A quilt for Claudia, Mom and turn around

First, this is a quilt made by one (I have several!) of my best customers, Claudia

I considering myself VERY fortunate to have such wonderful customers... it's amazing!!! Love my job because I get to see and quilt so many different quilts

Semi custom quilting with a border/corner design from Anne Bright named Pearl Feathers

The center field is an e2e, also designed by Anne named Seaweed framed with SID.

Great design with wonderful even coverage and flow.

Wool batting and three threads, Signature and Omni,
two in shades of gray and a dark burgundy for the inner border.

 The backing... paisley print, what's not to love! Great fabrics!!!

I love to see quilters use good quality fabrics for backs.

It adds so much to a quilt.

The rest of my blog post is about my mom (NQR) and my turn around time

Helena, my mother is amazing. Born in the Netherlands, survivor of the German occupation of Holland. Came to America following WWII and marriage to my dad in the late 1940s. They became citizens and started a new life. Fast forward... we moved Mom here to Northern California with us following the death of her husband, my father. She was already in the advanced stages of dementia. So not easy! That was eight years ago and it's still so not easy. I had to set up a Conservatorship thru the court of California simply for the 'right' to take care of my mother. The cost has been incredible with annual hearings and accountings. It's insane! Advice... make sure YOU and your family have directives and a Trust you are comfortable with in place.

Friday morning Mom fell. She cut her face, we believe from her glasses. She was taken to the ER, despite a POLST. Cuts taped and unnecessary tests revealing... again, nothing. She is 99 and there is nothing 'medically' wrong with her... except dementia, which you can die of, but care is not covered by insurance because it's not deemed medical. Frustrating! Other than low O2 sats and a cough, she was released. I took her back to her care facility, went home for a shower, picked up a RX for her cough and spent the rest of the afternoon with her and listened to the rattle as she breathed. If anything takes her, this may be it... and it would be OK. It is heartbreaking. While I was with Mom, Michael went to Immediate Care because there is something going on with him. The PA could not figure out what after a few tests. Michael just called me, waiting in line for a blood draw, glad to find a lab that was open. It's a bit much and I am not getting any quilting accomplished.

Brings the subject back to quilts, turn around time and custom hand guided quilting. Custom quilting is tricky, especially estimating time. For the time being, I am not accepting new quilt work orders for custom hand guided quilting.

Presently my turn around is October going into November with any one of these digitized design options: e2e, e2e with a border/corner set or my custom e2e where I am able to change the repeat pattern or line up a design to a quilt top block pattern. Straight set, alternated or set on point, the patterns are set up on each block, linked and then run like an e2e. To change a repeat, I am able to take them apart, flip, mirror, alternate and then link them back together and run the new pattern that is created like an e2e. I've gotten really good at it on the Innova with Auto Pilot. BTW, my Innova, I have decided to name Helena, for my mother and my Auto Pilot system, will remain Hal because that computer does, on some days, really have a mind of it's own!

Many of my customers are happy with digitized designs and they really do look good! Maybe not as organic as hand guided because the stitching is... perfect... because it's digitized. Some people love it, some... not so much. That's OK.

Again, and I can't say this too many times, thank you to my customers. I appreciate each and every one of you so very much. I know that I have lost a few existing and many new customers recently due to my present turn around time and please know this does not set well with me. I wish so many things but reality is what it is and no amount of wishing will make it different. I will always do my best. Thank you for your understanding. Have a wonderful weekend. Take some stitches! for...

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

Tot ziens, Jo

Stars for Spring

Love to see Spring fabrics brighten up my studio

and these fabrics from Honey Run Quilters do not disappoint!

 Anne made this top as a store sample

Great colors and placement by Anne, well done!

Star pattern is by Theresa Wright

Great floral with dots print for the backing

Quilted with an e2e by Anne Bright ~ Escargot

Thread is an Omni ~ Sea Mist from Superior Threads

Thank you Rhonda and Anne!
Tot ziens, Jo

Eagle Scouts

Eagle prints with Boy Scout merit badge print fabric for the cornerstones

Well thought out and made by Betty D

Made for a grandson with a goal of Eagle Scout status

 Very clever! Quilted with an e2e ~ Cloud Nine

with a blue Glide thread named 'Tar Heel'

A second quilt for Betty... that is Oh So Sweet!

