The Art of Longarm Quilting.

Longarm quilting is an art form in its own right.  Many can make a quilt top and quilt it by machine. Then we get a few people who look at a quilt top and see what it can be. They visualise something so amazing and see an art work, while we see in the ditch, maybe a stipple, feather or an echo outline. The machines they use, do not come cheaply, the work and the hours they put in is part of the services they offer, the art they include is what sets each and everyone apart.

One can have many quilts finished with an all over design and that is not what one is talking about here. Custom quilting is the art form we are talking about here. We all admire the sheer force and scale of the artistry of their work, when we stand back and look at the whole quilt. Many times we look at the front we do no fully appreciate the scale of work involved, until we look at the back of the quilt.  Then it dawns how much work went into creating a unique piece of art. This is what makes an heirloom quilt.  For one to love and hug. Over time it will be showing how much it means to us, as we cuddle under it. Will it show the wear of time, of course it will. It is not meant to be mounted behind a piece of glass to be admired from a far, except up close as a tactile art.

Is it perfect? Nope. It was never intended to be.  Did I make mistakes when it was pieced, absolutely.  This was never to be entered into a quilt show, it is for us to enjoy.  This was part of the healing process,  after my Dad passed away. I knew if I had to quilt it, it would have stayed a quilt top. So in December of last year,  I wrote to a longarm quilter and sent her pictures of the front and back, with full disclosure of the complex nature of this top. After looking at the photos, she quoted a price and said that she would quilt it for me. It was sent off in January and she said she does not want to work to deadlines.  I was happy with this, as it is so much better when one can do what one love at one's own pace. Life is short and one need time to spend a while with the ones we love, creating memories. When she let me know she's was working on it over the summer, it was important to me that she took time to enjoy those special moments with her family, it is just an object. People are far more precious than things. Yes it took longer, it could even have taken longer and it would not have mattered. The world and it's people are in very short supply of patience and respect for one another, it is important to value people above all the stuff and things in world.You can replace things, not loved one's!

2020 Sugaridoo QAL top is done.

All the rows are finally finished.  The last row was released on 1st of October.  It is a bright and happy one, with clean lines. Very eye catching and modern.

Each row has a piece of the accent print or colour fabric. The ruler fabric incorporated into the rows are from my stash. It was originally planned for a pencil case.  Unbeknownst to me,  it is from the same designer of the fat eight bundle fabrics. That pencil case was never meant to be, the ruler fabric of which I only had 20cm of the width of the fabric, was just enough!

The back of this quilt top is very tidy and the new iron is working well and all the seams of the quilt top is pressed flat. Ready for quilting.  Will trim any stray threads, as they will show on the front when quilting, as the background is white.

The front of the top showcases the wonky moons, circles (hubby said they are putting greens?), arrows going down and up...  Triangles, mowing the lawn or not, hastags and Tetris, everything falling into place. This top is a representation of the year 2020, in more ways than one. Letting go and embracing the new.

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Fresh, dainty and soft backing. Perfect for this top, it was in the cupboard and it followed me home from Retreat one year. 

Binding is made for 365 Quilt Challenge, the QAL from Katherine Kerr. The Quilt along was a block a day, for a year. The Quilt went to be longarm quilted, as I knew it would be the best way to get it finished. Both these QAL the patterns was given free, for those who signed up for them, so thank you to the talented ladies who designed and offered them to all of us!

Normally the binding gets made when the top is done, or sometimes when the quilt top is started. Realized yesterday the binding needs making, as the quilted top will need it soon.

Over the summer the chipmunk took sunflower seeds from the birdfeeder and did some gardening in the veggie garden.  We moved them to other parts of the garden, this is the end result.

Autumn is here and all the trees are wearing their fall colours already.  This is Thanks Giving weekend in Canada. We are blessed to be home and grateful for all the abundance and blessings we have received this year.  A year that has been one which none of us expected.  We have grown in ways and have discovered how amazing humankind truly can be. The people who surround us, friends, family and in some cases complete strangers, we wish everyone an amazing Thanks Giving , not just for a weekend but throughout the coming years to come.

The last day of Summer.

Using up leftover fabrics in my stash. Mini Maker Case SAL . Kate sent me the link. It is for a Mini Iron to take along to class or Quilt Retreats, except it is perfect for projects on the go. A pair of socks, a stitching project in hand, some applique. For the little one's,  a toy collection or some special treasures? 

