Rainbow Stars

This quilt came off the frame a day or two ago. It was pieced by a friend. She used each fabric only once, except for just 2 -- That's 500 small scraps of different fabrics! Until I offloaded much of my scrap bins last month, I could have done this easily, but the thought of individually cutting each one is daunting! The end result with the white fabric is bold and beautiful. I just love it, and know that she will too.
She gave me freedom to quilt it "however". So here's what I did. A few parallel stripes, some pebbles, some swirly fill, and a fun heart & feather variation at the center to give it a medallion focal point.

It took longer than expected, but the end result is well worth the time.

Hope you are off enjoying the great May weather (unlike me, experiencing it through a very small basement window, from my work studio).

Word of the Day: Minky

A week ago, I knew I had 2 quilts coming to me in the mail. It was a bit of a shock when they arrived without normal cotton backings. "Ew!" I told myself, "slinky material". I had visions of when I did my last T-shirt quilt, which was kind of like quilting a spring. This fabric sent was minky. Now minky is very soft, and snuggly. I do understand why people like it. It also has a ton of static. It would be finthy in my house with the cat and my long hair. After a little research, I learned that minky really is not that hard to work with, but the quilting scheme had to be simplified somewhat so as not to overquilt or matt down the minky.

This is really the 2nd quilt I did, but booger blogger put them out of order. These are supposed to be little candies. Yes, those wrapper flaps were a pain in the you know where to be constantly pinning out of the way, etc. Plus, the gathered area which did need to be stitched down was like sewing through rawhide. I mean, what are there?? - 8 layers of fabric, batting, minky and then the additional layers due to the gathers.
I hope all quilters out there know to run fast when they see polka dotted white fabric like this one. Albeit, it is sweet and feminine, but OMG, how much paint (yes, I said paint) does a rightful fabric need ot have on it?? Surely the fabric manufacturers know what PAINT does to sewing machines??!! Anyway, drama aside, I hate this stuff, and you should too. It was almost like stitching through tee-shirt decals.

It is most definitely destined for a little girl. It's a cute idea for a quilt.

My outer border is more or less lost on the top of the quilt due to the busyness of the fabric, but it does show on the back. Ah, nice minky texture.

My client's other minky-backed quilt is fun. It too has rather busy fabrics -- a custom quilting in the center would have been totally lost. The feathering around the black border is nice though.

Another peek...

And 2 hearts on the long sides-

So now you too can go forth knowing that longarm quilting minky is possible without disaster. Juat a couple rules of thumb. Pin the minky onto the leaders using the selvage edges. Don't over tension. Don't over quilt it. And use a nice thin thread on the back like So Fine or Bottomline (I used this).

Then snuggle warmly!

Drawing & Daydreaming

The rain finally stopped and spring has arrived in northern New England. It hit 60F today - glorious. Just glorious. Last weekend I finished this king sized Bento-Box quilt. It was nicely made, and with pretty fabrics. I really makes me think of this quilt, which I made for my son last year (which was all but butchered by a longarm quilter I used once. Just once. I wish I had the longarm then, as this pattern I devised works nicely for it. OK, maybe I didn't create it alone. I have seen variations of it done, but it is not a Panto I kind of stumbled upon it merely by chance one day. I call it "swirly peacock" - not so creative. The owner really liked the quilt. The stitching is in ivory, and just leaves a pretty texture on the quilt.
I took my "baby" in to get it's first minor servicing this morning. It decided this week that skipping a stitch every blue moon was OK. I told it that was not the case, but we apparently did not see eye to eye. I just got the call from the tech that it was a very minor timing issue, and that they totally oiled the inside of it and it seems to be perfect again. Whe I pick up that bohemeth on Saturday, he's going to show me how to do the oiling myself. Funny - (or not), I thought it sounded like it was a tad noisy. Sooo....since I had to drive 45 minutes to take the machine in, I took advantage of being in the same town where Mardens is, and went shopping. Mardens has THE best name brand fabrics, all at $3 yard. Plus they cut very generously. I figured that what I bought was really only $2.50 per yard!

