TWO SPACES REMAIN !!!!!

I hope that everyone has now recovered from that massive Thanksgiving dinner. Hopefully you survived Black Friday and are now ready for Cyber Monday. It's amazing how this time of the year has evolved into a retail holiday. Not so sure that I like that.

We had a wonderful weekend of Family, Food, and Fun. The only 'fly in the ointment' came about when our team lost their game. Well, still a Tiger, always a Tiger.

It has been good to finish up some customer quilts and work just a little on mine. I still have a few to get to customers within the next two weeks and then I can really get to work on Christmas at the Greer house. I do have a mini-retreat planned in a few days. I am taking a few friends to the beach and we are going to 'test' out Beth's mystery for Spring Quilt Camp. That should be fun and don't forget the food part of the weekend. I sure do love that part.

Speaking of Spring Quilt Camp, there are only   2  sewing spaces available for February 2013. So, if you intend to spend the weekend 'sewing with the Frayed Knots', you need to let me know. Some people have had trouble with the registration form link  and I am not sure why that is. Whenever I click on it everything is fine. However, if you have a problem, just email me and I will send you all of the information. The group that attended 'Sewin' in the Summer' in August had a ton of fun.

I have spent the day trying to catch up on some 'book work'...Gee I hate that. However, I did manage to catch up a little. It kills me that the end of the year is just around the corner. I don't know where the time goes, but, it sure does fly!!!

Ok, time to go cook supper for Mr. OLT. He is home for a few days so I have to prepare his favorites. Got to keep on his good side. Especially since I have a new 'baby' coming into the studio next week. Can't wait to try her out. Pictures later.

Forgot to mention that I have one camper that needs a room mate, so, if you don't have someone that wants to come with you, no problem.

Have a good week.

Sun Bonnet Really Shines

I finally completed the quilting on Faye's "Sue" top. Sue has been on my frame for 14 days, but, I have to admit that I did not work on her that entire time. I am so happy with the results of my work. Sue looks beautiful and will be in Faye's family for many years to come. It is so rewarding to see these quilts come to life as I work.

Sue is King Size, so was hard to get a good full picture.

 I loved doing the crosshatching in the blocks. For me, the precision of template quilting is really satisfying. In the chain blocks I also used templates to do continuous curve.

The sashing treatments were done using 'Sew Clear' Clamshell template from Willow Leaf Studio.

On the large white border I stitched a modified bead board pattern with just a straight template and no marking.

This was sooooooooooo much fun, but, now I need to do something not quite so precise. We will just have to see what goes on the frame next. I think that it is Vicki's top that is up next. We'll see.

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Quilters Dream,Superior Thread,Olivia and I

I finished this customer quilt today.

When I took it in, Phyllis and I discussed several ways to quilt it. She was 'sick' of looking at it and told me to put a pantograph on it. Then  she said that she trusted me to do what would be best. Wellllll, I couldn't just stitch a pantograph over the top of her hard work, even though I have a few that would have worked very well. So, I did full custom on the top.

All of the blocks were stabilized first. Then I did a continuous curve in all of the checkerboard blocks. After that I did L's and e's in the outside border because I still didn't know what I wanted to do in the applique blocks.

I finally decided to echo around the applique and just 'went to town' on that. The next thing I knew, I was finished.

This has been a fun quilt to work on. I used Quilters Dream Blend as the batting, with Superior's King Tut thread on the top and Superior's So Fine in the bobbin. Olivia stitched like a dream and we all had loads of fun.


Oh, you want to see the back? Here ya go:

Have a great day,

One Happy Longarmer

Yes I am. Olivia is stitching beautifully and we are just working away. Last week before I left for retreat, Tommy came over and worked on Olivia. She was a little out of sorts and needed some special adjustments that I did not know how to make. Now, after that massage appointment, she is purring. This is what is on the frame today.

This belongs to Phyllis and I am very excited to be working on it. If you want to see what else Olivia and I have been working on, just check out the Customer page by clicking the link at the top of this page.

Also, if you have not registered for Think Spring 2013 Quilt Camp, now is the time to do so. The links for additional information are also on the top of this page.

Now, back to Olivia. She is so much fun to play with.

Quilters of South Carolina Pieceable Retreat

Trying to get ready for a fantastic weekend with over 300 of my closest friends. The class that I will be taking on Saturday and Sunday is the 'Sunset ' Quilt.

This is the pattern that we will be using and I love the scrappyness of it. However, as with any other quilt I have to pick fabrics. Hate that part.

I have gone through my scraps and selected quite a few mediums and darks. I have also picked out fabrics for the background (I am only using 2, maybe only 1). For some reason I am just not 'feeling the love' for these fabrics. I plan to just put the strips in a bag and pull out the pairs as I work so that I won't stress over what goes with what, but, I'm still not real happy with the idea. It could be that I have worked with these same scraps for 3 or 4 years and I just need some 'new' scraps.


So, I thought about making a 'themed' quilt. You know, Christmas, vegetables, fruit, Halloween. You get the idea. So, went to part of my 'Halloween' stash and pulled out these fabrics:

I could still use the same backgrounds or, I could go to a black background. I hate picking fabric.

As I looked at the Halloween stash I was not seeing a lot of contrast as far as mediums and darks. So, I thought I might check my theory on that, and this is what showed up.

Did you know that if you take a picture of your fabrics in black and white mode then you can actually see if there is good contrast. As for this stack of fabrics.................I'm not seeing good contrast, how about you. So, the idea was a good one? but, I don't think it will work. However they might work well with the black background, if I throw in enough lime green and neon yellow? Shoot!! I hate picking fabric.Love to buy it though.

That is where I am today. Can't work with Olivia until Tommy comes and adjusts her tomorrow, so, just trying to get things together for retreat. I have the doors open and am letting the beautiful South Carolina fall weather in. What a beautiful day.

Hope you have a good week,

New Quilts !!!

Yes, I have been busy. I have loaded a few new quilts on the customer page, so go see what I have been doing.

Things are beginning to pick up for Christmas, so, if you need something by then, you need to let me know now.

Remember to register for Quilt Camp in February 2013. You can do that from the registration page. All the information is there. Fill out your form and mail in your registration with your check so that you can reserve the space you want. Beth has been working on the Mystery quilt and it is really going to be different from anything we have done before. Lookin' good.

I will post more later, but for now, back to work.

Oh yes, we do need a picture don't we? OK, here ya go:

Update????

Yes, I know I am sooooooooooooo behind on the blog. Especially since I haven't posted about Maymester or Sewin' in the Summer. I will get to it, and soon. Just so you will know that I am around, this is what I am working on currently. It's Pam's quilt. Beautiful applique. We are using Quilters Dream Wool Batting and it is quilting beautifully. Have a look.

I'm taking a few days for R and R, so, see ya later alligator.