The thrill of Victory , the agony of defeat and then victory…..

Here is a story of two quilts. The quiltmaker is in her 80’s and is a darling woman. I quilted the blue and white quilt and it had some problems. Click here to read about it. Needless to say, she got the quilt home and it had a large scale feather and several areas that were open spaces that weren’t quilted. I was so concerned about pleating on the top (which happened) that I didn’t want to overquilt it.

I missed the mark. She was kind and said it needed more quilting and was this possible. I said sure, I have read about people re-loading a quilt on a long arm frame… then I panicked. She also left me a pink quilt and said I would like feathers on this one too.

back

So I tried to make a different kind of feather on the pink star quilt. It is so soft and romantic. I think it will be what she is looking for.

before

Then I cried about the lovely blue and white. But I took a deep breath, reloaded it and started to quilt the heck out of it, just like I would do on my own quilt. I love overly quilted things. I tried too hard to not over do it that I missed the mark. I don’t know what I was thinking.  I am pleased with it. I think she will be too.

after

After, a little Victory.

Vicki

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It has been very cold. To beat the cold and cabin fever,  my husband and his friends had a little backyard Highland games and block party. It is south of us and much warmer.  The food was great and the company even better. Linda made Jay a kilt can cozy and had to tell the tale of how she sewed her finger making it  ( ugh, ow and the needle broke in her finger, her husband took it out), and the joke is that the little kilt is made out of my husband’s friend’s tartan. Ha, so much fun! But I must say I got a little cold. I stood by the fire which I don’t usually do because of the smoke. After washing my hair three times, it still smells of wood smoke!!!!

So we wake up today and it was nearly 30 below zero. I went to work. Brrrr, at least we are not having any problems with cars, water or heating. I am so thankful.

I had time to myself at lunch and after work so I didn’t waste any time and worked on a customer quilt. As you can see, I am doing an all over small feather. I also rolled it up to the end of the quilt! Its always a good feeling to see the end and to have extra batting  :)  I should have it finished in the next day or so.

Vicki

A very cool baby quilt

I have to say that Holly made a really gorgeous quilt and then let me quilt anything on it! It has blues on the left and that had a water feel to it….the orange and reds on the right reminded me of fire. So I based the quilting on these ideas. These two elements join in the center with a dna strands and the wow fabric.

I love the letters cut out to spell the babies name. The back is flannel and shows the stitching nicely.  This was truly an amazing project to work on and I can’t wait for the next quilt!

Vicki

A very cool baby quilt

I have to say that Holly made a really gorgeous quilt and then let me quilt anything on it! It is has blues on the left and that had a water feel to it….the orange and reds on the right reminded me of fire. These two elements join in the center with a dna strands and the wow fabric.

I love the letters cut out to spell the babies name. The back is flannel and shows the stitching nicely.  This was truly an amazing project to work on and I can’t wait for the next quilt!

Vicki

Love is…..

 

This weekend was a nice long one. Its our anniversary of 29 years and we decided to do things we love with the person we love. Love is so much more than what stories or movies can explain. And we have very few people we know who have been married as long or longer, they know but couldn’t explain it either. Its too special and too deep to put into words.

We enjoy so many of the same things. We love sports so we went to a hockey game. We had prime rib and went our favorite Scottish Bakery.  We ate burgers at Five Guys and BBQ at Dave’s. Over this three day weekend he took me to the very hip Pink Castle fabrics.  Then IKEA for a storage solution for my quilting stuff and Best Buy for a blue tooth speaker. I took him to Guitar Center and we bought a 12 string guitar.

We saw a movie about dragons and the highlight was the Detroit Institute of Art. It was an amazing gem. Very romantic and sweet way to spend time with each other. The weekend was so wonderful.

And now to let that carry us into the week, reality has already struck. The van wont go into gear this am. Off to work but with a heart full of wonderful memories to get me through.

Vicki

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I like to iron with tons of steam and old fashioned Niagra starch. That isn’t mainstream for quilters but it works for me and it is in my budget. I have to say I used to dislike ironing but recently I have set my iron up by a window and there is something relaxing about pressing a full sized quilt on a cold winter day. It must be the starch, or just that I have time to really enjoy the simple things in a slower pace and focus.

I loaded a pink quilt made my a woman in her 80s. It is really sweet and romantic. I am quilting small feathers on it. I think its really pretty already and I have only completed the first row.

Vicki

Batiks are really pretty!

Sue made this very pretty batik quilt. It is a wonderful collection that really has some vibrant colors. I think that the last picture is closest to the real color of the back. It is quilted in an overall freemotion feather. I used a green thread that jumps out at you! Love it !!!

Phase one of the great reorganization project of 2015 is complete. The old office is officially the new guest room and music room. We don’t use desks or an office space anymore. Do you?

I chose a beige paint and the colors will be in the accessories and quilts. Overall, this is a room dedicated to all of the gear. Next is organizing and setting the furniture in what used to be the guest room and now will be dedicated to my sewing stuff. I still will sew at the dining room table but everything else will be in new sewing/quilting room. This small house doesn’t allow for tons of extra stuff and has lots of weird storage areas and cubbies. I want to utilize it better. The enclosed front porch is getting organized more in all of this too with added furniture and will have the potential to be used more as living space. It is finished and climate controlled out here. It just has been a under utilized space in the last couple of years. Modern living in a 100 year old house has it’s challenges! More pics to follow when we reach the end.

Overall, it has been a pretty usual week. I have been working. I have been quilting in the mornings before work that I have a short commute. I quilt at lunch when I can. I have 2 quilts here at the house that needs to be finished and just when I think there won’t be any more quilts here, I get three people telling me they have a quilt for me to do. So, I think longarming is going to be a steady thing with about 3-4 quilts a month. Makes me feel very blessed.

I am working on my own projects, too. Here are a two sneak peeks at a quilt I want to enter in a show. I have hopes that it may make it. If not I will keep trying because I like it and it needs a place to live.

Vicki

It