly requested it.
Her son Liam asked to make the label for this special quilt and he did a fantastic job!
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.
The second day of the year was spent with two of our Grandchildren. Kaija and I finished making her pouch from last weeks sewing first.
She found a small scrap of fabric with Olaf from the movie frozen and she chose her fabrics from my scrap basket to grow it into a pouch. She has so much fun with my basket of scraps!
Kaija loves to fill the bags and pouches with little bits of fabric that she finds in my sewing room to take home with her! 😊
Later she discovered left overs from the pink quilts and my empty design wall. She had so much fun with the squares and putting together 9 patches to put together to make a new quilt!
I love how interested Kaija is in my sewing, it will be fun to see where it takes her.
Grayson wanted to sew as well, his interest lately has been hand stitching, he worked on a little pouch last week and this week how to sew a button on. We had snow over new years so what he really wanted to do involved Pappa and a snowmobile!
Let’s start with my morning view!!! That looks more like it for this time of year ☃️
Somehow the week between Christmas and New Years has flown by! Not without a lot of fun. We had Grand parenting days. While there was no snow so no snowmobiling, Erik took the kids on Quad rides instead.
If I haven’t mentioned it before we have several trails throughout our property, we really enjoy them and visiting the pond as well. Well the Grandchildren love the trails!
Grayson decided that he wanted to learn some sewing and asked if he could learn to hand sew! Maybe this was inspiring
The second of two pink quilts
Grayson even got Pappa involved in the sewing!
Grayson is getting really good on the machine as well, working on the bag that he is making
Kaija discovered my newest scissors and enjoyed snipping scraps and cutting out the sloths from a trimmed piece.
Kaija and I made a bag together, she likes to use the foot petal while I guide the fabric. She loves choosing the fabrics as well. it won’t be long before she is using the machine.
She was really silly when I took the picture…how scary does that marker look. She is really careful about colouring though.
Minka and Romee joined in one afternoon! Grayson and Pappa built a fort for the girls. They made full use of it and had a lot of fun together.
I love this picture my daughter sent of Minka’s fort at home, she is inside with a quilt sleeping and using Romees quilt to cover the fort! I love to see the quilts I make in action!!
Today is the 19th anniversary of my Longarm quilting machines arrival, I also like to call it her birthday. My Millennium is an amazing machine and I have a special treat for her that I will share soon.
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.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 