Finished my workshop quilt from Saturday!

Last Saturday, I went to a quilt retreat for the day with three of my best quilting buddies. 

This 48 X 48 inch wall quilt was the result.  I must admit that when I go to a retreat, I may not be the most fun person there.  I am so task-oriented that I cannot help keeping my nose to the grindstone and trying to get as much done as I can while I am there.  It isn't necessarily that I am anti-social; I just know that if I take it home half done, it will remain that way for some time.  If I take it home "almost done," I will finish it.  That's just me.  Anyway, this only needed the borders sewn on and the decorative stitching around the curves in order to finish it, so I did that on Sunday.  Right now, it is on the longarm.  I decided to throw it on the frame and quilt it so that I can take it to our guild meeting the second week of February.  One more project done and ready for our October quilt show:)

Down, but not Out!

So, I have a little back issue that, once in awhile, rears its ugly head.  This happens to be the case this weekend.  It started back on Thursday feeling a little "twingy" and by Saturday it was in serious..."Don't move around too much or you will be sorry" mode.  Of course, I went and sat at a wrestling meet most of the afternoon and evening on Friday, and then went to a quilter's retreat from 9:00 to 6:00 on Saturday, so today my back is screaming in protest.  I have tried to take it easy today, really, but I did finish sewing together a wallhanging sample for the shop from Kim Shaeffer's Calendar quilts wallhangings pattern.  It is sooo cute!  I also worked on sewing the borders on and adding decorative stitches to  the quilt I made during my retreat workshop yesterday.  Now, I am just laying flat on the couch and working on my blog.  I am also trying to watch Cricut Gypsy tutorials on Youtube for my (on its way, YAY!) new gypsy!  Thank goodness for computers.  Otherwise, I would be stuck watching "Cowboys and Aliens" with my hubby and new son-in-law!  Perish the thought!

Creativity in Quilting is an Amazing Thing!

 

As I continue to catch up with quilts from the past few weeks, I am amazed at the creativity in people.  Fabric designers, pattern designers, and quilters combine all that creativity into some very beautiful projects for me to work on.  Sometimes, it can be overwhelming to think that my quilting will be the final touch on someone else's hard work.  I give a lot of thought and research to different types of quilting designs to use on quilts for my customers.  I use QNNtv.com, the internet, and lots of magazines to look for new ideas and to stay on top of what is new in the world of quilting.  There are many different types of quilters out there.  Each person brings their own unique talents to the table when it comes to quilting.  To each his/her own!!!

So Many Projects, Sew Little Time!

The new quilt I am working on for my class in February.

After spending a couple of days last week helping my mom in her quilt shop, I returned home with all kinds of ideas and plans for new quilts.  Alas, I had to continue my work on customer quilts, too.  However, I did manage to get quite a bit done on a sample using the Lazy Angle Ruler for a class that I plan to teach at the shop at the end of February.  I decided that unless I am up against a serious deadline, I am going to spend at least part of the day on Saturday, or Sunday afternoons, sewing on my own projects.  All work and no play can make Sandi a crabby girl!  It's a good thing that my "work" is kind of like "play" most of the time!

A customer's first quilt which she made in mom's beginning quilting class.

I decided on an all over panto-style free motion quilting for this quilt since she asked for an E2E design.  I used off-white thread since there were a lot of colors in the quilt, and it ended up looking very nice.  She was quite pleased with it.

Another Day in Paradise!

Today I worked on fixing a wall quilt that my aunt had quilted a while ago by someone else.  It had large expanses of black applique pieces on it that did not get any quilting.  Needless to say, they had puffed up and would not lay flat or look nice.  She showed it to me several months ago and asked if I could make it any better.  I offered to try, so when she was here for my daughter's wedding, she brought it along.  I pinned it in the frame and ended up McTavishing the appliques.  It turned out great!  I can't wait for her to see it.  Lesson learned...don't leave big areas unquilted.

Free Motion Quilting Rocks!

There is nothing like the feeling of completing a quilt and knowing that it looks great!  Sometimes, when I am first thinking about what to do on a quilt, I start to second guess myself and worry that it won't look good.  However, usually if I just look at the quilt a while and then go away from it, the quilt will "tell me" what to do to make it look great.  Often, my customers are looking for "quick and cheap" which is really sad because the quick and the cheap don't generally translate into a beautiful quilt.  I love it when a customer asks me to do "whatever the quilt tells me" because I can then feel free to make it look wonderful, even if it takes a bit longer and costs a bit more.  These quilts were all belonging to the same person, and she told me to do whatever I wanted to do.  I used a combination of free-motion and template work to enhance the piecing that she did.  Free-motion work allows me to work quicker than using stencils and lots of templates, which translates into a less expensive bill for my customers.  I love the heirloom work that some quilters do, but my preference is definitely leaning toward free-motion.  Using creativity and skill allows a unique look for every quilt.  I don't have a computerized system, and I don't think I will ever invest in one.  To me, the artistry would then be gone.  In my opinion, free motion quilting that relies on the quilter will always be my standard!