Sophie wants a Fancy dress for her birthday. Mind you, it is at the end of August, but I think if I get it finished, I will let her wear it all summer. And she wants pink. LOTS of pink. It is all I can do to get her into any other color. She and I picked out about 6 yards of these Henry Glass pink/peach prints. No, it clearly does not take 6 yards, but tell a 3-1/2 year old that we are not getting a particular fabric. It is easier to pay another $3 and keep it for some other use. In her defense, however, ruffles do take a good amount of material. And this girl wants ruffles. I sketched out a 2-piece outfit to make. The top will be smocked, and will fall flowy at or slightly below the hip. It will have bows on the shoulders and probably inthe back too. The skirt will have 2 ruffles and will be kind of a patched-peasant style. I think it will be most cute. She can put a long sleeve shirt under it in the fall. I must get the smocking threads pulled this weekend and buy some coordinating embroidery floss. I can start on the smocking while she's at the hospital next week.

I have also been busy sketching out how I will quilt the batik quilt. Normakky I use the Bamboo tablet, but I've done a lot of this in the evenings in front of the tube. I am trying to find that happy middle ground between what I can competently quilt and what can potentially wow a judge.

Check back in a month or so to see if I mastered that task!

...And the Rainbow Lighted the Sky

The case of the missing batting (60 yards total) is now solved. I've been chasing down the company I ordered this from wholesale, but thanks to all the hoopla in Houston, the response had been slow. This morning, because I wanted to try actually quilting a top, I braved the trip to Joann's. I generally try to avoid it with kids in tow, especially 2 weeks before Halloween. I expected the worst, but was pleasantly home in less than an hour with 2 yards of batting. Only about 20 minutes later did I see this...
...and my mail lady dragging them one by one on her back to our door! Nice to finally have a lifetime supply (I know, yea right!) in my possession! And happy daughter modelling her birthday dress with all the batting rolls. Always the camera ham.

On to the more interesting stuff now- After a few days of battling my machine on tension, and thinking it was really going to win, I found that tension adjustment is pretty simple with the Superior So Fine threads. I have many spools/cones of 40 and 50 wt cottons that I really like and want to quilt with. But I have gotten VERY disgusted trying to adjust tensions on bobbin and top thread to get appropriate tension without thread breakage. I had to throw my hands up at one point and accept that I can live with quilting with the finer polyester threads for a while. On the plus side, they leave virtually NO lint, unlike their dirtier cotton cousins. I just miss the look of the heavier thread...

To get on with the process of learning to long arm quilt, I loaded my Rainbow Colorblocks quilt onto the frame. This is free quilted in swirls in a tan So Fine thread - the only color I have until an order of a few cones arrives, hopefully next week. I am very pleased with how the quilt turned out for it being just an allover pattern. The tan thread just mostly disappears in all the colored squares, and blends with the backing.

Here it is on the frame. Notice that the dungeon is not so dark anymore. $200 later, I have a dedicated outlet, and some nice bright lights that run the length of the machine. It's much nicer now!

Here's a quick peek at the backing. It's very bold and fun - definitely a quilt geared for a young to teenage girl, but then all those bright colors were not really intended for the guys anyhow. I happened to have just 3 yards of this fabric and it coordinated so I used it. I have no idea what will become of this 1st quilt of mine so I was not going to put additional $$ into finding that perfect backing. I think that this is it!

Where to from here?? Not really sure. I have many more tops to conquer but they rely on a perticular color thread. I suspect I will play with cotton thread tensions again in hopes of mastering it so I can move onto one of these other quilts.

Have a great weekend.

The first stitches...

Houston, we have liftoff. Finally. My LA is functional. I have a minor thing of finding out why I cannot determine where the laser pointer goes, but that is simple compared to not having a rail to place the carriage onto. Last night I figured out to thread the thing and how to make a bobbin. I loaded on some cheap muslin and tested a few stitches before I crashed in bed. I have done a little bit more today, but still have plenty of practicing to go.

