Shooting Stars, a free quilt pattern from me to you!

It all started a bit over a month ago when my local quilt shop The Wooden Spool (Effingham IL.) started selling some new fabric from Quilting Treasures called Classic Remington. I tried to hide the fabrics from Uncle B. but my Aunt G (his sister) pulled him in the shop to take a look at them. Over the next few days I search my patterns trying to find one that would work with the larger prints but I found nothing. So off to EQ7 to try and create something that might work

I knew the blocks would need to be larger sized (There is nothing worse than cutting a large print in to shapes so small that you can no longer see what the print looks like!) so instead of starting with a block size I started with the size the finished quilt would need to be. 100" x 100" to fit Uncle B's bed and cover both him and his two Chihuahuas. So with a little trial and error I decided on 12" squares and a small framing border to give me a 102" x 102" quilt.

I came up with a few different design options and gave Uncle B the last choice on which one he liked the best. I purchased (way to much!) fabric and got started on cutting it right away as Aunt G had decided it would be a great quilt to have in my guild's quilt show which was like two weeks later!

My Aunt is a amazing piecer of quilts, no really she does it pretty darn fast and does it pretty darn good (at least according to the judges of the quilt show) Once everything was cut and marked it took her less than two days to do the piecing. It took me about five minutes to mess up the quilting. No really I messed it up pretty good. the first to blocks had to be unquilted (what takes two minutes to quilt can take HOURS to take out by the way!)  and requilted. Then as Aunt G was adding the binding she noticed the quilt made a noise. Yap a noise. Apparently someone (who shall remain nameless) somehow quilted a piece of paper INSIDE of the quilt between the batting and the backing fabric. At this point it was to late to fix the paper problem so we decided to let it go until after the show was over. In the end it was ready the night before it would need to be turned in to the quilt show or was it?

As a member of the Crossroads Quilters Guild of Effingham IL. I get the privilege of being around during the time the quilts are being hung. So walking around the show floor i noticed the guys from the convention center were hanging the Shooting Stars quilt. Yes it make me smile a bit to see one of my own quilts on display but his time all I could do was loudly say "Well Crap!" You see the quilt was missing a little something. Nothing major but still it was missing something that I knew the judges would rake me over the coals on. Someone (again this someone will remain nameless!) forgot to quilt a block. That is correct, one whole block was left unquilted. And between the light that just happened to hit the quilt dead on and the puffy batting that I used, it stood out like a sore thumb. By that point I had given up hope on this quilt, after all its problems up until now there was just no way I was going to ask them to take it down so I could rush it home, fix the empty block, and get it back bright and early the next morning so it could be hung with the other quilts before the judges started judging at 7:00am. So I left it hanging, With all it goof ups and loose threads at a quilt show. Just so a lot of people I know and have quilted for could see it and have a good laugh.

On the plus side the judges said nothing about it but I am positive they noticed it. On the down side every other person I knew took the enjoyment of dragging me to the quilt every few minutes to point it out to me. To my surprise was how many people asked me if there was a pattern available. The quilt may not have been as perfect as I wanted it to be but everyone seemed to like the design of it at least!

A few days after the show I took it back out and decided the easiest way to fix the paper problem was to remove some more of the quilting, cut a slit in the back and remove the paper. It took three nights of setting in front of the TV with a seam ripper and my tiny snips to remove enough quilting to get to the paper. It took about three minutes to cut the backing open and pull out the sticky backed paper from a lint roller that was stuck to the batting. I simply covered the spot with a bit of scrap fabric left from making the quilt then requilted the area as well as quilted the spot that I forgot in the first place.

When Kristina (owner of The Wooden Spool) first asked if she could display the quilt I was like "Sure, No Problem" but that was before the quilt was even finished and there was still high hopes that it would be perfect. By the time it was fixed I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to see it again! Kristina still wanted it however so I bagged it up and took it into the shop this past Saturday. If you would like to see it first hand just run in and take a look. Just don't wait to long as I am not sure how long it will be on display. Just do me one favor and don't look at the back of the quilt or to close at the front!

