Great things in small projects

I have a few customers who for a number of years, have allowed me to quilt for them.  One is Marge. Marge is an older lady who is working her way through her stash and finishing smaller projects.  So, every so often she calls and I drop by for a visit and pick up a collection of table runners, wall hangings and small quilts.  This last visit resulted in 4 lovely quilting projects.

I just LOVE this wall hanging.  Marge's plan was to finish it and hang it at the cabin....

I used a double batt of cotton/poly blend and a wool on top to give some dimension to the quilting.  I knew I wanted to quilt this heavily when I started. I also find that doubling the batts on a wallhanging help it to hang much better.  I started by stabilizing the quilt and stitching in the ditch in the background pieces.

I outlined each of the shapes with WonderFil DecoBob (an 80wt polyester thread) and some spaces were stitched 2-4 times and they don't show the heavy thread use.

I quilted the background sections with feathers (in the darker strips) and a fern in the lighter background strips.   A little bit of straight line stitching helped to show off the feathers.

Once all the back ground and outlining was stitched, I doubled up some threads to highlight the flowers and leaves.  I combined a dark purple with a variegated purple for some shading effects in the flowers.

 Gotta get a better camera for those close-up shots I want to take.

I always like to quilt a design that will work well with the fabric or piecing design of a quilt.  This little table runner called for simple quilting in the squares (free hand continuous curves) with something special for the centre. 

 I repeated the leaves and curls from the quilt centre in the border.

I quilted this basket quilt after watching a couple of lessons in Angela Walter's latest craftsy class, Borders and backgrounds.  It was a fun little project to try something new.  Love that Marge allows me to play on her quilts.

I stitched continuous curves in the baskets, but the bottom looked empty, so a curl was born!  It also allowed me to stitch this quilt pretty much without any thread cutting.  Very efficient way of quilting.

The border wavy lines were very quick and easy to stitch and I think they are perfect on the printed border fabric.

And last but not least, this table runner was quilted using a curved ruler for all the quilted lines,  

I worked my way back and forth across the quilt and as this table runner was very simply pieced, I felt it needed to be simply quilted.  I have since thought that this would have been a great quilt to try some really funky detailed fill designs.  Maybe on the next one.

So, I've delivered Marge's quilts and she will bind them up and put them to good use.

Custom Quilting - February Special

I'm offering a special price for custom quilting for the month of February.


Book your quilt in during February and get 20% off the price of medium density quilting. Price for this is regularly 3¢ per square inch.  Now only 2.4¢ per square inch. 


A quilt that is 60" x 90" would be 5400 square inches.  At 3¢ per square inch the total would be $162.  At 2.4¢ per square inch the new total would be $130.


Give me a call at 403-819-8126 to book your quilt in for quilting.

Allison

2014 quilting resolutions.....my dream or hope-to list.

I read a post recently from Michelle about quilting 50 quilts in 2013.  I think that is an admirable goal...but don't think I can do that.  My goal or challenge for this year is to finish 14 quilts.  I mean bigger than a baby quilt or wall hanging.  I have 4 of my own quilt tops that just need to be quilted and bound and I have a few ideas for quilts I would like to make.  I have always said that I would like to have a different quilt on my bed for each month of the year.....I have one for January (Woven Vine & Roses).

Let's see how well I do.  I've dug through the filing cabinet (the storage chest of unfinished quilts) to see what's waiting for me.  The following is a list of quilt tops that are done, or almost done and should be finished this year. You may have noticed in the previous paragraph that I said I had 4 tops......guess I was wrong....15 and counting!

My giant broken star in blues and yellows....Always reminded me of fields of grains and a bright summer sky.

Arabesque
July 2014, the border is on.  The backing is prepared...just need to load and quilt.  

 Asian Stack and Whack

Aussie Stack n' slash...it's quilted.  I just have to trim and bind.  I'll post more about this quilt with pictures soon. (Completed)

 Batik Blazing Star....some strips cut....that's all.   :(

AHG Mystery.  I've already completed one of these.  But as with many mysteries, fabric choices are always a challenge.  I want to use the big blue circles for lots of quilting.