Cupcakes on the front

with donuts and more sugary items on the back

I love how Betty pieces most all of her quilt backs

Great use of fabrics and stash busting!!! Love that black and white fabric too! 

Yummy! and no calories in the tummy!

 Quilted with a pink Omni thread from Superior

and an e2e design from Anne Bright called Trickster

Thank you Betty :0)

Enjoy your day, stitching away!

Tot Ziens, Jo

Karen's Cathedral Square

Cathedral Square

A two color pattern by Linda Ballard

Quilt made by Karen G

quilted by Jo @ Moonbear Designs & Quilting

with... feathers! feathers and more feathers!

Wonderful BIG setting triangles wide open for quilting :0) It was the dark fabric print that motivated my decision to quilt a feather design. Literally one triangle design, flipped, mirrored and linked to create all of the feathers in the center field of Karen's quilt. Have I mentioned... LOVE my Innova and Auto Pilot! The light fabric is one of the Stonehenge fabrics and really made the trilobal poly variegated thread sing! I used one of the original Fantastico variegated thread colors. Love!
 

This is the center of Karen's quilt. The same triangle linked and spiraled into a square. The triangle design is digitized by Jamie Wallen. A wonderful talented longarm quilter, now an Innovian. Yea! Jamie has done Utubes most notably on taming tension. I picked up his design, Feather Flurry on Digi-Tech. The border/corner design is from One Song Needle Arts by Donna named Sacred Journey.

 Above is a single version of Feather Flurry and below
a double mirrored version along with the Sacred Journey border design.

  

Thank you Karen

I love this quilt and enjoyed quilting it for you!

See you soon :0)

note: Linda Ballard will be teaching 2 workshops next month in Chico! May 7th at Honey Run Quilters at Cathy's and another on May 8th thru Annie's Star Quilt Guild. Two different patterns by Linda. Donna and I are signed up for one of them! Linda will also be our guest speaker at the May 7th guild meeting. Come join us!!!

MQX 2015

Added note: sadly there were unkind words posted on social media regarding Margaret Solomon Gunn and her MQX post, and it has since been removed. I removed the links previously set up in my original post. This is a link to her blog homepage where you can see her beautiful work!

This week was New England's MQX Quilt Festival in Manchester, NH. Here is a blog post by Margaret Solomon Gunn on her blog Quilts of Love about MQX. Margaret taught classes as well as entered some of her beautiful quilting. Pix of her work and a quilt made and entered by her daughter plus lots more machine quilting eye candy! Head over to her blog for pix. I am not posting her pix here without permission.

Attending any one of the MQX festivals let alone entering a quilt is on my someday bucket list. Meanwhile, yes, I have been working/quilting, even over the weekend to help keep up. Today I finished a store sample for Honey Run Quilter's that Anne made.

Karen G's quilt was finished yesterday along with one for Claudia, two for Betty D and Linda E's Dresden plate quilt were all quilted this week. Pix soon, I'm taking the rest of the day off to enjoy what's left of the weekend along with the nice warm weather and the flowers in the garden.

This is a pic from last year but it looks just like this right now

and I am headed outside to enjoy it :0)

Hope you made some time to take some stitches

and enjoy the weekend as well!

Tot ziens, Jo

 

All Fool's Day

Sprouting Grass Moon

It's wonderful to see the garden coming to life again!

Tread lightly today as it's also All Fool's Day! Are Alex and Ricky up to pulling our quilting leg again this year on The Quilt Show with an Apple Watch for quilters? ;0)

Is it real???

Last year Alex demonstrated the unstitching foot, that was pretty good too!

Not much to report from my studio this week. On my frame is a custom quilt for Linda that will be completed soon and Janie has been working here in my studio, we are finishing her Amaretto Cottage. Yea! Most of the week has been dedicated to the dreaded task of taxes! Yep, that time of year as well. It's the Yin and Yang of the season!

Enjoy the day!

Make the time to take some stitches because...

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

Tot ziens, Jo