In case you are thinking I have a sewing cave...You are right. It's a modified basement space. Not gorgeous, but 800 square feet all for me, and my 4 machines, iron, fabric stash. I have an electrician coming later this week to install overhead lights across the length of the longarm. I can't wait!

A peek at some of last night's doodling...Don't scrutinize too harshly. I know I have a ways to go before I am competent enough to quilt for hire. I ordered a few "tools" today (1/4" guides in various shapes) and 4 pantographs to practise on. My damn batting has not arrived yet and the stinking company has not returned my call either. That's my largest holdup in practising more - I hate to go buy more when I have 60 yards of 96" wide coming, allegedly. Must be coming via camel. I really want to make decent feathers so I think I have to invest in a book or two to show me some technique. Suggestions??

And real work from the weekend... I have made 5 more blocks for my row robin quilt. These are red & green stars. Hopefully I will get usable blocks from all partners, but I guess it's nice to have a few more. At least I know I like them!
...and a close up look.

I'll show more soon when I feel it is interesting!

Almost in Business

First off, a picture I snapped at the park today with my 3 little ones. It's kind of rare to actually have all 3 willing to be in a picture together. Must have had something to do with being up on the log near the river! Even if they make me go berserk at a grocery store, they are totally adorable (ages 7-1/2, 3 and 5). And now some shots of the weekend's construction...

table coming out of the boxes...all 400 pounds of it.

It's starting to look like a frame... especially after adding the rollers.

BUT...construction came to a screeching halt yesterday when we discovered the front rail has 3 mis-drilled screw holes. UGH...This means that the track that the carriage and machine roll on could not be screwed onto the table. I have left emails and messages at Handi Quilter, but there will be no response before Tuesday. This means I have a 12' rail to somehow get back to them, and get another shipped to me ASAP. I am SO ready to use this that this little setback is killing me. I had to settle on sewing my QBE blocks this afternoon instead of cruising my LA. ...sigh...

Soon, very soon

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Greetings Quilters!

First off, thanks for stopping by my humble blog. There are tons of fantastic quilts being showcased on the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted so wonderfully by Amy at http://www.parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/. This is a fun event and I am excited to be a part of it yet again. I have a great post to share with you, and at the end of some fun pictures, there is a giveaway, so don't miss it. So without further adu, let the show begin!


Over the last year or so, I have made a lot of quilts. I have been active in many swaps, both those that make mini quilts and those that make just blocks. I usually make quilts for baby gifts or Christmas presents. Most of the quilts I have made are linked on the sidebar to the right. The quilts, however, that I am most proud of are the ones I am showing you here today.


Over the course of the last 3 years, I have made over 100 lap-sized ~45"x65" quilts to donate to the local chapter of Project Linus. In January of 2007, this started as an effort to trim my scrap stash, which at that time was really not very large. It gave me something to sew without needing to buy fabric too! That quickly became addictive. I told my friends and family what I was doing, and within a few weeks I had a dining room full of more donated scraps! And that is how the cycle began. Last Fall, at a Linus function entitled the Book-Blanket Challenge I showed this quilt (which incidentally was my entry for the Blogger's Festival in April too!). Our local chapter was closing because the rep was stepping down and a replacement had not been found. She had been trying hard to get me to take over the position, but my life was too busy for that then. She had two large boxes of fabric which had to contain 60+ yards of top quality material which she gave me. I told her I would use that to make quilts to give back to Project Linus. And I did.
Last month, I broght 53 quilts to donate. These were made between January and September of 2009. The day before I brought them, I layed them all out on my yard for a little "quilt show". One blogger commented that it looked like a "Sea of Love". I think she was right.

Many are scrap quilts. Many are quilts I designed. Some were done to let me "test" a pattern or an idea. Some let me practice certain machine quilting techniques. Some were made from blocks acquired in various swaps.

