Hello

I guess it's been awhile since I've posted. Let's see, what's been happening?

Ron Paul, traveling longarm repairman, came and worked on my ailing longarm.

This disgusting glop came out of the gear box under the bobbin area of my machine. The grease in the gear box had begun to separate, not good. He also had to put a lot of grease into another fitting at the back of the machine. The poor man worked for nine hours before the machine was back in good working order.

 It's back to stitching like a dream, thank goodness.







 
One of the local guilds, Thumb Butte Quilters Guild, had their quilt show. Loads of beautiful quilts. I spent some time one of the days demonstrating string quilting.

Dear Motorcycle Dude had outpatient surgery (no photos, he'd not be happy about pictures). He's healing well, though still a little sore. He had his post-op appointment yesterday and he is now released to drive, though he's not allowed to lift more than 25 pounds for the next five weeks.

Our Old Red Dog developed an abscess from a spider bite, and that has required a few visits to the vet. He still has the drain, and he's not allowed outside without our supervision.

My fingerprints have cleared, and I have attended orientation so that I might volunteer in the local schools. Students return to school in early August, so now I'm all ready to read with students.



















We have had two wildfires burning near us. The Doce Fire, about 5 miles north of us, started June 18. It remains at 96% containment and 6,767 acres have been burned. There is also the Yarnell Hills Fire, about 15 miles south, that has burned 8,400 acres, and is about 45% contained. This fire tragically took the lives of 19 firefighters from the local Granite Mountain Hotshots unit. The fires haven't affected us physically, or threatened our home, but they are emotionally draining.

I've been trying to get some quilting done in between all the doctor visits. I did quilt this quilt that will be the gift for the out-going president of the Thumb Butte Quilters. There is a small quilt going over the large dark rectangle. I'll try to get a picture of it when they present it on Monday.

In the waiting rooms I've been working on this. The diamond papers are from Paper Pieces. I ordered them when I ordered the itty bitty hexies. I've decided I like English Paper Piecing for travel projects. The papers provide the accuracy, so I can stitch without worrying about accuracy. Nice when there are other things going on around me.

Today is Independence Day, so there will be some barbeque happening this afternoon. However before that, there will be some catch-up quilting for me. I'm listening to The Dark Monk while I work. It's the second book in the Hangman's Daughter series by Oliver Pötzsch. I'm finding that listening to books is really helping me to get caught up on my quilting.

So, that's what's been going on in my neck of the woods. What's been happening in your neck of the woods?

Have a good day!

Whew!

Just barely enough backing for this quilt. I knew it was going to be close. Because longarmers have to pin the backing on the rollers we need more backing than hand quilters.

I'm glad we didn't run out!


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Sunflowers

A few weeks ago I posted a couple of pictures of sunflowers that I was quilting. I couldn't show the whole quilt because it was the quilt for the out-going president of Thumb Butte Quilters' Guild.

She was presented with the quilt yesterday, so I get to share the whole quilt today.

I like the way that the flowers and the rooster are poofy. It gives them some dimension.

There is a hidden dragonfly in the quilting. The rest of the background is a mix of designs from Dustin Farrell, Claudia Pfeil, Nichole Webb, Carla Barrett, Jamie Wallen, and every other teacher that I've taken classes from.  Carla calls it Artistic Freehand. I like that. It makes it sound so classy. I call it "Quilting for Those With a Short Attention Span."

Though they don't show, the quilt has loads of crystals on the sunflowers. The camera just couldn't capture the bling.

I have been privileged to quilt the quilts for two guild presidents this year. This is the quilt for Mountain Top Quilters'. 

Sunflowers

I have loved the blue and yellow color combination since I was a teenager. So, when Mary brought this quilt to me for quilting I fell in love with it.


I finished quilting it last night, and could hardly wait until this morning to take a picture of it.

This is an image from All People Quilt

I'm not sure what the pattern is called. I believe it is a variation of the Glorified Nine Patch pattern.





However, rather than melon shapes it has the quarter circles, and the nine-patch is on point within the block. I wouldn't be surprised if Mary designed it herself. She is very good at that.















I did have a little bit of trouble with some fullness in the circle spaces. I think that some of the fullness came from my quilting the blue nine-patch areas first. 



I was a little concerned about it working in. I started by stitching the centers, thinking that this would help start to pull in extra fabric. It did help a little bit.

Next was stitching the petals of the flowers, the echo, and swirls. I think they turned out well.

Note to Self

A note to myself, I really must remember that when I'm working on a time line to plan my quilting designs more carefully. I like the way that the feathered wreaths look. However, if I'd chosen a design that filled the space completely I wouldn't need to do the tedious backfill.

I've taken classes where the teacher said exactly that. I just didn't remember. Experience will help me remember, right?

AZLAQ President's Challenge Show

Yesterday, was the Arizona Longarm Quilters' Guild's President's Challenge quilt show. There were only 24 quilts, since the guild is small. I had entered three quilts, Blueberry Twist, Twinkle Stars, and Mashed Potatoes.

I had intended this to be entered into the overall category, but the judges shifted it to the custom category. I did the borders separately, but the interior of the quilt is freehand overall quilting. Nichole Webb calls it Fantasy Freehand. Carla Barrett calls it Artistic Freehand. Darlene Epps calls it Floral Fantasy. I call it quilting for those with a short attention span. I used designs from all three designers, plus some that were inspired by motifs in the fabric.

Mashed Potatoes got a Third Place in the Pieced Custom category. This is one of my favorites. I really like the way that this quilt turned out.

