Monday, February 4, 2013

I guess I should post something...right?

It has...after all...been almost three weeks!  What have I been doing?

I quilt and bound my son's tablerunner.  Who knew the kid had such color sense?  I definately want to make one for myself.



I also drug out a long forgotten embroidery project...Snowmen A to Zzzz.  I'm currently working TUV.

 
 
I thought I had more letters done than this...sigh.  Guess that just means I need to get crackin' on this so I can have it to display next winter.
 


And lastly, I've been teaching myself to longarm quilt.  Yeah...you heard it first here...LOL!

About three years ago, after attending several quilts shows with me, my husband began to see the potential income that could be made by quilting for other people.   So much so that he bought himself a HQ16 ProStitcher to learn how to longarm quilt.  And learn he did.  Very quickly he got pretty good at it.

But seeing as how he has a day job, the quilting machine sits idle most of the time.  And for the longest time I didn't want to have anything to do with it.  I just wasn't interested in learning how.  So I continued to have my BFF Donna quilt for me and I even gave my husband some to do.

Fast forward to a year ago...in March we moved to a new home.  And after the dust settled from the move, my husband's job got very very busy which left him with little energy or desire to quilt.

Fast forward to now...the machine hasn't been touched in the past 12 months.  And with the ever growing piles of quilt tops, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get familiar with Mr. HQ. 

Here's Quilt #1 - a simple free motion meander...very pleased with how this turned out.


 
 
Quilt #2 - a free motion flowery thing...again very pleased with how it turned out.
 

 
 
Quilt #3 - a free motion loopy meander...could look loads better but hey it's a charity quilt.  No little kid's going to inspect it.
 

 
 
Quilt #4 - first attempt at a pantograph...YUCK...I don't think pantographs are going to be my thing.  My petals did not come out smooth and rounded and towards the end I started having trouble advancing the quilt and lining up the next row correctly...UGH.  Again this will be a charity quilt that can be cut up into 20" square premie quilts for the tops of isolettes.  The babies won't care that my rows overlapped a little.
 
 
 
Quilt #5 - Liking free motion quilting best, I signed up for a class on Craftsy - Quilting Negative Space With Angela Walters.  While I still need to work on making my shapes more round and controlled, I'm really happy with the results.  I highly recommend this class.
 
 
 
 
Quilt # 6 - More simple meadering
 
 
 
Quilt # 7 - Free motion swirls learned from the Craftsy class.
 
 


I figure with a bit more practice, I might actually get good at this. 
 
But I'll tell you something.  Right now it's hard to look at all my mistakes...too much of a perfectionist my husband says.  But he'll be proud to know that I purposely avoided ripping out stitches to teach myself to live with the imperfections and be okay with it. 
 
Well that's all for now.  Till next time...

11 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Good for you - dive right in. Dog paddling leads to strong back strokes they say! I would be in heaven.

Lynette said...

I love love love your Snowmen A to ZZZ project. :) And look at that negative space quilting! Way to go! I seriously need to improve with that.

Cindy said...

OOH, I would LOVE to have a HQ Prostitcher but I don't think one will be in my future.
I found out I don't like pantos either.

Mary said...

No wonder you went three weeks without a post...you've been very productive and your quilting is beautiful.

Me and My Stitches said...

Wow - I would say you are picking up machine quilting very quickly. I wish I had that talent!

Sewing Mom said...

Firstly, your embroideries are lovely! That seems quite the undertaking...an entire alphabet...good for you!

And I think your quilting is lovely too. I'm so far from perfect, but I'm doing my best and figure that's what counts. =)

Pip said...

Outstanding I say :) I wish I could fmq half as well as you, they say practise makes perfect, and I think you are doing quite well already.

Karen said...

I am jealous. I love the Snowman embroidery designs you are working on! I have looked at the pattern a few times but finding time for such a large embroidery project seems overwhelming. Make me one too!

John'aLee said...

I've never seen that snowman quilt before, and I've been to quilt shows over all. I love it because it is different. Your stitching is beautiful. Good luck on the long arming...I'm sure you know all it is...is practice, practice, practice!

Quilter_not_quite said...

Love your quilting. I like the craftsy classes too.

Agulhas Colheres & Afins said...

Monica,

Fiquei encantada com este tutorial, vou fazer um desses para mim. Fiz um post no meu blog: http://draft.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5680715897630602896#editor/target=post;postID=4426548451772359126, link para o seu.

Estou te seguindo para ficar por dentro de tudo, amo pachtwork.

Frida Lucia