Roses for Janie

Framed Roses made by Janie. 

Soft pastel colors, all rose print fabrics
framed in solid greens. 

   Quilted with Zen Roses, an e2e from One Song Needle Arts and Digi-tech

with wool batting and a variegated So Fine #40 thread in soft greens,
#707 Wagga Wagga, funny name :0)

The wool batting has such nice loft.
The binding will also be a darker green to create a frame around the
entire quilt. It's actually not as dark a green as it looks in the pix.

After binding is added, this quilt will be ready for Janie

when she returns next week to work on Amaretto Cottage,

a quilt we have been working on together for a year. 

We are almost ready to add the final two borders and then quilting this beauty.

Also in the works are the Snowman quilts

Two customers worked on and finished this block of the month
Merry Merry Snowmen

with machine applique and hand embroidered details.

It's really cute and fun to work on :0)

 There are several snowmen peeking out of the blocks.

 This guy is up in the cornerstone of the border and will have beads added for eyes

and more embellishments will be added once the tops are quilted.

I am very happy with my Innova and how nice it handles hand guided

as well as doing ruler work. 

Enjoy the weekend

Make the time to take some stitches, Jo

 "We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

Hot Air Balloons

quilted on a baby quilt made by Donna

A fun design by Dave Hudson

available from Digi-tech

The perfect choice requested by Donna for this quilt

Quilted with wool batting using an Omni thread

Love how the quilting shows on the Radiance fabric Donna used for the inner border

The backing is a dark brown minkee which is why I chose to use a darker thread color in Gray Slate. I also added a layer of thin cotton batting over the wool because the dark backing was shadowing thru to the top. Donna was happy with this little baby. Thank you Donna!

It's a good thing last week was productive as I can't say the same for this week. I finished a quilt last night for Janie and will post pix later with today's daylight. That makes two quilts finished this week. I do have lots more in the wings including 2 really cute Snowman quilts that I have been working on. Lots of applique and hand embroidery so they are being hand guided which takes more time to finish and fun to do! There are three more applique quilts waiting their turns, one for Linda D, Judy J and Sandy. Plus more booked until August! Annie's Star Quilt Guild's show is in November this year and everyone is busy getting quilts ready for the show.

A few guild responsibilities taken care of this week, time spent on my digital files and trouble shooting some format issues with Jessica at Digi-tech for Auto Pilot. Getting the right format that will run properly on older pre-AP designs is what we worked on. Very happy with Digi-tech. There are still designers out there that do not offer .pat format. (Note to other Innova/Auto Pilot users ~ .dxf will download onto AP and the system will reformat it into .pat however, they do NOT stitch out properly! Start and End points get changed and many do not run in one continues stitch) All of the patterns that Digi-tech offer in .pat run perfectly! They offer a great selection of designs from different designers plus digitized machine embroidery designs as well. Thank you Jessica!

Anne Bright and Sweet Dreams Studio also digitize in .pat format. These two, Digi-Tech and Apricot Moon are the resources I turn to for computerized designs. If you see a design on their websites you would like quilted on your quilt top, just ask! If I don't have it in my file, downloading and making it available for you is a cinch!  
 

 Enjoy your weekend

Tot Ziens, Jo

 "We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

Five in Five

Five quilts quilted this week!

First up is a quilt Betty D made in a guild workshop

Batik Blast with Judy Sisneros

Wonderful paisley batik quilted with a Paisley design

with a Rainbow variegated Fantastico thread

The black fabric are strips folded and pieced into cut blocks

A challenge for many longarm machines but the Innova did just fine :0)

Same applied to the set in folded fabric Cindy G added to this quilt

 The stripe with stars fabric is the folded flange set into the inner border

This is a quilt Cindy made for the Wounded Warrior project posted on Facebook

with Morning Star Quilt Shop in Paradise, CA

Pattern is Steppin' Up the Squares by Mary Kay Davis

Also made in a guild workshop this month

Quilted with Star Spangled Banner e2e with a Red thread

matching the red backing

This is another quilt made by Betty D

Quilted with Raindrops

that played with the water drops in these cute duck prints

and check out the yellow duck backing :0) ...

A wedding gift quilt made by Alice C

Hawaiian prints for a couple that love Hawaii

 Quilted with an e2e of Hibiscus Flowers

by Sweet Dreams Studio

The fifth quilt finished up this week is completely different

This is a vintage quilt made with 1930's prints

Real ones, not repros. 

