A Welsh Quilt

 Hey there! I sure hope you aren't sick of this quilt already. I think this is definitely one of my very favorites. It was finally not wildly windy this morning so I took it out for a couple sunny pictures.

 This was a new type of quilting for me and I know for sure I will be using this technique often in the future. I have another larger project in the works so I can quit it on long arm.

 For this quilt the quilting was done mostly with my Bernina 165 (a regular home sewing machine - a good machine, but nothing really fancy). I wanted to do all the quilting on my Bernina 820, but that machine is not working correctly and is actually back in Kansas to be repaired (again) or sent back to Bernina.
 I don't want it back unless it is working properly, right?

 I can't wait to translate this detail and style to my long arm quilting.

 Each corner block is quilted differently because I had too hard a time deciding on just one design.

 Did you know about all the meaning in Welsh quilting? The 3 center stripes have different quilting too...one is the path goodness, the path to wickedness and the path to fairyland. In the above picture are the paths to wickedness and the path to fairyland.

 Above is the path to goodness and more of the path toward wickedness.

 I love the back of this quilt...It is so nice to look and feel all that quilting. It crinkled up pretty well after the wash, but since I used wool batting it is not quite so wrinkly.

OK, have a great day! I think I am going to take this quilt over to the quilt shop and see if the owner will let me teach some machine quilting classes. It is a really small town here and the quilting teacher is very old and very set in her ways. I teach from my house of course, but I think it would be really fun to get out from time to time! Wish me luck!

xo,
Tia

Where does inspiration come from?

 Hey there! DO you like quilt books? I sure do. My husband gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday and I have really enjoyed the book ordering power it has given me. One day I was on a roll with ordering books...or pretending to order books (I thought I was pretending anyway). I logged out of Amazon and thought all was forgotten, right? Well, a few days later the book on top arrived. I knew the book was only like .99 cents, so I didn't fret too much, but when I opened it up I was pretty much disgusted with the articles in this book/magazine.

 I flipped through it and was shuddering about how horrible some of the projects were.

 Not only horrible, but horribly dated. Who would wear a quilted hat like that? With a matching vest? Dreadful. So I was getting ready to pitch it in the recycling I found this article...."The Nature of a Curve" all about Welsh Quilting. I don't think I have ever seen such wonderful quilting! So bold, but whimsicle and almost magical. I knew immeidately I had to make a quilt so I could try it out myself.

 Welsh quilting and Amish quilting look alike don't they? Some say the Welsh influenced the Amish with their bold graphic designs and fabulous quilting. At first the Amish believed quilting was sinful...but then I guess they got cold and figured out how wonderful and warm a wool quilt was to rest beneath. The Amish also happened to settle near the Welsh when they came over the United States. Like quilters anywhere they rubbed off on one another. And what a great influence to share, right?

 With a simple circle template wonderful patterns can be created. The arcs, swirls and straight lines are so perfect for a simple quilt design.

 This page was telling about how these same quilt motifs are found all over ancient Celtic ruins. I find my inspiration from the world around me and so did these ladies.

 So, here is my very simple Welsh quilt. the quilting is finished, I just need to bind it. The quilting on the 3 white stripes in the center represents the path to goodness, wickedness and to Elf land.

 The wide boarders were so very fun to do and each red corner block has different quilting. I think quilting-wise I have really added a powerful element to my arsenal.
And to think that it all came from a dreadful little book that I almost threw away after ordering on a whim.

I used my little Bernina 165 to quilt this quilt. When I try something new (and fairly small - this quilt finished at 60 inches) I do like to use my regular sewing machine instead of my long arm. I like being very close to the needle and having absolute control of my quilting. I also used a Wool batting (from my favorite batting makers Quilters Dream ). The Wool really gives the quilting a definition and foundation to bloom upon.


Happy quilting folks!

xo,
Tia

Old Spiderweb quilt

 This is another old quilt top that I quilted for my mom. We found it at the same antique shop that I bought my Orange peel quilt.  This top is filled with bits of clothing and a wild mismash of fabric. Everything from corduroy to silk is in it. It was not really square (not that that matters to me in the slightest, but it does make it easier to load evenly onto the quilt frame) and the spiderwebs kinda bulgded up in the centers (I wish I would have clipped them before I started quilting.)

 My mom wanted me to quilt it with spiderwebs. She has always loved the spiderweb quilt I made myself a couple years ago and she liked the web quilting I did on it. I think spiderwebs are really fun and so very quick. So, I quilted spiderwebs in all the blocks and made Welsh leaves in the sashing.
 I love Welsh quilting right now and I want to put it on everything.

