What a Day!!!!

Today has been fantastic. I was up at 5:30 and working with Olivia (my hand guided Gammill Classic Plus) and this quilt by 6:00 this morning.

Before I left for a much needed quilting retreat last week, I had ditched the first row and had quilted 3 of the blocks. So, this morning I was really ready to rock and roll. I finished the first row:

I was very pleased at how this row turned out. I am trying to mix the traditional with some of the modern quilting to bring this top up to date.

Sorry about the pictures being off color, but, the weather here has been very gray.

Next up, row 2. I was amazed at how quickly this row quilted. Of course, I had chosen several designs to be repeated over the entire quilt, so that made things much easier. I actually finished quilting Row 2 in time to meet a friend for lunch around 1:00.


This is row 2:

Amazing how the whole face of the quilt changes with the quilting added to each block. As I am working, I can actually see and feel that happening.

Finally around 3:30 this afternoon, I started on Row 3:

I'm not showing the quilting on that row, yet. We will look at that tomorrow. However, row 3 is at least half done. This quilt is moving right along. All the while I am thinking what to do in the sashing and the border. I have seen so much in the way of piano keys that I really want something different, but, the border is a print and only with a 3" quiltable area. So, I'll keep thinking. I'll come up with something by the time I get to that point.

Tomorrow, I will also be loading a new quilt on Penelope Statler for her to work with while I am working with Olivia. I have one 'Frayed Knot' that is suppose to be dropping off a quilt for quilting and a new customer who will be bringing in a t-shirt quilt that she needs before Christmas. My usual customers have finished all of their tops with plenty of time for binding before Christmas, so, I am free to do 'emergency' quilting for others..........that's a lot of fun too.

After Christmas, we start the 'Charity Blitz' for the Devine quilt guild. More on that later, because that will be a LOT of tops quilted within a week.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to keep your seams straight.

Beverly's Sweet Sixteen

The Story of Beverly's Sweet Sixteen Quilt.

I don't have these in any particular order.

Hope you enjoy the journey.

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

This Quilt is Talking

I started working on this quilt WEEKS ago. It has been really slow going due to other things happening. I spent 3 days with the Quilters of South Carolina at Fall Retreat. There have been numerous Guild meetings to attend. Planning and preparation for One Loose Threads Fall Quilt Camp. Then there is Fall Quilt Camp: 4 days of constant laughter and loads of fun. After which there is the time to recover from 4 days of constant laughter and loads of fun............

Back to the quilt. I put it on Olivia's frame and basted it down. Then I spent several days 'ditching' around all of the applique with Superior's mono-poly thread. (not one thread break!!) I did experience 4 broken needles until I finally figured out that I had the backing---a beautiful batik---cranked to tight and that was causing so much needle deflection that even titanium would not stay together.

The entire time that I am 'ditching' this top I am thinking what else it will need. I have decided to do my own 'McTavashing' as the background filler, so constant practice on paper is going on. However, the quilt sort of whispers............"What about my border? I think I want you to stitch something special there." So, once the applique is ditched, I started work on the border. It comes together one element at the time.

I got this much done and something told me that wasn't enough so I added additional lines above it.

So now the border is pretty much finished---except----I will need to stitch something into this diamond and will have to stitch something into the corners because currently they look like this:

While I was in the process of doing these things I thought about this:

So that has now been added at the intersections of all of the blocks.
I have reached a point that I have to start working with the background fill. This can be absolutely, the most terrifying thing to me. I am much more comfortable with templates, but, here we go.

I'll let you see later how things are working out.
Have a great day and stay warm

Finished this up today.

Thought you might like to watch some of the process. Three weeks on the frame. These are not really in order. I really enjoyed the process on this quilt from the basting to the completion. Hope you do too.

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Fall Quilt Camp 2014

Check the header above and you can access the registration information from there. 

Registration is closed
This event is full
Thank you

Gravatt Conference Center, Aiken, S. C. 

Tuesday, November 4 – Friday, November 7, 2014

Sew and play during the week!!

Register for Fall Fun Quilt Camp 2014!!

This is a UFO event. You work on your own projects and just have a relaxing good time. 
All meals are provided by the fantastic Gravatt kitchen!  No dishes to wash!!! 
Walking paths all over the camp so that you can get your daily exercise. Walk by the lake and just lose yourself in your surroundings.
Nothing is structured except meal times.
Your fee includes:
Neat and clean lodging in either Cole Lodge or Our quaint cottages.
The rooms in Cole Lodge sleep 2 and have their own bathrooms.
The cottage rooms have 2 adjoining rooms, each sleeping 2, with a shared bathroom.
9 meals starting with dinner on Tuesday night and ending with lunch on Friday.

