MQX West - First Half of Day 1

I've had my first class at MQX West 2011, the first time this machine quilting expo has been held on the west coast.  My class was called Lions and Tigers and Templates, Oh, My! taught by Kimmy Brunner.

First let me say, Kim Brunner is a really good teacher, and I would encourage anyone to take a class from her.  She is patient and clearly repeats her information when she's asked and I liked her very much.  The class is very well organized and the flow of information worked really well.  Kim obviously enjoys teaching.  I've been reading her column in Machine Quilting Unlimited, and she touched on the subject of using templates in that article, so I was familiar with some of what she covered, but it was good to have that reinforced, and then hear new materialo in conjunction with it.

The room, though, was not  setup properly for this presentation.  There were 2 rows of tables for students, holding approximately 12 people, but there were at least 60 people in the class.  That meant that everyone else had to try to work on the drawing handouts on their lap, using the notepad that they were supposed to bring to class.  To say the least, this was not a good first impression for the organization of the show.

The Awards Ceremony and "sneak peak" of the vendor mall will be tonight.  I'm a little disappointed that the vendor mall isn't open during the day because I was planning on using this time to go shopping, especially since my friends are taking classes. 

So, while I was waiting to take my first hands-on class since I first touched a longarm, I went to a local burger place, Burgerville, for lunch.  Blackberry shake was absolutely wonderful, the half salad, while flavorful, was too small, and so I had to order a sandwich to complete my meal.  I got the crispy chicken sandwich and ended up taking off the breading (I didn't realize it came with that) which included a smattering of barbeque sauce....which also needed removing.  I think I've experienced all that Burgerville has to offer me.

I'm really looking forward to the hands on class...Exploding Texture and Background Fill, with Judy Woodworth.  I really want to expand my free motion repertoire and think this class will help.  I'll let you know!

Happy Friday!

Have I mentioned how much I love piecing with Aurifil thread?  It always amazes me how long a spool will last, it's almost shocking when it's finally gone!

I stayed up way too late last night trying to get a block done for a comfort quilt.  Of course, I’m not making just one block, I have to do some production piecing!  Now I’m wondering what I’ll do with the extra blocks!  Hmmm…  Anyway,  I’ve got to pick one more strip of fabric to add to it and then I’ll post the finished block.  It's really cute!

Part of what took so long is that I'm also making this into a tutorial so I can post it on my website as a free download.  I’m inspired by people like Bonnie Hunter and Mary from MaryQuilts.com, they do such wonderful work and are so giving with their patterns, talent, and time.

I took today off work to get some chores done, but the Quilt Guardians need a walk first.  So, on with my day!

Vera’s Family Heirloom

This is the quilt that I was working on last week.  I’m really glad I went with the Variety panto on it, instead of Brocade!  Anne Bright converted the digital patterns for me to paper, since I don’t have a computerized system.  Wasn’t that nice of her?

Now that this one is finished, I still need to quilt the “practice” quilt I made so that I didn’t make a mistake on this one!  Sort of backwards, huh?

I’ve decided, though, to turn it into a showcase quilt and do a few rows of several pantos so I can show customers how they will look stitched out, and then I won’t run into this problem again.  Now I just need to decide if I want to use my Winline bamboo batting that I’m dying to use, or go with a cotton poly, something that would probably be used more often by my customers.  Such dilemmas, eh?

I probably won’t get to it in the next couple of weeks, though, because I am going to MQX West!  I’m lucky to have family in the Portland area, so I’ll be staying with them and it just turns out that my uncle will be turning 70 at the end of that week!  They are going to have a family reunion of sorts, so I need to get a different project done to take with me.  Better get sewing!

Oh, and just for the heck of it…I gotta share a photo of Hunter and Gizmo….they just need to learn how to relax!

Testing a Quilt Pattern

I decided to test the quilting pantograph pattern that my customer picked for her quilt on a quilt top of my own.  I’m just not convinced that it’s right for her quilt, because it is really open and airy.  If I chose the wrong design, I’ll be picking stitches…on someone else’s quilt no less… and I really don’t want to pick stitches!

So, I created a quilt top out of some leftover 10” blocks (I also cut some new ones) that had been used to make a top using the 10 Minute Block method.  Talk about a stash buster!

