Ribbons!!!

This year, for the first time since I've been quilting, our County Fair had a real quilt judge. I entered two wall-hangings and was really curious to see how they'd fared. Look what I found when I arrived:

 
This quilt greeted me at the entrance. It's my retreat quilt from last year's Quincy Crazy Quilters retreat. I earned first place and first in division...very exciting.

More looking and I found my second wall hanging. This was from a class taught by Linda Ballard called "Fractured Crystals." Second place!!!  I was walking on air by that time.

Then, the finale: This quilt that I quilted for one of my customers, Carolyn, won First Place, Best in Division and Best in Show....

I'm still floating!!!! (Wow, do you think this means I can say I'm an "award winning" quilter??? <snicker>)

Dory

Two More Quilts

This quilt was finished some time ago, but because my customer lives in Sac and wasn't able to pick it up until last week (she doesn't trust the post...do you blame her??), I couldn't post pictures.  This is our guild's BOM from last year. Marei always chooses bright colors...always. She's also the customer that did all those bunny quilts--please note: nary a bunny to be found on this one!!

The most fun part of this quilt for me was the back. She used a piece of very plain terracotta fabric, so she has a whole-cloth on the back! I did "e"s and "l"s in the sashing and a loopy thing in the outside border. I'm really having fun with samplers...does it show???

This one was a bit more challenging.  The fabric used was beautiful and very stretchy; I had to be very careful while quilting to not distort anything. On top of that, it is such a unique pattern, that it really took some thought and advice from my friends to complete. The quilt is the Day & Night pattern by Eleanor Burns. This is the second quilt of this type that Carolyn has made, but this one is more stunning due to her fabric choices. The hunter green and creamy white make it striking.

Carolyn wanted the star points emphasized. I attempted to do that with the feathers using a style I learned from watching Jamie Wallen's Mystical Cottontracks DVD. I've never been able to take a class from him personally, but this DVD is almost as good as being there.

The "wheel" part had to be quilted and needed something to keep it in the background. After talking it over with my friend Shannon, I came up with a sort of "line-dancing" technique.













Crosshatching in the inner border with a "line-dancing" cornerstone and feathers in the border finished it off.

Here's a pic of the back...the quilting showed up nicely, even though it's a busy fabric.

 I feel so lucky to finally have a "happy job." This is so much better than my previous occupations!!

Winter Special

This year, I did a winter special for my guild and current customers. If any of you out there would like to take advantage, I'll honor the special until January 31. What is it? you ask.  I'll quilt your quilt for $.01 psi, no matter the design. However, I do have the final right of design approval; i.e, no heirloom feathers for that price *wink* Call or e-mail if you're interested.

This was one of the sale quilts completed. The owner of this top has a HandiQuilter, but for some reason, she wanted me to quilt it. She asked for wonky/whimsical feathers and since I'd never done them before, I said sure. This is how it turned out. I love the chicken fabric she used.

This is a close up of the wonky feathers. I did a six-inch border of them surrounding the quilt and then filled the entire quilt with them. Open spaces had some stippling for fill.

And a partial pic of the back showing the "border" area.

This is another customer sale quilt. Its a pattern by Linda Ballard called "Fractured Crystals."  Carolyn made this in these earthy tones as a gift for her son's girlfriend. Then she couldn't decide whether to give her this quilt or the one that will be posted tomorrow. 

I was able to try out a "new for me" sashing treatment on this one...the "c" loops. I really like how they turned out, but they do take some serious concentration (for me, anyway). It's very easy to get turned around and end up with two going in the same direction. In the leaf print and the main design elements, I did a continuous curve with stippling to travel in the background. I didn't quilt the chocolate brown areas at all, which really accentuated the quilt's pattern. As a longarm quilter, one of the challenges is to quilt with as few starts/stops as possible. With this quilt, I was able to find a path that allowed me to do each row with only one start/stop...success!

This is the center medallion of the quilt. Our guild took this class from Linda and we all had such differing variations of fabric in our quilts. Carolyn's was very subtle...

Mine is just a bit brighter...just a bit, and a tad smaller, and unquilted :0(

Quiltazoid

Before leaving on vacation, I had several quilts to finish. My QZ arrived and I had this one that was just begging for it.  So I set up the QZ, turned on the instructional DVD that comes with, and started playing.  My customer, Norma, loved the way this one turned out. Apparently, the nine-patch blocks were made by a variety of quilters in the guild. Norma put hers together with the setting squares to make the quilt bigger and to give it some continuity. I think it worked.

Here's the overall pic after it was quilted. (Ignore the stuff stacked on the table; the hazards of sharing the studio with your husband!)

This one shows the design in the blocks...

And a better photo of the QZ designs.  I used a smaller, similar design in the setting squares.

And the corner triangles were too small for anything to fit, so I brought the meander into them from the border. 

And a photo of the back.

The Quiltazoid is such a great tool for quilts like this one with open spaces. It was developed by Adam and Linda Anderson specifically for the longarm.  It works great and its easy to use. I love it!!

Sharing the Yurt

Sometimes, sharing the yurt becomes a delicate balance.  In case you can't tell, that is my longarm loaded with aprons that Dennis is embroidering for Carla Barrett to take to MQS with her.  They're adorable, granted, but do they have to be on my table?  What if I want to quilt...after all, there is a quilt loaded!

The good thing about sharing is that Dennis knows when he can and can't utilize my "Lily" for storage.  During the week, I rarely quilt.  I've tried before, but after working 10 hours and then cooking dinner, I'm just not able to quilt a customer's quilt and have it look the way I want.  After many hours spent frogging, I've given that up.  However, come Friday morning, that stuff better be gone! 

Because I'll be getting back to work on this.  Its almost done...

I bet that won't be much of an issue after tomorrow...my last official day as a County employee.  Woohoo!!!!

Quilting in the Round

This quilt has been a real challenge for me. But thanks to my extremely-talented quilting friend, Shannon, I've gotten some really good ideas. While I'm not quite talented enough to implement them all...this is where I'm at so far:




I still don't have anything in the dark green, but am thinking about just a tiny stipple in that area. I am open to suggestions.

Then there's the pink area that I'm still tryiing to come up with something. This quilt has been a huge mental/design challenge for me!

Yikes...someone is reading

Yes, its been forever since I started this blog...March to be exact. But, I have several good excuses. First and foremost is my name, my middle name, to be exact. Its Procrastination and my last name is Good-Intentions. Hard to believe, but its true!

Many things have happened since March. For one, Carla Ballard's class was cancelled and won't be rescheduled until September...September?!? And, knowing Murphy the way I do, it will probably be rescheduled on the only weekend that I have plans.

Another big thing...my 93 year old mother-in-law has moved in with us. She was no longer able to live at home after breaking her hip in January. She moved in shortly after I began this blog. Its been challenging, but doable. We moved from the master bedroom when I began quilting as that was the only room, other than the living room, large enough to hold my Millennium. We began sleeping in our much smaller office. Now, my MIL is in the office and we're in the living room. All that will change soon, however.

APQS, the best longarm manufacturing company in the world, has hired me to be a Sales, Service & Education rep. So...I need a real studio and, more than that, I need to NOT be sleeping in the living room. This will be my studio www.pacificyurts.com Its 24' around, 450 square feet of space (that I will share with my husband) and will have a bathroom and kitchenette! I'm very excited.

Most recent quilt finished on Lillian (my Millie) is a beautiful quilt called Dandelion Wishes from one of my best clients, Carolyn. She pieces beautifully and I was able to try out my cross-hatch rulers for the first time. Hope the pictures help offset the wait...