Cindy's Baskets---First Day

I have spent the day basting the basket top on the frame for Olivia and I to work on. Olivia is my hand guided Gammill Classic Plus.

I don't have robotics hooked to her. We just dance along all on our own.

There is one thing for sure now, I know every piece of fabric in this quilt top. I know where the problems might arise and where we can just coast along. There is so much bias in this top that you have to expect some fullness, so I wanted to get that out of the way to start with.

 Look at these three pictures and you can see how all of the bias edges in the quilt can effect it. Cindy did an outstanding job of piecing this together without a lot of distortion in the quilt. I expect to find some distortion but always hope for just a little. Some piecers can do this well, some not so much.







In the first picture you are looking straight down the frame. In the second I am at a slight angle. In the third I am shooting at a greater angle. You can see that there is some 'waving' of the top.









The real problem with this top comes with that beautiful pieced border. I love them. I use them alot on my own quilts. But, they can be a real PIA when it comes to quilting the top. As you can see in some of these pictures, we have a few issues to deal with.

The trick here is to 'tame' the border. Truthfully, I am not really worried about this amount of fullness. It is really minimal and will be 'sucked up' with the quilting.

One thing I would suggest though for future reference, ALWAYS stay-stitch your borders. Makes no difference if it is pieced or not, if you stay-stitch, it will help to keep your borders stable. This can be even more important with a pieced border or borders with mitered corners.

OK, I have it all basted on the frame and I did run horizontal basting stitches across about every 6 inches. There are also over 500 pins in this top, so, it is not going anywhere. I got to the bottom of the quilt and this is the "WHOLE" 2 inches of backing that I had left over.

I was also concerned about the clearance of the backing roller with the full quilt on it. I have been able to determine that I will have plenty of clearance and not have to worry about that. If the 'sandwich' had been to thick to clear the machine, I would have just un-zipped it from the backing roller and moved it to the front roller on my frame...........Love zippered leaders.

OK, so we are finished for today. In the morning we will start anew. We will SID (stitch in the ditch) until the cows come home. At that point the whole quilt will be stabilized and all of the basting will come out and all of the pins, and then the feathering fun begins............I love this quilt!!!!

Hope you have a good evening. I have a nice glass of wine and I am heading out to grill me a steak. See you tomorrow.

Basket Quilt by Cindy B !!!

Cindy B. brought this into the studio on March 24, 2014. It is absolutely beautiful and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. She had sewn it from a kit and pattern from Fons and Porter in the September/October 2010 issue of their magazine. It appears to be perfectly pieced----Cindy does things like that---and it lays flat and square. She brought a copy of the 'suggested' quilting pattern with the top, so that I would have a 'jumping off' point to work with. There was a feather daisy in the handle area that she particularly liked and wants me to use. 

Of course this came in at a very busy time and she was in no rush for the quilting, so I put it in line with the other custom quilts.

Fast forward to Thursday, May 22, 2014 and look what is happening:

I have it partially loaded. I say partially, because on something this size and involved, I baste the whole quilt in before I take the first stitch. That way, I don't get to the bottom of the quilt and have big surprises waiting for me. You know, like, very wavy borders or backing that is to short. Yes, even though I measure and take all of the necessary precautions, I can reach the bottom edge of the quilt and have surprises. That is why I totally baste something like this totally down. I will be rolling this quilt back and forth on the rollers and I don't want anything to shift. This process will take most of today.............yes, I said most of today....4 to 8 hours. If it is to be done right.........that's what it takes. (Why does custom quilting cost so much?)

Dream Wool batting is being used on this project. Absolutely love Dream Wool. I will be using Superior threads. Bottom Line in the bobbin and Omni (my favorite) in the top.

I will post as I go so that you can see the process that I go through. Right now, back to basting and pinning.

MAY MESTER 2014 RETREAT WITH ONE LOOSE THREAD

I really like to have at least 1 teaching retreat a year. The first time we did 'One Block Wonder' with Beth Karr and 'Spiral Lone Stars' with Sara Quattlebaum. Next time (last year) CI Karen Conley started us on our journey with Judy Neimeyer patterns. This year, I brought her back to South Carolina for a 'Wedding Ring Marathon'. We had a great time.

I already have people requesting that Karen visit with us next year and carry us further on our journey. If you are interested, let me know.

Now I will only be 2 events behind posting pictures.

We had a fantastic 4 days with CI Karen Conley. The Gravatt Staff made our stay just perfect.

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May thanks to the 'Frayed Knots' that attended May Mester 2014. Without you, none of this would be possible.

SEWIN' IN THE SUMMER----AUGUST QUILT CAMP INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION!!!

SUMMER QUILT CAMP 2014

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.