For those of you that asked for a pattern you can download a free PDF copy on Google Drive here:
Shooting Stars
There are bound to be mistakes in the pattern so if you find one please let me know and I will fix it right up! All I ask is that you do not sell any quilts that you make from the pattern. You are free to make as many as you wish for personal use, gifting, or to make & give to charity. But please don't sell them!
If you are interested in the EQ7 file let me know and I will try to get it posted as well!

This pattern was based on a hand sketched block that I found on,a lose piece of paper floating in one of my Grandmother's old quilting books. Her block was made with lots of Y seams so I changed it up a bit to make it easier to piece. 

How To Machine Quilt A Three Person Tent Into Submission!

Now come on, you all know what I'm talking about even if you don't want to admit it! We have all had a "Quilter's Oops Moment", one of the most common I see when machine quilting is were we sewed a block together not quit right but it was "close enough" to the right size that we just KNEW we could make it fit in with the rest of the other perfectly pieced blocks. But when we forced that one odd sized block in with the rest of them it created what I like to call a "Three Person Tent Block". Just think of it as a quilt block that when you pick it up from the center it would be a large enough tent to home three quilters on a retreat, all the projects, machines, tools, food, and wine that they also brought along with them! Maybe this photo will help explain it a bit better:

Now that is one roomy tent! 

I find that this happens on quilt blocks that are set on point more than any other. Also sometimes fabric is just a pain in the old butt and stretched out of shape when you were sipping that second third glass of wine at the retreat. Another reason could be that there was a misprint in the directions for cutting the fabric. I also see this a lot on quilts made by groups of quilters. Instructions may be the same but that doesn't mean the quilters are the same. We all sew with a 1/4" seam (hopefully!) but that 1/4" may be slightly larger on Marilyn's machine and slightly smaller on Colette's machine than it is on my machine. Don't think you are alone, we have all done it at least once if not a million times. Even big time award winning quilters will tell you that its just one of many things we goof up from time to time. Its also one of the things we Machine Quilters have to work with and still do our best to make your quilts look as perfect as we possibly can. Three person Tent syndrome is actually one of the easiest things to fix, we just don't like to admit it.

Before I get started on how I fixed the problem block in the photo a little info:

#1 Just because this is how I fix the problem doesn't mean all machine quilters do it this way. There are many ways to work in the extra fabric this is just one of them.

#2 I have only ever done this fix on cotton fabrics. I would never ever, EVER try it on it on anything other than cotton or cotton poly blends.

#3 It works best (at least for me) on 100% cotton fabrics.

#4 I did not come up with this method, its not mine, I don't own it. I do not know who came up with it but I can tell you I learned it a few years ago from a amazing machine quilter by the name of Jamie Wallen. If you haven't see Jamie's work look him up! He is not only a great guy but he is a amazing teacher. He also has tons of great videos on YouTube, Just search for Quilters Apothecary and you will find them!

OK first up, for some reason I almost never notice these problem blocks until I have already started quilting the quilt so that is why you will notice the quilt in question is already loaded on my Longarm and there is some quilting already happening. This quilt, lucky for me, has easy quilting designs that also just happened to help ease in the extra fabric and hide it. Here you can see the extra fabric all ripply and not so pretty. Also, see that spray bottle? Remember it for a bit as it will come in to play very soon.

Step One: Spray It!

Step number one: When you find that not so perfect block grab your spray starch. Yes Spray Starch, any kind will work from good old Niagara to Best Press, you just need starch and you will need lots of it. When I first started doing this method I was a stickler for using Niagara Starch but In the past few months I have started using Mary Ellen's Best Press. Why the switch? Well I can get Best Press in a gallon jug and it is available in Unscented. I just picked up a cheap Spray bottle at the local big Box store and refill it when needed. Ok back on the subject of step one, spray the heck out of that block! Yes really, you want that block to be almost (but not quit) dripping. 

