Donna's tree quilt

Donna brought me this amazing quilt that her granddaughter had designed. It was made up entirely of her baby clothes! Even the green grass and the tree.

She asked for custom quilting with lots of fun stuff. Quilt it like you would for your own kids, she said.

And look at all that open space! Oh, the potential!

What I thought was really unusual was the space under the tree. Most quilters might have cut the quilt off at the base of the tree. It was the perfect place for an underground extravaganza! So I set to work with a rough sketch of what it might look like under there. Maybe with some bunnies and chipmunks.

Here are the bunnies and a little chipmunk with an acorn. I saw an underground cut out image on a kid's website that gave me the idea for burrows. I was going to McTavish the tree roots, but I was worried they would get lost in the background, so I left them unquilted.

The leopard print at the base of the tree is an ant hill. You can see the little red embroidered ants going up into the hole. So of course it need tunnels underneath.

Here's the other side, with a little snake slithering down the tunnel.

I thought the sky lent itself really well to swirls, but I threw in a few extras to spice it up. Clouds...

Birds...

The sun...

Donna had also sewn on these little snowflake patches at the top of the quilt, so I turned them into flowers.

Some of the clouds had raindrops.

I was getting bored with clouds, so I threw in a hot air balloon race.

More birds...

I also extended the grass out in both directions and quilted a few flowers and butterflies.

Isn't that cute? Donna included the embroidered flowers from the baby clothes.

 Close up of the ant hill.

 Close up of the burrows.

Thanks so much Donna! This was a great quilt to get the creative quilting juices flowing:)

Voted Best Longarm Quilting at the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Show!

My local guild, the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters, had their show this weekend and I walked away with the Best Longarm Quilting ribbon!

I'm still floored. My friend Gina B had posted a pic of her quilt that won the blue ribbon in the bed quilt category and the Best Longarm Quilting by the Carolina Longarm Association. I was teasing her that now I had a goal, meaning I would get good enough to beat her one day, and she said that I HAD won a ribbon. So I'm thinking the wholecloth quilt, right?

Nope, it was Carrie's amazing applique quilt. The one that I had a great time quilting, all sorts of different designs, like a sampler.

Let me tell you, there was some amazing quilting at this show. From what I've heard on the grapevine, it was the border that the judges loved the most. 

I had used 3 different designs that I pulled out of the design on the backing fabric.

I guess that is what the judges really liked. Something different anyway:)

Right now I'm over the moon. When Gina told me that I had won that ribbon, I was thinking it was a ribbon within the wall quilt category. I didn't realize it covered the whole show! Amazing and exciting! Now all I have to do is regain that dexterity with the longarm. So I definitely have some goals for the future.

While I was at the show, I took a bunch of pics. There were quite a few that I had quilted. When I got home, I realized some of the pics were fuzzy, grrr! But here they are anyway:)

Carrie stole the show. Three of her quilts got ribbons, all three of which I quilted. Her applique is stunning!

My Time for Tea was squished in there. No ribbons for this one. The judges thought the quilting a bit over the top for the oriental theme. I can see that. I probably wouldn't have gone so fancy on the blue blocks if I had to quilt it over again, but I do love the quilting in the cream background.

Linda's quilt picked up an Honorable Mention. I think I might have even quilted this on my Babylock!

Debbie's double wedding ring and her patriotic quilt were also hanging up. It was great to see both of these from a distance. When I quilting, I'm concentrating on smaller areas and I don't often get to see the whole picture.

My fish quilt got a red ribbon.

Tamoe's gorgeous log cabin, which I also quilted, got a blue ribbon, as well it should have. I've never seen such precise piecing. Beautiful!

Della's quilt also got an honorable mention. I couldn't believe she had bound it so quickly. I only gave it to her on Monday!

Carrie's little heart quilt also got a Judges Choice ribbon. This was another one I had done on my Babylock, one of the first customer quilts I had ever done. Way back when Carrie took me under her wing and trusted me with her precious quilts:)

****I have removed the rest of the photos I took because there was a mix up on Pinterest. Pinners were repinning these photos without giving proper credit to the artists and giving the impression that they were my work because my blog name was on the link. I apologize for this mistake and have removed the photos so this does not continue to happen.

