Long Arm Quilting

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Some more awesome quilts I got to quilt. Yay!

Hey there folks! 
I hope you are all doing great. I have had the pleasure of quilting some pretty great quilts lately. Oh heck all the quilts I get to quilt are great. Here are 3 custom quilts I finished recently.

Facts:
  • I quilt with a 30 inch Gammill Optimum that has a Statler Stitcher.
  • Most of my Custom quilting is done freehand but I do like to use the Statler when the quilt calls for it.
  • 2 of the 3 quilts in the post were quilted with Quilters Dream Wool Batting. Wool really makes the quilting pop.





The first quilt is a Metro Rings quilt that Betsy made. I used grey thread. What really makes this quilting pop is the little narrow 1/4 inch borders I defined the blocks with and the wool batting. I really love how this quilt turned out. I have wanted to quilt a Metro Rings quilt for a while and I was so excited to get to work on Betsy's fabulous quilt.


I was a little stumped on the wide border, so I quilted in a big fat free hand feather.


This quilt had lots of ruler work. My favorite rulers are my own half circle rulers and The Quilted Pineapple rulers. I love them and I think I used ALL the rulers on this quilt.


Next up is Laurie's wonderful Neighborhood quilt. I had a blast quilting this one. It is a good example of my Feathers, Lines and Swirls style quilting.


I used a silver So Fine #50 thread on this one and a blend batting. I was going for clouds and wind in the background and all the little houses are quilted a little different.



Gwen made this awesome Flamingo quilt. There was so much wonderful background to quilt! She wanted me to do my Feathers, Lines and Swirls technique on this quilt as well. I just love it. The pictures aren't awesome. I didn't have the best light.




This quilt also had Quilters Dream Wool batting and So Fine #50 thread. I used white thread in the background and a peachy orange thread for the flamingos.


So there are some of the quilts I have been quilting away on. I got to spend most of yesterday unpicking bad tension stitches from a quilt and moving it to my other machine. Everything was going awesome and then it wasn't.

Have a great day folks!
Tia

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

KCMQG Block Or Every Other Month - #4 The Small Churn Dash


Hi there folks!

I hope you are all well and ready to make some great little quilt blocks. 

This is the 4th installment of the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild Block of Every Other Month

Today I present to you the Small Churn Dash.  Isn't is so adorable? Daniella wanted to do Churn Dashes this month. The Churn Dash block is a classic in every sense of the word. I fussy cut the centers and I prefer the block on point, so I added the triangles on the sides. This is optional (as are most things right?) you can easily just omit the triangles and make it a traditional square block.





Here is the video Daniella and I worked on showing how to make the block. Daniella is the sweetest lady.



Here are Daniella's Churn Dash blocks as a table runner. Hers look like crosses the way she worked her colors and her HST (half square triangle) corner blocks don't have a specific background color. I love how you can make blocks look totally different just by color placement.


Here is how I have used the blocks in my quilt. I really am trying to NOT make a Medallion quilt, but the quilt seems to want to be a medallion. I do have a plan to force it into another configuration. I am really loving how this quilt is coming together. If you are following along I would love to see yours.


Cutting instructions:
  • Center 2 1/4 inch square
  • Churn Dash 3 1/4 inch square and 1 1/4 inch x 10 inch strip
  • First background 2 1/4 inch square and 1 1/4 inch  x 10 inch strip
  • Second background 5 1/2 inch square (this can actually be a 6 inch square that way you won't loose your points like I did)
* in the picture above I have already sewn my 2 strips together ready to submit into the pieces of the churn dash and background.

*the video will show me sewing around the 4 sides of the 3 1/4 inch squares and then cutting them in half diagonally twice as well.



Cut your second background in half twice diagonally


The corner HST blocks will be 2 inches. Submit the strip pieced part into 4 x 2 1/2 inch pieces and piece the block like it is show above.


Last sew on the 4 triangles pieces and trim the block to about 6 1/2 inches. Be careful with your pressing as the triangles are cut on the bias and tend to distort. I don't mind this as I can force them into the piecing easier, but some folks don't like this. It does;t bother me in the slightest.

Have the best day and let me know what your quilts are looking like! Ask questions below in comments if you have them. I may have left something out. Next time will be wonky stars...my all time favorite.

Cheers!
Tia

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Some Quilts I Quilted for folks


Hi There!

Way back in June I taught 5 classes at the Kansas City Regional Quilt festival (KCRQF). It was so fun! There was a crazy amount of work to get ready for it (and for my first class I was really nervous and totally forgot to show my samples. Whoops.) I was also working on client quilts right up until the end. As always before a class I decide that I need a last minute quilt to add to the mix. 

I decided to do another Quilt as You Go on the Longarm quilt. Thats right! An entire twin sized quilt quilted and pieced on the longarm. Is the word long arm or longarm? It is my job, but I don't know which version is the proper one.  Anyway....I found working on this quilt to be such a treat to myself. It was a really soothing break from class prep...but it was class prep!



I sort my scraps by solids and prints, then I resort them according to color. I pulled out all my solid scraps and made kinda log cabin blocks with them on a big piece of backing fabric.



I was just going to do straight lines, but it gets too boring for me so I ended up adding in some more quilting textures.


I absolutely LOVE how this quilt turned out. This is a class I am teaching, so if you are curious about it get a group together and invite me to come teach. You will love it.


I even added in some Welsh style borders!

So now, lets look at some quilts I quilted for folks.


I quilted Lynn's Llamas with my favorite Feathers, Lines and Swirls technique (this was one of the 5 classes I taught at KCRQF and I am more than willing to teach you too. Again, get a group together and invite me to your guild) There was so much beautiful negative space so I filled it up.



I especially love the fur on the llamas.



I quilted one of Latifah Saffir's quilts for quilt market. The one right behind us. I even went to quilt market! It was so fun to walk around and meet all the wonderful characters from the fabric world and it was so great to put faces to names I have been emailing with for years. Latifah is the sweetest lady!


I quilted this awesome Star quilt for Pam. Pam always chooses the best colors. I want to copy this quilt exactly. It is quilted with an e2e named Serpentine.


Here is one of Sharon's quilts. I quilted a Baptist fan on it. I never get pictures of all the e2e quilts I do. The machine quilts them so quickly they are out the door before I know what happened. The custom jobs hang around a great deal longer so I feel they all need to be documented.


I quilted Jenifer Dick's Scissors. She wanted jagged lines and jagged lines were fun to do!


This was a special quilt I quilted for Carol. It has names and special words quilted into the background. Her brother recently passed away and the quilt is for her father.


I also quilted Lynn and Sandi's challenge quilt for KCRQF. This was weeks of work, but I get terrible pictures of it and you can barely see the quilting


Last up today is this fun quilt I quilted for Taylor. Taylor rescues vintage quilt blocks and uses them to finish the makers vision.  This was a fun quilt to work on. Traditional style quilting takes so much longer than more modern quilting, but boy is it worth it.

I have a million other blog posts to type up, so check back. and type a quick comment to let me know you are there. Being an artist working from my home studio can be lonely work. It is nice to know you are there.

Have a great day!
Tia