Step 2: WALK AWAY. Put your starch down and walk away for at least ten minutes, let the starch soak into the fabric. Don't watch, it will only make you wonder if I'm crazier than you already know I am. It can be longer than ten minutes so don't worry if your sister happens to call and your stuck listening to her cry about her best friend not doing what she is supposed to be doing or that her husband refuses to listen to whatever it was she said he should listen to.

Step 3: Has it been at least ten minutes? Good, now go back and take a look. Is the fabric laying flater? Yes, good! you can move on to the next step! was your answer No? Well that's OK you just might need to "tickle" it a bit with your fingers. I know that's sounds wrong but its the best way I could discribe it right now so lets just go with it! Run the tips of your fingers lightly over the fabric and evenly distribute any of the extra bulk. Basically you don't want to push all the extra fabric to one side or to the center you want it to be as even looking as you can get it to look.

Step Three: Tickle That Fabric! 

Step 4: Now if your are a patient quilter you will walk away again, and let it dry on its own after all that really will give you the best results. But if your like me and are always in a rush because the quilt needs to be ready to hand back to its owner then next morning you can break out your steam iron. Doesn't need to be a fancy iron, it just need to be able to steam without dripping water drops all over the place. Fill your iron with water, plug it in, and set it on its highest setting. When the iron is all hot and steamy take it to your quilt and hold it just right above the fabric, touch is OK but really right above works best. Now quickly move the steam iron over the top of the block. you should notice the fabrics "pulling in" just a bit. By the time your block is nearly dry it should be laying nice and flatish.  I know what your thinking, "How in the world is a steam iron going to dry all that starch?" and your right it wont, but it will get it pretty darn dry. But before you move on to the next step you want to be sure it is completely dry so not to harm your machine in any way! 

Step Four, Hold the iron right above. but not quite touching the fabric

After Steaming: Nice and flat and pretty! 

Step 5: Quilt away! This method works great for any type of batting, this quit happened to have Quilters Dream Puff which "Puffed" up and help to hide any extra fabric that night have been left after starching and steaming. 

And its done!

Well that's it, I hope it helps at least one other quilter out there. And remember, Quilters Oops Moments can strike anyone at any time, even the most experienced of quilters!

Did the photos above not show the steps clearly? Then take a look at these photos of another block from the same quilt that had some bulky issues that needed taming:

Step One: Spray It!

Step Three: Tickle That Fabric! 

After Steaming: Nice and flat and pretty! 

See that crease? Don't worry, it will go away when quilted is added!

And its done!

Quilt show time!

This past September 12th & 13th was my quilt guilds annual quilt show Crossroads Harvest of Quilts 2014. It took place once again at the Keller Convention Center in Effingham IL.

At the local Crossroads Harvest of Quilts show there was a number of my clients quilts on display as well as a few personal quilts. My Aunt G and I work as a team, she does most all the piecing work and I do the quilting. Not that I don't piece quilts I do, I just don't have the time to do everything I want so I fall back on Aunt G to hopefully be willing to help me out!

This year we made a Giant Swoon quilt. No there is no pattern for my variation but it was greatly inspired by Camille Roskelley's Swoon Pattern of which I have made a bed quilt from and it also inspired my Super Mini Swoon a couple of years ago. I simplified the pattern to use only squares and half squares as I thought this would be easier what with the giant sized pieces. I would do a tutorial for you but as I do not want to interfere with anyone's copyright I will leave it up to you to figure it out on your own. Aunt G and I used Kona Cotton Solids for the quilt top, Quilters Dream Wool Batting, and a variety of thread brands. I just pulled whatever color matched off the shelf and went with it! Here is a photo of it hanging at the show:

I quilted swirly feathers in the main body of the quilt and simple straight lines in the background. Use I did mark the spines for the feathers as I wanted them to be as close to mirror images as possible. I sketched out the spines on to paper then used a light box and a quilt marking pen to transfer the markings for the spines to the fabric. Here is a close up photo of the quilting that I took at home. 

