Crafty Sewing & Quilting

Monday, January 30, 2012

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

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Keep on Dreaming Quilt - Project Quilting

I always use a white quilt or a sheet as the back drop for my photos. Today, I decided to throw it out in the snow!

I took several photos as the sun was just right.

The snow was just right too. It was pretty cold today and there was a nice crust of snow, so it wouldn't sink into the snow.

But then the wind caught it...

It rolled over and over until it was face down.

I stitched some words from the lyrics - Keep on Dreaming in the white squares.

So that's my Keep On Dreaming Quilt - Inspired by Project Quilting.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Marcia

Click Here for all three posts about this quilt - starts with this post and then scroll down for the other two posts. The song Keep On Dreaming is on the first post. My brother, Mark wrote the song.

Liked with: Links here and All the Buttons with links are on My Linky Parties - Where I Share Page also.

Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff - Jan. 28, 2012

Love Affair with My Brother: This Week - Jan. 28, 2012

Sew Many Ways: Sew Darn Crafty - Jan. 29, 2012

Pieceful Life: Little Quilt Monday - Jan. 30, 2012

Sew Chatty: Made with Love - Jan. 30, 2012

Sew Happy Geek: Manic Monday - Jan. 30, 2012

Richard Quilts: Link A Finish Friday - Jan. 27, 2012

Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday - Jan. 31, 2012

Chef in Training: Talent Tuesday - Jan. 31, 2012

Freshly Pieced: Work in Progress - Feb. 1, 2012

The Shady Porch: Rock 'N Share - Feb. 1, 2012

Faith, Grace, and Crafts: Pearls and Lace Thursday - Feb. 2, 2012

Somewhat Simple: Strut Your Stuff - Feb. 2, 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Work in Progress - Keep On Dreaming Quilt

I pressed Heat 'N Bond Lite to the wrong side of the fabric. I sketched some hearts on the paper side of the dark pink fabric and stars on the yellow.

Cut them out.

I drew a little sketch of the way I want to press them onto the background fabric.

Peeled the paper off the back of the fabric.

I was planning to place the stars exactly in the center of the hearts, but as I placed them on the hearts they looked so cool off center. I like it!

Pressed them in place.

Next I picked the thread colors.

I chose the dark grey thread for stitching on the black fabric. I like it better than black on black. You will see why, when I post the completed project on Sunday.

Long wavy stitching lines on the center blue area.

I wiggle line stitched on the hearts

and stitched swirls in the background of the star fabric.

I couldn't finish it all tonight. I will finish the stars and the black and white parts tomorrow morning and then bind it. My "Keep On Dreaming" quilt is based on a musical inspiration for the Project Quilting Challenge Number Two. Keep On Dreaming is my brother's song and I posted the song on Tuesday.

I quilted on my project quilting at the end of my quilting day, today. It's the end of my work week, so I quilted longer than a few minutes... actually, I quilted a couple hours and will quilt more tomorrow. So my Minutes for Me - while it was wonderful to play on my quilting machine, it delayed our Friday night dinner. I had nothing ready when my husband got home. But I made dinner in about 5 minutes! We had meatloaf, leftover potatoes, and a salad. We had my frozen meatloaf squares. When I make a big meal, I freeze some of it for just such an occasion.