Getting Up Close with My Quilting - Extra Large Swirly Gig Quilting

First, a little explanation about my quilting, (It's my job):  Once a week, I share here, an "Up Close View" of my free style quilting.  I quilt on a Gammill Plus long arm quilting machine with regulated stitch.  I quilt all free style designs, which means I manually move the quilting machine across the quilt to create the designs.  It is not computer generated and I don't use templates or panto graphs. I doodle or sketch a design for the customer's quilt on a piece of paper. Then I envision it in my mind and start stitching.  I make it sound simple, but it is far from simple.  I have been quilting customer's quilts since 2003 and every day is a joy and a new adventure in creating a "cool design" on customer's quilts. Yes - I repeat designs, but because they are free style, they don't always look exactly the same.

This quilt is a great example of a free style design using the extra large "swirly gigs". I have made the swirly gigs in many different sizes and styles over the years. 

The swirly gigs flow across the quilt, intertwining within each other to smoothly fill the space. I have to concentrate very carefully as I move in and out of the spaces, so that is never looks like a uniformed pattern, without repeating the exact motion, but keeping it consistently even throughout the quilt.  That's what makes it beautifully unique'.

 The backing fabric on this quilt is the fuzzy minky fabric.  It is wonderfully soft and smooth...

I share, because I love what I do every day.  I am very blessed and very lucky to have such a wonderful job.
Again, I make it sound easy, but there is a lot of work, time, and energy involved in owning and running your own business. The best part about my days are that they are never boring. I create, I quilt, and I photograph each day to share my quilting life with the world.
When my kids were little my husband told them something like this: "Find something you love to do, do what you love, and make it your job. You will never feel like you are working - if you love it!" 
We are both so blessed to love what we do!
Thanks for following along in my life...
Marcia