My Aunt G and I also made a Granny Square quilt using the free pattern on the Moda Bake Shop site. This one was made with all Moda Fabrics (Of Course!) some simple puffy polyester batting and Master Quilter Thread in White for the quilting. The quilt was quick and easy to piece and the quilting relatively simple. Apparently there was something about it however that the judges likes as we won First Place in the Custom Machine Quilting Category at the show. 

Last but not least is two Miniature quilts that were made entirely by me, yes I know but I really did do all the piecing on these! After all I can't get my aunt to even try piecing these tiny pieces together!

The Lamoyan Star quilt was made using the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler and pattern from Deb Tucker's Studio 180 Made using nothing but leftover scraps it went together quickly and the quilting also was simple.

This was another very fast miniature quilt made with, once again, nothing but scraps!

There were a lot of other great quilts at the show this year and you can see most all of them in my Flickr Album for the show at: Crossroads Harvest of Quilts 2014 So grab some popcorn, a comfy chair, set back and enjoy the show!

What happens with your quilt, part 3

**This is the final post in a three part series about what exactly happens to your quilt once I take it home for quilting. Part Three will cover the different styles of machine quilting that are available. Please remember, every machine quilter has different ways of doing things. Just because I do things this way doesn't mean your machine quilter doesn't have a different way of doing things. Be sure to check with your personal quilter before assuming anything! ** 


Before we get started I want all of you to remember this: There are NO QUILT POLICE & NO RULES IN QUILTING!!! No one should be able to tell you what to do with your quilt! They can make suggestions but you do not have to let them talk you into them!  If you want modern quilting on a tradition looking quilt then go for it! If you want tradition quilting on a more modern looking quilt then have at it! Its your quilt and should ed up looking the way that YOU want it to look!

Machine quilting has a number of different styles, from basic simple all over freehand quilting (like a stipple that can be finished in just a few hours, to full blown Heirloom custom quilting that can take weeks to complete. Each and every style has a place in the quilting world, don't let anyone tell you it doesn't! 

Let me say right up front I don't know much about Modern quilting! The modern movement has not hit my area they way it has in others, with only a handful of modern quilters around me I haven't had the chance to do much of that style of quilting just yet. I have done a little modern quilting for a handful of clients and a bit on a couple of my own personal quilts but that's about it! I will talk about it, however briefly after we discus what I would call Show Quilting.  

The most common form of machine quilting my area of Southern Illinois is freehand allover designs such as Stippling, Stars and Loops, Ribbon Meander and so on. These types of designs can be quilted out relatively  quickly even on large King sized quilts so the cost for quilting is the lowest. Why do they quilt out fast? Fewer stops and starts, no set pattern that you have to follow, and no backtracking on a stitching line that the quilter would have to slow down for! Here are a few examples of allover freehand designs for you to take a look at but please remember, i can quilt these designs out on my machine way better than i can sketch them on my iPad! :

Stipple & Twisted Ribbon Stipple

Stars and  Loops & Just Loops

Windy & Swirls

Another common style of machine quilting in my area is Pantograh quilting, or as a lot of the ladies like to call it Row Quilting. Pantograph quilting is a style that is quilted out in rows across the quilt top and can be done by manually moving the machine following a paper pattern with a stylus or a laser light as well as by using a computerized machine that moves for you. Please remember that a computerized machine does not mean faster, as a matter of fact I have seen computerized pantograph patterns that can take over a hour to stitch just on row across a quilt. Pantograph patterns come in many styles and density of quilting, can contain backtracking on a single stitching line, but are always stitched out in rows.

