PSers that Quilt

[rockysalamander]

Sneak peek of a secret project I just finished. These are progress pics. The white you see was used for messages from colleagues to my retiring boss. Every colored row is a different free-hand motif. All the white is quilted between the words and then lots of feathers.

 

[MamaBee]

@msop04, you can’t even make a quilt for $300 anymore. Quilting is an expensive hobby anymore.

That’s true! I saw one that I loved and it was just under $1,000! I live near the Amish and they make beautiful quilts. They’re also very expensive. I bid on a vintage quilt a few years ago on eBay and won it! It looks like a cluster pattern.

 

[Cozystitches]

Here's a quick picture of my current quilt. It's a bit of a deviation from my daughter's quilt for a friend who's going through difficulties. I'm handquilting it, going around the flowers right now. Am still debating how to do the edges/inbetween spaces. This is the center

This is before I started quilting. Sorry it's blurry but you can see the panels, the white around is the batting it'll be cut off.

 

[luv2sparkle]

I finished my pillow and gave it away. Here is a pic.

 

[Catmom]

I'm working on this right now. The top was hand pieced and I am hand quilting it.

 

[Cozystitches]

I'm working on this right now. The top was hand pieced and I am hand quilting it.

Lovely! There's a FB group called Celebrate Handquilting that has a lot of info about handquilting with LOTS of pictures!

 

[luv2sparkle]

Catmom, did you piece the top? How are you quilting it? I can’t quite tell the stitching pattern from the photo. Do you quilt in a hoop?

 

[MamaBee]

I found my quilt photo on here! It reminds me of cluster rings so I posted it in the How many engagement rings do you have thread..I love this quilt! It’s on my bed in Maryland..

 

[Catmom]

Catmom, did you piece the top? How are you quilting it? I can’t quite tell the stitching pattern from the photo. Do you quilt in a hoop?

The top is one I got from a flea market many years ago. I am just now getting around to quilting it. I would never have the patience to hand piece. I machine piece my tops, lol. I am hand quilting it using a small square lap rack. I will try and get a close up for you of the quilting. It's hard to tell in the photo but they are double flowers in the background fabric and the bows are double outlined.





I usually machine piece and hand quilt my quilts. This was the last one I made for my grand-nephew. His nursery was done in owls.

 

[Catmom]

Catmom, did you piece the top? How are you quilting it? I can’t quite tell the stitching pattern from the photo. Do you quilt in a hoop?

Ok that was a very bad pic done late at night. Let's try again, lol. Here is a better close up and a pic of the template I am using.

 

[rockysalamander]

Really pretty quilts everyone! I can't even imagine doing all that work by hand....

 

[luv2sparkle]

@Catmom, I love your work. I have an antique quilt that I need to quilt. I believe I have that very same stencil. It will be lovely when it’s all quilted. I LOVE the owl quilt! What a treasure! I hand quilted when I started and still love to hand stitch and embroider but needed to get more things done. I have a few quilts hanging in my home of my own designs but mostly I give them away, so machine quilting just needed to happen. But the joy of handquilting does call me.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Lucky you! I've never seen one in person but in pics online it looks like a beast of a machine. Will it have its own room? Does it only do free-motion quilting or can you put a walking foot on it for regular machine quilting...

It is for quilting. I may at sometime get a frame for it and add the computer and back handles for pantograph but I am really not sure I want to give up all the space they take up. Realistically, I would maybe quilt 10 quilts of various sizes a year. It will make it way more fun but I’m not sure it’s worth the space loss.
Right now, I will keep it in my loft sewing area. I will have to fold down my cutting table unless I am using it. But when my youngest moves, I will put my sewing machine and cutting table in his room and have my Q20 and bookcases in the loft. When the house was built I had three can lights installed over where I was going to put my sewing machine, so that will work great for the Q20. I may have to raise the cabinets there. Here is a photo

 

[luv2sparkle]

 

[Catmom]

@Catmom, I love your work. I have an antique quilt that I need to quilt. I believe I have that very same stencil. It will be lovely when it’s all quilted. I LOVE the owl quilt! What a treasure! I hand quilted when I started and still love to hand stitch and embroider but needed to get more things done. I have a few quilts hanging in my home of my own designs but mostly I give them away, so machine quilting just needed to happen. But the joy of handquilting does call me.

Thank you luv2sparkle! I hear you about getting things done. I have so many projects, sigh. I have another vintage quilt that I got about the same time that needs to be done too. I never could get the hang of machine quilting. To me it's just easier to hand quilt. I've given away most of my quilts too. I have mostly been doing baby quilts the last few years. They are spread across the world, lol. I have one in India and one in Japan.

 

[luv2sparkle]

@Catmom, I love baby quilts. They are my favorite thing to do. I try to gift a new mom with a baby quilt and a couple flannel blankets. I still remember how I felt when ladies gave me something they had hand made for one of my babies. I can tell you to this day who made what, and for what child. I saved every one. I just gave my daughter all the things that were hand made for her so she can use them for her darling daughter. And because I am a proud Gigi, I will have to post a pic. Just because she is so darling.

 

[Catmom]

@Catmom, I love baby quilts. They are my favorite thing to do. I try to gift a new mom with a baby quilt and a couple flannel blankets. I still remember how I felt when ladies gave me something they had hand made for one of my babies. I can tell you to this day who made what, and for what child. I saved everyone. I just gave my daughter all the things that were hand made for her so she can use them for her darling daughter. And because I am a proud Gigi, I will have to post a pic. Just because she is so darling.

