SewBatik Backing #1

The first quilt with a wide backing has gone out of my studio!  This beautiful batik quilt was quilted with a "Pretty Paisley" pantograph by Beany Girl Quilts.  The quilter chose Signature thread in Dusty Plum which beautifully accented the purple setting strips.  For the backing she chose the spectacular Packed Daisy motif in the colour of Pecan Lavender.  You can see this entirety of this beauty at the Whitecourt & Area Pins & Pine Needles Quilt Guild Quilt Show on May 12, 2012. 

I was admiring the backing on my own bed and thinking what a great bedspread that would make.  My husband's comment was "that was the kind of quilting he would do except without the fancy pattern".  See, even our husbands can admire our seamless backings, after all, we didn't cut any fabric up only to sew it back together. 

Mexican Star Kit

I received my orders from Sew Batik this week. One of the items was this Mexican Star Kit. This is the "Olivine" colour way with an olivine spray background and accents of atlantic blue, velvet morning and brunette. It is going to have to wait until after the quilt show but it is going to look fabulous on my living room wall.

I also received some great backing fabrics and am excited to be putting the first SewBatik backing on a quilt next week. The quilter chose packed daisy in pecan lavender. It is beautiful. Keep watching for some previews of it and you can see the whole thing at the Pins & Pine Needles Quilt Show on May 12.

Rope Border

So excited. Today I did my first border with a rope pattern. I used the widest rope choice on my Circle Lord Giant Template. The border fabric is a blue/grey colour and I used Signature thread in Wheat for the rope. You can also see in the picture some of the loop meander I'm doing on the rest of the quilt. I'll keep you guessing as to what the quilt pattern is and will post a full picture when it's done.

SewBatik and ... Part 1

Sometimes there is hesitation to consider a batik for a backing when your quilt top is not batiks. This post is the first in a series to show you how wonderful these high quality batiks look even with other styles.

Below is a very woodsy looking strip quilt (this is one of the prizes for our quilt show raffle, to be quilted next).

The SewBatik samples that I've put with it are (from Left to Right)

Spray: Cream Tan, Brunette, Juniper; Vine: Twilight Blue, Cream Pearl, Midnight Blue, Shady Glade, Auburn, Sahara Oasis; Sarong: Indigo

There is quite a selection to choose from, but I have the advantage of seeing them in real life, so my top 2 picks would be Vine: Auburn orVine Midnight Blue.

If you would like to see the samples in real life to view with your quilt top, give me a call and we'll set up an appointment.

Batik Gem

Here is a fabulous batik quilt. The quilter made it using a bali pop and a tonga treat. She said mixing the different brands of 2 1/2" strips made a little more work due to the slight differences in cutting widths. But she made the adjustments and made it work very well. She made it as a surprise gift for her sister and was pleased to have it finished, even to the point of sewing down the binding as she travelled.

The sashing strips are a dark navy. The batik strips run the full rainbow of colours.

We chose to quilt it with Signature thread in Sapphire. you can see in the detailed photograph that the thread chosen contrasts with most of the colours and shows up on the strips as well since it was just a slight bit lighter. It was not as stark as black would have been and allowed the texture of the quilt to be subtle and the boldness of the sashing strips play the leading role in the quilt. The pantograph pattern used was Fantasia by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting. This is a very pretty pantograph with some feather and swirl details. It is slightly suggestive of a shell.

What a beautiful gift to be able to give, my only disappoinment was that I forgot to take a picture of the back which the quilter made of medium blues using a Turning Twenty pattern. It would also look great with a SewBatik backing. I could definitely imagine it any of the SewBatik options pictured below.

Curvacious Vine: Deep Wisteria (left), Packed Daisy: Midnight Garden (top centre), Packed Daisy: Twilight Blue (bottom left), Jardin: Indigo (bottom right), Spray: Garden Storm (right)

If you would like to see SewBatik wide fabric options to finish your quilt, give me a call and we'll make a date.

Second Log Cabin

Here is the second log cabin that I've quilted. This is a very classic looking log cabin in a barn raising setting. The quilter made this one for a wedding gift. It is totally finished and the wedding is still 2 weeks away. She is thrilled to have the gift done this far ahead of time.

