A labor of love

When we visited Tim and Hannah earlier this fall, Hannah showed me a picture of a quilt that she was wanting for their bed.  She asked if I would be interested in making one like it for them.  Yippee!!  Of course!! 

It was a log cabin pattern with stars at the intersections of the sashing.  We went to a quilt store and Hannah chose the fabrics she wanted for it.  We also had to go to JoAnn's to get a few more fabrics.

I worked on it quite a while.  It wasn't hard, but it was very time-consuming!!!  I bought a sheet for the backing.  The quilt was 95"x 95".  It took Bill and I both to put it on the frame!  That was fun- not!  The quilting was a learning experience.  The thread kept breaking on me.  I finally realized (after watching You Tube videos on loading a quilt onto a frame) that I had the quilt stretched on their too tightly.  When I loosened the tension it did much better!  I did an allover meander.  It took an afternoon (on and off) to get it quilted, so I was thrilled!!!

Tim, Hannah, Jimmy and Jason came here for Christmas, so I gave the quilt to them then.  I do believe that they were really thrilled with it.  I got a picture from Hannah the next day showing it on their bed already!  Yea!!!  Now I just need to make some pillow shams and throw pillows...

p.s. I finished the pillow shams and pillows and sent them to Tim and Hannah.  Here is a picture of the whole thing on their bed:



And here is a picture showing a malfunction in the quilt (aka, Lucky sleeping underneath it!!  Tim says their cat just loves the quilt!!



I'm in business!

 

I got my first order on the 4th of July! A co-worker of Bill's asked me to quilt a quilt for her parents' 50th anniversary.  It was a 69"x69" quilt.  Around its border were blocks that different family members had signed.  In the center was a machine embroidered block with their name.  I decided to use a pantograph that had hearts in it.  It was a littler un-nerving to be working behind the machine.  That's where I stand when I use pantographs.  The laser light is on the back of the machine and I have that light follow the pantograph, which is on the frame table.  Bill stood in front of the frame and watched as I sewed.  I had to be careful to not stitch over the beautiful embroidered block.  I meandered in the sashing between all of the border blocks.  I used a variated thread, which showed up beautifully on the back of the quilt.  I really had fun with it- and appreciated Bill cheering me on.

The beginning

On Saturday, July 2, 2011, I got my long arm quilting machine. We brought it home and set it up. Thankfully, I have a spare bedroom for it. We put the frame up at the 5 foot size. I have to say, it was a little intimidating. I put a muslin "practice quilt" on and played away, I was amazed and excited with how smooth it moved.

My first "real quilt" was a 36" square baby quilt. Was I ever excited when I had it quilted in 20 minutes! Amazing! I meandered with hearts all over it.

I'm hooked!