Ruler work on a powerquilter

Free motion quilting with a homemade design

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I needed a design for this rectangular piece on this quilt.  I wanted it to be similar to some of the quilting on the inner parts of the quilt.  My curved rulers just weren't the right size for this.  So I used a piece of freezer paper the size of the rectangle, folded it into fourths so that I could get a curved arc the size needed.  I just wanted to show you how that one little template made out of freezer paper can help you make a semi-elaborate design on your quilts.  Bear with me, this is my first video, it's kinda long and with that busy striped fabric,  a little hard to see.  I am using my powerquilter for this video.  Karen

Quilting at the Convent

I met with some other guild members and my daughter (who just graduated college with a degree in Chemistry and starts work at her new job on Monday, I'm so proud) met at the convent at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio to work on auction quilts.  The nuns have a lovely workroom for their sewing projects and kindly let us meet here once a month.

from the left, Joyce, Ida and Nancy are working on projects for our guild.  Isn't the convent basement sewing room nice?  So peaceful too.  

Joyce and I are holding up the Funky Chicken group quilt.  Nicole (my daughter) and I put these blocks together on this day.  The blocks were made by retreaters one year and were lost for many years.  So everyone is excited to see how this one turns out.  I get the pleasure of quilting it, hmmmm.  Funky variegated feathers in outer black borders??  

Hope your day is great, Karen

Over the Fence

Hi, it's been a while, but I have been quilting up a storm!  I have lots to show you today also.  First, I finished quilting the Bunny and Dog quilt. Those blue things are the little wire fence they were looking over, but I think the fact that I have to keep explaining what that is,, means that I should just call the quilt "Over the Fence".

The quilt is about 19 x 27 inches.  I decided to face it after watching this: Terry Aske facing a quilt.  

Here are close-ups of the animals:

The bunny is Sweetie.  I quilted her whiskers with Perle cotton.   It went right into the needle that I had on my machine, no tension adjustments or anything.  Worked like a dream!

This is Rusty.  I used several colors from Hollis Chatelain's Living Colors Threads from Superior Threads - a must-have thread collection for portrait quilters.

And on to other projects:

 Here are my two cuties, Sheldon and Kona (the black poodle mix), both rescues, sitting on some dog beds that I made.  I save my really small scraps and batting pieces to make these beds for shelter dogs.  My friends know about this and are always bringing me scraps.  So I have made quite a few.  Kona and Sheldon think they have to break them all in first!

But this is what my sweet Kona did last week when I was out.  She's 7 yrs old, so not a puppy thing... I think she was scratching out a sleeping area.  That is wool batting, VERY expensive, arggghhh!

So I have been doing some quilt samples for free motion quilting classes that I teach at Gromes Sewing Machine shop. 

 This is a panel from Angela Walters Textures collection.  I used my beginner quilting designs on this panel as a demo of the skills we learn.  I know, I know, it's way over-quilted for a beginner, but I want to inspire and show students the possibilities.  

I teach this class this Saturday..  I think we'll have fun!

In a more advanced free motion quilting class, we are working on these wholecloth feather wreath quilts.  I am working on the outer borders now using a design similar to one I have seen on several quilts before.  I used longarm rulers, specifically, Linda Hrcka's curved ruler set.  This is quilted using gold Glide thread.  

Quote for today:

If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.

William J. Clinton

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/learn.html#AdmrOpxesx5kcmgs.99

PCT and portraits

I havent' been able to blog for a while because I took a road trip to Campos, CA to drop my son off at the trailhead of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Here he is starting out on his 2000+ mile journey.

 My husband and I rented an RV and invited my father to come along also.  It was a great trip.  My son Ken texted this morning that he has hiked 109 miles this first week of his trek.

Before I left, I was playing with some more portrait quilts.  I wanted to portray someone iconic, that most women admire.... who better than The Clooney!!

