Happy Christmas...and more quilts!

Hi there! Are you all gearing up for the Holiday Season? We are in full swing here. Like any quilter I have been quilting Christmas Quilts for months. I love them. I love the idea of giving quilts as gifts to loved ones and I am so honored to be a part of the process for my clients.

I have been so busy quilting in fact that I barely have had time to shower on a daily basis. My husband went to Hawaii on a business trip last week and I was kinda happy because that meant I didn't have to feel guilty about staying up crazy late quilting away...and I may or may not have worn the same shirt and jeans for 5 days in a row. Good thing quilting doesn't work up much of a sweat.

This is a lovely Christmas quilt I quilted for Sharlene. It was done with an E2E. There are several quilts I failed to get pictures of because the lighting in my studio was rubbish and people were picking them up so fast.

This is a great big one I quilted for Joe. It was so pretty...these pictures don't do it justice.

I used an E2E named Surf. It is really fluid without seeming overly water like and it stitched out so nice. Really quick. The beast that is down on the long arm right now is taking over 2 hours per row. Not cool folks. That is WAY too long in my opinion. Longer than custom quilting. And the thread! Oh SOOOOO much thread.

I am getting off topic. This was a lovely Christmas Medallion quilt. So so pretty, but such terrible pictures. Forgive me Susan for not doing your quilt justice. Susan wanted custom quilting but not terribly tiny and dense. Some of the piecing was so tiny all I could do was Stitch in the Ditch. But I think I remained pretty consistent with the scale of the piecing and the scale of the quilting.

You can't tell, but there is a different snow flake in each log cabin block. Most of this quilt was quilted free hand and heaps of ruler work, but there was some Statler (digital) work as well. The snowflakes and the wide border were digitized.

This one was for Elizabeth. She wanted it custom quilted and it was a blast to do! Lots of ruler work and free hand quilted. I am so much faster freehand than having to program in Computer options. I LOVE it when the quilt lends itself to me just doing my thing.

The fabric is Charlie Harper by Birch fabric. So so so soft!

Next up is this awesome raindrop quilt by Sandi. I love pretty much everything about this quilt. When I saw it my breath caught in my throat and I knew EXACTLY how I wanted to quilt it.

Swirls in the rain drops and long tiny raindrops in the background. I just adore how it turned out.

This last quit is also Sandi's. It is made with Angela Walters' Athena fabric. This was soon fun to quilt. I tried to channel Angela and quilt up a storm.

Here is a little bit of detail. I tell you it is tricky to get good pictures of quilts sometimes and get them out the door in a reasonable amount of time.

This on is one I did for Cheryl. It started out as an E2E, but there wasn't enough texture so I went back in and added more lines free hand. I think it turned out really modern and clean.

OK,
That's it for now! I still have one more Christmas quilt for a client, then I will quilt for my own kids. I am really excited about what I am making them.

Have a great weekend!

Tia

Winner winner chicken dinner

Hello there! I bet you think I forgot about this little roll of fabric and decided to cut it up and sew it myself. Well, nope. My parents came to visit and frankly I have not had time to sit at the computer.  My parents live in Florida now and I am inKansas so we don't get to see each other nearly often enough. But, I found a way and I did choose a winner! 

By happy coincidence one of my very favorite quilters on the planet is the winner. Yay Krista! I hope you love it and do great things with it.

#2

Krista WithersNovember 13, 2015 at 8:33 AM

I'd love it! It would be perfect for zip pouches for christmasgifts!! love both of your quilts Tia, great work and thank you for the opportunity! 

ReplyDelete

Cotton+Steel quilts and a gift for you

Hey there folks!

I got to make some super fun quilts for quilt market. And they are made from 2 of Cotton+Steels upcoming collections. Aren't they stunning?

Please excuse the lousy pictures, I didn't have much time to photograph them before sending them out.

This orange peel quilt was made with Melody Miller's next collection Fruit Dot. I have ordered several prints from it and I hope they sell well in my easy shop. It should be shipping in January.

The blues and pinks in the prints are so lovely and that gold shimmer stripe print is so darn good.

My 14 year old daughter was home recovering from her second ear operation so she helped me fussy cut all those lady's heads. I swear I would not have made the deadline if it were not for Emma. I believe this pattern will be available on the cotton+Steel website. So, and orange peel quilt has been on my bucket list for ages. I am happy to have marked it off the list.

This is how the back of the quilt looks. Very lightly quilted.

This is the quilt I made for Kim Kight's next collection Penny Arcade. Doesn't it look like ferris wheels?

I had a little more time to make this one so I needle turned all the centers. I quilted it to kinda look like spinning ferris wheels. Squint a bit and maybe you can see it.

So...I have some leftover fabric. Would any of you like some BEFORE it hits the shops? I would if I were you, but I am kinda a fabric whore. It won't be much but it will be enough to be awesome.

I didn't have almost any of the fruit dot left over after making the orange peel quilt, but I do have enough of the Penny Arcade to share.

Leave a comment in the comment section and enter for a chance to win a 3 inch strip set of what I have left of the Penny Arcade collection by Kim Kight for Cotton and Steel. I will choose 1 winner Monday.

Good Luck!
Tia

Star of the West Block (BOM #2 for the Ft Leavenworth Quilt Club)

Hello there!

