3 Years of Long-arm Quilting as a Business

Today is the anniversary of receiving my Gammill and getting started with my own long-arm machine quilting service, KISSed Quilts.

The largest part of my business is quilting client's quilt tops by adding the batting and backing into a sandwich and stitching through all layers to 'quilt' it.

Customer Quilts
Last night I finished Customer Quilt #187 since receiving my Gammill. That makes 65 customer quilts during year 3. Photos of each are at http://www.facebook.com/kissedquilts in the album 'Customer Quilts v.3'.

I also did 4 commissions. One was of embroidered blocks that were already done; another was a large scale version of my Elephant's Play pattern; two were memory quilts using shirts of the deceased. I have several in my queue, so I better get on with those in year 4!

 

For Charity, I collaborated with Barbara Bohlman and between us we got 12 donated to local charities through Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild. I challenged myself with all of them to do them without my stitch regulator. I'm very pleased with how they turned out and hope that each person who uses them recognizes the love intended behind the spirit of making them. Photos of all are at http://www.facebook.com/kissedquilts in the 'Practice' album.

Our local quilt guild also makes quilts for members who have had a life altering event occur. This year I contributed many blocks, helped with the design, and quilted this lively 'hearts and flowers' quilt for Victoria. Our 'Hearts and Flowers' committee has been great to work with through the years.

I also quilted our Habitat for Humanity quilt and one of the wedding quilts we created for two young members of our guild who got married on the same day!





























I really liked adding a block to the backing and making it the spot everyone could sign. This was a Buggy Barn pattern, but it sure looks different in 'brights'!

I also made several blocks for charity and donated them through the 'Just Us Quilters' Facebook group.


My red/yellow Baby Bud block ended up in this quilt.

This same group donated to my charity of choice, Walla Walla Children's Home Society. I'll be presenting this quilt to them shortly to use at their Sweet Hearts event in February 2013 as an auction item.









New Patterns that were published include (available at Craftsy):

Hugs and Kisses

Mi Amore

Charmed Network

Also created an additional sample of Zoe. This version is called 'Summer School', using the 'punctuation' line of fabric by American Jane for Moda.

Quilts in contests or made it into noteworthy shows included:

'Spinner' which won the Electric Quilt (EQ) BOM Layout Challenge; was juried into Pacific West Quilt Show (Tacoma, WA) and won a 2nd place ribbon in the Machine Quilted, pieced, solo category at Washington State Quilters-Spokane quilt show. It was also featured as a 'noteworthy' quilt in Machine Quilter's Unlimited magazine. I wrote a tutorial which has now been looked at over 10,000 times. Thank you to EQ for helping get the word out.


'My Olympic Connection' was also juried into MQX-West (Portland, OR). This photo is taken from the backside and flipped in photoshop so that the colors of the rings look correct (HA!)

















Fall Trends (an industry only event at EESchenck), '1892 Rondure' won the Judges Best Technical Choice.

Quilting Gallery hosts weekly (almost) contests. I had several entered and won/placed as follows:

January 9 - New Beginnings - "My First Journey"
February 13 - Be My Valentine - "Mi Amore"
June 11 - Quilts for Dad - "Jinny's Garden" (I quilted this one that was made by my mother)
August 6 - Modern Geometric - "1892 Rondure"

In our local Walla Walla Valley Quilt Show, there were 13 client quilts in the show that I had quilted. So grateful to have such wonderful representation of my work.


In the past, this bird block was selected to be part of Nine Patch Media's DVD as a result of the Rose of Sharon EQ block challenge. I have finally made it up. Hope to get it quilted soon.













Teaching
I had the opportunity to teach a couple of times this year. I taught 'Charmed Network' at Stash in Walla Walla, WA and I taught the Basics of EQ at Discount Sew & Vac in Pasco, WA.

The Country Register continues to be my muse. Every other month, for the past two years, a new article has been published in the local edition. This year several other editions picked up my articles, so you may have seen it in various editions across the country.

In blog land, I participated in the We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler. As we got to the last few blocks, there were two in particular that 'Sewn by Leila' featured my EQ instructions in the tutorials. Jinny Beyer Studio picked up the Feathered Star Tutorial and sent it out in her newsletter. Thank you Jinny! It has now been viewed over 3,500 times.

Here is the result of my quilt. Still hoping to get it quilted before the end of 2012.
















I was also asked by SewCalGal to participate in the Fall EQ Modern Tools BlogHop. Here is the wallhanging that I drafted. All of my EQ tutorials can be found on the tab here on my blog.















