 Note that these are appliques on pieced blocks. Carrie Byrd of El Paso, Texas pieced this Superman theme quilt. We have been talking for a several days about the custom IQ pattern she wants--something that includes the Superman Logo as a block or incorporated in a pantograph. I sent Sandy a picture of the logo on fabric to see if she was available & interested. Yes & yes. When I received Carrie's photo the block idea was out so Carrie & I via phone went though the various styles of meandering pantos on this site including loops, curves, puzzle pieces, squares and swirls. She liked Vicki Malaski's style of swirls best because they "look like flames". Once Carrie committed, Sandy produced a flawless winner the first time!! (It used to take us several rounds & several hours of testing to get a pattern right.) June 16: Carrie first contacted me about longarming this quilt. June 18: Got photos from Carrie (posted below). June 19: Carrie accepted my quote & Sandy created the custom pantograph for this quilt. July 02: The quilt is now here complete with batting. The backing is as colorful as the front! What I did not know before is that these are all appliques over pieced blocks!! Wow, Carrie!! A very special quilt indeed! July 06: Carrie chose a Superior Rainbows variegated thread called Tapestry. I ordered it from Superior as a special order since I just missed the monthly shipment. That is because they worked on the July 4th! Go figure. July 17: I have been watching for that thread to come in. When I didn't get a package delivered in person, like yesterday, I would go check the mailbox. Hmmm. No thread. Checked the box twice today. No thread. Hmmm. Time to call Superior. It was at the Fleetwood post office yesterday morning. Hmmm. Time to call Bennie & RIta, our carriers. Bennie said there have been other mailbox thefts in this area. Rita described the white box she delivered to my mailbox yesterday. So I filed a police report & reordered the thread. Should be here Monday via UPS. July 23: The thread is here and preparation for loading has begun. The quilt is now loaded and basted. Just need a nap before I go any further. Now first row is done & gorgeous! July 24: After quilting the first row, I rolled the quilt and checked the back. While the front looks great, I was not satisfied with the tension on the back in several places. When I tested it, I did it on the black border attached to widen the backing for quilting and not on the backing fabric itself. I chose a light thread for the back which did not blend as well as i hoped and the beautiful variegated thread on top showed through. I am switching to a dark thread on the back, adjusting the tension and redoing the first row ...uh after I take it out today. July 25: Ready to start quilting again. A successful day & the quilting is finished.
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Jackie tells us about her quilt so be sure to read her comments.  Comment from Jackie (moved here): I did a google search this morning for "longarm quilting service". The first site that I clicked was this one. After a quick glimpse of the site, I fired off an e-mail to Linda asking a few questions. Needless to say, had I taken the time to really search the site I would find the answers to all of my questions. Before two hours had passed my phone rang, and it was Linda calling me ready and willing to answer my questions and give me the guidance that I was seeking. We had a nice conversation and I felt like I was talking to a longtime friend. Three e-mails and two phone calls later I am shipping my quilt top out to her tomorrow. The "Smiling Quilter" has me smiling. I can't wait to see her work. My reply: Sorry it took me so long! LOL. Thank you so much for your kind words. Let's quilt!! June 13: First contact. Did a quick EQ7 so I can show Jackie what various patterns will look like. Can't do that until the IQ computer is free. June 14-15: IQ pattern overlays so Jackie could make a final decision. June 18: Quilt top arrived. July 12: Checked the IQ pattern and quilt dimensions. Preparing the backing for loading. When I started to load the backing, it was wider than my canvases so I had to cut off 4". Started loading the backing. July 13: A Friday, I might add. Finished loading the backing. Spent a long time preparing the top & got it loaded too. Ready to start basting tomorrow. I expect the quilting to take me at least two days because this pattern doubles back on itself. The stitching time alone is about double what most quilts require plus this quilt maxes out my table width. It is big. It is also beautiful & I look forward to working with it. My preparation leaves me with a good feeling that all will go smoothly. We shall see. The gotcha will be making sure all dark threads are clear of the white areas so they don't show through. I will be searching for and trimming dark threads with every roll of the quilt. July 14: I started the first row and everything looked good. Even though I checked for dark threads showing through I could not see them until the area was stitched. Yuck! After the third one in a row, I took out almost all of what I had stitched so I could unroll the quilt and get close enough to trim carefully. This quilt with this issue may take me well past the weekend. We shall see. HA! Finally got one row done! Only took me 5 hours! July 15: Quilting. July 16: Still quilting. And quilted. Will ship tomorrow.  