 Blue and White Dresden Plate

 Foothills Sampler

 2 Quilts to be given away  (Completed)

 Gordian Knot

Double 9 patch (Update....gave the top away to a friend who will finish it for her daughter!)

 Hand Dyed Lone Star

 Hand Dyed Pinks

Western Retreat Mystery (completed in May 2014 and put on display at Heritage Park Festival of Quilts.) completed

 Xs and Os - paper pieced scraps (gave away...see I do check things off one way or another)

I also have a black on black quilt.  Many of the blocks have been done.   The plan was to create a black on black quilt top and treat is as a background for some fantastical applique or whole cloth quilting!  Can't find it, but I know it's here somewhere. July 2014....found it.  Used some of the black FQ to make another quilt.  These blocks are safely tucked away in a labeled box.

I guess I am good for the year!  I know I will need to get fabrics to complete many of the projects....but I am going to try not to purchase any fabrics "just because".  Would love to have at least 14 posts this year showing 14 completed project.  Wish me luck!

Woven Vine and Roses quilt - Part 2



Woven Vine & Roses



It officially done!   We slept under our new quilt last Sunday night.   We even treated ourselves to new sheets!!!!  We both had a great sleep and I am sure it was the quilt....not the super busy weekend we had.  I mentioned in the last post that the quilt was done.   I lied.  I still had the binding to hand sew.  I finished on Sunday afternoon, while I was curled up on the couch and watching a movie.

The back required over 9 meters of fabric, and of course I only had about 8 1/2 meters.  So we added leftover blocks to the back.  Special thanks to my Mum who cut and sewed the back together for me.  For some reason, I don't like the preparing the quilt backs.

I hauled the quilt off the bed on Monday night and took it down to church with us..  We grabbed a couple of volunteers from our Bible Study group to stand on chairs so I could get a picture of the whole thing.  The last measurement was 105" square.  I think this may be the largest quilt I have finished.

I have been asked for the pattern.  I'll post it as soon as I can figure out how to attach it to the blog.

Up and Runnning

Well, it's time.   Time to put away the old things.  Time to look to the future.  Time to start something new.......

Introducing Meadow Rose Quilting.  I have decided, after much thought, prayer  and practice to start custom quilting again.   I used to custom quilt under the name Needleworks, but that part of my life is over and like many good things, they come to an end.

After much thought and prayer, I purchased a new quilting machine.  I was a die-hard, sit and sew quilter.  I "poo-pooed" the long arm quilting concept.  I thought that was cheating....well, arthritis in the thumbs makes dragging, pushing and pulling quilts under a machine much more difficult and way less enjoyable.  I bought myself a HandiQuilter Avante on a 12 foot frame in July from Chris at Central Sewing in Edmonton.

 

AVA came home and was set up as a 4 footer in my front bedroom (the Studio).  I practiced and practiced.  I fed AVA with all my scraps and smaller quilt tops.  As my confidence and competence increased, so did AVA's demand for more!   Within weeks, she grew to an 8 footer.   Again, I quilted and quilted and fed and fed, and AVA still required more room.  She outgrew the 8 foot length.  

This weekend we moved AVA downstairs to the basement, AKA my new studio.  She has grown to become a (not so bouncing) 12 foot co-worker!   12 feet  will easily handle a 120" quilt with some room to spare on the frame!

I have a few personal quilts that I would like to work on, then I will be taking in quilts and custom quilting them.  A few words about my quilting.

• I always have, and always will free hand quilt.  I don't plan to use pantograms, groovy boards or computer guided quilting.  All the quilt patterns will be guided by my own hands.
• I will continue to quilt what I want.  I will of course confer with customers as to their desires but I won't be restricted to "just an all over pattern".  I love to quilt.  I love to make quilts come alive!   I always want to do more than "just an all over pattern".
• I give quotes and stick to them.   If I don't quote correctly, its my fault!
• Like always, customers are asked to make sure everything is ready for me to quilt.  The quilt back is sewn to the appropriate size and squared.  The quilt top is pressed flat and threads trimmed.  The batting (if in a package) has been opened and any fold stretches allowed to relax.
• I will do my best to complete the quilt by the quoted date.

I will add quilt pictures as they are available of my quilts and customer quilts.   A full size picture and a close up of the details will give you a good idea of the work.