Longarm Quilt #89 Wind in the Leaves - what I'd change & a mystery

Every quilt is a learning process – which thread is best, which quilting design works, a new process like appliqué on the Longarm (see my 9/17/13 blog about Tootie Fruitie - A fun project on the longarm).

This is a quilt I finished over the Thanksgiving holiday in my favorite colors – fall colors. The pattern is a real simple one that I made on up my design wall and you can see the Before is kind of boring:

But I planned it that way. (tip: that’s what you ALWAYS say when it didn’t work or there’s a boo boo!).  Actually, I really did plan it this way; I wanted to use solids to accent the quilting (another first). I used Superior Rainbow variegated thread in Autumn Leaves – the perfect thread for this project:

What I’d change: I wish I had continued the swirl quilting all the way across each row of blocks instead of breaking it up with the figure 8’s. Sometimes you use the piecing as a quilting guideline and sometimes, you should just IGNORE it!

A mystery: My top was square, but I had problems with a pucker in the backing toward the bottom right side which I had to rip out. I used a beautiful purple minkee backing which I know is slippy, but I’ve used minkee before with no problem.

I used cotton/poly Legacy batting which seems more slippery than my usual Hobbs 80/20, so maybe that contributed to the problem.  Maybe I should have done stitch in the ditch (SID) first. Do you always SID if you’re doing different quilting in the blocks and sashing???

Anyhoo, this is my car quilt and I’m pretty happy with it.  Oh, don’t you just LOVE that red/orange binding with the purple backing?  Ahhhhh~

Longarm Quilt #62 - When variegated thread is perfect!

This is a really fun 1-piece (I guess that qualifies as a wholecloth) top that made up quickly into a super cute baby quilt. Just popped the 42x52 piece of fabric on the longarm with batting and backing and started quilting.

I used King Tut variegated in Cleopatra on top. See, isn't it perfect? It has all the bright colors of the quilt!:

I used So Fine Ferrari in the bobbin. Ferrari is this bright neon green that I seem to use a lot! I freehand quilted it with a design I call palm frondish - it kinda reminds me of palm branches and is sort of jungley (I'm sure that's a word) like the African animals. I get a lot of quilting ideas from books and this one is from Dawn Ramirez, Pajama Quilter. She has such a friendly, relaxed way of teaching that it just helps a nervous, new longarmer feel more confident. thanks Dawn!

Sometimes it's hard to tell where the quilting lines go, so here's a sketch on top of the photo to give you an idea:

It's such a great allover design cause it's so easy to meander around, fill in all the tiny places and change direction easily. In this pic, you can see how the thread color changes look on the quilt:

I tried to angle the light so you can see the texture of the quilting:

Of course, I had to use more brightness on the back - a blue with crazy green dots.

That's a lot of pictures, but it's such a fun, happy quilt; maybe it will bring a smile to your day.

A furry foot wrap

I got some really cute snuggle fabric with some of my birthday money, but wasn't sure what I was going to make with it. I always keep a little blankie under the covers to keep my feet warm and my M.I.L. mentioned getting cold at night and so ah ha! I knew exactly what to do.  I popped those puppies on my longarm (no batting needed), did some loops and hearts with blue Omni thread. Added some blue binding and voila! A super soft throw to keep the toes warm and toasty. What a fun project.

longarm quilt #44 A Fun Project on the Longarm - Tootie Fruitie

This is a really cute little girl quilt I did for my greatniece a couple years ago:



I got the idea from watching Linda Taylor's quilting show on the web. Pam Clark was a guest and she quilted the background and then added the applique all with the longarm. I fussy cut the flowers and used loops and zigzags to attach the shapes.

I used King Tut thread in Harem and peach So Fine in the bobbin. The Harem variegated thread had the perfect colors to go with the flowers. I also added those crazy 3-d strips to the sashing with the longarm.

I took a 2" wide strip, folded it in thirds and sewed it down the middle on my DSM. Then using a scribble stitch with the longarm, I added folds and "ruffles" to add some dimension. It would also be cute with buttons. I used Hobbs Polydown batting so all the different background quilting really showed up and added more fun dimension.  A little different view:

By the way, I keep a list of quilts with notes so I can look back & see what I've actually accomplished and that I'm getting better with practice. I'm really happy with how this turned out; I may need to do another one like this soon!

what's on the longarm today?

Today is "whatcha workin on?" day

this is my friend, Susan's, beautiful prairie companions quilt top.


As you can see, I'm quilting seedlings and hooked swirls in alternate rows. I'm using Superior's Omni thread in Rusty on the top and a similar color of Superior's So Fine in the bobbin. I almost always use so fine in the bobbin so there's less bobbin changing. This is a big quilt; I've already used 6 bobbins and I'm just over halfway finished. This is about 108 x 120 so it's the biggest top I've ever quilted.

Previously, my daughter's birthday quilt, "Katie's Choice" won that prize. Yep, I name all my quilts. You spend so much time with them, you become close. It also helps me remember them & I add the name to the label. I might share this one next.

Here's a detail shot:

I like the way the Hobbs poly shows quilting definition. This isn't a real busy quilt so it's nice to have the quilting visible to really add zing to the top.

quilting detail - the twin quilts Part TWO!

I can't believe I forgot to talk about the embroidery part and the feathers! Here are the twin quilts again.

I quilted feathers in the red areas on the green/gray quilt. I can't even see them when I zoom in - probably cause I used Superior's So Fine thread.

I also quilted this one first. I wasn't sure how to handle the machine embroidered area and on the first one I did wavy lines in the white around the embroidery. It didn't thrill me but it was okay. In the embroidered hearts on the red quilt, I did one-way hatching right thru the embroidery with So Fine white and I was surprised with how good it looks.

If you're not into quilting, this is probably way too much detail; but if you quilt, maybe this is helpful. I study other people's quilting blogs, especially longarm quilters. I always learn a lot from their sites and everyone has great ideas. If more detail would interest you, please let me know. thanks