Friday, November 29, 2013

Barely November Anymore

My goal was to post a blog again at least once a month, and here I come sliding in just before the November 2013 door closes.  Whew.  Life has been full of fun, company, a road trip and work.  Never a dull moment.  I was to my biannual quilting retreat the first weekend in November.  It truly is a sweet retreat.  I finished 2 quilt tops and 4 scarves as well as some R & R and.  I have one of the quilt tops loaded on the long arm and have been meandering away over the last week.  Really pleased with how it is coming along.  Using a variegated  thread that I was able to get the tension nicely balanced and it has not broken even once.  I truly promote the two tension gauges for the longarm you can buy from superior threads.  It is a bit pricey at 150 dollars, but for me it was money well spent.



This quilt top was constructed from a jelly roll pkg.  I did not follow a pattern but started making some blocks and the quilt grew from there.  There are 4 big blocks that are off centred and once it is done I will post a picture of the complete quilt with the binding on.  The colour is bright, happy and luscious.
One of my fibre friends I met with in mid November brought some necklaces she had made after being at one of the craft shows in town.  They are made from ladder yarn which is chain crocheted and super easy.    Depending on the colour of the yarn it almost appears like beads on a chain.  Sooo I had to try one for myself.  There are several patterns on the web as well as hundreds of pictures of different styles.
As you know I am not one for instructions so away I went and just made one how I envisioned them.  After I had completed one I had a peruse of a pattern and it was pretty much the same as I created only I did not measure anything.  Sent one off today in a gift, and I plan to make some more to tuck in a couple pkgs for the holidays.

I belong to an online Yahoo group that got together in October of 2006 after we all took a landscape quilting class on Quilt University.  Since then we have shared our lives as well as our works.  We have met a few times in the  USA and here in Canada.  This Christmas we chose to do a mug rug exchange. We were given one person to make one for and it was to me mailed out today - Black Friday
My mug rug was created by a machine embroidered celtic symbol on had dyed cotton.  I then used hand trapunto to  quilt the symbol, followed by machine quilting with felt as the base to complete the mug rug.  Away it went in the mail this afternoon.




taramail@telus.net

Monday, September 23, 2013

Finished One and Ready to Longarm Another

As previously posted I had talked about posting my daughters quilt once it was completed.
It turned out really nice.  I quilted the entire piece with just a meandering stitch.  It worked really
well with the blocks as it is all little squares and being only her 2nd quilt ever the blocks were not
exactly the same size to use a quilting pattern with.  I really enjoyed quilting it as it makes such a difference if you like the colors or the design of the piece you are working on.
Of course green is my all time favourite colour, so it was sooo appealing to work away at.  I hand stitched the binding on and then set the stitching by washing and drying the finished quilt.
Chelsea was really pleased with it.  I must add that she sewed the entire top with a defective machine.  The tension would not work unless the stitch length was set at 1.  So horribly small stitches were used to complete it.  Totally miraculous that it turned out so nicely.  I did take her out and I bought her a new Brother quilting machine which she was really excited about.  She immediately started on another quilt top which is a baby blanket for a co worker
in a hounds tooth pattern.  I am thinking her favorite colour
is green too since again her chosen color.  This quilt she
quilted on her own with the new machine. She was
intrigued by this diagonal quilting which to me would pose a bit of a challenge.  It will be nice to see once the binding is on.


Ginny from my Cypress Quilting Retreat group has provided me with a beautiful Christmas quilt to adventure with. I plan to do a meander through the colored blocks.  Possibly a string of Christmas lights meander and then in the beige half squares I will quilt repeat Christmas trees.  
Thread is going to have to be monofilament as I do not want to be changing colours multiple times throughout the quilt.  The border and blocks are busy and the beige if  the thread is colored will be too strong.  So monofilament it  will be. I just have to decide if it will be smoke or clear.  I have found the Avante like the monofilament if the tension is set correctly.  
So stay tuned for the finished quilt. :)

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

My new pet Avante 18

Home Spun





























 I am not sure what happened to me for the last 3 years.  My passion has not dwindled by any means.  I guess I have just not had the time to share.


I will try and pick up with posting at least once a month.

I continue to work a .75 FTE as a registered nurse.  This does not take away from my creating but from my computer time as I try to spend limited time on the computer which is counterproductive to my creating.

I have moved my studio home as all three of my children are grown and live away now.

Soooo here we go again.  
Spinning on the Deci

The best place ever to spin is in the evening out on the deck.  The roving seems to glide so nicely through your fingers to make the softest yarn.
Above is the latest yarn I spun.
It is a merino, silk blend

The picture does not give the color justice.
It is a nice light charcoal with this shine
of natural silk flowing through it.

I was suffering from the summer puffy ankles 
due to the heat.  The spinning helped the old venous pump and my ankles are skinnied up.  Thank you my spinning wheel.  


Whole cloth long arm quilted placements


Free Motion on the Longarm
One of my first long
arm quilting projects was a quilt top I completed at a retreat in the Cypress Hills in April 2013.

I free motioned feathers and swirls to complete the quilting.

Very pleased with the machine as well as the result of the quilting.

Once washed the quilt has such a fun look with the quilting all settled in.

Today one of my 25yr old twin daughters has completed her 2nd ever quilt and it is currently loaded on the long arm.  I will give you a peak once I begin the fun.

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