Combining Freemotion and Digital Design on Wool Applique Quilt

Wool Applique Quilt 

Made by Rita Darr

There are very few constants in my quilting business, and I think that's why it holds my attention so well. I love novelty! I see everything from one block charity quilts to intricate paper piecing. When this beautiful wool applique quilt found its way to me, I was intrigued. I'd done cotton applique before several times, but never wool. So I did my research, took my time to think about what would work, and practiced on paper. 

Judy Neimeyer Prismatic Star Finish

Prismatic Star

Judy Neimeyer quilts are iconic within the quilt world as complicated rights of passage into the upper tiers of experienced piecers. But like every new pattern we attempt, our first shot might not go as well as we wish. Learning is not always linear. That doesn't mean the quilt top is terrible, but that we would have a leg up the next time.  So what happens when we finish, and there is a little puffiness here and there, or a slightly wonky, wavy border, or the many other construction swamps we get bogged down in? It happens to me. It happens to you. But what can you do about it when it comes to quilting?

First, be honest with your long arm quilter, and have faith that, yes, some of it can be concealed with quilting.

Modern Heart Quilt & Bluprint

Piece & Love Solids Day Dream Quilt

I was saddened by the recent news that Bluprint would be closing in the near future. I was pleased with, and well served by the Craftsy company that later became Bluprint. In the past years, they offered a way for indie, or independent designers, to get their foot in the door by selling patterns through the platform. I watched some of these quilters rise up to greater renown within the community, and it was exciting. Retail stores compete with online quilting supply websites, and some are happy to see Bluprint go. But I worry that with our unstable economy in the light of COVID-19, and the number of companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is this a sign of things to come for our smaller stores? Many have been in decline, and the number of closures over the past decade is alarming. I'm not sure I want to foresee that future.

Surely thinking about all this spurred me to dig out a kit I'd purchased this winter from Bluprint. The Piece & Love Solids Day Dream kit by Cloth Parcel was bought with the notion it would be a quick make. It was, but I will be very honest with you--I was not happy with the pattern. 

Crosshatch Longarming a Wholecloth Quilt

Crosshatching Demystified

Laugh yourself silly, but I often find myself daydreaming about random things to do with quilting. Or in the wee hours of the evening, drifting to sleep, it hits me. Oh, where did that thought come from? But thinking things is a different animal than doing things, and often those worlds don't connect. Imagine when they do. 

Ideas for Working with Donated Quilt Blocks

Special Post from the North

Early last winter I received a mysterious package from north of our border. I recognized the addressee, a quilty blogger friend, Karen, from KaHolly. She had sent quilt tops in the past to be used in the Gnadenhutten Quilt Project, and those quilts were donated to a local shelter for families experiencing domestic violence.

Quilt for a Hard Rocker Finish

Quilt for a Hard Rocker

Done. I love that word right now. Along with the constant stream of customer quilts, I'm plugging away at ones I've promised to family. So with little fuss, here is today's finish sans tag, which will be added.

Custom Quilting Creative Borders

AKA When Things Don't Go As Planned

I never start a long arm quilting job without having a planning session with the maker, client, or client who is also a friend. Sometimes we talk on the phone, and other times in person. But this quilt and another were dropped off ahead of our meeting, and I had time to live with them. In the very beginning, this maker/client/friend thought this quilt should be custom or semi-custom quilted. I was on board with something a little more special. It had grown on me.

Amish Bright Quilt Finish

Amish Bright Finish

The garden is in! That's the excuse I'm giving for not paying attention to Blogland. I'm torn between the weeds that are growing exponentially, and my duty to keep up in the cyber world. I suppose 'weeds' grow here, too, but in a different sense. The one problem with being both gardener and quilter is both make hard use of your hands, and back back muscles, too. I've been fairly worn out lately, and note that I check the clock at dinner to see how soon I can head for bed afterward. Gosh, I think I'm getting old!

One Long Comeback

When Covid-19 stopped the world in March, I was already sick. One of our adult children came down with something, and I soon had it. My case was far lighter than hers, but her symptoms were more typical of what we hear with Covid-19. It went on for weeks for both of us. She was down, but I worked at home most days. What did we have? Not influenza A or B or strep or pneumonia, we know for sure. It was early on, and Covid testing was just becoming available for the very ill. Thankfully, we both got better, and no one near to us got the same thing.

Spin Drift: 13 From Quilts to Socks

Scattered, Yet Focused

Everyone is saying the same thing. "Focusing is hard right now, and I rip more than I sew." We sit down to do something, and our mind wanders. Is our family okay today? Should we check in with a friend we haven't heard from in a few days? Our phone pings. A text, an alert, a message about someone we know who might be sick. We want to keep on top of what is happening in the news with the spread of Covid-19, but we also need to stay occupied. Some of us have hopped on board with free quilt-alongs, but it's not for everyone. It's terribly hard to follow through, and even with a plan we feel lost in our typically sacred work spaces.