I used this photo from noble custom icons of style to make a portrait that I can happily hang in my sewing room to look at every day:)

This portrait quilt was quick and easy using Maria Elkins technique from Making Faces CD. That cheek highlight has a little too much contrast, right?  I will try painting it a little darker to see if that makes it better.  I'll show you when it's done.  Choosing fabrics is the hardest part of portrait quilting for me anyway.

My cousin Gail, who takes great photographs, gave me permission to use this pic of Rusty (dog) and Sweetie (bunny).  I love this photo.  It makes one wonder "What happens next?" 

I used my own methods to create this quilt top.  I cut up snippets of yellow fabrics for the background flowers.  This is on the quilting machine right now, so I will share the finished product soon.  I can't wait to get it quilted.  It measures 20 x 30 inches, so the animals are lifesized.  

Oh and it's so sad, but Rusty went to the great doggy park in the sky recently.  Maybe Gail would like this quilt??

“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.”

―M.K. Clinton

Linda's Round Robin all quilted!

Hi, I finally finished Linda's round robin quilt.  I am soooo slow, but to my credit, Linda did tell me there was no hurry and to take my time.  So I did.  I had so much fun quilting this one as it had lots of spaces to add quilting designs.

The center is the piece Linda contributed to the round robin in our Wannabees group.

I added some shapes around those pretty stars instead of just filling it in with one design.  

I did a lot of quilting in those blue swags and bars and you can't see it at all.  Will I ever learn?  It does show on the back (later).

So on the outer blue border I decided to do it in a light blue Glide that shows up a little better.  

I had fun making the feathers alternate with the swags.  I used a tiny baptist fan fill in this part.  Can you see the basket weave in the blue corner square?  (me neither, ha ha)

Here is the entire back, the quilt is about 70 inches square and I did most of my quilting on a Bernina virtuosa 153.

Closer up you can see the stitching on the back in red white and blue.  Most of the threads on the back are Wonderfil Decobob or Invisafil.

Here you can see the quilting in the blue swags and bars.  

This was fun to design, but it was time-consuming.  

Our quilting bee did this round robin over a year ago and I would like us to show these quilts in our guild quilt show in September.  Mine is done and Linda's is almost done (needs binding, sleeve and label). 

This one is mine.  I think round robins are so much fun and so educational.  You have to be willing to get back something that you may not like too much.  But when you get one like mine or Linda's, you can get very excited! Every month you get to work on someone else's quilt and challenge yourself to do something you may not have ever done, or work with colors you would never choose.  

This year we are doing a slice quilt.  See more in August, that's our deadline.  

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” 

― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You

I am at the airport on my way home from the Empty Spools Seminar in Pacific Grove California.  Would you like to see some pictures?  Keep going then....

 this is Asilomar, the resort where the conference is held as viewed from the beach on a foggy morning.

this is the studio where I and 14 other women took a dye painting class with Hollis Chatelain.
There were 10 or 11 other teachers at this conference, some with 20 or more students.

I went not knowing anyone, so really lucked out to meet my talented and beautiful roommate, Christina. This pic was taken on our last morning, so we are looking a little frazzled.  We were exhausted.  

Carol made this wonderful painted quilt of her rascally hound, Pistol.  It is a wonderful image of his pitiful look, he knew he was out of bounds.  Look at those eyes...

Jan Ring from Florida painted a beautiful flower.   We all painted three pieces, but I'm just showing some that I was given permission to post about.

Barbara from Florida depicted a photo of her grandson running on the beach, wonderful.

 We all admired Mary's painted image from an old Christmas card that she has held on to for years.

This is my painted fabric piece.  My brother-in-law took this photo with his underwater camera.  Those are bubbles in her nostrils... I will work to depict that with paint or something...

I took advantage of a ride along the 17 mile scenic highway on the Monterey Peninsula and got to ride along with my new Florida friends, Jan and Mary, (Barbara was taking the picture).  We saw beautiful Carmel, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach.  The coastline was beautiful and the homes and flowers were out of this world.

This conference seemed to me to be for those who are very artistic and creative quilters, or those who are wannabe art quilters - like me!  I was wowed at the work done by all the teachers and students and can't wait to come back.