Used the zipper foot for attaching the top lid and the bottom of the case to the body. This allowed me to get really close to the body in those tight corners.

The binding was attached with the zipper foot, turned over and stitched down by hand.  The inside of the cases are super tidy and neat.

Used binding from projects which was the pieces that had no purpose and ended up in a box with a collection of more of the same.  It feels great to use it.  Time only allowed me an opportunity to work on the cases last week.  So they had to be finished or wait until some date in the future...

Part 3 of the Sugaridoo QAL is done. This is Row twelve.  Since coming back home, this was the next row which was released in sequence, so logically it needed to be done first. It is called Tetris.

Impromptu pencil case request? Luckily had a zipper long enough for this one. It had to have vegetables on it. This piece of fabric caught my eye one day, it followed me home and sat on the shelf, funny part, this is not fabric which ever come home with me.

More masks.

We had a Birthday this month, it had to have both chocolate and colourful sprinkles. Celebrate all the happy occasions. 

Some stitching on Drum number one. Busy with the tree.

Teacher's apron. For handsanitizer,  Kleenex, pen, cards, keys, Ipad/notepad.

Mr. Bones, helping the kids and demonstrating the correct way to wear a mask!

Today we have the last day of Summer, we already had two nights with frost, so most of the lettuce was harvested and given away. Perennial plants like peppers was put into pots and will be over wintering indoors. Our cat's look said it all: Where is the kitty grass? She wants some grass for her use. Peppers do not cut muster in her book!

Busy August.

Planted this rose three years ago, it had nine buds and blooms on. With the heatwave they open and the petals flutter to the ground. Have been busy in the garden. 

The drums, this is number 3.

Number 1. On the pattern is a picture of what the drums looks like. These two get stitched on the same colour fabric. 

Pinned the center of the Hertfordshire Quilt to the next round, the black border print was just not wide enough? So it will get a wider black border around the center piece.

Prepped the log cabin blocks,  ready for sewing together.

Sewn together, then  noticed the one block was turned? Unpicked it and redid it in the right orientation. 

The true colours not showing in these pictures.

This is closer to the true colour of the fabrics. Have some strips left, will sew them into a border for this quilt top. Using all the leftover bits. One way to declutter the house.

Masks with Beatrix Potter fabrics.

A friends husband is a teacher, he wanted some for school and some for when he is out and about.

Started the QAL with Sugaridoo in last year? Finally pulled it out and prepared another row. The next one will be released in September. Have a  few  rows to catch up, from March to August.

The green beans, which was planted as seeds begining July. They are very sweet. The Zucchini plants have flowers on.

How do your garden grow?

The green beans just took off and they needed to be transplanted into the garden after five days, almost as if they understood that the season was getting along swiftly. 

My hatchery in pots. We realize that the raised veggie boxes needed to be built, so we got on with that.

Used a combination of the cardboard on the bottom on top of the grass and the "Hugel" system,  which allows one to fill the bottom section of the boxes with wood that will biodegradable over time, but in the interm supply filler. In the grand scheme of things one then only need half the amount of soil for the top half.

The wood chosen is soft and most of it just breaks up when one pick it up. The cardboard sticking out has been trimmed back already.

Filled with the first layer of soil.

Boxes filled with soil, watered and left to rest before planting.

We did six boxes in total.  These ones has zucchini,  tomatoes,  spinach, peas, beets and Italian lettuce.

More lettuce, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes.  Normally seeds do not grow this well for me, so this was the biggest surprise of all. The vegetables now have a dedicated space in the garden, it has been very therapeutic to grow plants and soothing.

Onions in pots and the garden.

Carrots? Only one came up.

What else sprouted? Lemon trees from seeds. Bought a lemon in the grocery store and this is the result.

Sewing happened,  the log cabin blocks are finished,  they have been patiently waiting for me since March. 

Have started making masks which will be sold on the Etsy store. This is to recuperate some funds to pay for the repatriation flights we incurred to come home. We could not use our original tickets to fly home, lockdowns overseas created turmoil in ways no one could have predicted!

Kids masks.

Adult masks. Have created a pattern from extra small, small, medium, large(regular and a relaxed fit) and extra large. Using 100% cotton fabrics only. This is the other bit of sewing that is happening for the next while. A neighbour needed scrub caps with the buttons, so two got made for her as a gift to say thank you. A little bit of sewing that goes a long way.