A internet quilting friend of mine, Leisha Farnsworth has designed some amazing Pantograph patterns and if I was a Paragraph quilter I would own pretty much every single one of them! Really I am not exaggerating on this one, they are perfect for today's quilts both traditional and more modern quilts! If you would like to take a better look at what Leisha is doing and to see some more of her designs you can find her on Facebook at Quilting It ~ Machine quilting by Leisha Farnsworth. Here are a few of Leisha's favorite designs for you to have a look at! 

Meadowlark 

Morocco 

Veranda 

Pricing for Pantograph quilting varies a lot in my area. Some machine quilters have a set price for any and all designs that they offer. For instance one area quilter offers to quilt baby quilts up to 40"x60" for only $35.00 no matter what pantograph or allover freehand design is chosen. Other machine quilters in our area have different prices for each photograph offered, based on the time it takes to stitch out the design &/or the density of the design. Others charge by the square inch, once again basting the pricing on time &/or density of the quilted design. 

Next up would be custom quilting, which also has many different styles within itself. When it comes to trying to define Custom Machine Quilting each and every machine quilter tends to have his or her own version of the definition! I'm going to give you my own personal definitions on exactly what i call custom and my versions of the different styles. Remember your machine quilter will more than likely have his or her own definitions so be sure to ask before assuming anything! 

To me custom quilting is anything that involves using more than one design over the entire body of a single quilt. For instance to me Simple Custom would be a a single design (like a allover freehand) in the main body of the quilt and a different but coordinating design for the border. Simple custom is great for bed quilts of all kinds. It would look something like this: 

close up of  very simple custom quilting

Then I have what I like to call Second Level Custom, this would be the type of quilting I do the most of!) This would contain different border designs as well as multiple quilting design for the blocks in the body of the quilt but contains little or no Stitch In The Ditch Quilting. Pricing for this type of quilting can vary, but I do charge by the inch based on how long it will take me to quilt the designs you have chosen. I have a couple of different prices that fall into this type of quilting which is why I always like to suggest to let me sketch up a few different options (in different price ranges) for you to look at and pick from. That way you will know upfront exactly what you will get for your money. This type of quilting is very suitable for bed quits that you just want something with a bit more than just basic pantograph quilting or simple custom quilting on. Here are a few different options for custom quilting design on a single quilt:

close up of what i like to call Level 2 two custom quilting.

Another example of level 2. This may look more complected but i can quilt a entire row of the
main body of the quilt with only one stop and start, also with no S.I.D quilting or marking needed, the
amount of time to quilt the entire quit is reduced dramatically. 

The next up of course, would be Third Level Custom Quilting. This type of quilting would offer much more Stitch In The Ditch quilting. One wouldn't think this would change the price of the quilting all that much but it does. Stitching in the ditch involves Ruler Work, a type of quilting that can (at least for me!) take a lot longer to do as I must slow down to get a good quality finished quilt! S.I.D. (stitch in the ditch) really allows for the piecing to "pop" out a bit more. This type of quilting is also suitable for bed quilts but it will tend to be a tiny bit more "stiff" than the Second Level quilting would be. Here is a example of a quilt that I quilted with this level of quilting: 

a example of what i call 3rd level Custom. This quilt has ruler work straight line quilting
approximately 1/8" inside the seem lines instead of S.I.D. quilting.
Be sure to click on the photo for a larger better view!

Last but certainly not least would be Custom Heirloom Quilting &/or Show quilting. Just so you know I do not normally offer this type of quilting without being begged and even then I will more than likely give you the contact information of another machine quilter that I know will give you better results than I could ever think about giving you! This is the type of quilting that can be used on a bed quilt but is more suitable for just looking at and oohing and ahhing over. You know, the kind of quilting that you see at large National Quilt Shows like the AQS Paducah show. This type of quilting takes not hours but days, weeks, and possibly even months to finish correctly. All stops and starts must be properly finished in other words the loses threads must be tied and then using a needle and thread, worked to the inside of the quilt so no thread ends show. It is also common that these quilts will need to be blocked by soaking in water then stretching across & pinning onto a pin-able surface (such as foam insulation board) and left to dry completely. Why? Because we need these show quilts to end up being perfectly straight and blocking will help with that if done correctly. If you would like more info on blocking a quilt search YouTube, there are many videos there that can help you out. 

