Quilt Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2013

Yes!  It's that time again.  Time for the fabulous Quilt Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amyscreativeside.com

This year I am entering this quilt.  I like to think of it as a 30's quilt with a Modern twist.  It was SO much fun to quilt!  First I sketched out my quilting....

 

BUTTON, button...who's got the Button?

Apparently my sister had the button.  ALL of them.  This is a picture of only one of three giant containers that she has collected over the past 10 or so years.  I am making a Christening gown and for some reason, unknown to me, I can not find any 3/8 inch white, pretty buttons within a 30 mile radius of my house.  Okay, I know that I live in PoDunk and after just a short search in Wal Mart and a junky craft store I had exhausted my only resources in this quiet little town.  Not to be defeated, I drove to the nearest larger town where there is a fabric store, a Wal Mart and a Hobby Lobby...still no luck.  So while I was in 'the nearest larger town' I stopped by my sister's house, and sure enough I hit the jackpot!

This is a photo of only the center of one of the piles of the buttons we went through.
 It doesn't show but the pile is about 2 sq. feet and also about 3 inches deep!

We got down in the floor and my sister, my niece and I each took a container and dumped them on the carpet.  Patiently we sifted through the thousands of buttons searching for just the right ones.  Eventually we found six that were just alike and suitable for the Christening gown.  In the process we had a really good time.  We remembered the button box that my mom had when we were growing up  and the way it smelled (I know, we are weird).  We picked up certain buttons and made comments like 'this one looks like it came off of a ....... (fill in the blank).  Or, 'now this one is REALLY old!'  We even bit a few to see if they were wood or plastic (again, I know, weird).

The point is I am glad my sister had ALL of the buttons.  It afforded us a little time to bond and laugh and relax.  It's the little things in life.

Next time I plan to go through her wooden spool collection!

GENTLE GIANTS

In my last blog I mentioned that I was getting a barrage of extremely large quilt tops to quilt.  And I promised to show you the one currently on my machine.  Well, here it is.

SO PRETTY!

This quilt really was a Gentle Giant.  Do you see all of those pieces in every block?  Well, that could spell disaster.  But this quilt was as close to perfectly pieced as I have ever seen.  And it was pressed perfectly, as well.  Every seam was pressed down nice and flat.  The borders were flat as a fritter too!...  And guess what????  The backing was a tie-died flannel, aanNnDDddd (drum roll, please)....it was a wide backing so there were no seams to consider when loading it.  Even better than the fact that it was a wide back was that it was a SQUARED back.  I didn't have to even consider picking up my rotary cutter and ruler (sigh)..  If only all jobs were this pleasant!

Thanks to Shawnee for being so conscientious about her quilt construction.  It was a dream to quilt this really large top.  And that is why I have deemed it the 'Gentle Giant'.

Celtic, I Think?

This is a wall hanging that a quilted for a client.  She didn't tell me the name of the pattern.  But I think it looks kind of Celtic.  What do you think?

Opportunity Quilt 2013

This is our Opportunity Quilt for 2013.  It was pieced by the endlessly creative ladies of the Lick Skillet Quilt Guild, Oxford, Alabama.  It is beautiful, bright colors with some hand appliqué too!  I would like to thank them for the chance to quilt this lovely.  It was fun!
You can leave a message for me here if you would like to purchase an opportunity to win this 'gawjus' quilt!  I can totally hook you up.

Might I just add...Thanks to these ladies for their constant inspiration....Angela Walters, Lisa Sipes and Judi Madsen....

Just Square the Darn Thing

So I gave my little talk at our quilt guild about preparing your backing for the longarm quilter (or any quilter, really).  And I think it was well received.  I was actually surprised by some of the questions that were asked after my short presentation.  And really was surprised to find out how many were not preparing their quilt  backs in the most efficient way or the way that is best for the longarm artist.  So here is what I told them (all the while trying to be animated as to hold their attention).

I told them that their backing should be washed or not...according to the treatment that had been given to the fabrics used in the quilt top.  Always to buy a good quality backing, keeping in mind that a high quality flat sheet is a horse of a different color all together.  A high thread count flat sheet is not ideal for the longarm machine or the hand quilter.  The very same thread count that feels luxurious as a sheet set can reek havoc when hand quilting and machine quilting because it is woven so tightly.  I mentioned that when ordering fabric on line, for whatever purpose, that you should ALWAYS order at least a quarter of a yard more than you think you need.  The picture below is one of an actual backing from a client...I had to trim about a quarter of a yard off of each end to square this sucker.

And, while we are on the subject..Let's just talk a little about squaring the backing.  I polled some friends in the biz and the consensus was that they DO charge to square up a backing.  *Anywhere from $10.00 per job to $45.00 and hour for prep work.  It is SO EASY to square up.  Just a royal pain in the rear end!!..  If you already have the tools to cut out your quilt top pieces you can square up your back.  Now get OFF your back(side) and DO it (or see * above).  Just fold it neatly, without any sags or pleats and having the selvage edges together.  Fold it small enough to cut on the size cutting mat that you have and then DO IT!!  Then remember to remeasure and make sure that it is still large enough for your quilt backing (4 inches larger on ALL sides).  It really is just that simple...

ATLANTA WITH 'THAT QUILT LADY'

I am back!...  How many lame blogs have you read that started with those words?  Or 'I'm sorry.  It sure has been a long time since my last post'.  Well, (hanging head in shame) that is me.
Okay.
Enough apologies.
Let's move on, shall we?

I had the privilege of taking a class or two from Lisa Sipes.  Lisa is a wildly talented quilter.  She is profound, out spoken and true to herself.  I was just a bit star struck to be able to glean a nugget or two of knowledge from this young woman.  I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that this pink haired, tattooed, pantone leggin' wearing girly also has the gift of encouragement.  She says she is a 'cheerleader'.  I say that her kind words and enthusiastic instruction go much deeper than a rote cheer.  You can currently find her work in many quilt magazines as she has just been deemed part of the official Gammill family.  Her work is in the current Gammill adds.  She and Victoria Findlay Wolfe also just took Best of Show at QuiltCon in Austin (among the many ribbons that Lisa won at this show)! 

 You can read more about her on her blog thatcrazyquiltygirl.blogspot.com.

You know, I was going to try to catch you up on all the goings on since I last posted.  But instead I will make a promise just to post more often.  Tomorrow night I am giving a little instruction to my guild about how to prepare your quilt back for the quilter.  I will let you know how that goes...promise!