This summer I was a tour escort to the International Quilt Festival of Ireland. I had the priviledge to lecture at the festival about Electric Quilt (EQ) Software and took 'Spinner' and my three McCall's Challenge entries from 2011 and explained how each utilized different features of EQ.








I got to work on some of my own stuff this year too, but will report on that in my Work In Progress (WIP) 2012 review at the end of the calendar year.

Although my totals seem less than last year, it was mostly interrupted by our own personal lives experiencing a change in job by my husband. He took a temporary position in California for 6 weeks, then was on unemployment and working on a project in our house for a while. We did take the opportunity to travel when we could. All good, in the journey of life. Now we're in the throws of moving to a new location with his new job. I'm hoping I can focus on the move in December and be ready to open my long-arm machine quilting service in a physical location outside the house in January. Stay tuned for those details.

Thank you for following along, your input and business throughout the year has been greatly appreciated.

{Sew} Modern/Design Wall/BOM's Away Monday

A couple of finishes for {Sew} Modern Monday's index.

This is a version of McCall's 2012 Mystery quilt. I used the Terrain, by Kate Spain for MODA, line of fabric.

The quilting is inspired by the motifs in the dark blue and hot pink fabric and was done as a continuous line free motion quilting. I was able to do approximately 2 rows at a time. This makes it easy to use the piecing seam lines as registration lines for the quilt design.

Razzle Dazzle ....check out the backside!

The backside is leftover pieces from this top and another one that I used the same line of fabric. I'll put my label or write in the white square in the lower right. The entire back was quite improvisationally pieced!

Another version of the same quilt --I'm naming Spring Fling.

And its backside too! Was happy with the matching of the motifs on the left side so that it looks like a continuous piece.

My Design Wall and BOM progress:

Click on the links to the right for other indexes in the {Sew} Modern Monday finishes, Design Walls at Patchwork Times and BOM's Away Monday Progress at WhataHootQuilts.

WIP

Finished
2012-#14 - Working with What You've Got (just needed the binding and it is done now!) The last photo taken was on a sunny day.....it will have to suffice for now.


Progress

2012-#15 - McCall's 2012 Mystery - this version  is being called "Spring Fling" -- quilted, just needs binding, but forgot half of the binding at home (I'm squatting at the rental at my husband's job site in order to get the internet/phone/tv hooked up).










2012-#16 - WWCHS - fully assembled, ready for quilting. Plan to do some fancy purple quiltings in the white corners of the border.


















Out of the Darkness -- block #9 - Poppy

Continued piecing the backing for McCall's Mystery--version #2; a bit of improv piecing of the leftovers from this quilt and another quilt that I used the same line of fabric. Lesson learned--using your walking foot to do regular piecing is NOT a good idea. This backing still needs an iron and then I can quilt it! I'll actually load it sideways based on how you are seeing it in this photo.



No Progress

• Alaska 2007 Shop Hop, ready for Block #9
• Honeymoon Storm at Sea
• Oddie’s Wild Nature (O.W.N.)
• Snowflake BOM win/Blizzard quilt
• Fall Wallhanging

Ready to Quilt

• We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler
• Rose of Sharon Bird Block Wallhanging - 'Rose of Hope'
• Irena Bluhm - colored pencil class project
• WWVQG 2006 Basket BOM

2012 WIP Stats:
Completed: 14
In Progress: 13

Check out other WIPs at Lee's Freshly Pieced Linkup. Click the button to the right.

WIP

Finished

2012 #13 - STEP on Life's Journey


Progress

2012 #14 - Working with What You've Got --just needs a binding now. The signature blocks were presented to me after serving as co-chair for the Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild in 2009. Earlier that year, upon my marriage, members contributed to a basket of fat quarters. I've used pieces of the fat quarters and the signature blocks (and a bit from my own stash) to create a scrapwork version of our guild's logo. The framing around it allowed the redish blocks to fit in too. I've quilted significant elements which include houses (we annual create a Habitat for Humanity quilt), hearts and flowers (we create hearts and flower blocks and assemble quilts for members when a life altering event occurs), other awareness groups like breast cancer, etc. so there is a ribbon at the upper left corner of the red border and a ribbon all the way around the small black border.

Skill Builder Sampler - the rivets were added, backing is ready, it is now ready to quilt.

WWCHS top all remaining bits (including 2 contingency blocks) are cut, still thinking I might get more in the mail. Will put sewing this together off as long as I can and wait for a required piecing day that is coming up when I go to visit my husband at his new work location. I'm excited to quilt something fun in the white border corners.