Spin Drift: 12 One More Day

The Marathon Continues

Custom quilting requires many times longer than an edge-to-edge, and at present I have stacks of quilts waiting. In spite of the back up in the quilt room, the pandemic took priority, and I took a few days off to get our lives in order. We have the things we need to keep us comfortable and safe, but we're not stockpiled. The kids have helped us find some alternative methods to buy food locally, hurrah for that, and I will say there is a momentary peace of mind of sorts. With that taken care of for the moment, I really want to get my quilt done and off. Today.

Spin Drift: 11 Custom Quilting

It's All About the Numbers
or
Custom Quilting Takes Forever
or 
The World Feels Very Crazy at the Moment, 
and This Project Will Never End

Nearly every quilt I look back on has some weird tangle of emotions and events. "Oh, that's the one I hand quilted through the winter when the power kept kicking off," or "I bought the fabric for that when so-and-so was with me." The whole quilt is a mixture of memories of fiber and thread, of people, and life events. I think it's glorious when they are happy memories, but it can ruin a quilt when it's something else. I don't want this quilt to become The Corona Quilt (even though they are very spatially similar). Therefore, I'm taking measures to keep my head and heart above water, and not bring the anxiety to my work space. And, I'm hurrying to get it done now. The clock ticks between things escalating on the world front, and how quilting much my darned tennis elbow will allow in a day.

Spin Drift:10 The Quilting Begins

Together at Last

The minute I had delivered the Bountiful Baskets quilt I was hard at work putting together the last blocks of Spin Drift. 

Bountiful Baskets Custom Quilting

"Bountiful Baskets"

There are more and more requests for custom quilting coming, and I always feel it's a great learning experience. When I was approached a few months ago about doing a quilt pattern called Bountiful Baskets by Pearl P. Pereira, I started doing my research. Planning how to quilt a piece usually starts with looking to see what everyone else has done. In this case, though, there was very little to go on. Next, I searched for applique quilts, and that was nearly endless. So I gathered my ideas, and met with this quilt's maker, Vickie Thomas. 

Spin Drift: 9

Reach In and Touch Them

Don't they look alive? Like you could feel they're cool, rubbery leaves if you swept your fingers across the fabric. I love this digital print! Maybe it has something to do with my fettish with succulents. They're like collecting Beanie Babies. Each slightly different, and low care. I find I can winter over dozens under fluorescent lights, and my world is still green on gray days. 

Spin Drift: 8

Cornerstone Dresden Plates

Shall I admit that I have rarely, if ever, made a whole quilt from a pattern created by someone else? As I sit up late at night writing to you--I slept for hours, and am now awake having thought street tacos were a good choice to eat late, I am working to remember. Okay, oh, yes, Moda Modern was one except in prints, and I believe two more patterns over the years perhaps. But none that I even loosely followed someone else's color scheme as well as the pattern. This must be my first, and admittedly, I have enjoyed following without leading. Not recreating the wheel, a friend tells me. There is joy in that when the rest of our lives are a bit helter skelter. Just follow the directions step by step.

Spin Drift:7

A Friday Sneak Peak!

I just can't stand it any longer. I'm not really good at secret projects, and have been dying to show you how this quilt is coming together. Dang! Isn't this a fun quilt!? The litmus test is when you put a section together on the wall, stand back, and giggle. I've laughed out loud many times, and admittedly photo bombed several friends with this marathon project. My studio has been my happy place!

Spin Drift: 6

Mixed Media Fantasy

Have you noticed how many more digital prints your local quilt stores are carrying this year? They're everywhere now. I stood in a shop yesterday watching people's reactions as they walked by a long rack of them. Several quilters paused longer to look at them, but none reached out to touch them. Interesting, I thought, but why? 

Spin Drift: 5

How Tweet It Is!

We feed the birds throughout the fall, winter, and spring. Sure, on the edge of a large woods they can forage for food, and especially during such a mild winter as we're having, but we feed to draw them in. We want to see the red cardinals, graphic woodpeckers, little gray juncos and titmice, yellow-green false canaries, brown sparrows and wrens, and even those nasty blue jays color our world when most things are gray. It's been a green winter here, but still the birds add so much color.

Spin Drift: 4

Memories of My Garden

My garden is not particularly planned. It's more of a jumble of plants I've bought or been given. Many have to be heeled in quickly, and quite often I have to move one after the fact. It might not like the sun or wind in that spot, or maybe it spreads enough to block another favorite. It may appear messy to some, but most often there is a sense of order in my mind. It's controlled chaos at best.