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.