More Quilting, Less Writing

It's so hard for me to believe how time just dashes by over my quilt frame and running around my busy life! I'm sure you have found it to be the same at your house, particularly as the holiday season launched into full swing.

October, November and December have been very busy as clients finished up presents. If you follow my Facebook page, Island Time Quilting, then you have watched lots of pretty pictures pop up as I quilted the most recent projects. Facebook is fantastic for fast updates, but you miss a lot of the "story" of each quilt. I'm going to highlight three of the most recent ones for you, and leave it to you to go see the others (and lots more pictures) at the page.

First, my good friend Chris had two beautiful Irish chain quilts that she had machine pieced but never quilted. A long-time hand piecer, the red and white quilt was her FIRST machine pieced top! It was a delight to quilt...very accurate piecing, really flat seams, and so traditional. I did a "modified" custom quilting job, which just means that I quilted each block separately, plus added a detailed border.

 First I quilted only the open white spaces, and we were initially planning a straight, ruler line in the chain to go very traditional in style, but then we saw how beautifully this block fit the pattern, and decided to quilt it in every block. So, I jumped back through the quilt with the nine-patch blocks on the second pass.

I quilted a straight leaf border to echo the leaf motif in the blocks on the long borders of this quilt. (I didn't really get a good picture of the border from the front of the quilt, I'm afraid.)

Chris liked this quilting pattern so much that we decided to do the same block on her Christmas version of this quilt, in red and green, but to dress up the border with feathers.

Both of these Irish chain quilts made me very jealous and I plan to make myself one very soon. Or two. Or ten. Just beautiful!!!

Next up, my Alpha Omicron Pi sister Alex is a modern quilter, and makes some beautiful quilts...and always picks the coolest quilting designs. This lovely quilt was made from quilting cottons plus cotton shirts that belonged to her grandfather, as a gift for her grandmother for Christmas. Alex found "Loop the Loop" on Urban Elementz, one of my favorite go-to places to buy digital designs for my computer. Loop the Loop worked GREAT on Alex's quilt, and I've used it to great effect on three other quilts since then! It's just a great pattern to stitch, and one I would have missed if Alex hadn't specifically requested it. I am always happy to download new designs at customer request, and find it helps expand my library of patterns without relying on "my taste" to pick them out. Here are a few pictures of Alex's quilt:

The back is a wonderful flannel that Alex said she purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I have to say, I had flannel envy on this one...(sneaks off to buy even more fabric online...)

(Look how great Loop the Loop worked on another customer's quilt by checking out the album entitled CQ1433 Checkerboard Loop the Loop at my Facebook page!)

Finally, another "happy ending" on the frame recently is this lovely winter wonderland of a quilt that I called "Frosted Flakes," because I'm a dork and love to come up with silly names for quilts. Kelly is a repeat offender, er, client, who has made several beautiful quilts, but still considers herself a beginner. I loved her glittery winter fabrics in this one, and was so happy with the "Snow Winds" pantograph by Barbara Becker that I chose to quilt on it. It's a fantastic winter quilt!

There are several other recent finishes at the Facebook page, and a few other pictures of each of these quilts. Other activities from the last two and a half months include lots of Grams/Gingersnap time, eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new granddaughter (soon to be called "Gumdrop!"), a couple of visits to our daughter and son-in-law who have moved across the state, a roadtrip back home to Mississippi for Thanksgiving and to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary, many dates with my best friend, lots of Sugar Creek Quilters Monday nights at my house, and most of all, books read and naps taken.

Now I'm settling in to plan my 2015 calendar, which already includes two quilting training events in February and June, and several custom quilting commissions that I've undertaken...not to mention my own ever-increasing list of personal quilting projects yet to piece. A big event in March 2015 is the Greenville Quilters Guild Quilt Show March 20-21, 2015, where the guild raffle quilt will be given away. I was delighted to get to quilt our quilt, "After the Storm," this year with a simple modern quilting design to complement the gorgeous fabrics and piecing! Tickets are on sale now, so contact me if you want some!

Happy Quilting!

Lori