Seeing the Change!

I just got back from my trip out west visiting my kids (adults) where I shared some of the joys of their lives. I also had so much fun seeing the change in my grandkids. This is what its all about!

The great thing about long time customers is seeing the change in their taste over the years. Elizabeth brought me the first quilt on my new machine when I moved into my new home 12 years ago. She made this latest quilt for her daughter and it is completely different from Andy other quilts that she has pieced. Because this quilt will be on the way to Australia, we used a Dream Cotton Request batting and quilted it with the Diagonal Plaid pantograph. Dream Request is the thinnest batting that I know of and it will be great for hot climates. I usually use it when I baste a quilt for a hand quilter as it is easier to needle.

Elizabeth put the leftovers into the back. It is a great way to make a width of fabric wider for a small quilt. I encourage pieced backs because I believe in using your stash. I only ask that you do 1/2″ seams pressed open to help it lie flatter and that you square each piece so that you have a square back.

Leanne converted over to modern quilts quite some time ago and continues to bring beautiful tasteful modern quilts. Both these ladies came to me from a group of quilters that met long ago at shop named Cock a Doodle Quilts. Some of them still meet and quilt together.

Leanne also started to use her extra fabric on the back. Beautiful work from both of ladies!

A quick word about quilting straight lines in a quilt. It looks really simple doesn’t it? I need a perfectly pieced quilt to quilt straight lines and I need to load it perfectly straight. You can see the stitch lines above are pretty straight. Unfortunately that does not happen on every quilt!

If you do not square each block as you go, you might have a 8 inch finished block on one side of your quilt and a 7 7/8 inch block on the other side, or even in the middle of the quilt. When I lock my machine horizontally and quilt across your quilt, the stitching line could be 1/inch from the seam line on one side and 1/8 inch from the seam line at the other side of the quilt. Believe me when I say sometimes I have to do a bit of quilt wrestling to get straight lines. Precise stitching and trimming and pressing on your part helps me to do precise quilting for you.

Since my friend Val just blogged about this I feel free to share it with you. Just click on her name to go over and check out her blog and see what she is up to. I convinced Val to try a cotton/wool blend of batting made by Hobbs. I really love this blend and use it in many of my own quilts.

I love the bright colours and my quilting change will be to add a little more bright solid colours to my quilting life.

I am looking forward to helping you see your quilts get finished.