This tablecloth is made from vintage fabric by my most minimalistic quilter or how she prefers free-motion quilting.
She did not
use batting and only added a brushed cotton sheet as an inner. After the tedious quilting on
the previous massive quilt, this was a breeze to work with.
If I say I worked two full weeks, or every available moment during this time, on this quilt, I am not exaggerating. This must have been the largest quilt I ever worked on (90” x 102”). To make it feel even larger, it had double batting and waffle weave as a backing. Pair all of these, and I had a monster, and my machine, towards the end, with most of the roll resting against the bed of the machine, had a hard time moving smoothly.
The quilt
maker requested hearts on the borders and not wanting to do all the same, I
played with several motifs and ideas.
The maker's piecing is well done, and I could not fault her for anything. I am glad it was done and the recipient will receive a beautiful quilt.
Some two years ago, shortly after we moved into this house, I took an online longarm class on quilting feathers.
With my memory
not improving with age, I wanted to make something from what I’ve learnt
to cement the rules, tips and tricks into my muscle memory. I then decided to make this whole cloth. However, it did not happen as fast as typing this sentence as I had it on the frame and whenever a customer quilt arrived, I had to take it off and reload whenever done with customer work. It nearly took me two years.
The worst part was when I sat doing the binding, one side by hand, I noticed I omitted one curved line. Back onto the frame it had to go, binding and all but now it is done. All was done free-hand with rulers to guide me around the curves.
We were invited for supper on Friday at the house of one friend, another friend came too and brought along curried chicken, which was really special. Luckily the cook shared the recipe with me and I intend to make it for us one day.
Before
supper, I finished this quilt, a pattern from a local quilter,
teacher and designer. She called it the
‘Aunty’ quilt and people in one of her groups could give a name and a story to go with
the name and each block represented that person. The outline of the block is basically the
same with the inner detail changing from one block to another.
The quilt maker
plans to use this on a bed so it needed no more than an edge-to-edge motif and
we decided on medium grey thread.
I worked two full days to complete this quilt as I expected 2 more quilts from out of town but I never got a message from the courier. I then decided to cook hubby a decent meal for supper seeing he had the bare basic the last 2 days. Tonight, I am making sweet ‘n sour Eisbein.
When I received
this quilt, I found the floral prints representing the darker side of the log
cabin almost overwhelming. I knew
whatever I chose to quilt should enhance the cream fabric and I must
keep the quilting on the floral prints to the minimum.
Nothing seemed to be better than a large-scale feather, this turned out good as the feathers now attracted the attention. The picture of the full quilt can be found on the Gallery page.
When receiving quilts from out of town I get a message from the courier early on the day of delivery. However, I have often sat at home the whole day and then it will only arrive early evening. It was frustrating as it seemed those days I had to wait for them were when I needed to do heaps of things away from the house.
I
complained about this to my neighbours.
There are 4 ladies making dance costumes from their house and they
offered that I could have my parcels delivered to their address seeing there is
always someone home. This is a huge help
and I dearly appreciate it.
This runner
was one from another town and I can clearly see this quilter has been at this
hobby for years and is now scrapbusting with her remnant fabric. A table runner always comes in handy.
Next up on the frame was this tall skinny quilt. I suppose this will be a wall hanging. It had plenty of applique work I outlined in certain places, filling the rest with different free-motion motifs and a little continuous line stitching.
We had a public holiday known as Heritage Day on Tuesday and the idea is that we all should recognize, learn and respect the heritage of the different cultures in our country. Still, I am not aware of anyone really doing that. Nowadays everybody lights a fire and celebrates Barbeque Day.
Knowing it
would be a holiday mid-week, I organized an evening with some of our friends called it “Breakfast for supper”.
Each lady had to bring 3 items they’d like to have at a breakfast buffet, that would be our meal for the evening.
Needless to say, with 5 ladies each bringing 3 items, we had way too
much food for the 9 of us but it was a good evening.
Everyone
was welcomed with breakfast punch as they entered the house and with all the
food and plates in one serving area, the table was less cluttered.
The weekend
before I worked on this perfectly pieced quilt and it was the most fun, I had
quilting over a weekend in a long time.
This quilt was absolutely stunning.
Ten years ago, we celebrated quilting friend Rinas’ 60th birthday just after a tough chemotherapy session. Her having no hair did not prevent her from having a party.