Example of what i would consider Heirloom Quilting,  with both S.I.D. quilting and the added 1/4 inch line
 inside of the seams this quilt has a lot of ruler work, and therefor took a good deal of time. to complete.

Modern quilting. were does modern quilting land on the chart? Well it can end up pretty much anywhere! Some modern quilting designs are fast and simple, containing only lines across the body of the quilt, some are more detailed and time consuming.  If you want modern I suggest talking to your quilter face to face and disusing your options. I haven't done much modern quilting myself as its not that big of a movement in my are (darn it!) Here is a example of some of the more modern quilting that I have done:

example of my mid level modern quilting

Is it moderns? Well I'm not to sure myself! I would say this is a mix of modern & traditional
 quilting. The time involved in quilting this quilt would put it into the Heirloom Quilting range. 

OK, so this post has ended up being much longer than I thought it would! I am thinking I had best stop here for now and continue with a fourth post on just the questions that I am asked most often so not to bore you all to death before I get to the end! Hope you have ll enjoyed things so far, and feel free to ask any questions you might have and I will do my best to answer them for you! 

What happens with your quilt, part 2

**This is the second of three posts about what exactly happens to your quilt once I take it home for quilting. Part Two will cover everything i do to get your quilt ready for quilting as well as how i set up the machine for quilting. Please remember, every machine quilter has different ways of doing things. Just because I do things this way doesn't mean your machine quilter doesn't have a different way of doing things. Be sure to check with your personal quilter before assuming anything! ** 

What happens when its time to quilt your quilt? No its not as easy as just pinning the quilt on the frame and pushing a button, there is a lot more to it than that.

First up I pull the next quilt in line out of the closet and off its hanger. I hang that hanger with its number on the handle of a nearby drawer so I can easily look and see exactly what number and whose quilt I am working on. I do a quick check to be sure the backing fabric is straight (if its not I will straighten it up) and then, just to be safe, a quick second check to be sure the backing fabric is large enough for the quilt. I then take the quilt to the ironing board and give and "hard" wrinkles and creases a quick pressing using the lowest setting I can use just in case there is some odd fabrics or notions in your quilt top that might melt under higher heat.

Thanks you client for all that extra backing fabric! 

As long as the quilt is laying out over the ironing board I take the time to try and trim up as many threads from the back of the quilt that I can. These threads can shadow through the fabric and leave some not so pleasing to look at vein lines if they are left as is. This is also a great time to double check the seams, just to make sure there are not any that look like they might pull apart and fix them before I take the quilt back to the quilting machine. it is WAY easier to fix and popped seams now than once I start quilting the quilt! I will stitch any backing fabric together if you didn't do it already. You might be surprised to hear that I do not press backings, more on that in just a bit! And yes you do get charged for the time that it takes to trim all threads and fix any seams. I don't charge extra for the pressing of wrinkles and creases because honestly there is no way that anyone can keep creases and wrinkles from happening. if there is a excess of problems that need fixing I will contact the client before I start in, giving them the option to fix the quilt themselves or to pay me to do it for them. Most of the time I can press and trim threads in under 30 minutes.

This thread actually wasn't that bad, it was just the only one on the back of  this quilt top I could
find to show you but you get the ideal! 