All will be loved and cherished by the children that receive them.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. If what was done here for the children is of any similarity to that, I'd be remiss for not mentioning a few of the wonderful people that helped make this 53 quilt donation become possible. The quilt above had the indiginous Australian fabrics donated to me by Bernadette in a swap. The one below was made from swap blocks from the Broken Heart pattern by ladies of Kate's Birthday Block swap. I hosted the Spring Fling Round Robin earlier this year and received blocks to make 5 quilts from these talented ladies. The aforementioned Kate sent me 24 Jacob's Ladder blocks and another 24 Bento blocks to make another 4 quilts. Such overwhelming generousity. And I have never even met any of these people either.
It's true, I did spend a ton of time assembling, sewing, quilting and binding these. It's a labor of love, and if this is the only time in my life that I am able to make such a grand donation, I am still satisfied.

And so would you.

And yet another quilt below made from more donated fabrics from Anna Y.
The quilts here represent on the order of 275 yards of fabric & batting!
I spent much of my quilting time this last year on the quilts I showed you here, but the time has come for change -- a change in my quilting focus and a change in my personal/professional life. I am a trained and experienced mechanical engineer. Since having three kids, however, I have realized that going back to work full time is unpractical and just daunting. I want to be here at 3:30pm when they arrive home. So after much soul-searching and planning, I have opted to take a plunge off the deep end so to speak. For those of you that read this blog, you know this. But for the sake of the newcomers, I will mention that I just purchased a long arm quilting machine. And I am in the process of trying to establish a business making and machine quilting quilts (that is after my husband helps put the frame together this weekend!). I encourage you to bookmark my new business website http://www.mainelyquiltsoflove.com/. Visit often! At present, all I have shown there are a few small items and a number of quilt tops that I will quilt in the coming weeks. I will, however, be adding to this soon. Once I am taking orders, I will very likely do an internet quilting special for a while, with an extraordinary price!

As a giveaway in support of the Online Blogger's Festival, I will offer to machine quilt one person's quilt. It may be up to a large lap-size. You'll have to provide the batting and the postage, but I will quilt an all-over pattern which compliments the top. I will offer to do this anytime after January 1, 2010. I will randomly select someone at the end of the Blogger's festival. To be included, please do the following...(1) leave a comment here, and (2) blog something to your personal blog that promotes my blog and new Mainely Quilts of Love Quilting business. Thanks and have a great time spying all of the fantastic quilts.

--------------------------

One last thing...I am hosting a block swap on flickr. If you are interested in a swap that will yield enough high quality blocks to make a queen sized quilt, with a monthly committment of only 2 blocks, check it out!

Clarity, a day later

I couldn't have been more right yesterday when I thought that these blocks might be better off sashed, despite not planning to do so initially. Fortunately I had a couple yards of ivory Kona on hand which matched nicely. There is a certain randomness amongst the blocks, which I was going for.

Yet, the sashing makes the random nature of the fabrics and design have a sense of order too. I will machine quilt this soon (I hope) and bind it in dark brown. It fits a twin bed, and with any luck will be snatched up from my Etsy shop once it is listed.

With not finishing quilts lately, I have had a void of hand work to do in my evenings while I watch the TV. So a few weeks ago, I dug these out (which I got for my birthday a few months ago, and really had just not had a grand epiphany as to what to use them for), and began designing a mostly hand sewn piece. It has lots of bias strips on the plan, as well as more appliqued flowers. I have many feet of 1/4" bias strips in a few shades of green ready for an intricate swirling pattern around the border.

(before I added the corner applique)

And after the lotus flowers were hand appliqued. Yes, it is all needle turn, which is a totay joy to do with the hand-dyes. They are so tightly woven that nothing really ravels or streaches out of place. The green border will connect into the bottoms of the flowers. That is why they are not sewn completely down yet. I have a plan for something in the center, and perhaps another border as well.

...and a close up of the corner. I love the drunkards path border in very subtly changing shades of indigo. Stay tuned, there will probably be another update to this in the coming weeks.

And the moment we have all been awaiting (or at least I have been waiting for)...the LA is officially here. I am something excited!! There are a few additional items that my rep may have neglected to order which I must followup on, but the big boxes are here. I've never had a UPS delivery need to come to be via 18-wheeler semi tractor trailor truck!

My agenda...