Twinkle Stars was the last quilt that I entered. This one received First Place in the Pieced Custom category, and it got Best of Show! I was shocked, and honored! This is a longarm guild and all members are very talented. I'm still surprised that I was honored with these ribbons.





Tune in tomorrow. I'll have pictures of the progress on the string quilt.

And a Good Time Was Had By All

Arizona is a very quilty state, and our area is a very quilty area. We are lucky enough to have four quilt shops in our area. Two of them are within about five miles of our house. Well, with all of these quilters we also have lots of longarm quilters. Not all of them quilt for hire, but there is a large group that do. We formed an informal group. Not a guild, no presidents, or programs, or dues. Meetings are once a month.

Today we met at my house, and I introduced the group to the Line Dancing technique and books by Diana Phillips. I am arguably her biggest fan. Her books get a lot of wear, because I'm always looking at them for inspiration.

I loaded the longarm, and quilters brought pieces of muslin to try out the Line Dancing. I also had dry erase markers and plastic sleeves so they could try drawing out the designs.

I brought out all of my books by Diana. I wanted my friends to be able to see what great ideas they contain.

We looked, quilted, talked and laughed. I'd say a good time was had by all.

Coming Up For Air

Boy, oh boy, do I wish I did a better job of estimating time! I way overbooked myself for July and August. I quilted 8-10 hours a day 7 days a week, except for my brief foray into soap making. I was doing pretty good, at first. Then I hit the two quilts that I estimated would take about 10-15 hours each. Wrong! They each took 30-40 hours.

 
 This is Hyde Park. It was designed by Judy Laquidara for SewBatik. This was one of the ones that threw me a loop.


I also quilted this one, though the picture is from Marti Michell's web site, since I forgot to take a picture of my customer's quilt. This was the second one that threw me a loop.

Then we have Cats. A panel but with custom quilting.

 I'm not sure of the name of this quilt. I called it "All Angles," though I know it is a published pattern.










There were also 4 others that I forgot to take pictures of.  I'm bad about remembering photos.

Then there was the beautiful 50th anniversary quilt.
 
 This is "Come September."




I had started it. Liked the way it was looking, feathers, metallic threads, detailed background fill, stitch in the ditch around the applique.

Then I advanced the quilt, and saw to my horror, that I had the top turned sideways on the directional backing. This was not OK. My dear Motorcycle Dude came to my rescue. He spent 50 hours ripping out the quilting while I worked on other quilts that had deadlines. In the evenings we would both work at ripping. Each of us tackling one end of the border.

I spent several very late nights making sure that I would have the quilts finished in time for the trip to California to deliver them. I even had to delay my departure by a day to get them all done. They were delivered, and all were pleased with the results.

Into the Woods

It doesn't look like much, does it? I just sent this quilt off this morning. My friend, Pam, is the piecer. She doesn't think much of it either. Her sister selected the central fabric, and didn't want it in a pieced design. Sis just wanted the fabric bordered, and quilted.

From the back you can see the quilting. I had so much fun quilting this oak tree! Well, my quilty version of an oak tree. Don't ask any botonists to critique my interpretation of the mighty oak tree.












I still don't have the photography part of quilting down. I think there is an online course in quilt photography. I must track it down. Right after I get caught up on my quilting.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Whew! I have been working on some big quilts with some rather elaborate quilting.

This beauty is queen size. The block is called Snow Crystals. I posted a detail picture before. When I took these pictures I didn't have a quilt stand, so I used a closet pole and two ladders as my stand. I have a quilt stand now. Way easier to get pictures now.




I love the way it looks from the back.

     














I used part of a paisley design from a Dover Publications coloring book. The center of the large paisley was my inspiration for the background vine. There are so many great motifs that could be translated into quilting designs.  








This is the next quilt I worked on. It is the opportunity quilt for one of the local guilds. It measures 93"x93". I used a Barbara Chainey stencil for the first white border. I tried to find a source so that I could provide a link, but I wasn't able to find it. I had purchased it from StenSource, but they no longer sell retail.

The stencil only had the side motif. I had to create a corner motif.


























After those two I worked on an opportunity quilt for the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue Society.




The quilting doesn't really show up on this one. Each block has a picture of a Rhodie at a world landmark. I used Superior's Mono-Poly to provide detail quilting in each block. This one is going to be making the rounds of dog shows on the East Coast.

I'm quilting like a crazy lady so that I can finish Twinkle Stars by May 1, and get it in the mail to MQS.



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Update

Well, all I have to show for my trauma with the sewing machine needle is this little black dot on my fingernail.












Not too bad, all things considered I am very thankful that my stupidity happened when I was at my Bernina and not my Nolting.


The needle on the left is the same size as the one that was in my Bernina. The one on the right is the size I have been using in the Nolting. Enough of a difference that I think I'm truly thankful.


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Quilter's Attention Deficit

I don't know if it's because it's spring, or it's just a pattern of behavior, but I have so, so many projects that I want to make. I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I have attention deficit disorder?

Liberty Fields from Material Obsession

These two that I played with in EQ7.

Plus the three UFOs that I have already started, Buckeye Beauty, String X, and my blue and white Hovering Hawks. Then there are the four knitting projects that I want to work on.

This is a shawl from Ravelry. It's a free pattern, but you do have to join Ravelry to be able to get it.













Then there are the socks knit two at a time on circular needles. It's a technique that I've never tried, but it avoids the second sock syndrome. I also want to make a long sleeved cardigan and a short sleeved, lacy summer cardigan.

Tack on to my list of things I want to make for myself are the eleven quilts that I need to quilt for customers. I think I need to learn to prioritize. What do you think?