Per Michelle: This quilt is composed mostly of Dan Stiles' "Marine" fabrics by Birch, along with some Kona solids. The pattern is from Elizabeth Hartman's book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork". Sure puts me in the mood for a coastal adventure. Alas, if only all quilts were so perfectly pieced!!  June 29: Loading...loaded...basted. June 30: Quilted.  Per Michelle:The pinwheels is a pattern I created using this special Lazy Girl Designs ruler. The fabrics for the pinwheels are Pezzy by American Jane for Moda. I just LOVE Sandy Klop's fabrics. The solids are Kona cottons. I will be binding the quilt with black and white striped binding to add more "pop". This small quilt has Michelle's characteristic touch on the back, this time another pinwheel. July 01: Prepped...loaded...quilting...quilted.  On this quilt it looks like Joan has taken up my style of piecing. It is called invisible seams. Seriously, this will become a fun table topper and the fabric does it all. Quilt, bind & enjoy! June 27: Loaded and quilted. !! Happy First Birthday !!  You just might find more than the freshest vegetables at our local farmer's market. I have wanted to go for a long time, just never did. While I wasn't making much progress on quilts around here last week, I was researching juicers. And a juicer needs a lot of fresh veggies. And grocery veggies can get quite pricey. So I went to the market thinking it would be great if I could find someone who would accept payment for the season and us not nickle and dime every transaction. As many of you know I am a homebody rarely leaving the cabin except for mailing quilts and other can't put them off any longer errands. HA! First people I met were Duane and Irene Grafton of Bridle Creek Farm in Deep Gap closer than the post office, i.e. about 6 miles from here. When Duane mentioned it first--yes, a plan just like I was hoping for--I wrote a check! So when I go to mail a quilt I can swing by and get fresh veggies all season. Thus I guess you can say I became their customer. Little did I know they would become mine. You would think a farm & horses & two boys would be enough work yet Duane is a realtor and Irene does whatever needs doing at a bank in Boone. Busy, busy busy but not to busy to drop by last night.  Duane & Irene & their two energetic sons came over this evening to bring & share some heirloom quilts. No way I was going to spoil such priceless though well worn quilts. Of course, I had to dig into my stuff. While doing so, I discovered they were serious about having a quilt made for a boy who will be one in July. Since these friends board horses at their Bridle Creek Farm...well, it was a hit. The plan is to use this fabric as is front and back with a solid red border and binding. I have everything I need so this is next on my to do list. June 11: Was told I have to get this posted before my friends get home. LOL. What a mess we made & I am left to clean it up. Now does that seem fair? We decided to use Art Studio Colors #101 Yuma Gold, a thick thread like King Tut. June 12: We decided to do a couple of throw pillows too since there is enough fabric. June 14: Cut the fabric. June 15: Pieced the top and backing. Ready to load & quilt. Took far longer than I expected because the print on the fabric was not square. It is close now. June 19: I was about to load this quilt today when it seemed that two quilts with red backings would be a better plan than one with this gorgeous fabric on both sides. I got Duane's go ahead this evening so now I have cut two red backings & will piece them in the morning. June 20: Piecing the backing. I will quilt one of these today & the other goes at the bottom of the queue like any other quilt. Got the first one loaded. June 21: Started quilting and then realized I needed to stop and clean the bobbin assembly. When it gets noisy, it is time. And quilted. June 22: Squared the quilt to prepare it for binding. June 24: Quilting the 2nd one. About 1/2 done. No pictures on this one yet. June 25: Finished quilting #2 through a barrage of thread breaks and tension issues. Also attached the binding. Irene came over this afternoon to learn how to do hand binding so she will finish both of these quilts.She took #2 with her. I need to do some tension repairs on #1 & then attach that binding. July 09: Duane called this morning wanting to deliver one of these quilts this weekend. The recipient has a birthday coming up & they are going down for that this weekend. Irene has not been able to get the binding done. So now it is back on me at the last minute. I have made no promises but since I still have quilt #1 here, I am working on attaching the binding and then going to plug away until the hand work until done. Binding is now attached. July 10: Hand binding all day. Dorothy asked me how I do binding in this heat (or something to that effect). See pictures and captions below. July 11: Binding on quilt #1 finished in plenty of time for that birthday.  