To compliment the classic navy, burgundy, and ecru, we chose to use Signature thread in Wheat. The quilter chose a pantograph by Linda Taylor called Simple Feather Meandering.

The detail picture shows how this pantograph added some movement and softened the geometric feel of the quilt without being too feminine.

What a striking looking log cabin!

Pretty Pinwheels

Here is a customer quilt finished earlier this week. It is so pretty! I believe the quilter said that she used pre-cuts for the pinwheel fabrics. We chose a quilting pattern (a pantograph) called "Flight of Fancy" by Hermione Agee. The butterflies and swirls give lots of movement, very appropriate with the pinwheels. The camel thread is delicate looking on these colours and suited this quilt very well.

Quilt of my own

I finally have a quilt on my bed again. This quilt is called "Moose Country Stars Strippie". I started it in 2003 when the store "Once in a Blue Moose" had a block program for the stars. I made extra stars and decided to have a bed size quilt using a strip setting. At that time I thought I would do it by quilting the strips and then joining them together. It was slow work since I was doing hand quilting and machine quilting. It got set aside for other projects but this year is a finishing up year. I'm going to decrease the number of WIP's (works in progress) that I have. It is not the way I would make a bed size quilt now, thanks to the longarm, but I am very pleased that I finished it up, wonky seams and all. It doesn't really suit my bedroom colours but I will keep it for now, til I finish the guest room and another quilt for myself.

It is really long because I like to make the bed with a pillow tuck. Plus, I never have to worry about cold feet when I'm pulling it up around my ears!

The detail shows the square

that I hand quilted in each of the star centres.

SewBatik

I am pleased to announce that I am the newest SewBatik Longarm Associate in Alberta. Look at some of the beautiful samples that I received. I have their samples in their 108" wide cottons and 106" wide flannels. SewBatik is a U.S. company that sells their batiks directly to customers from their website and at quilt shows and also sells through a longarm associate program.

How does the program work? You can book an appointment to come see the samples or you can host a home show (you and 3 or more guests). Although my samples at this time are limited to their wide backing fabrics, you can order their 45"wide batiks, their gradation fabrics, 43" flannels or their inspiring kits . I will place the order and arrange to get it to you when it arrives. If you would rather place your own order, you can put my longarm associate number (LAP-1510)in the special instructions field of the order form and I will receive a small commission as your longarm associate.

Why choose SewBatik batiks? A great selection of high quality beautiful batiks. Comes in 108" wide so you don't have to piece your backing. Another way to support your local longarmer, these batiks are not found in retail stores.

In the future I may be carrying a selection of pre-cut backings at my studio. Let me know your favorites to help me choose which ones.

Pins & Pine Needles 2012 Raffle Quilt

Here is my quilt guild's first prize for our 2012 raffle. It is a Judy Neimeyer pattern called Wandering Stars. I custom quilted this lap quilt with a feather & flourish border, organic arced flying geese, fern filler, and tendril & flourish stars. The thread was a varigated Signature thread called "Early Sunset". It looked strange on the cone but the aqua, grey, peach and purple seemed to work well on all the colours of the quilt top. This lovely quilt is now delivered for another guild member to bind.

Turning Twenty

This quilt was done with the Turning Twenty pattern, which is a quick to piece pattern. The quilter used a variety of African/animal skin prints. She requested African animals to be quilted on it. I used Linda Taylor's pantograph called African Safari and filled in the edges with freehand "Razor Grass". To have the quilted animals highlighted I used Signature thread in Turquoise, which also complements the blue inner border very nicely. The picture shows some of the detail of the quilting. This quilt has such a fun feel to it.

Thoughts of the Beach

This is a simple quilt done with half square triangles. I believe the quilter said that she used a pack of precuts for it. Her request was for thread in blue and quilting of my choice. The sunny colours reminded me of a beautiful beach day. To compliment the angular pattern and compensate some wobbles due to the fabrics, I wanted to use some soft lines for the quilting. I used a design called Seaside by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting.

It is a very flattering design when looking for waves.

Blogger Inertia

My apologies to anyone who has checked the blog in the past year. I had some blogger inertia in which an object at rest (not blogged on) stayed at rest (not blogged on). But it is a new year and I will post some quilts from last year as well as updating on this year's exciting developments.