Are you ready for the next block in the Ft Leavenworth BOM? Well I am. We will be meeting tomorrow at my house to assemble the blocks and you are welcome to attend, But if you can't make it here are the cutting instructions so you don't get behind. 

This months block is pretty simple and I am sure it goes by a hundred other names. It is a pretty simple one and is found on page 13 of Civil War Sampler by Barbra Brackman. Most of the blocks we are making come from this book and it is the recommended book for the project. 

We are making the 12 inch version of the block.

This is the block in the quilt I made as a sample.

You will need a Light, Medium and a Dark fabric at the minimum, you can go wild and choose more with similar values is you want. Its up to you.

CUT:

(8) 3.5 inch squares of the light background

(2) 4 inch squares of the light 4 inch background
(4) 4 inch squares of the medium fabric
(2) 4 inch squares of the Dark fabric

Sub Cut all the 4 inch squares into triangles by cutting them in half diagonally. Bring all your pieces to Quilt Club tomorrow along with your sewing machine, rotary cutter to trim up blocks and a small ruler.

Cheers!
Tia

Texas Flag quilt #18

Hey there!

I have a question for you...Have you ever made the same quilt more than one time? Every once in a while I do. When I am testing out patterns I normally end up making 3 of the same quilts, and I made the Scrappy Trip around the World 3 times I think, but that didn't really count because they were always with different awesome fabric so they were all their own thing. Now...The Texas Flag quilts have gotten into their own category. I think I have made 18 of these quilts. Back when I first started making them in 2010 or 2011 I thought I was a dynamite quilter. Now I think it is kinda humbeling to look back at the way I quilted them. I much prefer the way I quilt now, but in this time I have had a great deal of personal and professional growth.

So far this is my very favorite version. I was comissioned to make this quilt for a new Texas baby. I love it and think it is the perfect gift for a baby...any baby.  It is a good size quilt for a child to grow with, it also can be used as a wall hanging if that blows your hair back.

I kinda want to do another and quilt it similar. These are so fun to quilt (especially after quilting a bunch of E2E quilts) it is like therapy I tell you. Its so nice to let my mind go into auto pilot ( I have no idea really what I am thinking about while I quilt) but when I check back in with reality normally most of the quilting is finished and I need to go back and do some fill work. I have tried listening to podcasts, but normally I end up getting annoyed with them and turn them off.

I really love the mix of straight lines in with the curves and swirls.

I prewash the red fabric because sometimes that stuff runs.

Heres the back. Pretty pretty pretty. So, if you want to see some of the other Texas Flag quilts I have made over the years you can use the search function here on my blog (over on the right sidebar) search for Texas Flag quilt or just click on that section that says Texas quilts. Your choice.

Now, if you want one for yourself or your own favorite Texan I happily take commissions to make them. Shoot me an email or check out my Etsy.com shop.

Cheers!
Tia

Some quilts

Hey there! 

How are you all doing? I have been very busy quilting away these last several months. Here are some customer quilts I finished.

 This one was for my dear friend Traci. It was started by her Aunt back in the 70s and she finished it! What a trooper. I quilted it whith her favorite  E2E.

This is a little close up of the quilting and the vintage fabric.

This is a sweet one I quilted with an E2E named Clematis.

See, pretty flowers.

This was a really awesome one I Custom quilted for Gina Martin. I love these blacks and whites. I wanted the quilting to be fairly simple, but geometric. I didn't get the best picture, but echoing lines inside the black parts and straight lines in the white.

And here is my sweet new puppy, Ben. He is about 3 times that size now.

This was an awesome quilt. I think the pattern is named Navajo Serape. Gretchen expanded the original pattern to make the quilt bigger and added 2 rows.  Her piecing was sublime. All those rows and somehow at the bottom of the enormous quilt it was still perfectly square.

This was a pretty rose quilt made by Meri. She did such a great job with it. You can't tell but the back is a white sateen and it was a dream to quilt on. The quilting on this one had to be custom to really emphasize the fraying of the raw edge appliqué.

I quilted quite a few more, but I will show them later.

Cheers!

Tia

Ft Leavenworth Quilt Club BOM #1 - Simple Star

OK, I know this was supposed to go up last week, but too much is happening around here with Quilt Market sewing and quilting to make this a good post. Forgive me. Lots of pictures and they are worth more than words anyway right?

Background 1 (7.25 inch square)
                    4  (3.5 inch squares)
Star Center  1  (6.5 inch square)
Star Points   1 (7.75 inch square) or 4 (4 inch squares)

Draw diagonal lines on the backs of the star point square(s). One line diagonally, then two lines 1/4 inch on either side of the center line. The center line will be the cutting line after you have stitched on the 1/4 inch lines. Does that make sense?

After you have sewn down each of the sew lines cut down the center lines and press the blocks

DO the same thing with the remaining 2 star point squares

Lay your block out and sew it together

Nest your seams

pin seam in place

All I did different for the fancy block is a pieced the center until I got a 6 1/2 inch block. This is an option for you. If there is interest please state in the comment section and I will do up a tutorial.

Yay! First Blocks!

I know this was quick and dirty, but I am too busy to make it pretty. Please ask questions if you have any.