I cruised through this quilt

Aside from a lap quilt here and there, I haven't kept any quilts for OUR bed...  or even our guest beds.  

I was completely thrilled and felt honored when I was asked to join a group of friends on a quilting cruise around the Caribbean last year.  I had never been on a cruise, let alone a QUILTING cruise and I was so excited!

The photo to the left shows our group and the three instructors. 

The next photo shows our ship on the right and our sister ship on the left docked in Jamaica.

I started three quilt tops on the cruise from Civil War fabric kits that I had purchased.  I had brought extra fabric on the cruised because I wanted to make each of the quilt tops larger so that they are more useful for my TALL family.  Whether they would get them or not was, as yet, undetermined but at least I would have options.

One quilt top in particular was close to finished by the end of the cruise so I decided to finish it first.  It was not my favorite of the three but one finished is better than three unfinished.

As I was working away on sashing and borders, the hubs noticed the fabrics and pattern, indicating that he really liked the quilt!

hmmmm, our anniversary was drawing near.....  I smelled an idea.......!!!

So I measured and calculated the sashing and borders for my husband's anniversary quilt.   I was determined to make the quilt big enough to cover our bed down to the side rails.

I had purchased a "new" 15' table and Gammill with a Statler stitch so I had a big enough table to quilt this monster quilt.   My old 10' table went to a new home (but only because I didn't have room for both).

After some practice on the new machine, I felt confident enough to quilt hubby's quilt.  I had no illusions of producing a ribbon worthy quilt but I felt ready to produce something of some level of quality.

I made the bed an odd way so that all of the pattern showed better.....
and it goes all the way down to cover blankets, mattress, foundation and all that other ugly stuff!

We are both pretty happy with the results.....  him with a quilt, and me with the quilting.

I hope you cuddle under a quilt full of love tonight!!!

A satisfied customer...

Little Bryanna's daddy wanted a quilt for her.  He was not sure why she needed a quilt because he NEVER stayed under any kind of blanket, but nonetheless, he wanted one for her.  And he wanted it done in 'girly' colors.  And since she was a year old...  he thought he wanted a crib size quilt.  Beyond that, he didn't care about how I made it.

So I stared at my flannels (my choice of fabrics because she lives in Colorado) for a while...  and considered a pattern....  and I stared....   and I considered..... 

But nothing was grabbing at me.  I wasn't feeling it.   I need to feel excitement when I make a quilt...   so I continued staring....  and considering....

The one thing I did know was that I would completely IGNORE daddy's input about the quilt size and I would make Bryanna a twin size quilt.

...then a friend brought a quilt for me to see...  and I fell in love with the quilt (it was red) and the pattern.  She gifted me the quilt, not sure why but I was OH SO HAPPY about it.

I copied the pattern, sort of....  and created this quilt.

   

But enough about me.... 

Lets get back to little Bryanna: her daddy said that she absolutely LOVES the quilt and stays under it all night long.

(and I won't mention that I found her big brothers curled up on this same quilt watching cartoons.... with sheepish grins on their faces.)

But daddy is dumbfounded that Bryanna was sleeping..  covered with a quilt.

Daddy asked me if I was the "quilt whisperer".  I said I have special powers.

And daddy was glad I ignored his request and went with a twin quilt.

I remember the yards and yards of fabric that I cut... 

the late nights....

the hours and hours I spent piecing this quilt.... 

and then I see this precious little girl who is happy and secure under the quilt that her aunt made.... with love.

You have no idea how happy this makes me.

THIS is what quilting is all about.

The Birthday Boy!

Update on the drag racer's quilt:

Vern, posing with his quilt in front of his trophies

The boys went out for lunch for Vern's birthday today.  Hubby said Vern LOVED his quilt and he was walking around showing it to everyone in the restaurant.

Vern said the quilt was going home with him but first, he hung the quilt by the bathroom in his shop as he thought everyone could see it there and it would stay cleaner (a sentiment truly appreciated by someone familiar with the happenings in a garage) until it went home.

I am thrilled that Vern is happy with his quilt. 

Hubby took the photos with his phone and they apparently don't want to be blown up this far.

The drag racer's quilt finally made it to the finish line!!

It was an arduous process as I am not an experienced long armer but I muscled my way through this one.  I have quilted about 5 quilts on my mid arm and 10' table...  which I find is not nearly enough for me to be happy with the results of my quilting before taking on a project like this.

Playing with the layout

It started innocently enough...  I had bought it used and thought it would be a good way to test the waters...  if I liked it, I could consider getting a better machine.  If I didn't like it, I could try to sell it and not stand to lose much money.

I had set up my mid arm and table and knew that I needed to quilt a lot of quilts before I could even consider myself an amateur, after all, I had never even TRIED to use a long arm before getting this machine.