At this point its back to the quilting machine were I take the backing and find the center point of the edge I will be pinning to the leaders of the frame and mark it with a pin. Then I match up the center mark with a center mark on the front leader and pin, starting at the center and working my way out. Yes I still use pins, I don't stitch the backing to the leader, I don't use staples, nor do I use clips to attach the backing fabric to the leaders. I have tried the clips, they work great but I find I can pin, taking just a couple more minutes than it takes me to use the clips. Its a personal choice and there really is no wrong way to do it! Once its pinned to the first leader I roll the extra fabric up on the front leader roller then go to the back leader and do the same thing all over again.

Start in the center and pin outward toward the edge to keep everything wrinkle, and pucker free!
See that heavy cream colored canvas? THAT is a leader! 

Remember when I said I don't press backing fabric? Its true I don't, I mist them ever so lightly with a very fine mist of water as I roll the fabric onto the leader rollers. Once the backing fabric is rolled up I allow it to dry for a bit. This will take out 99.9% of all wrinkles on the backing fabric without having to fight the large piece of fabric on a ironing board! Some machine quilters use a wrinkle reducer for this step but I find water does the job just fine.

Backing drying after I misted it lightly with water and tightened ever so slightly to remove most of the wrinkles

Have you ever heard of "Floating a quilt"? Well I do like to do what is called a Full Float. In other words the only part of your quilt that gets pinned to the frame is the backing fabric. The batting and the quilt top are left to "float" until its time to start the actual quilting and are not pinned to the leaders in any way.

So we already have the backing pinned in and tightened up on the rollers, now I find the correct bating and just lay it on top of the backing fabric. On large quilts O will stitch a straight line of quilting across the batting, not only to help hold it in place but to give me a straight edge to line up the quilt top with. Then I take the quilt top and lay it on top of the batting, using the stitching line if needed to be sure everything is nice and straight. I can't lie, on smaller quits I just wing it, its much easier to see if a small quilt straight versus a large quilt!

Batting goes down no top of the backing then the quilt lays on top of that.

I then take a few pins and pin the quilt top in place so it doesn't move around on me during the next step. now I like to stitch around the edge of the quilt before I start the quilting. This is totally optional but I always do it unless you ask me not to. Why? Well it helps hold everything in place during custom quilting. It also helps to ease in "extra: fabric you might have in your borders. And most of all its helps to have everything stitched down when its time for adding your binding! Just leave the stitching in place, stitch your binding on and trim off the extra backing. Or trim then add your binding whatever trips your trigger! Why would you not want the stitching around the edge? I have no clue but I have been asked by a few clients to not do it so for them I leave everything and just use a ton of pins to hold everything down until i have it quilted.

Stitching ( or just large basting stitches) around the edge of the quilt and easing in any extra wavy border fabric. 

Whats next? Quilting of course! I wont go in to a lot of detail on the quilting step in this post but instead let me answer the one questions I always get asked. "How long does it take to quilt a quilt?" There are a lot of things that can contribute to it taking a very long time, or taking just a short time to quilt a quilt. This week for instance I quilted two quilts that were just a couple inches difference in size. The smaller quilt took twice as long as the slightly larger one did. The first on was custom quilted with lots of ruler work, lots of stitch in the ditch and even more time spent on trimming all the threads that the client left behind. The slightly larger quilt took less than half the time, a simple quick allover quilting design and only a couple of threads to trim. The longest I have ever spent on a quilt was four days, everything (and i mean everything) was stitched in the ditch, it had tons of ruler work, lots of feather quilting that I wanted to match so each one had to be marked, and lets not forget that 14" border that had to be filled in. I am very proud of that quilt, and I wish I could have shared it with you but as a request from the quilt maker I can not. She made it for a wedding gift for her granddaughter and the wedding isn't until later this year. So until then all I can do is set on the photos and wait for the wedding to take place, hopefully then she will say OK to me sharing the photos with everyone.

OK, that's it for now. The next post will be the last of this three part series and will cover Machine quilting styles, as well as answering some more of the questions that I am always asked. I hope you have enjoyed everything so far & thanks for reading!