Here is a beautiful quilt that I had the privilege of quilting. The top was an Eaton's kit that was embroidered by a lady in Manitoba in the 1940's. Her niece is the current owner and requested to have it quilted to stabilize it and protect the embroidery. I used Oxyclean powder to soak out the water stains. Most of them came out very well and the colours stayed true even with several soaking attempts.















Look at the detail of the embroidery. Exquisite!

I wanted the quilting to be traditional and inobtrusive to let the embroidery shine. I custom outlined around the embroidered areas and a few spots in the embroidery. The background was done with crosshatching. I used ivory thread to match the muslin.

Janome 6260 QC

I came home with a "new to me" machine. It is a Janome 6260 QC that is now a retired model, meaning they don't make them any more. It has the features that I really wanted - speed control, blanket stitch, needle up down. It doesn't have much past that, doesn't have the newer machines auto thread cutter or start stop button. But I couldn't see paying $200 more for those two features. It was the same price that I paid for my Janome Decor Excel 5018, 9 years ago. Glenn even asked them to throw in a "janome" mat so it's sitting on one on the desk and looking pretty spiffy. So far I've only used it for some piecing but I did try it out pretty thoroughly in the store. Glenn thought I was joking when I told him that we should park behind the store instead of in front because it was only 2 hour parking. To be honest, I did do some fabric shopping too and that was what took longer because there was only one sales clerk. I'm pretty pleased with my purchase and hope I can get really proficient with it before the Rhapsody workshop next weekend.

A Shattering Experience

Yesterday, I was quilting away, when all of a sudden there was a SMASH beside me. One of the 4 foot flourescent light bulbs had dropped out of the fixture and broke on the Gammill and then smashed onto the concrete floor. There is glass all over the sewing room but no one was hurt. I did some vacuuming yesterday and hope to finish the clean up today. My throat is a little sore, apparently from the dust coating. I phoned Poison Control and got the scoop on clean up etc. Hoping to go tomorrow to try & buy the new sewing machine.

Sewist?

I've never heard the term sewist before but as I start looking at upgrading my DSM (domestic sewing machine) I am seeing sewing machines for quilters and sewists. Not sure if I am on board with that term yet but I can at least say I've learned something new today.
I'm looking to stay with the same brand - Janome. I do want to upgrade for more stitches though and some of the features like needle up/down, speed control and maybe auto tie off. Just how much more I should upgrade is the dilemma. Must be time to go try some machines.

June's beauties

Here are three lovely quilts from the month of June.

The first is a T-shirt quilt that I did with free hand meander and shoelaces. It had a neat running shoes backing. Clear monofilament was used on the top and black thread was used in the bobbin.

This next one is a lovely "Old Maid's Puzzle" quilt done in 1930's reproduction fabrics. We decided to give it a traditional look with the Baptist Fans quilting pattern.

Last but not least is a Roman Stripes quilt that I did a meander with words in the plain spaces.

Many Weeks Later...

I'm terribly neglectful to my blog but here is some new pictures at least. Here is a Country coloured Feathered Star pattern that I quilted in a folky stars and loops freehand design.

What's on the Gammill today?

On the Gammill today is a fabulous, red, black, yellow & white Calgary Flames quilt. I'll post a picture after the customer gets her quilt. I quilted on the perimeter of the crests, quilted the "C" in the large empty blocks and quilted to fill the rest with "flames". I was even quilting flames in my sleep last night! The black batting was definitely a must with this dark quilt and black quilting thread. A little harder to find but eliminates the white bearding that may have occured with a white or natural batting.

Up and coming is a brown/ivory log cabin with circles, circles and more circles!

Two Lovely Quilts

Here are two lovely customer quilts. One is a tessellating leaves that was done with the "Falling Leaves" pantograph. The thread is Signature thread in "Camel". The other is another tessellation, a country pinwheel type (anyone know what this pattern is called?). This was done freehand with meander loops in Signature thread "Cranapple".

Next to go on is the "Flames" quilt. I need to do some practice quilting to see if I will be able to go over the crests. I may wait to do the quilt itself until my new leaders arrive & are installed.