Started
From last week's SewCalGal's Fall EQ Blog Hop, I wrote some tips on using orphan blocks and creating a Fall Wallhanging. This is a 'technical' start .....not sure when I'll get back to it, but oh well.

No Progress

• Out of the Darkness -- ready for block #9
• Alaska 2007 Shop Hop --ready to do block #9
• Honeymoon Storm at Sea
• Oddie’s Wild Nature (O.W.N.)
• Snowflake BOM win/Blizzard quilt

Ready to Quilt

• McCall's Mystery - Spring Time
• McCall's Mystery - Hot Jazz
• Rose of Sharon Bird Block Wallhanging - 'Rose of Hope'
• Irena Bluhm - colored pencil class project
• WWVQG 2006 Basket BOM

2012 WIP Stats:
Completed: 13
In Progress: 14

Check out other WIP's at Freshly Pieced

Giveaway Results

Thank you to everyone who hopped along on the SewCalGal hosted, EQ Fall Blog Hop.

In my giveaway, I asked you to tell me how you'd use the We Can Do It! poster.

I personally printed it on cotton sateen and used the BubbleJet 2000 products for pre-treating and rinsing.

Comments mostly indicated the readers would use it in a wallhanging, i.e. in your sewing room.

One said they'd make it into a wallhanging and put it up in the elementary school library to "see the reactions and predictions about who and why she is in this poster."

Another would use the We Can Do It! poster in a banner to take along on retreat.

I especially liked the last two comments because of how it will impact even more people in such different ways. So, I'm going to award two giveaways!

My original is going to go to "Karen in Breezy Point".

And, a second panel, which has not been rinsed and I'd recommend that it NOT be unless you want to 'antique' it. Perhaps you can put textile medium on it and see if it will maintain the vibrancy of the colors when washing it. This one will go to "Barb and Sharon".

Emails have been sent to these winners. Congratulations!!

Thank you everyone who participated!
 

{Sew} Modern / Design Wall / BOM's Away Monday

My finish is a scrappy random strip HST. This was a swap with my small Fearless Design group and two of the members gave me all of their blocks as well. I started making shapes on the design wall and then tried to connect them. I'm calling this "STEP on Life's Journey". Our local STEP women's shelter will be receiving this one. I had some fabric of antique postcards that I used in the binding. The fabric's name was "Life's Journey", so that helped me finalize on the name of this quilt. The backing is mostly a 'meadow' with a bit of a horizon with clouds in the sky and the right is the trunk of a tree --ok, use your imagination a little bit ;-) I quilted this with a squiggly cross-hatch. The grid pattern of the piecing made it very easy to follow freehand and made it very fast. I even did this without my stitch regulator which made it even faster! I used YLI thread, 'parchment' color and wool batting scraps pieced together.

 

My Design Wall is my latest Fall Wallhanging. There is an EQ tutorial with some fun tips as part of SewCalGal's Fall EQ BlogHop that wrapped last week. My giveaway is open through Monday, Oct. 8, 2012 at 9p PST.








My BOM's Away progress includes getting the rivets added to the border of my Skill Builder Sampler. It is now ready to quilt!

More {Sew} Modern Monday finishes at CanoeRidgeCreations

More Design Walls at Patchwork Times

More BOM's Away progress at WhataHoot

Thanksgiving Wallhanging - EQ7 Tutorial & a Giveaway

As part of SewCalGal's EQ7 Fall Blog Hop I'm excited to welcome you to my blog today. The past couple of weeks have involved considering a move to Grand Coulee, WA area. I'll continue to post about that progress and the DIY projects we'll likely be doing on both a residential and commercial property in the very near future! I hope you'll follow along.

For years, I've had a couple of blocks that have been set aside from various block lotto events in our guild awaiting to become a fall wallhanging. I decided with this week's blog hop theme it was time to get them out and see what I might do in EQ7 with them to create a simple wallhanging.


I made the corn block, and probably swapped an orphan block of my own for the pumpkin block.

Creating a new project in EQ, I then took photos of them, imported them to EQ by using
--> Worktable --> Work on Image -->Image Import-->Zoom Fit (the image was way too big to be seen in its entirety on my screen)

Then select the crop tool (left menu bar), move the scissors on each side to crop your image, then click on the checkmark surrounded by green to complete the crop. Then save to Sketchbook. 
(Image ->-Add to Sketchbook)

You don't need to have Photoshop to manipulate your photos for use within EQ. Utilize the image tools available right within EQ.