Border represents light tree

Even knowing that I needed a lot of practice, I was still considering the quilts I would like to complete once I got my skills established. 

One was a commissioned t-shirt quilt for a drag racing friend of ours.   However, our friend's 75th birthday was fast approaching so I stepped up the pace a bit and got the top pieced.  I was still practicing with the quilter at this point and was feeling like I was developing a 'relationship' with the machine.  We were working through some bugs, etc, and we on our way to slightly smoother sailing.

Ok, so it must be time to quilt this bad boy!   Up to this point, I had only done maybe 5 quilts with meandering and wonky flower patterns and had just gotten to the point that I could quilt and breathe at the same time - a major accomplishment. 

So what does one do when one gets to that point?

I decided to quilt flames as the design on this quilt.  What WAS I thinking?  Didn't I think a nice meandering pattern would be just as nice?   Noooooo.   

I was apparently feeling just a little bigger than my britches. 

Do you think that was far enough to push myself?  Noooooo.   Apparently, I thought I should use light gray thread to quilt said flames.....  on the black background fabric.   Seriously?!?!?!  Not only am I crazy for thinking I could quilt flames but I was extra crazy for quilting them in a color that would show the world, very clearly, where I made every tiny, or not so tiny, mistake.

Actually, the quilting started out pretty good but as soon as I took a break, I must have forgotten everything I ever knew regarding the stupid machine.  What?  the presser foot needs to be lowered for the stitch regulator to work?  Did I know that?

After many, many days of cursing, giving up, going back, shaking my head, wondering what I was thinking, ripping, resewing, vacuuming up said rippings, and repeating this whole process several times, I arrived at a product that I am not proud of, but I am not ashamed of either.

Coming from someone with perfectionist tendencies, that's pretty big!

The label says:

Driver: Vern Moats

Crew Chief:  Jerry Cohoon

Mechanic:  Jacki Cohoon

Happy 75th Birthday, Vern!!

Little girls and hearts

I was asked me to make a toddler quilt for Bryanna about a year ago.... but I pooh-poohed that idea and went straight to twin size.  Good thing too...  Bryanna just gave up her toddler bed and is now in a big girl twin bed.

Little Bryanna lives in Colorado where the nights can get pretty cold, so I decided to use flannels.  And since Bryanna is already a shoe diva - all in pastels - I went with something to match her shoes....  how could I go wrong?

Bryanna is loved, and spoiled, by a legion of brothers, caregivers, family members, and last, but not least, her daddy.

So it was fitting that my mom, her gramma and one of the aforementioned spoilers, help with the quilt.  While we were working on it, we talked about sewing memories..... 

Back in the day of polyester knit EVERYTHING, Mom would buy the fabric and the Pepsi (my price for sewing her stuff all night), and we would sit up half the night sewing pants for her to wear to work.  I would do the machine sewing, (and here is the best part) throwing the strings and scraps on the floor, and she would clean up the mess and do the hand sewing.  We laughed and laughed through it all - I think I felt closest to my Mom during those times.  All the other kids were in bed and we had time to talk and share and laugh and just be together.





I think Mom had those pants in about every color -  you may remember what I am talking about...  those early 70s polyester bell bottomed pants with the sewn crease down the front.  If you do remember them, I am sure you either laughed out loud or had a shiver run down your spine!

Anyway, I had finished the quilting and attached the binding on this twin quilt so all that was left was to stitch the binding down on the front of the quilt. 

With my Mom's help. we got it done!.






My trademark" is to always have red in the quilt someplace and on this quilt, I placed some red stripe fabric on each side of the label.



And yes, the quilt is kitty tested and Freeway approved.

I hope she loves it.  I will see her in about a month to give it to her.

May you always keep something to look forward to.

Quilting one HOT quilt!

I completed the top for this commissioned tshirt quilt recently.  I have not quilted enough on my midarm to feel proficient but I have to get it quilted.... deadlines and all that.

And since I can't say I am a professional quilter, I decided to go for broke and do something really crazy.

...go ahead, raise your hand if you are shocked :)

I didn't want to do stipple or lines or QID or any of that boring stuff and it seems that pantograph are as much work as anything else (maybe I am doing them wrong) so I went to the drawing board...  literally.

What WOULD one quilt on a drag racers quilt?  They don't use checkered flags...  whats left?

TA DA!! (you knew that was coming!)


Flames!!!   yes, Flames.... 




I practiced on a white board with lots of trial and error...  a lot of error.   These flames are much harder than I expected.  I would get going ok then lose my place and it would start looking like a tree or something.

More practice... then I got my chalk pen out and drew some flames on the quilt.

I won't say they are perfect...  or even good...  and they are not without stitches that could resemble a moment of "lost" but I am sure proud of them.

And just in case you were wondering....  yes, I did rip out a few that looked A LOT like trees.