Even more quilting!

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Suzanne

I know: two posts in a row about QUILTING, it’s just crazy.

This is another repeat for my MQResource friends, but I think it’s worth it, it’s so cute:

ON this one, I tried to do the bows freehand and the one I did was…hooboy, it stank. Partly because I just charged right in and didn’t actually draw it out first (I know, duh!), but partly because bows aren’t my thing — I’ve tried them before and haven’t been happy. Instead: I let my Intelliquilter do the work on this one. The design is from Designs by Vickie, with some modifications that I made (cutting and pasting the streamers so there were 4 and it was centered). Could I, with practice and thought have done this freehand? Maybe. But there were 42 blocks, and…I was happy to let IQ take this one for me…

Proof that I quilt

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Suzanne

Every so often I have to post something that proves that I am, in fact, still a quilter: this is a repeat for my MQR friends, but for the rest of you, here’s a customer quilt that I just finished, in the midst of the musical chaos (click on the thumbnails to get the nice large pictures. The majority of the quilt is done freehand, with just simple guidelines drawn in for spacing. The egg and dart border and the holly leaves were done with the Intelliquilter.

Counting Down: 25 Days

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Suzanne

25 Days until I Race for the Cure. (I still have a long way to go on my fundraising goal, if you can help, here’s my personal fundraising page. If you CAN help, I’ll be eternally grateful).

Today’s run/walk: 2.3 miles total, .75 running. I’m using a dailymile to track my run/walks — they use Google Maps and let you zoom in and trace out your route on the map. It’s pretty cool. Today, I walked out to my furthest point, and then ran part way back. I’ve been walking for about 5 minutes, and then running, and then having to walk back — that last part seemed to go awfully slow. Today’s effort wasn’t too bad. My lower legs still don’t know what to make of this crap, but they don’t start hurting as soon, and they stop hurting sooner, so I figure that’s a good sign.

Last night was another South Pacific rehearsal. Those are going pretty well — there is a lot of talent, and in some cases, what they lack in talent, they make up for with enthusiasm. They are also quite silly. Quite. Silly. Oh my.

One night, it was a handful of young men, with one girl, plus the director and myself. One of the guys came in wearing just a pair of shorts — he’d been at a pep rally, and had been covered in whipped cream. (By his mother… But that’s beside the point).

THe point is, that the OTHER young men all decided they didn’t want whipped cream boy to feel awkward, so they decided to have Shirtless Rehearsal.

And they did.

Like I said, silly.

They are still blocking, and learning lines and stopping and starting a lot — which means a lot of hurry up and wait time for me. As a result:
wpid IMG 0986 2010 09 28 11 19 Counting Down: 25 Days
Lots of knitting time while I wait.

And now, it’s time, once again, for me to quit mucking around and get some more quilting done. Unlike yesterday, though, I have a pretty picture to share, with some progress:

wpid IMG 0989 2010 09 28 11 19 Counting Down: 25 Days

Still time to join in Feather Boot Camp

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Suzanne

IMG 0867 Still time to join in Feather Boot Camp

I’ve been meaning to mention this, but it’s been a zoo, and I keep forgetting: the August 2010 session of my online workshop Feather Boot Camp started today: but there is still time to sign up if you want to join in. I may be biased, but I think it’s a pretty awesome experience — you’ll spend 5 weeks dissecting your freehand quilted feathers, drawing and stitching and refining them. I quilt on a longarm, but many of my students use short or mid-arm systems and some even quilt on their domestic sewing machines. You get to do the exercises at your own pace, in your jammies if you want, and I’ll be there to virtually hold your hand, every step of the way.

For more info, or to sign up, visit the link below:

Feather Boot Camp

Feathery Goodness

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Suzanne

Oh, how I wish these pictures were better, but the lighting was bad, and I didn’t realize HOW bad the pictures were until after the quilt was gone, and no more pictures were possible.

Normally, I use a circle template to create the basis of my spines, but this time I used an oval. I was sort of playing off the elongated shape of the blocks themselves.

I kept the red sashing and the yellow border unquilted for contrast.

The blocks themselves were pretty simply quilted — a little bit of continuous curve, with those ribbon loops into the white part.

I was able to do a row of blocks in a single pass, combining the stitch in the ditch and the block design, and using the sashing cornerstones to travel from block to block.

I love quilting feathers. They aren’t perfect, but they are mine, and I like them a lot.

If you would like to learn more about quilting your own freehand feathers, you are invited to join me for my third session of Feather Boot Camp at MQResource. It starts August 23rd, and it’s a completely online class. I do quilt on a longarm, but DSM quilters are welcome to join us — the general principles apply. For more information: Feather Boot Camp.