• Get said machine out of box and installed. Something tells me it will take longer than the 3-4 hours suggested
• Find my 2nd favorite quilt for the Online Bloggers Quilt Festival which starts tomorrow
• Probably go buy some batting. I have ordered 60 yards wholesale 12 days ago, and it has not yet arrived. Must be coming by camel! Looks like I may need some before this weekend is over.
  

Big Week

First off, with bated (sp??) breath, I can happily announce that I have made a decision. The rambling thoughts of "which long arm should I get" are thoughts of the past. I spent one last week, contemplating and investigating one last possibility. The rep from APQS was waiting anxiously to hear from me. She'd even gotten me a base extender (a $100 deal) added for free. Still I was not certain. That machine was over $15000 with the incentives of the Road Show, and to me that was a heck of a lot of money. OK, a helluva lot of money! The one thing I kept coming back to was a desire to have a rep closer than 2 hours away, should I need assistance, purchase parts, etc. On Tuesday I spent time on the HQ Fusion, which for some reason I never really considered all that seriously. It was more pricey, and that was probably the main reason. But after trying the Millinium and the HQ16 both, I knew that the Fusion was it. This machine is a big step up over the HQ16, and it sews like a warm knife through butter. Circles are round (as we'd want!), and this machine has 20" of space to sew. I absolutely loved it. It's a little more than I thought I'd spend, but over $3K less than the Millinium, which I had yet to really enjoy using. This afternoon, I officially ordered the Fusion!!

My other accomplishment is finishing my last and 52nd quilt for my Project Linus donated quilts. I am taking all 52 tomorrow to a local event, where 3/4 yard of fabric is given for every quilt donated! Count them...39 yards of free and wonderful fabric!!! The event is a total ZOO, but I love it. I learned that my region now has a new coordinator, so we should be having events again. The blocks for this quilt came from the flickr Quilt Block Exchange. I was going to machine quilt this on someone's Millinium three days ago, but after testing the Fusion, I knew I didn't need to. Instead, I used my home machine and finished it up yesterday. I love the modern look of the pink & orange. Way cool & sweet! There are seven quilts in my donation that have come from blocks donated by swappers that did my Spring Fling Round Robin. These quilts all came out so fantastic. I have two quilts which Kate sent blocks for. She has one heck of a block stash from her various swaps and Block Lotto winnings. It was tremendously generous, and children in my area will definitely benefit. So, if you find that you have blocks in your stash that you don't know if you'll use or when, I'd love to offer to give them a good home. I love scrappy quilts, and love to make scrappy quilts!
On Wednesday afternoon, I had a "photo shoot" on the back lawn. Despite the work of refolding them, I pulled all 53 (one is from my mom) of my Linus quilts, and layed them on the back lawn. Here's what 700 square feet (or so) of quilted love look like! I'm sure my neighbors thought I was cookoo! Actually, that is only about half of the quilts :0)

Here's a few more pictures in a flickr slideshow.

What next...Finish cleaning my basement out. I started that today, but it's got a ways to go. The LA should arrive in 1-2 weeks. Other things...finish off row for row robin, add on to a round robin, and continue with my business-y. Oh, and the absolute worst thing...I must start on Halloween costumes - my all time least favorite thing to sew!

Happy quilting

Worse than a Soap Opera

And it's cutting into my quality sewing time too! Tomorrow I'm going to lose an entire afternoon of not having my 5 yr old home (this is PRIME sewing time!!).

That is the long arm shopping event in my life right now. I have been amazed at the responses from the HQ and APQS reps, as well as others who have machines. I have managed to get the Road Show special deal window extended through this week so that I can visit someone that has a Millinium set up in their home. Amazing that at the shows, they don't really tell you that the home set up may be a lot different than on the narrow show machine frame, which is dreadfully stiff. My thanks to Dawn-Marie for inviting me to quilt a Linus quilt on her machine (now I just need to get to Joann's between tomorrows appts to get backing and batting). My local Maine rep has also managed to sweeten the deal a little by adding in a base-extender, which I would have ordered right off. Still, the $15400 price tag is hard to swallow. Can I earn this back with customer quilts?? How long will it take me? Is this really what I should be doing?? OMG - the decisions!

Concurrantly, I have been serenaded (for lack of better words) by an HQ rep. She's given me great information, which is nice. I have also been in touch with the local HQ rep, who I am meeting with tomorrow. They have a free shipping deal this month. For some reason, I have been focusing on the HQ16, and had almost forgotten the Fusion. This machine is a much better comparison with the Millinium, having a mostly comparable throat/quilting area. It's less expensive and has a less desireable warranty. I did test it at the Maine Quilt show, and liked it fine, but 2 months ago the $12ooo price tag made me shudder. It's smaller and less expensice sister, HQ16, managed to get more attention from me. Today, the Fusion doesn't look so bad! I would not feel compelled to finance a third of that like I'd likely do with the Millinium. I am anxious to take advantage of "spur of the moment" Nana day care tomorrow afternoon so I can whisk off to try it out. Oh, the joys of retirement!

As always, stay tuned for the latest installment of the Long Arm Saga...
(and I as usual welcome your comments, suggestions and ever-valuable information!!)
M

Long Arm update

I so appreciate all of the comments which have been left, even those from the sales persons. I know that you are biased towards your machine, but the information has been exactly what I was looking for. I had hoped to hear more from actual users to see what led them to select the machine they chose, and why they love it as well.

A little background...I am not approaching this naively. I have tested all of the major manufacturers for which there is a sales rep near me. Perhaps if I lived closer to a large metropolitan area, this might be simpler, but where I live does limit the choices. I tested four machines at the Maine Quilt Show in July, three of which I'd truly consider. The one I liked the best (Gammill) has a rep either 2 states (4-5 hours away) or instate and nearly 3 hours away. I do believe that these are highly reliable and sourcing your rep is not an everyday occurrance, but I also know that I want it available should it be needed, whether this is for a problem or to take a class. I took a 2 hour class on the HQ16, and then spent 2 hours quilting 2 quilts on my own. I was able to get a good feel for the machine's vibration, tendency to break thread, use of groovy boards, stitch regulator, etc. It was mostly smooth, and I could visualize the "kinks" inmy quilting disappearing in a short period of use. This machine made the transition from free motion quilting on a home machine to a LA seem natural.

I cannot say the same for the APQS. Now, I took the same aproach for these machines as well. They were tested at the show too, and were my least favorite ones. It had a stiff, jerkier feeling. I could not make smooth curves, just "rounded" off squares. But everyone I heard from said they loved this machine, and that it comes with practice. Again, it didn't have a rep within an hour of me like the HQ, so it was not a high contender. Yesterday I went to the Road Show, with a very open mind, hoping to come away with a great bargain of a machine. And it was a good deal - $2000 off the Millinium, free motorized rollers and free quilt glide. But even after 45 minutes of playing and testing, I still hated how it quilted. I am not interested in a LA that takes me 6 months of practising before I am qualified to make something for someone else. I cannot afford that from the perspective of paying for the machine or the scrap fabric. I also ruled out the Lenni yesterday, as it has the same stiffness and jerkiness, and has no channel locks whatsoever.

I am struggling over this purchase more so than I would if I were buying a car three times the cost. It's very personal to me, and I know there's likely no "swapping" it or "trading up" three years from now. It's still a shock that my husband said yes to the thing in the first place. So, what do I say to all of you faithful Millinium users, Love what you have. I personally do not share that feeling from my experience, but it is your decision, and this is mine. I feel as though I have done my homework and am not making an uninformed choice.

THanks~

APQS owners/users

If you have or use an APQS long arm machine...I'd love to hear from you. I am going to a seminar today hosted by APQS, with the hopes of being able to select which LA I will purchase afterwards. It is down to the HQ16 or one of the APQS's (may depend too on any road show discounts). Things I am interested in...reliability, ease of use and learning curve, how frequently and where must machine be oiled, how often do you service the machine (my dealer is NOT close), and your personal thoughts that the agents today might not give.

thanks~