This beautiful on point quilt top was pieced by Nita Powers who is serving our country & living in Germany. I will complete it including the binding and then ship it to her daughter in California. Lucky daughter! The batiks here have an Alaskan theme including, as best I can tell, whales, ravens & otter & other sea life. I have tried to capture that below. I find it fascinating that only the small one inch vertical squares give this quilt its "pop" & it works brilliantly. June 09: Received the quilt & posted first images. June 16: Selected threads this morning. You would think that with two wonderful machines, lots of thread and lots & lots of prewound bobbins, I would be all set. I found the perfect King Tut for the top. Deep purple will hide nicely on the back but it is only one of very few colors that does not come in prewounds. Neither machine (Janome nor APQS longarm) has a bobbin winder that works with the size bobbins I need. Wal-Mart and $25 to the rescue, my little Simplicity SideWinder does a great job unless I do it wrong. Yep, unforeseeable circumstance where a 2 minute task takes become much longer. And so it goes. Whether necessary or intentional, I just found a patch in the center of the backing from the same fabric as the sashing on the front. Very nice touch & a great way to fill-in the backing if the fabric runs a tad short. It has been a long day and I have spent it mostly preparing this beautiful quilt for loading. Don't ask me what took so long--I don't know. Large quilts take extra time. The thread is loaded, the seams lie flat, thick threads are trimmed, the batting is cut, the canvas leaders are extended to their max. Time to start pinning...in the morning. June 17: Decided to start today by doing the EQ7/IQ overlay thing. I have programmed IQ and this pattern has excellent coverage yet stitches quickly because there is no looping back or over-stitching. That is done now so time to start pinning. While basting I had no choice but to contend with a slightly friendly (wavy) border that was just a bit too friendly. Baste, steam, hair dryer, re-baste with pins only, steam, hair dryer, dry overnight... June 18: Iron, baste with thread, steam, hair dryer, iron. Whew! Ready to quilt! When I commit to doing a quilt, I really do give it my all as if it was own. Again I say that this is not unusual. With the fabric Nita was working with, she has done an awesome job. Quilting at last! Quilted. Binding is next. June 22: Squared the quilt to prepare it for binding. July 06: Binding is attached. Hand sewing has begun. July 09: Binding and thus the quilt is finished.  The King Quilters (Sharon Stoehr & Vicki Boissey) brought this beautiful large bargello design (constructed with strips of fabric of the same height but different widths) quilt pieced by Paula McLean of Canada to the cabin in person to help get it loaded and to see the longarming process first hand. It will be raffled at the parish fall festival. Yes, I started on this one before doing Becca's which has long been in the queue, thus breaking my first come first served policy. I just hope the raffle goes well & much is raised for the cause. June 01: The quilt backing is wider than my canvas so I added a few inches of quilted fabric scraps to widen it so I could pin to it. Believe me! It took all 3 heads to figure this out & all 6 hands to execute it. AND so far it is working! This is the kind of "little extras" we were doing that took us from 11 AM to 6:30 PM to only load and quilt two rows. Once the quilting began, the loaded quilt was flawless and the sewing did itself. Sharon selected a variegated King Tut #983 Cedars thread, colors tone-on-tone brown. She brought her own 80/20 cotton/poly blend batting. June 02: Beware! A whole lot of pictures coming your way mostly from row three I just finished. Row three was perfect!! Not so row 4. For no reason I can fathom, my stitching went berserk. Oh so beautiful on top but as I neared the end of the long row, they looked a bit loose. After undoing row 4, I completed rows 4 & 5 so I am half way now. June 03: While doing row 6, I just HAD TO start putting the sewing room back in order. My stuff was all over the place and some of it had even been moved to the kitchen to have room to longarm. After finishing that row I shut everything down and finished the yet another reorganization. DARN! Another first at the cabin and not a welcome one. Into row 8, I ran out of thread probably because of that row I took out. Actually I probably would have run out anyway. So a rush order from Superior tomorrow will allow me to finish. June 04: The thread is on the way. Superior is a great company with exceptional customer service. I could not ask for better. Thanks again Pati & Superior. June 10: After a long week of waiting for the thread which came in yesterday afternoon, I am quilting again--40 minutes of sewing time so with basting and rolling the quilt, I hope to done in well less than 2 hours. It took 2.5 hrs. Oh well. That is just how it goes. Finished! This quilt at 98x112 is just too big for one photo. Blame the full moon rising but I am chuckling at my post title King Quilters because they live in King, NC & their quilts are king size. Today Sharon Stoehr & Vicki Boissey showed up at 11 AM sharp as planned. We got Sharon's church fundraiser raffle quilt loaded at last after devising a way to deal with the fact that it is too wide for my setup. I'll blog quilt progress under separate posts except to say we got two rows completed before they had to head home at 6:30 PM with barely a break to grab a quick bite to eat. I'll finish up the longarming on this one tomorrow. Both of my new friends will return perhaps next week to do Vicki's log cabin quilt. That gives her time to make some alterations & me time to get in more of the perfect thread we found for these quilts. I feel I made two friends today for we have far more in common than quilting.  May 03: You gals must be congresswomen too (i.e. it takes an act of Congress to get me to do a lot of things)! It was time to solve my space problem behind the longarm once and for all. After rearranging things so we could work on Friday, this morning (Sunday) I decided to fix the problem so the longarm can run freely the full length of the table rails. THANK YOU!    |
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