I consider myself honored to see and work with a few vintage quilt tops. As much as I would love to see all hand pieced quilt tops hand quilted, it's not always affordable and maybe not every old quilt top should be rescued. This top was not in the best shape with many of the blocks falling apart that had been repaired by machine. Parts of the quilt were faded and the piecing was very puckered. Linda D brought this quilt in to be quilted. Rescued from a neighbor whose wife had passed away, Linda and I decided to use a wool batting for two reasons. It's a natural product and it would help fill in the puckered areas of the piecing. 

When Linda came in to pick up this quilt she brought me another top she finished. I can't wait to quilt it! Modern, we already settled on a great design from Digi-tech. Really nice quilt, very similar to Kelly's style. Love it! and so did Kelly! 

Rose, a customer brought an old quilt into my studio this afternoon. Made by a family member it had red and white nine patches alternating with white squares and it had a pink border and cornerstones. It was hand quilted with a cotton batting. The backing was made from some sort of feed bag or flour sack fabric. Well worn and loved, it was really special to see an old red and white quilt. (didn't think to take pix :0( it was a long day)

Thank you Betty, Linda, Cindy and Alice!

My quilting time is donated for as many Community Service quilts for the guild as I am able as well as Quilts of Honor and the quilt above that Cindy made will be donated to the Wounded Warriors project.

This is a Community Service quilt for Annie's Star Quilt Guild

Pieced by a guild member, now quilted and will go to another member for binding

 Quilted with Feathered Leaf e2e

 Wonderful backing!

The Houses Quilt was submitted to KIXE for their auction
Link with pic on ASQG website

One more, also quilted for the guild is a small quilt

made in like fabrics as our Opportunity Quilt

Brandie organized this project, purchased the fabrics and worked with volunteers to piece and applique the blocks. This little guy will be given to the person who sells the most Opportunity Quilt tickets. Quilted on the Innova as close to the same quilting done on the big quilt, I made one change and used a wool batting along with a layer of cotton to add loft.

 Brandie did allot of the applique, love her fussy cutting!
The quilt is back in her hands for binding and will be presented to the guild soon :0)

Even the little corner blocks were quilted as the big quilt

pictured here...

Happy I was able to make good progress

Today is also the one year anniversary for Helena and I

The day my Innova arrived and was set up in my studio

It doesn't feel like a year, but it also feels like I've always quilted on this machine.

Enjoy your weekend

Tot Ziens, Jo

Modern Clamshell for Kathy's quilt

This pieced beauty is made by Kathy W

 Quilted with a Modern Clamshell design by Jessica Schick
The design is flipped for the second row
and then lined up for a mirror image to create this stitched design.

  Stitched with a grey/brown Omni thread
Batting is Warm and Natural

 The piecing is done very well making a beautifully square and flat quilt.

Thank you Kathy

Enjoy your week

Groetjes van Jo

 "We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's greetings for a lovely long weekend

Take the time to take some stitches

with lots of time to spend quilting or a project you love

and a Happy Valentine's Day

to spend with the person you love :0)

Groetjes van Jo

Quilting is a work of Heart ~ made by Gail H

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

Phoebe, Leslie and Donna's Quilts

Phoebe's graphic quilt

 Quilted with Crazy Swirls lined up with each block
LOVE my Innova!

using a gold Magnifico thread from Superior Threads

The backing, a hand dye with just the right colors :0)

It's bright!

Quilted during the week along with Leslie D's Star quilt

Quite the variety of quilts come thru my studio! 

This beauty is quilted with a new design I am playing with

 Another e2e design that I am able to set up to look like each block

 is quilted individually. Did I mention... LOVE my Innova!

A little hard to see the quilting especially with the busy prints

but aren't the prints gorgeous!?! Love
Lots of French General

And a toddler bed quilt Donna made
 for her firstborn grandchild

 with a very cute Pooh fabric!

 Great fabric and color selection Donna!

Quilted with Ginger Hearts that worked well with the backing too

using a Glide thread

Also finished were two community service quilts for our guild.
The houses are in the previous post and the second I haven't
taken photos of along with Kathy W's quilt which is almost finished.

Great weekend with lots of needed rain
Enjoy your Sunday, take a few stitches!
That's where I am headed for the rest of the afternoon, Jo

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb