On the Road again

Hi everyone.
I really enjoyed the challenge of working on this quilt. I call it "Make Momma Happy". I was just given the fabric. It had belonged to a friend who had died. Mom was over a couple weeks ago and saw it sitting in a pile and just loved it so I had to use it in a hurry for her lest I loose interest. Mark thinks it is too bright for anyone. I got a kick out of working with these prints. There is still a little leftover. Something will come of the scraps when I get more similar stuff to go with it.

Had quilting at church and we are making good progress on our Delectable Mountains raffle quilt. Had a meeting with the Great Lakes Professional Longarm Quilters. Usually inspiring but this time was more like just comparing notes. still good tho. Had a few classes on the road and as usual, I brought the camera but forgot to use it! Getting ready to go out again. So I was just humming to myself that song, "On the Road Again". I ought to look that one up and get the words so I can really sing it. I do that when I am feeling pretty good. I sang a girl scout song to my last class that I remembered from 40 years ago. Not so sure if you should consider yourself lucky for not having heard it or sorry you weren't there for the fun.
Well, I gotta pack, again; going up to Waupun for the weekend. Sew long.

Marking quilting

So finally a minute to catch up here. Fall is always a really busy time for me. And this year especially busy with a new computer and software to learn. The constant upgrading and learning is fun but time consuming.

I thought I would show you my fall leaf quilt. I hope you see leaves. It looks like the wind is blowing them across the sky. I usually show the quilt with them dropping down from the tree. I made this back in 1994 for my book, Trouble Free Triangles. Autumn is my favorite season (In fall anyways) and the trees are pretty colorful around here this year, in spite of the cloudy rainy month we've had.

I have been pretty busy quilting on the longarm. My favorite kind of quilting is continuous line. I do like the way it looks and you don't have to mark anything. Of course I am not too good at it on the longarm yet. Often I draw out my quilting plan on a piece of vinyl first. I learned the hard way one time that it is important to tape off the edges of the vinyl. I used a permanent marker and stained the quilt. The tape is a works to stop you before you make a mess.

Some quilts have areas without much piecing and I like the classic look of the traditional designs there. I still prefer to mark the fancy quilting on some kind of paper. I tried the chalk, and don't want to use some of those other markers cause I don't want to have to wash the quilt right away, etc.
First I have to find a design to quilt. You'd think with the library of quilting designs I have that I could find the perfect one. but NO, I have to use a pair of mirror tiles and play with them on some of those designs in my library to come up with something perfect!

Then sometimes its not the right size and I have to size it up or down. Soooo glad I have a copy machine at home that will resize.

Then depending on the design I will use either Sulky tear easy and /or Golden Threads tissue paper or the Quilt and Tear on a roll shown. I prefer the Sulky because it isn't as crisp and doesn't come apart when I choose a design with crossed lines. It is a little harder to come off though so it helps to use a small stitch. To mark the papers I stack the papers and stitch on he lines without any thread. The marking pen doesn't transfer to the quilt this way, and it helps to save time marking and ripping. If you can look closely you will see the paper is perforated on the stitching line.

To see all the quilting I've been doing you'll have to wait another year for the next book. That's all I have time for. More soon! Sew long.

You Tube

I had a notion to do a YouTube video about my new book, Twin Peaks so I took care of that and had to update my website as well. My sister was in town over Labor Day weekend and helped with the video. It was great fun and hard at the same time. Thanks, Carol. I am a bit disappointed in the lighting, but pleased with it otherwise. You can check it out at my website or Youtube.
Also I am going to start posting more free quilt patterns on my website. Shattered Squares, shown above, is the next free pattern and features the Twin Peaks technique.The first free pattern, All Wound Up, features the Thirtysomething technique. Some patterns may not be up indefinetly. I have thought about a video for Thirtysomething, but because that whole concept includes 7 different units it needs to be longer - and for sale. I may put an introductory video up though. Check for that next spring.
Also new on the website is a Show &Tell page featuring quilts others have made from my classes and books. So many gals are nice to send pictures after the quilt/top is near completion, that I'd rather show that than works in progress at workshops. But we will see. The challenge is always remembering to bring the camera. I know, I know, not a problem if you have a camera phone.
And how do you like the green on this page? Not sure what I wanted here so I'd like feed back. I was thinking of putting a collage of my quilts in the header of my blog, but this was quicker.
And besides all the above, I have been busy with a new laptop. I don't really mind the break from quilting, but I didn't have much to share till now. Maybe Wednesday I can sew.