In case you were wondering, here is a couple of photos of the finished quilt I used in this post!
Construction Zone, made by Martha H. and machine quilted by Elizabeth Karnes. Quilters Dream Wool Batting and quilted with Master Quilter thread from WonderFil

What happens to your quilt, part 1

**This is the first of three posts about what exactly happens to your quilt once I take it home for quilting. Part One will cover taking in your quilt, as well as how I keep track of everything to keep it from getting messed up or worse yet lost! Some of you might think all my steps are overkill, and they might be, but there is a reason why I do what I do but we will get to that a bit later.**

If you have ever had me quilt for you before you already probably know I meet 90% of my customers at the local quilt shop The Wooden Spool, in Effingham IL on Saturday mornings from 10:00 - 11:00ish. on these days I can take as few as zero to as many as 30+ quilts home with me for quilting. No honestly, one time I brought over thirty quilts home for quilting in just one day. Granted it was Christmas cutoff weekend and at that time I only did pantograph quilting, but still it was a bit tricky to keep track of everything!

First up if I haven't seen it already, I take a look at your quilt and we talk about what you would like, what you wouldn't like, discus batting choices if needed, binding options, as well as thread color options and when I hope to be able to get the finished quilt back to you. I also make sure to get your contact info. I then load everything up and head back to my home studio. By the way, you are welcome at my home studio, just be sure to call and make a appointment first. other wise I might not be home, or worse yet you will get to see me dressed in my old PJ's or coated in dirt from working in the garden or mowing the lawn, and trust me when i say NO ONE wants to see that!

When I get the quilts home I take them directly into my quilting studio area. This area of the home is pet free, its blocked off by a door and I wear a apron over my clothes when quilting. However there is still the chance that some pet hair and dander can be transferred to your quit so if you have allergies to pets of any kind it might be wise for you to take your quilt else were for quilting.

Once in the quilting studio the quilts are, one at a time, removed from any bags that they were delivered in. I find the contact info and record it in a notebook along with details about your quilt such as pattern name, backing fabric colors, as well as batting brand, type and size if it was included.

Then I take a photo of the quilt. Each quilt top & backing are measured to make sure the backings are large enough (backing need to be at least 8" larger than the quilt top!) The quilt top and batting are then folded and placed on a heavy hanger, then placed into one of two closet areas in the studio room. Each hanger has a number that corresponds to the same number that is in my notebook. Each quilt gets a different number. If you sent batting along, then your batting will also be tagged with that same number. When I save the photos to my computer I add the same number as well as your contact info to the saved photo's information.

Closet #1

Closet #2

I follow this same list for each and every quilt that came in that day. Once I have them all recorded in my notebook I take the notebook to the computer and record the info there as well. Lets also not forget that original paper with your info on it, I keep them all in a box and add the number of the quilt to the back of it as well.

I use Google Drive so everything automatically syncs with the app on my iPad and my iPhone!  

Then, if you requested it or I suggest it, I take the photo I took of your quilt and sketch up a few different types of quilting designs for you to take a look at. I use a app on my iPad called Concepts to sketch directly on the photo. I will then email the sketches to you to pick quilting designs from.

Is it overkill? Yes it probably is but there is a reason why I keep multiple copies of your contact info as well as details on your quilt in more than one place.

Back when I first started quilting for others and my business was really taking off I lost my notebook and with that notebook I lost all the contact information for the customers as well as whose quilt was whose. Luckily at that time I only had a few quilts on hand so I was bale to work it out without to much of a problem except for one quilt. I could not remember whom it belonged to so I had to hold it until the owner contacted me. I really began to worry after a couple of months but finally the owner called and I was able to explain what happened. Luckily the quilt maker laughed and told me not to worry after all she had also forgot who she had given her quilt to!

Well that's it for today, be sure to check back in a couple of days for part two, "What I do to get your quilt ready for longarm machine quilting!"