Easter Fun

Most people would like to 'hunt' eggs today or, eat a chocolate bunny.  Me, I would rather be quilting something or stitching something. So, I decided to do both. I have been working on these

little units for a special project. I only need about 52 of them to complete my part of this project. I will still need to do about 20 more for it to be complete.

 I also know that I have this spool quilt

coming up next week for quilting. My customer and I want to do the Baptist Fan pattern on it. In order to get Penelope to behave, I needed to practice the pattern. Contrary to popular belief, you can't just load a pattern into the computer and hit the start button.  So, I loaded a top out of my UFO bin

and practiced today. It's a good thing I did it too, because I did run into a few problems. I could not get the pattern to line up properly.

One row would be 1/4" off and the next run, might be 1/2" off. I asked for help on the Statler Yahoo group and received an almost immediate response from Glen Cook, a brilliant Statler user. He talked me through my problems and I completed the quilt flawlessly.

Now I can feel more comfortable when I load the spool quilt.

It has been a fun day and I look forward to the coming week. As of tomorrow it will only be 10 days until May Mester 2014. Time to get things together for that event. Wait until you see the fabric that I have chosen for my Bali Star Wedding Ring.  I will show you when I start cutting it. This will truly be an heirloom quilt.

Hope you all have a great week,

May Mester Registration

May Mester registration is officially closed. We will post pictures and let you know how everything goes while we are working on our Wedding Ring Tops.

Registration for 'Sewin' in the Summer' 2014 will start within the next week. Stay tuned for more information regarding the 'Frayed Knots' and One Loose Thread's Quilt Camps and Retreats.

Time is running out

deadline for registration is fast approaching!

Register now to make sure you have a space for this fantastic weekend!!

  

May Mester #2

Thursday May 1 – Sunday May 4, 2014

Camp Gravatt Conference Center

Aiken, S. C.

4 days and 3 nights of quilting fun with the Frayed Knots of One Loose Thread.

 You may choose from 2 weekend classes taught by wonderful instructors. They include:

Karen Conley, Certified Judy Neimeyer Instructor

Donna Royson, Certified Quilt in a Day Instructor

Classes will begin after supper on Thursday night with 2 hours of prep and instruction. They will continue with 6 hours on Friday and 6 hours on Saturday. Class instruction will conclude on Sunday morning with 2 hours of ‘wrap up’ between breakfast and lunch. That’s 16 hours of professional instruction!! Where else would you find that except at a One Loose Thread event!! In between class times it will be ‘free time’ for working on your class project, a ufo, or reading or walking around the beautiful retreat site or just taking naps, as you choose.

Lodging will be provided on site. You may choose from a quaint cottage room that shares a bathroom with the room next door or a lodge room with 2 double beds and its own bathroom. I have set aside just a few single rooms for this event and they will be first come first served. All other rooms will be doubles. If you can’t find a roommate, I will be glad to try to pair you with someone that will be compatible for you. With very few exceptions, all rooms are on the ground level.

All meals are included in your registration fee and will be prepared and served by the fantastic kitchen staff at Gravatt. If you have special diets or food allergies please note that on your registration forms so that we can address those. I promise that you won’t go hungry during your stay with us.

Each class will be set up in a singular location depending on the number that register for that class. However, all classroom space will be close to lodging and the dining hall. I usually tell everyone the longest distance to the dinner table is 100 yards. All classrooms are on the ground level, so no steps to climb.

Class Information:

Karen Conley, CI for Judy Neimeyer is returning for another weekend with the Frayed Knots. This time she will be teaching several wedding ring patterns. You may choose from any of these:

1.      Forever Yours Table Runner

2.      Wedding Ring Bed Runner

3.      Grandma’s Wedding Ring

4.      Princess Tiara

5.      Bali Star Bed Runner

6.      Bali Star Quilt

These are listed as to their difficulty with 1 being the easiest and 6 being the most difficult.

All of these patterns can be viewed on Judy’s site www.quiltworx.com . Karen will supply your patterns for you at a discounted fee. She will also supply the Creative Grid Wedding Ring templates for a discounted fee. The templates are a required tool for the construction of any of these patterns.We really enjoyed our time with Karen during Sewin’ in the Summer 2013 and look forward to her class in May.

 

  

Donna Royson, CI for Quilt in a Day will be presenting and teaching a quilt called ‘ZigaZag’. Several techniques will be taught during the construction of this top and you quite possibly may go home with a finished quilt top ready to be quilted. Donna tells me that this pattern works out for a confident beginner, someone who has previously constructed a quilt and has been sewing for a while. Pick your own fabrics for this one and enjoy the process.

Registration information is available on the registration page. See the tab at the top of this page...click on it and print it off. Fill it out and get it in the mail...........All spaces are first come.....

Registration Deadline is April 15, 2014

I'm ready to go sew....how about you?