July Finishes

Six quilts!  Yes....5 of them were pure commissions and the 6th was a bonus gift.

An offer to quilt something for the family of a deceased loved one, Jonna, taken too early by cancer, turned into a request to make four quilts from clothing of their beloved wife and mother of three girls.

A tree had symbolic meaning to the family and was a permament memory, so I took that as my inspiration and drafted this design concept. Originally desired at about 60" square, they ended up 54" square based on fabric limitations.

From that, and the two bins of clothing that they gave me, most which was knit fabric and heavy jeans, I chose items that might have special memories to them because they had unique qualities (vs. white t-shirts with no writing, etc.) i.e. unique textures --fleece, corderoy, etc; pajamas; logo'd items.

Since there were four to be made, spreading out the unique items across all four, and grouping for individuals also was taken into consideration. i.e. the college shirts were from the couple's graduate school days but the high school shirts were more about the girls recent varsity experiences.

Warm & Natural batting was used on all four. The border fabric on each quilt was also used for the binding and backing on each respective quilt.

Here are the results.

For Monty:

For each daughter:

 

With the quilting, I tried to emphasize the bark of a tree on the trunk, extending out into the 'sky'(blue) blocks, flowers in the pink/red/lavender/purple blocks, water behind the tree, grass or rocks to the sides of the tree trunk at the bottom.

Bits of fabric from each of their individual border/backs are incorporated into the center of each quilt.

In each border, on the left and right, is written her favorite scripture. "I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my Savior." Hab. 3:18

I was given permission by the husband to create something for his mother-in-law. Inspired by a design by Ann Kelly (a fellow trip-mate to Ireland last year), I created this baby size quilt to give to Jonna's mother. I love how it turned out. Thank you Ann for the inspiration! I pieced together a set of plaid knit pajama bottoms for the backing and added the sashing and binding fabrics from my own stash. Jonna's mother explained that she always felt Jonna wanted everything white, and the daughter's would say that Jonna's favorite color was red. So, incorporated those two colors predominently with the jeans and enjoyed setting them to look like light is hitting the wall with lighter jeans to the upper left shading to the darkest jeans in the lower right. I've named this "God's My Foundation". White & warm batting and the Popcorn pantograph was used for the quilting.

In the midst of this, I had a commission due by July 3, for a 19th wedding anniversary. Due to getting sick, I didn't quite make the early  pickup requested on June 28, but he was sick too, and it was still well received. Always a fun process to work with people who are not quilters or design artists, but they still want to convey a message of love to their loved one. After finding the right line of fabric, I adapted the design provided by the fabric company to work for the client's desired outcome. The center portions will sit on top of the bed and the borders hang around the visible sides of the bed. Although photos in the blocks were originally requested, the client ultimately liked the idea of a collage of photos incorporated into the label. This quilt is 96"x121". Wool batting was used and it is quilted using the 'Wild at Heart' pantograph. I don't have a computerized machine, so I follow the panto with a laserlight.

So...that makes 6 finishes in July (all started in June!), and 13 finishes so far in 2013!

Mid-Month WIP

Completed so far this year: 13 (the most recent 6 finishes, yes they are done, will be posted at the end of the month)

I can finally show you a full shot of my QR logo'd code (Finish #5). I incorporated my KISSed Quilts logo into the QR code (you have to look very closely). Keeping the value of the burgundy and black were important in order to maintain the integrity of the QR code. Try it! Your phone w/a QR app should be able to read it.

Client quilt tops are getting quilted!

Here is one I'm working on this week:

Another Glacier Star, this one has extended borders. I've done one (without the extended borders) that was destined for a wall hanging, but this one is destined to be used on a bed, so they don't want the quilting to be too dense and we're using warm & natural batting, so there won't be a lot of 'puff'. In the busy fabric areas, you can't see the quilting very well. Tomorrow I hope to finish up by quilting in the cream background areas--you'll see the quilting there for sure!


A couple of fun things involving this particular job.

Got to try Aurifl's new tri-poly. Love the collapsible bottom that holds the thread! Really cool.








Also discovered that a few of my rulers really helped in doing the ditch work in the curved sections.

Thes Linda Mae's Rays from Gadget Girls and a couple of curved cross-hatching rulers from Lakeside Quilt Company. www.lovetoquilt.com

No Progress:

• Christmas Friendship Star ...wanna at least get this top pieced
• Lonestar - Aug. target
• Storm at Sea - Aug. target
• Fall Wallhanging - Sept. target
• Alaska 2007 Shop Hop - Oct. target
• Pam Bono - making more blocks target in Nov.
• Oddie's Wild Nature - making more blocks target in Dec.

Ready to Quilt:

• WWVQG 2006 Basket BOM (still considering quilting design ideas)
• Colorwash Heart (pulling out a very early piecing job made into a duvet that I now believe my skills can deliver the desired quilting result and would make a lovely piece for our new guest room.)

New in the works for this year:
Small whole-cloth for the INMQ challenge to be displayed in October at the WSQ show.
A couple of commissions and maybe something for our new to us home too.
Need to develop a teaching schedule for the fall.

Enjoy other WIPs! and mid-month progress reports (2013 Finishes). See buttons on the right to click through to them.

Design Wall Monday - July Goals

June was an exciting month with the grand opening et al, but I also had my birthday and got sick....so it has been a slow start to July, but am feeling so much better!

On my design wall....the blue jean brick quilt.

Just added the borders (after this picture was taken) of the same white material as the 'mortar'.

Now to quilt it. Ideas welcome! :-)

Got the other 4 'tree' quilts pieced and now need to quilt them as well.

Created an oversized queen as a surprise anniversary gift for a well loved wife...her husband is due to pick it up today. Hoping to post photos next week after the delivery ;-)

With the long over due commissions almost out of the way, I can get back to quilting for client's who have been patiently awaiting their quilt tops to be quilted.

It has been fun meeting new people in town, now that the studio is open. Tourists are stopping in too!

Mid-Month WIP

Had a fantastic Grand Opening last Friday, June 14. Here is the actual ribbon being cut. Yes, they put that ribbon all the way around the building!  A film crew was in town getting b-roll for future advertising purposes of the area, so they got in on the commerce activity too. There were probably about 30 people who attended. For a little town like ours, this seemed very good. I really didn't know what to expect, but locals said they were very pleased with the turnout. I even had two clients come from Walla Walla and another from as far north as Brewster. So blessed!

I've now settled back into a grove of getting some long-over due commissions completed.

Four memory quilts...and I just might do a 5th actually.

A special story of a wife and mother lost to cancer. I knew her parents well. I'm honored to create treasures for the family to help them remember her.

After offering to quilt something for them....I was asked to create four items from her clothing. I thought, let's at least have a backing that each individual would like, so we went to the local quilt shop and they each picked a fabric. During that selection process, I noticed a tatoo on one of the girls and its similarity to the tree in the Manzanita fabric. I then learned that the tatoo was similar to a sculpture that was given to the family and they had chosen to use it as a symbol to unite them. So, my inspiration had begun.

All clothing was not nice cotton quilting fabric, so some needed to be stabilized. I like to use So-Sheer. I created this design in EQ as a rough idea of a tree and sorted the clothing by colors to figure out if I could get the effect of the tree.

I chose to use a bit of fabric from what they had personally selected and clothes that I thought would have some special significance based on their style, purpose, texture, or imprint.

Each border will also be the backing fabric.

Here is the first (top only) for her husband.

Each of the three for the girls is similar, but different.

This one is not finished being stitched together. But you get the idea. I tried to shade the blues used in the background from dark at the top to lighter at the bottom. Each has a different border as well.