 The back is just Moda Muslin. Not the 200 Thread count, just their regular muslin. It quilted up like a dream. I used some of my Quilters Dream Cotton batting so the drape will be fabulous.

All in all it was a great quilting day. I hope your day was wonderful as well!

xo,
Tia

Orange peel quilt

 Hey there! I hope you are doing well. My parents are here in town visiting us for a bit. It has been very nice to have them here. My mom and I like to go wonder around antique stores. There is one in town that has a wonderful selection of old quilts and quilt tops. In the past I loved to go through them and admire all the tiny hand stitches and marvel at the patience of the lady (or maybe fella) who made the tops, but didn't get around to quilting them. Well, now that I have my long arm it is so easy to quilt these orphan quilt tops. My mom and I bought several of them. This is one of the tops. I paid $25 for it. I believe the pattern is named Orange peel. Isn't is fabulous? It is almost entirely old feed sacks and most of the white background parts are flour sacks. I think it is wonderful and I am so happy I found it.

 I quilted it pretty simply because I really wanted all that fabric to shine. The white backgrounds are quilt with a heavy echo.

 Each little piece was hand stitched to the next one. There is so much work in this top. I wonder what was happening in this persons life? Did she have a bunch of different projects going on at once like I tend to do? Or was she super organized and fought her way through it. It was a really clean old top, but I can't wait to wash it!

 I used the thinnest cotton batting (quilters Dream Cotton Batting in request weight) The back is a 200 thread count muslin.

As you can see it has a scallop edge. I made bias binding and was in the process of binding it by hand, but when my mom offered to do the binding if I would quilt one of her quilts, I said no problem!  What a treasure this quilt is. Thank you unknown piecer! I love this quilt.

Women of the Bible Quilt Sampler

 Hey there! I have another quilt finished for 2012.  Hot dog! Well, this one was started ages ago. It began as a BOM (block of the month) back in 2006.  The BOM was with Stitchin Heaven. If you ever want to do a BOM they are wonderful! You pay your money and every month they send you wonderful fabric to cut up and instructions about what to make. It was wonderful and I learned so much from it. I finished the blocks while we were stationed in Australia, but I was too unsure of how to quilt it. Back then I did not have a Long arm in my quilting studio like I do now. I was quilting up a storm on my Berninas, but something this big...and something I had put this much work into needed special quilting so I put in in my closet, or drawer or bin...we moved to Kansas and then we moved to Texas.

 Well, my quilt taste has changed quite a bit since I made this top and it was no longer a priority or even really a favorite. Isn't that horrible? I worked so hard on this quilt and put so much money into it and I really don't even like it. Right after I bought my Gammill and had my sweet husband set it up for me I knew that this would be one of the first quilts I quilted on it. Between you and me I wish I would have waited. I HATE how I quilted this quilt, but live and learn right?

 I finally finished the binding on the quilt (even though it was been on my bed since I took it off the quilting frame). My husband likes the quilt, so I guess we will keep in and throw it into the family quilt rotation.  It is really wonderful and the fabric is so pretty.  If I could magically remove all the quilting I would quilt is so very different now.

 I did quilt on a wild vine boarder...which you can barely see so I don't know why I bothered, but I did. It is actually my favorite part of the quilting.

The quilting is all these wavy, ripply lines. By themselves I love them...but I don't think it goes with this quilt much at all. I be the women of the bible are rolling around in their tombs...well maybe they aren't quilters and could really care less. That is probably it.

I think this is the book that these block came from More Biblical Quilt Blocks. Just in case you are feeling the urge to make a sampler quilt.

Have a great evening!
Tia

BIG Texas flag quilt

 Hey there! I hope you are doing good. Is your new year off to a good start? I hope it is! So this is one of my first finishes of 2012. It is a large Texas flag quilt. A client of mine ordered a bit before Christmas. It is a really great throw size at 60 x 80 inches. She and her husband will be able to curl up under it on the sofa or they can use it on their bed. I hope they use it all the time and drag it all over the world with them in their travels.

 So, when you think of Texas, what do you think of? Lately I have been thinking of wind. It is so windy here. I wanted to take the swirly stary night quilting from the Alaska flag quilt and put it into this one....but make the swirls represent wind instead of stars. Can you see it?

 I also decided to quilt in some feathers and pebbles and a couple other elements.

 For the Back I used a 200 TC Muslin which is so wonderful. I love the swoosh sound it makes. The Cotton Batting is the low loft request weight from Quilters Dream . I am really pleased with how this quilt turned out and I hope it brings a bit of Texas to some Texans who are far away.

See, I tried to take outside pictures, but it was too windy and the quilt blew away. I said a bad word and set up shop in my quilting studio.

Have a great new year!

Tia