A 6 foot table all to yourself as your work area
Ironing surfaces furnished by One Loose Thread
Raised cutting surfaces
Snack Area

Massage available
Lots of Laughter
Of course, a few surprises will be thrown into the mix. 
Any Questions should be directed to:

One Loose Thread Quilting, 630 Planters Drive, Columbia, S. C. 29209

Attention: Joyce Greer

630p@bellsouth.net

P. S. Also mark your calendars for

Think Spring Quilt Camp: February 19 - 22, 2015

WHERE DOES TIME GO???

I cannot believe that it has been a month since my last posting to the blog. Time has a real way of getting away from me and this month has flown by.

Since my last posting, I have completed several customer quilts and they are posted on the Customer Quilt page number 2. Spent 4 days in Charlotte, NC at the AQS show there. Had a ton of fun and contributed heavily to the economy of the quilting world. I have attended any number of guild meetings and events. Took a trip to Foust's warehouse and last, but not least, spent 4 wonderful days at 'Sewin' in the Summer 2014' Quilt Camp.

The time spent with the 'Frayed Knots' of One Loose Thread is always magical. I had a few new "Knots" added to the group and really enjoyed getting to know them. 

Now my calendar for September is looking REALLY full and that is a little scarey. Included on that calendar is a trip to Altanta to take a full weekend of classes on the Statler computer system. I am looking forward to being able to do more with this system and this is just another step in that direction.

Is that flying clock bothering you as much as it is bugging me?

I will be posting information on the November retreat within days, so watch for that. I have a few custom quilts to work on over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for those. They are amazing right now, so I just hope I can add a little sparkle without being a distraction. This is one that I am working on this week:

That's it for now. Take care and keep your stitches even.

A Day in the Life of This Longarm Quilter

I have had this top 'in house' for over a month. So, I have been thinking about what to stitch on this top for that long. My customer and I have been in communication and we agree that the top has some issues.  It is a block of the month that she has worked very hard on to construct.  This pattern has a lot of bias in it and it is showing up in the finished product. For that reason, I am going to blog about the progress so that we can all learn together how to handle these tops. This way I can also get advice from other longarm quilters as to what to stitch where and the best way to stitch it while making this fullness disappear. What we will end up with will be flat and square and beautiful. Just watch. This WILL happen.

Let's load the backing:

Our backing is a beautiful batik. I did have to square it up because it was torn off of the bolt. Make no mistake about this, just because it is torn, that does not mean it is square. The backing is 108 x 117 inches. I am spritzing it a little to get the wrinkles out as I load it on Olivia (my hand guided Gammill).

Now to the 'tale of the longarm quilter'. I went back to the batting room (my son's old bedroom) to get my kingsize black bat for this project. Don't have one..................Everything I have is Queen. Really thought I had a king. Called everyone I know. Called the total of 3 quilt shops within a 100 miles. No body had one. Karen Kendo messaged me from Montana or Wyoming (she is in a Judy Niemeyer workshop) that she had one and I could go to Harleyville and pick it up, but, by that time I had already ordered from Quilters Dream. They will have it to me by close of business on Thursday. Glory Be!!! I will only be 3 days behind. So, I moved into the Annex to load something on Penelope (my Statler system).

The first project on her list today required that I piece the backing.........so........that will move to the next project. I pulled the next project on the list and finally had her loaded and ready to go. Stitched 2 passes of the pattern and Penelope went non-responsive. Have no clue what happened. I rebooted the computer and now we are stitching again.

Some days the quilt fairies just don't want you to take a stitch.

Hopefully will finish up the Sister's Choice top today and then can start fresh tomorrow. Until then.

Keep your stitches straight and your tension well balanced,

Cindy's Basket Quilt is Complete

As a longarm quilter, I find that I learn something new every time I put a quilt top on the frame. At the same time, it blows my mind when I take them off. As you may know, I have been on top of this quilt for 2 or 3 weeks and spent several weeks just thinking about it before I loaded it on the frame. Now is the time to take it off. All of the quilting has been completed and it is time to turn it over to Cindy. This is one of those times when you stretch the quilt out and you look at it and you are amazed at what you have done. I can't begin to tell you how good I feel when I look at something like this.

This is how we started:

This is what came off of the frame today:

If this picture looks upside down, it is.

 I have really enjoyed working on this quilt. I learned alot about longarm quilting and about myself.

Thank you Cindy.

Now, wait until you see what goes on Olivia's frame next!!  Boy are we in for a wild ride!!

Until next time,

Keep your stitches even and your seams straight,

Cindy's Baskets the Journey Comes to an End..................

I have throughly enjoyed the process of quilting Cindy's basket quilt. From the very beginning I knew it would be a journey and a test of my abilities. I could not have done this quilt justice 2 years ago. Many classes and many hours of practice later, we have Cindy's Baskets.

