Brrummm brummmm.... Tractor Baby Quilt

I had a lovely time delivering this quilt today 

to a friend for her new baby.

I had made her another quilt that was a bit more 'neutral', 

but when I heard she had had a little boy....

Well! It had to be a tractor quilt!!

I longarmquilted it freehand

on my Nolting pro-24 machine with stars and loops...

And then I took a few photos as he gave it a trial run...

He is the sweetest little thing,

and his mother is under strict instruction 

that she can use it however she pleases

as it is completely washable and squash-able 

and made for use.

Every Quilt Tells a Story

Some more Longarming.... 

This time a gorgeous quilt, that has a sad yet beautiful story behind it... 

This quilt will be raffled soon to raise money for a Hospice 

where the initial blockmaker was cared for in her final days. 

The unfinished blocks were put together to make this lovely quilt 

at a later date by a very kind and wonderful quiltmaker 

and she asked me to longarm quilt it.....

I borrowed the quilt back to photograph it

and I hope I have done it justice.

The Night Shift

Late night quilting! 

I am just back from a late night shift at my studio

trying to catch up with customer quilts. 

I drive to my studio after the kids are in bed, 

quilt until I can't anymore, come home and get ready for bed 

so that I can get up in the morning to get the kids to school and me to work. 

My days are too short!!!

This customer quilt has been made by a lady 

who trusted me to longarm quilt 4 other of her gorgeous quilts 

that were needed by Christmas and this last one was made up with blocks 

started by a fellow quilter who sadly passed away recently.

 I believe this quilt is to be raffled to fundraise for the hospice 

that cared for the fellow quilter in her last days. 

Every quilt does indeed tell a story. 

This one of loss, of friendship and of the threads that bind us together 

if we are prepared to find inspiration in each others creativity.

I am still grieving, perhaps I shall grieve forever, 

but I shall also always create!

Hello Again!

Sorry it's been so long dear blog,

but life gets in the way...

And quilting luckily does too! 

I have been longarming for others...

Here are a few pics of gorgeous quilts that were collected today:

This one was backed with fleece...

which was superb quality and quilted beautifully...

I also made and attached all the bindings...

I am very grateful that fellow quilters 

and friends trust me to finish their quilts for them. 

It is always lovely to see the final results.

Counting Sheep

Still working on this,

but at least now it is quilted...

And I used a piece of fabric from my stash 

that I was 'saving for best',

but I figure if I don't use it somebody else will 

when I die and my husband sends all my stuff to the charity shop!!

Quilting & Binding

I delivered a quilt today...

  

I had the pleasure of doing the quilting 

and the binding on this lovely quilt.

Wordless Wednesday - Customer Quilt

Wordless... What Day Is It?

I have  missed a few Wordless Wednesdays...

Actually I have missed so many blogging days...

Work...

3 kids...

Grief...

I am not on top of it all...

BUT I am OK!

I have several completed quilts to photograph,

 but the weather is not up to much at the moment....

A shame as it's the school holidays...

*****

I have been doing the odd customer quilt.

This one is VERY Vintage.

A few holes, 

quite a bit of repair,

what a story it could tell....

It's going to be fabulous when it's finished as it has a white backing 

and is being quilted with 'Wildflowers' in white thread...

It has been quite a job though

as it has very thick seams on the edges requiring quite a few needle changes

*****

Outside my studio window,

I get glimpses while I quilt

of the lovely roses planted by the previous owner of our home... 

What do they say?

"Plant a garden if you believe in the future".

A wonderful legacy to leave behind...

And I love seeing the roses through the window at night.

My Mother's garden was always wonderful.... 

She would have loved these roses. I do miss her so much.

*****

As I work, I can only quilt in the evenings these days...

On my trusty Longarm...

But I do enjoy it and it gives me a chance to think...

The studio cat comes and shouts to get in.

She is not permitted a cat flap

as she is an amazing mouser and she is still

 trying to teach us her wicked ways

by bringing in live mice to kill. 

We are not ready for that yet!

*****

I still enjoy baking although I have almost given up baking gluten-free.

Once I started losing a bit of weight by cutting out sugar,

I decided to no longer lead myself into temptation.

Although I did buy a cute button mould 

and I love to make chocolate buttons to decorate my cakes.

This one was for one of the designers at work.

In a Bind

Sometimes I amaze myself.

I was incredibly lucky again.

I didn't measure...,

I just cut a piece of fabric into binding strips

and hoped that it was enough for two quilts.

Even after I sewed the binding on the first quilt,

I didn't measure to check if I had enough for the second quilt...

Gosh, I must have felt foolishly confident

because the small strip of green in this photo is all I had left!!!

At the same time I cut binding for a quilt I am working on

for a very expedited project.

 Again...I haven't measured...

I'll keep you posted!

This is the work in progress....

 It feels like drawing with thread...

Perhaps swifter than I would have preferred,

but time is of the essence...

And done in an evening.

The longest day of the year,

so done in a day!

A long day!

Wordless Wednesday - Day 2, Quilt number 2

Quick Quilting

I sort of made myself a promise that I would try harder

to quilt in a bit more detail

and try and get more out of my Longarm Quilting machine

but......

I had this quilt loaded on the machine,

and I wanted it quilted and a step closer to being finished,

so..........

I very loosely and very quickly freehand quilted it

and it was a lot of fun.....

Maybe next time when I have more time

and want to be more serious I'll try harder.

But then again.... maybe not :o)

Building Blocks

DH managed to put my Longarm quilting machine back together.

He described as playing with giant Meccano ;)

 And he did a good job.

It's all back together and it's even had a test run!

I made up a little quilt last night,

quilted it tonight.....

and will hopefully get the binding on tomorrow night...

Just in time for a very quick gift that is needed for

a colleague expecting a baby.

Not sure why I went for frogs,

but she knows she's having a boy

and she has such a cool design and dress sense

I thought she could 'do' frogs ;)

***** 

Here's a shot of my machine.

She's a big girl with a 24" throat on a 12 foot table.

The last time I sewed with her was the day my Mom died.

I have missed them both the last few months

but I'm ready to sew again 

even if I'm not ready to feel better about my Mom just yet...

 *****

I took this photo to show the quilted top,

the black spotty backing and the paper pantograph used

(stars and loops again - one of my favourites for a boy!)

*****

My parting shot is of the part of the living room 

where my sewing table used to live.

All my stuff (ok, ok most of it)

is out of the living room and in my 'studio' now.