I have to say, I wasn’t very pleased with it to begin with, but I think it’s OK now.  I am excited to quilt it to see how it turns out!  I’m not sure what color of thread to use, though, so that’s another decision.  I think I may use a leafy green fabric for the backing, and while it doesn’t really go with the design overall, it’s…THE…BACK!  OK, I think I’m all settled now, and the perfectionist in me may let go of it after all..

I’m also thinking I may do 2-3 rows of the initial panto to see how it works, and then switch it to another panto; that way I’ll have a “sampler” of sorts to show my customers so they can see the actual quilting design and have a better idea of what they are choosing.

So, until my customer quilt is finished, the pink and white quilt is on hold.

My Latest Quilt–The Process

I recently saw an article about The Process Pledge, where the author encourages us to write about the decision process that goes into making a quilt.  Well, I’m not going to take the pledge itself, but I’ve been working on a quilt this week while I’ve been on vacation, and now that I’m to the point of adding the borders, I’m not sure what to do.

I’ve had this quilt on my mind since last Christmas, and finally started it this weekend!  I bought a package with a variety of hot pink 2” strips at the quilt guild garage sale table some time previously. The colors just lend themselves to a Rail Fence design, and I bought some white fabric with a butterfly print to go with it.  Really simple, and what a “pop”!  I just LOVE hot pink!

Because I was excited to get started, I got sewing and started cutting without an exact plan, aka a pattern, and wouldn’t you know it, I ended up *one* block short!  When I first started, I trimmed the blocks to one size, realized that I didn’t like how that looked, and cut them to the current size.  Of course, I had used up all of the fabric that would make an identical block, so what do to?  No sweat…I improvised!  Isn’t this a cool block?  The name of the quilt was determined at this very point: “Odd Girl Out”.

So, here’s what I finished today!

Now that I’ve gone through the pain, I’ll be writing up the pattern and posting it on my website;  I don’t want to have to go through all that for nothing!

Now for the border, right?  I had considered simply adding a thin border of hot pink, and then more white fabric to make it bigger.  However, I wanted to see what else I might do with it, so I turned to my, er, trusty EQ7 software program.  OK, I’ve had the program for awhile, but I am just not very comfortable with it.  The more I use it, the more I’ll learn it, right?

So, here are a few variations that I’ve come up with so far:

Diamonds on point, with butterfly applique blocks in the corners.  Now, since I don’t really go after applique projects, this is a stretch for me, but I think it’s really cute!

 

 

 

 

This is an easy square in a square border.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a flying geese border with the butterfly applique blocks in the corner again.

 

 

 

 

I am also interested in a ribbon border, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to get that to work in the program, though, so no picture of that.

Which one do you like best?

My practice piece

Thought I'd share with you my practice freehand piece, which is two pieces of fleece, no batting.  I'm going to use it as a back car seat blanket for when I have the dogs in the car.

It's the first time I've done this background fill on more than a 12" block and it's the first time I've used the non-stitch regulated mode on my machine.  I want to say it’s an Irena Blum design, but I really can’t remember where I saw it first.

I'm practicing it because I'm going to put this design on a baby quilt that is just darling, and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, or how to manage the size and density (that's still a bit of a challenge), but I really like it!

I still need to post photos of the past couple of customer quilts, but have run out of time this weekend.  We got a new-to-us “puppy”, Hunter, a 4 year old Shih Tzu to join the Quilt Guardian team.  So, he is a Quilt-Guardian-in-Training!

Summer Progress

I showed you a sneak peek of Jessica’s quilt in my last post.  I really love how this turned out, and am really happy to share the final quilt!  I used Anne Bright’s pantograph, Variety, in a dark cherry brown thread.  Jessica wanted that “poofy” look, so we used a high loft polyester batting.

Because the top is busy, it’s hard to see until you get up close.

The pattern is much easier to see on the back of the quilt.  When Jessica picked up the quilt, she was about ready to have a baby girl.  I wish their family all the best, and I can’t wait to see the new little one.

I took these photos of my garden this evening.  I don’t know why I’m surprised that the zucchini is ready for picking “already”…it’s been 2 months since I planted it!

Still, I think these are the largest zucchini plants I’ve ever seen!  And I grew them!  I know I tried something different than previous years, but I can’t remember what the variety is.

Here is my first harvest:

…and here are my first “billy clubs”!

I’ve done two more quilts since Jessica’s, but will have to wait to post those pictures until this weekend.  I’ve been way too busy lately, and I’m missing out on my sleep!  That is just bad news all the way around!