Long Arm Quilting

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Busy busy busy down in my little quilt lair


I have been so wonderfully busy this last week since getting back from Spring Break. I finished my 14th Texas flag quilt. This was a custom order and a bit bigger than the normal throw size. I keep telling myself I should just rock out a stack of these and post them in my shop. I love making them and the quilting process is downright meditative.


I know I have said this before, but the long swirls are wind, the pebbles are the rocky soil, the McTavishing (in the star) represents the intense west Texas heat and the clamshells are the bounty from the gulf. I added a couple other elements to this quilt. Some smaller Swirls (totally inspired from the quilting of Angela Walters and Krista Withers, who I admire endlessly.) are going to represent the flora of the texas hill country. The elements of Texas AR Texas to me.



Another thing that was different about quilting this quilt was the fact that I quilted in on my new Statler Stitcher. All the other ones I have quilted on my Gammill Supreme. I totally freehanded this one, and let me tell you the breeze track made it a total joy to quilt. May this quilt bring you much happiness and comfort, Penny. Thank you for letting me sew for you.


Next up is an awesome Star Wars quit made by Rebecca. This one I used my Statler Stitcher to computer quilt X-wing and Tie Fighters all over. They are a bit tricky to see in this shot, but I assure you they are there and the force is strong in this quilt!


Last quilt of this post is this grey and stripy quilt made by Shari. I find good stripes really hard to find, but Shari found the mother load for this quilt. I love all of them. I quilted this quilt with a "calm waters" edge to edge using my Statler Stitcher. Just a note, there are not pleats in the quilting, I think it is just the way I hung it out on the line and it was windy. The texture on this one will be amazing after it is washed.


On a bit of a sad note, this guy is no longer with us. He kept trying to kill our Lab Stanley who is old and sweet and mostly lame in his back leg. I got sick of coming home to blood on the walls and the red neck sound of dogs fighting as I tried to unlock the door fast enough to break them up. Needless to say our home is a much more peaceful place and Stanley is ever so much happier. We tried for six months to settle this fellow in our family...but he will make some family without another dog a world class pet.

OK, I have quilts to quilt and bags to make!

Have a great weekend and Happy Spring! The weather is gorgeous here I have already planted a bunch of things in the front and can't wait to get my veggies in on the side of the house.

xo,
Tia

3 comments:

  1. The quilts are great... as usual. Sorry about the dog but I know what it's like. We had to have a dog put down because she tried to kill Maggie and we just couldn't get the behavior stopped. I really loved her but when she started to get aggressive at about two years, we didn't have a choice. She had started to charge after kids on the road on bikes and that was a bad sign. We didn't even try to put her in rescue because she could be so sweet but seriously unpredictable. I love your flag quilts. My daughter recently moved to Dallas to work. She loves it there.

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    1. Thanks Margie,
      I feel like such a failure where David is concerned. I guess I would have felt even worse if he would have turned on one of my kids or their friends, Or actually succeeded in ripping off one of Stan's ears right? Our pound dogs have been hit or miss at this point. Stanley (the black Lab) is the best dog we have ever had in our family just truly a blessing to us. Oh well. Good luck to your daughter in Dallas! Nothing at all in the US like Texas. I hope she loves it!

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  2. The quilting on the flag quilt is STUNNING! Love the way you've combined the elements :)

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Thanks for commenting! I read each one. I will either respond via email or here in the comments. xo - Tia