What a beautiful doll! You should be proud!

Here are a few of my baby quilts. I also machine embroider so I like to makes quilts with embroidery on them as well. This quilt went to a little girl in Japan that loved the story of Noah's Ark.

This is the one that went to India. They wanted rainbows.

This is Under the Sea...

This was for a little boy into transportation.....

These went to PS's Skippy for her twins...

 

[luv2sparkle]

@Catmom, those are all so wonderful! What amazing treasure. I love every single one of them. They are even more special because they are hand quilted by you. I should have taken pictures of the ones I have gifted. I really just started doing that. I think early on I didn’t like what I made as much, or maybe I just wasn’t confident enough.
I went to a friends house recently and she had a quilt I made hanging and I looked at it and thought, ‘wow, I did pretty good’, she said I had told her I wasn’t very happy with it. I don’t even remember saying that.
Your quilts, however, are stunning!

 

[Catmom]

@Catmom, those are all so wonderful! What amazing treasure. I love every single one of them. They are even more special because they are hand quilted by you. I should have taken pictures of the ones I have gifted. I really just started doing that. I think early on I didn’t like what I made as much, or maybe I just wasn’t confident enough.
I went to a friends house recently and she had a quilt I made hanging and I looked at it and thought, ‘wow, I did pretty good’, she said I had told her I wasn’t very happy with it. I don’t even remember saying that.
Your quilts, however, are stunning!

Aww thank you luv2sparkle! If your friend has your quilt hanging then that is a huge testament to your work!

 

[rockysalamander]

What a beautiful doll! You should be proud!

Here are a few of my baby quilts. I also machine embroider so I like to makes quilts with embroidery on them as well. This quilt went to a little girl in Japan that loved the story of Noah's Ark.

This is the one that went to India. They wanted rainbows.

This is Under the Sea...

This was for a little boy into transportation.....

These went to PS's Skippy for her twins...

Beutiful quilts! Babies are so fun to sew for.

 

[rockysalamander]

I can finally share the secret quilt I've been making. My boss is retiring after 30 years.

 

[luv2sparkle]

This is a quilt that was made for my daughter by her great aunt shortly before her birth in 1982. One of the things I gave to my girl for her girl.

 

[luv2sparkle]

That is beautiful, Rocky!

 

[Catmom]

Beutiful quilts! Babies are so fun to sew for.

They are so fun to sew for, thanks!

 

[Catmom]

I can finally share the secret quilt I've been making. My boss is retiring after 30 years.

Love it! Did you have a hard time getting everyone to sign? I made a signature quilt for my daughter when she left for college and it was so hard to get everyone to sign the pieces. lol.

 

[Catmom]

This is a quilt that was made for my daughter by her great aunt shortly before her birth in 1982. One of the things I gave to my girl for her girl.

So cute!!! Oh is there a quilt?

 

[rockysalamander]

This is a quilt that was made for my daughter by her great aunt shortly before her birth in 1982. One of the things I gave to my girl for her girl.

So cute!!

 

[rockysalamander]

Love it! Did you have a hard time getting everyone to sign? I made a signature quilt for my daughter when she left for college and it was so hard to get everyone to sign the pieces. lol.

Thank you! I had the benefit of a captive audience. I got all the section managers to bring it to their meetings and folks brought it to meetings at the HQ. We grabbed former staff at the retirement party. Lots of people were intimidated by signing. So, I got some brave souls to go first and sign in various areas. I also sent a prep-email so people had time to think about what they wanted to say and I had a test quilt (not cat bed) that they could practice on. It was a lot of work to chase down everyone, but we go there!

 

[luv2sparkle]

Rocky, what a treasure your quilt is! I first saw the pic on my phone and I couldn't see the signatures. I have made a couple signature quilts for weddings and had the guests sign. I love the design of your and the colors too. I am sure your boss will treasure that quilt.

I went to a craft/sewing/quilting show yesterday and tried your machine! It is a great machine. I enjoyed stitching on it. It has so many great features. I don't think I had ever seen it before, or maybe I just somehow missed it. No wonder you can make so many beautiful quilts.

 

[rockysalamander]

Rocky, what a treasure your quilt is! I first saw the pic on my phone and I couldn't see the signatures. I have made a couple signature quilts for weddings and had the guests sign. I love the design of your and the colors too. I am sure your boss will treasure that quilt.

I went to a craft/sewing/quilting show yesterday and tried your machine! It is a great machine. I enjoyed stitching on it. It has so many great features. I don't think I had ever seen it before, or maybe I just somehow missed it. No wonder you can make so many beautiful quilts.

Awww. That quilt is mostly FMQ on my 1955 Necchi BU. The white areas used the Juki Miyabi (not worth considering the older model in my mind), but the colored area FMQ were all on my little vintage machine. But, that extra harp space of my Juki has made my FMQ faster and I can make bigger patterns. Its been worth every penny we spent. I like industrial style machines without bells and whistles. The Juki is actually pretty similar feeling as my Necchi, but comes with stitch regulation. I'm still adjusting to that having learned without it. But, totally worth it.

I think the key to FMQ is to just jump in and to let yourself suck at it for a while. I think people expect too much of themselves too quickly. I still have a piece I practice motif on before I jump onto my quilt. I use charity sewing as a way to practice and do something good.