Follow the above sequence for each block.

Now, I want to put them into a small wallhanging, so I created a new horizontal quilt.
Quilt - New Quilt -- Horizontal
2 horizontal, 2 vertical, 12" blocks

Now I can 'Set Photo' from the image icon (right menu) as if the photos were blocks.

NOTE--> this is how you add photos of finished blocks to a large sampler quilt that you might put together over time. This allows you to create a quick image of the individual blocks put together or progress points along the way.

Now I need some more fall themed blocks, so I used Libraries-->Block Library, then click Search, 'by Category', Holidays, select Halloween and Thanksgiving, and there were a few results. You can also Search, 'by Notecard' for a specific word, i.e. turkey or pumpkin.

Adding to the two blocks above, I decided on a pilgrim's hat block and a turkey block. There is a turkey block in EQ and I found a pilgrim's hat in Linda Causee's 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks. They are organized by month, so I went to November and decided the best fit what I was trying to achieve.  I could take the block pattern to a copy machine and enlarge it, or re-draft it and print it out the size that I want. By drawing it in EQ, I can play with the layout of the quilt and ultimately decide what size would be best.

To precisely draw it, take a photo and load it in as a Tracing Image in Block draw. But I chose to just eyeball the Pilgrim's Hat and re-draft it. Since I intend to paper piece it, it doesn't need to be exactly the same.


Here is my quick draft of a Pilgraim's Hat
















Below is a re-draw because I decided I wanted a more consistent spacing all the way around the hat to echo the corn block.

Block--New Block--Easy Draw

By looking at the distinct sections, I drew those lines first, then filled in the subsection lines.

Then click on the 'Color' tab at the bottom and proceed to color the block. This also helps you check to be sure you got all the lines connected as you drew it. When ready to make the block, use the
File-->Print --> Foundation Pattern. You can 'move' the sections around in the preview to minimize the number of pages used to print one section.

Now add the turkey and the pilgrim hat block to the quilt.

Looking at the fabrics I had stashed to work with this fall wallhanging, I have a yard for the backing, and two half yards of a green print with turkeys and a black print with pumpkins. I also have a large print of pumpkins and corn and other vegetables. If I can use a larger piece of the large print, it would coordinate nicely.

I'm going to add simple borders, but I want to point out some fun ideas you might experiment with by using the Borders icon. It might not be visible, so 'add buttons' the arrow at the bottom of the right hand tool bar will allow you to add or remove buttons. The defaults of the program do not include several of the buttons, one is a borders button, that you just need to 'add' to the toolbar, in other words, make it visible. Clicking on the icon will give you another window that you can choose from the pickdown menu various styles, and ultimately select a particular border and it will autofill it in. You can then adjust the particulars of the border through the border tab and make colorations to please your design eye.

Sample of a fun border treatment. I have done a 'right click' with my mouse on the quilt and turned off the Outline Patches and Outline Blocks so it looks more like it would when pieced together.

What I'll go with, based on the fabrics I have in my stash is a simpler border.

This one just might be doable in short order.

I promised a giveaway. Utilizing the same idea of the photos of finished blocks, etc. The last few months I have been working on the We Can Do It! Skill Builder Sampler hosted by Sewn by Leila. I pushed the idea a little further and printed on cotton sateen the original We Can Do It! poster. I am giving away my 'rinsed' version that I personally printed, which now looks quite antiquish. It measures about 24"x31"

To enter, leave a comment telling me what you'd do with the fabric version of this poster. If you're interested in getting a vibrant colored one printed by Spoonflower, let me know. Be sure that appropriate contact information is included so that I can reach you if you're the lucky winner!

Entries for the giveaway will be taken until Monday, October 8, 2012, 9pm Pacific Time.

I have written several other EQ Tutorials that can be found by clicking on the EQ Tutorials tab at the top of the blog page.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you've enjoyed seeing a few features of EQ that will inspire you to design something yourself. Take a moment and enjoy the fall colors in your area this season.

The lineup for the week on the EQ Blog Hop is: 

Monday, Oct lst SewCalGal
Beaquilter

Tuesday, Oct 2nd Marjorie's Quilting Bee
Curious Orange Cat

Wed., Oct 3rd Love Bug Studios

Thursday, Oct 4th Kissed Quilts --you're here!
Bits & Pieces

Friday, Oct 5th I Quilt Scarlett & Grey

EQ Blog: http://www.doyoueq.com/blog/
A special thanks to SewCalGal for organizing such a fun week!