Last weekend we celebrated her 70th birthday and this time it was a proper party with proper hair. Here Rina is the one standing with a full head of hair.
While partying and having fun I had the loveliest hand applique quilt on the frame. The detail that went into this is amazing and it only took the quilter 5 months to complete and she even made a smaller applique quilt in between.
I could
stare at the perfectly hand-stitched blanket stitches with not one
leg longer or wider than the other for hours.
These are a
few pictures of the detail of some applique shapes.
When I finished the geometric motif on the previous quilt, I expected a quilt from out of town via courier. I cleaned my machine, tracks and wheels and changed the needle, ready for the new quilt. Then, late afternoon, I got a call from a quilter needing to bring me a baby quilt.
This one
was tiny and only required loops, I popped it onto the frame and
was able to finish it as well and phoned the quilter to fetch it.
I find it gratifying to meet or hear about a youngster making quilts. Looking at photos of quilt groups, guilds, or gatherings, I often feel that this hobby is dying out, with just a couple of older survivors still going. I wonder how much the cost of this, or any other hobby, has to do with it? I cannot imagine my life without a hobby to keep my hands busy.
This
quilter however is young and beautiful and pieced this top with all its sharp
points to perfection. With it being for
her boyfriend she requested the geometric design to make it more ‘manly.’
This quilter loves what she does but needs more time for her hobby. She told me she’d like it if her points all match.
While long
arming any quilt, I get to see every part of every block and could not fault
her. If only my points met up this
neatly.
We decided it needs nothing more than continuous line curves.
This is a lovely pattern by Wilna Moena Tombi and I think the quilter did it justice.
I don’t think I’ll ever again be brave enough to start another sampler quilt but as said so many times before, I do love quilting these because of all the possibilities it lends to free motion quilt so many different motifs.
This one
was no exception.
This is another mystery to me. The quilter sent me two solid pieces of fabric in different colours and asked me to quilt them as a unit.
With both
fabrics in Autumn colours, I decided on the oakish-leave motif with the
odd loop in between.
I need to catch up with my blog posting but my study is a freezing cold room while my sewing room is warm and cosy. I would much rather spend time behind the machine than behind the computer.
I am not
quite sure what this will be used for.
It is somewhat too wide for a runner but not wide enough to cover even a
single bed but I am sure the quilter knows where and for what this will be
used.
I enjoyed
the process of quilting it.
Digging through my UFO containers, I found this one from many moons ago.
I attended
a once-a-month group, and we received the pattern to the next row each month. This was also a quilt-as-you-go
project. One started in class with the next
row and had to complete it before the next class. I never kept up or fell behind as I
still needed two rows to complete this quilt.
I liked
what I’d done way back then but did not see myself finishing the last two rows
and decided to simply put a binding on what was already done and gift it to
someone.
The free
motion quilting on this one was still done on my domestic machine and I am
proud to say I’ve become so much better in doing this.
I started this Japanese quilt block, in 2008, all done by hand and I only worked on it during the two weeks per year, I watched Wimbledon.
Finally, 16 years later it is completed. After finishing it, I realised my hand-sewn seams might not withstand washing by machine. I popped it under the long arm and strengthened the seams in both directions with a soft curvy line of stitching.
Once hubby finishes replacing the cracked tiles in the living area and we have everything neat and clean again, I will use this as a throw on one of the couches.
This one was from the same quilter as the quilt in two previous posts, using the same pattern. This time was a memory quilt using the loved one’s old shirts and denims.
A first for me. One solid background and then all the farm elements hand appliqued to the back. I therefore had to create blocks and or spaces in which to do different motifs. This was a challenge of a different kind but came out really good.
Another beautiful creation from a quilter outside of our city. I love the way they do business; we’ve never met, I am not sure which of my work they saw but they simply send their quilts with the instruction to make it pretty with no questions, regarding the price, asked. Now that is what I call good business.
My hairdresser recently posted this and I have to agree.
This is such a basic pattern, but with good use of colour and placement, this quilter made a fast quilt for a little boy.
This quilter made this for her brother’s grandchild and requested an all-over pattern but wanted a couple of words incorporated into the quilting. The baby’s name and words such as loved, son, grandson, nephew, brother and precious to name a few.
I received a request from ladies of a local church to quilt a wall hanging, they made as a group for their church. They only requested an edge-to-edge but I had to omit the appliqued flower as they wanted to hand quilt this. Their wish is my command.