Twins!

And in case you are wondering, they are not mine! Hehehe! My cousin is having twins in August. They live in Florida and the predominant theme is beachy stuff. Hence the ocean scenes.

I wanted to make the quilts similar, but not identical. I also happened to have some printed fabric that worked great for the applique. I pieced the curvy waves and then quilted the whole thing. I didn't want to have to quilt curvy lines around all those little fused on fish.

Thanks again Patsy for the Steam-a-Seam 2. Works like a charm!

I had a brainwave about sharks after I had cut out all the fish and dolphins. It seemed like there was still something missing. And all little boys love sharks, right?

Love this hammerhead!

The crab was freehand sketched and then fused.

I had some leftover scraps from the surfboard fabric that my cousin bought for hand made crib sheets. It was perfect for cutting out and creating a surf shack on the beach.

I shipped these quilts out a couple of days ago and they should be arriving today. She knows I'm making quilts for her, but she doesn't know they are finished. Surprise!

Atlantis is going to AQS Charlotte

Not too long ago, I filled out the form to enter my little wholecloth quilt, Atlantis, into the AQS Charlotte show that will be at the end of July. The way it works is you enter online and then they tell you if you are accepted. Well, I got the email early this week. I'm in! Atlantis will be hanging up in Charlotte, viewed by all sorts of famous quilters. I'm so excited!

I've only had two quilts on display to the public: my Italian Village quilt was in the last Forsyth Piecers and Quilters show and my fish quilt, which I entered in the So Original Solids Challenge. So this is really exciting for me. I'm not anticipating any ribbons. I'm too critical and I keep seeing every flaw. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

I've been quilting up a storm these past couple of weeks. I'm loving the ease of pantos, but I've discovered that I can't take good photos with my lights shining down on the quilts. Of course I realized this after having returned several quilts to their owners. I did manage to find a few good pics, just glimpses really.

This one is Eleanor's. I quilted one just like this for her on my George. She wanted this one done the same way. I was a little nervous about echoing these swirls freehand, but once I eased off on my death grip on the handles, things went a lot more smoothly.

Betty made this t-shirt quilt for her granddaughter. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of t-shirt quilts. They tend to be a little dark and heavy. Betty did a beautiful job on this one. All of those colorful borders really make this a lovely quilt.

Della made this adorable quilt for her grandson. Love those little bees!

Here's another cool panto, Bauhaus, on Karen's quilt. I was worried about all those straight lines. I keep hearing how hard it is to do straight lines on longarms. Seems a little strange to me. I feel like short straight lines are easier for me at this point than curvy swirls.

Still trying to figure out the best way to do little pebbles. Some people have told me that the micro drive handles are the way to go. I'll never look back, they say. Use them for everything. Still feels weird. Definitely something to get used to. But then again, Judi Madsen at Green Fairy Quilts doesn't use micro drive handles and her pebbles are amazing. I watched one of Jamie Wallen's videos on Youtube tonight and he said you should have your left hand on the micro drive handle and your right on the top handle. So maybe that is the way to go. Lots of practice anyway;)

Jackpot!

It feels like Christmas today! But first have a look at my first panto. Erin brought me this gorgeous quilt. Doesn't it just remind you of Hawaii?

She picked the Daisy Swirl pantograph. Wow, these things are amazing! What have I been missing all this time? This was a great panto to start with and so much fun to quilt.

Thanks Erin!

 
I still can't get over how much easier it is to quilt on this Millenium. Loving it! So I hit the jackpot today. Patsy Thompson, who bought my George (incidentally renamed Georgette, heheh), had sent me an email saying she was sending me something. She had had it for a while and thought it would be perfect for me. Hm, I was wondering what it could be....

Can you believe it?! She must have read my frustrated review about the fusible web. Patsy has sent me a roll of Lite Steam-a-Seam 2!!!!

Look at the size of this roll! It is a good 24" wide. Enough to keep me art quilting for a decade:) Amazing! This stuff is like gold. I'm feeling over the moon right now. Thanks so much Patsy!