The large daisy in the basket was the major thing that Cindy wanted done. I left it to last in hopes I wouldn't be so uneasy about stitching it. I drew this daisy for two weeks and it just became more and more ugly. I couldn't draw it!!  So, I had decided that I would print it out and stitch through the paper and then remove the paper.  Welllllllllllll, I was at a guild meeting on Monday night and I happened to mention it to a longarmer friend (Teresa) and she mentioned how she does stuff like that as though she is running a pantograph. I'VE DONE THAT TOO!!!!! I had totally forgotten about using that technique!! Teresa doesn't know it yet, but she saved me at least 4 hours of time. See, it's good for longarmers to share, we do that alot.

So, I enlarged the motif to the size that I needed for the quilt.

Then I traced over this on a sheet protector:

This way I could get perfect placement in the basket. I positioned the needle in the center and then went around to the back of my machine and turned on the laser light.



The light gave me perfect placement of the actual pattern for the daisy.

Notice that the copy is positioned in the reverse for proper placement on the quilt.
This is how the set up looked once I had it ready.

I took this picture before I turned the pattern around. Keep in mind that the needle is where the laser light is.

Once I had it in position I stitched it out.
PERFECT!!!!
Each basket took about 5 minutes to set up and stitch. How cool is that???!!!





This is how it looked after it was stitched:

So, the daisies are all in their baskets and I took another hour to do some stitching in the baskets themselves. My journey is complete. I love my job.

Tomorrow I will take this off of Olivia's frame, clip threads, trim the quilt and hopefully, get some really good pictures. I can't wait to show off the finished quilt.

Thank you Cindy for allowing me the honor of quilting one of your beautiful quilts. It has been a BLAST!!!!

A FANTASTIC QUILT RETREAT

One Loose Thread Quilting Presents

Summer Quilt Camp for 2014

Gravatt Conference Center, Aiken, S. C. 

August 14 - August 17, 2014

You have been asking and now it's time to :

Register for Summer Quilt Camp 2014!!

Become a 'Frayed Knot' with a sit and sew with One Loose Thread at beautiful Camp Gravatt.

This is a UFO event. You work on your own projects and just have a relaxing good time. 

All meals are provided by the fantastic Gravatt kitchen!  No dishes to wash!!! 
Walking paths all over the camp so that you can get your daily exercise. Walk by the lake and just lose yourself in your surroundings.
Nothing is structured except meal times.

Your fee includes:
Neat and clean lodging in either Cole Lodge or Our quaint cottages.
The rooms in Cole Lodge sleep 2 and have their own bathrooms.
The cottage rooms have 2 adjoining rooms, each sleeping 2, with a shared bathroom.
9 meals starting with dinner on Thursday night and ending with lunch on Sunday.
Ironing surfaces furnished by One Loose Thread
Raised cutting surfaces
Snack Area
Excellent lighting
Lots of Laughter
Of course, a few surprises will be thrown into the mix. 

Registration forms are on the 'Registration page'

Any Questions should be directed to :

One Loose Thread Quilting, 630 Planters Drive, Columbia, S. C. 29209

Attention: Joyce Greer

630p@bellsouth.net

P. S. Also mark your calendars for

Fall Fun Quilt Camp: November 4 - 7, 2014
Think Spring Quilt Camp: February 19 - 22, 2015

Check out http://www.oneloosethread.blogspot.com/ for other fantastic retreats that we have planned just for you.

Cindy's Baskets-Continued

Saturday morning we started the SID (Stitch in the Ditch) around all aspects of the blocks. Any longarmer will tell you that this is one of the most difficult things we do on a quilt.

Cindy had picked certain parts of the published pattern that she liked and she brought me a picture of the "suggested" quilting. Oh boy, did that help out a lot.

I decided to pretty much follow their diagram and ditch everything. I could have actually spent an hour or more on each block and never cut a thread. However, I am changing thread for the feather work, so that wasn't going to work for me.

If you follow the lines in the patterns you can go all the way across the top and back without cutting your thread and doing a restart. It took me a row, but, I finally figured out the thread path. You would think that saved me some time, right? I must be the slowest longarm quilter in the country. It took me a full 6 hours to ditch this top. But, boy!!! does it look good.

I took the day off today to work on some of my own stuff.....It's Sunday after all...and I will be back with Cindy's quilt tomorrow after a little trip to the Dermatologist and getting up close and personal with a scapel. If everything is working correctly, I think that I will either start the background fill or the piano key border. Just not sure yet. I am not going to use this background fill that is shown in the pattern, I want to use something else...we'll see.  I will say that this wool batting is quilting beautifully.

Have a good evening and remember to check out the 'Sewing in the Summer' retreat for August. Spaces are filling and I don't want you to miss this fun retreat.

Keep your stitches even and your seams straight,