More Fun Pictures

My friend, Janet, promised more pictures of Sue with personality.  She sent them, so, I'm sharing them here.

Thanks, Janet!!!

I know the gals in the classes had a fabulous time.  There was a lot of laughter, and a lot of trying things out on the machines.  Sue made you feel like you could do anything!

I was a little nervous when she was sharing quilts, while standing by the stairs.  I was afraid that in her exuberance, she would take a step back and tumble down.  However, she did not and all was well!

I spent a day and a half quilting cross-hatches on a quilt, using a ruler.  I now know that I will need to charge more for this service, as it takes a LOT of time.

This is the front of the quilt, only not really that yellow.

Here is the back of the quilt.  I used the computerized machine at work to do the 6-petal flowers, then brought it home to do the ruler work on the rest.  So, about 2 full days of quilting.

So, I did an easy one, next.  I baby quilt.

I found the design online with a Google search on baby boy quilts.  It may have been a pantograph, but was easy to do free-motion.

I was so excited about the swirls, and how easy they were, I put on a minky quilt for my 15-year-old son.  I played with swirling circles and squares, and loved the way it looked.  I wanted to leave some puffiness to it, so I kept the quilting nice and big.

And the best part?  It only took about an hour to quilt.  Nice play time on a busy day.  I'll bind it soon.

Have a great week and Happy Sewing!

What I Just Pieced

In my last post, I forgot about the quilt top I just pieced.  It was designed to go on a table in my dining area, as it goes with my blue wall.

Here is the finished quilt top, which finishes 34 inches square.

It is my first attempt at a mitered border.  I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I took a class once (about 8 years ago) that showed how to do fun bindings and borders.  So, I just did this from what I remembered from the class, and other reading I've done through the years.  I added a step that I've never heard of, and I only had to unpick one corner to redo it.  Happiness!

I'm thinking of sharing the tip, later when I can show a picture of it, too.  I didn't have my camera handy for a picture at the time I was sewing.

I'll show again after the quilting.  I've got two customer quilts this week, and 9 more after that, that really need my attention.  The one on the frame right now needs a ton of ruler work - cross-hatching 1 inch squares.  I am hoping to give it my best attention early in the week, then take care of a baby quilt towards the end of the week.

We've traveled, my son had his Eagle court of honor, I had gifts to make for the end of guild year, and our big class at the shop, so I've not quilted as much as I'd like to.  Now is the time to buckle down.

Have a great week, and Happy Sewing!

Piecing Again, A Class, and A Gift

I just finished being the President of a local guild.  This is the beautiful quilt that was given to me as a "Thank You".  It was pieced, quilted and finished by Melanie Larsen, who will be the president next year.

Here is the lovely lap quilt...

Here is the backing she chose... Yummy, Yes?!

Here is a close-up of the quilting, which I think is fabulous!

Then, on Friday and Saturday, our LQS had 2 days of classes of Machine Quilting with Sue Patten!  We had such a fabulous time.  Of course, I didn't learn much because I was support staff, but what I came away with is very valuable to me.

Here is Sue, showing some samples of practicing she has taught in classes.  It isn't a great picture of her, and does nothing to capture her dynamic personality, but I had to include it anyway.

And this quilt was made by Sue Patten, as a stress reliever.  All color shown is thread, all sewn on black fabric.  I would love to be able to play like this.  It's on my list of things to do in the near future.

This year, I went to HMQS in Sandy, Utah, to upgrade my skills (hopefully).  I thoroughly enjoyed the classes, and got to see some great quilts.

This one was made by a local quilter, and president of our Mini Guild.  It won first prize, and sold at a charity auction for $850.

This one was a favorite of mine, with shadow trapunto.

 This one was quilted by one of the teachers I took a class from, Judy Woodworth.  She taught a fabulous class, and seemed so at ease while teaching.  Here I am only showing detail from the quilt, not the whole quilt.

This one was quilted by Lisa Calle.  She taught my second class, and we spent two hours drawing feathers.  I did pretty good in class, but when I tried it on the longarm, it wasn't pretty. When I got home, I found out I had pinned this quilt before I knew who had done it.  Now I've seen it in person, too!  Very spectacular!

I've ordered her "Wholecloth Class in a Bag", complete with DVD, so I will be learning how to design a wholecloth quilt this next year.  It may be something I do on my domestic, instead of the longarm, since I have better control there.  I'm not sure.

Finally, a finish.  This was our guild mystery this year.

You may recognize it as the quilt on the cover of Kim Diehl's new book, Simple Appeal.

Only, I don't have the patience for applique, so I quilted in the flowers.  I am considering painting them in with ink, eventually, but I can actually see the flowers pretty well when it is hanging on my banister.

So, let me know what you are doing, and I'll try again to make this blog work for me.  Have a great week, and

Happy Sewing!