Once each of the Half Square Triangles (HSTs) were made, I then laid out the squares. Picking up the entire 1st  and 2nd column and taking it to the sewing machine, I then sew each of the top row squares together, then the next row squares, etc. always continuing the stitch so you're chain piecing. Then the next two columns. Cut your thread only between the last row of each column set and the first row of the next column set. Repeat for all 8 columns. Then sew 1-2 and 3-4 together. Then 5-6 and 7-8 together. Then 1-2-3-4 to 5-6-7-8.  At this point everything is connected still

Now go back and stitch row 1 to row 2. With typical cotton quilting fabric, I'd be sure the seams alternate between rows so that they go together nicely. With the randomness of the clothing in these projects, I just do the best I can.

Because of my tight studio logistics, I had the upper 4 rows laid out in a separate area than the lower 4 rows, so have put together the center in two large sections.

And here is a design concept of a small quilt, using jeans in the blue bricks, that I want to give to her mother, maybe use as a wall hanging for now ....that ultimately could be given to perhaps a first grandchild of the deceased. This design idea is from Ann Kelly, a participant on the same bus on the IQFOI tour last summer. Thanks Ann!

So, now for the quilting of those trees. Got Ideas?

June Goals

Major goal:

Grand Opening, June 14.......12:15pm for the local Chamber of Commerce hosted Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Goodies 'til 5pm.

Quilting goals:
No personal goals this month....it is all about business.

I've got 5 commissions to complete. YIKES!

Better get busy!

May Finishes

 Someone was taking a photo of our new logo painted on the side of the building. I poked my head out to say hello, and she said she was so excited to see the name of her church on a quilt shop. I asked the name of the church and she said Kessid ....well, ok, I guess she switched the i and the e ;-) ...her friends will likely point that out later. But Kessid is Hebrew for God's steadfast love....pretty cool.


Well, my objective of getting a block from three large projects of different quilts done....changed.

I did get 3 blocks done on one quilt.

Here are all of them so far for this Alaska Shop Hop 2007 quilt. I don't have a design wall established yet! sorry.

Just looked at the Shop Hop information and it appears that I actually only have two blocks left. I have an additional extra block of one star, and I believe the assembly requires some other piecing...so getting much closer!

I've also made a decision on my Grand Opening, it will be June 14! Lots to do between now and then. Wondering what kind of goals I can put together for June ...ha!

FMQ Challenge #5 Design Idea

SewCalGal has challenged us EQ users to come up with design ideas for your Free Motion Quilting Challenge #5 - It's All About Borders.

Using the golden ratio to change the sizing of the borders, you achieve a depth like you're looking down into a stairwell. Consider putting a Snails Trail block in the center to make it go even farther.

What is the golden ratio you might ask?

Wikipedia has a good illustration and definition.

I learned about it during Jinny Beyer's last Hilton Head seminar in 2009. It spoke to me geometrically and the math behind it, and I've tried to always incorporate this into my designs.

I've put an on point, 12" block as the center. This makes for an almost 17" center.

I started with 1" as the consistent dividers between each border.

There are 5 borders that scale.

Border 1 - 1.5"
Border 2 - 2.5"
Border 3 - 4.25"
Border 4 - 6.75"
Border 5 - 11"

These aren't exactly scaled, but are made convenient for standard 1/4" increments used in quilt making.

This quilt would be almost 79" x 79".

I've used the long-horizontal to set each border, but there are a plethera of other ideas you could do to create more of an effect in a pieced border. EQ7 provides lots of options.

If you are quilting on a domestic machine, how fun to just work on one border at a time and move the quilt around within the single border.

On a long-arm...perhaps you'll do the top and bottom borders, ditching all borders as you move down to the bottom. Work towards the center, then rotate the whole quilt and work from the outside in. This will allow you to do the entire row in one continuous movement. If your free motion design is friendly to starts and stops, you could stitch it top to bottom as you go without turning it later.

Smaller designs in the smaller borders, and larger designs as you move out. How fun to incorporate so many different styles.

Will be fun to see what people come up with!

Thanks SewCalGal for encouraging us!