Modern Building Blocks

 3 Modern Building Blocks quilts have come thru my studio

First one was for Linda D and this week I quilted two more... this is Debbie's

Quilted with Woven Wind, a digital design from Apricot Moon

Thread is a Glide in Cool Grey

Batting is Quilter's Dream Wool

and this is Karen's

Quilting design is Lonestar by Kim Diamond 

We choose a variegated thread from Superior called Great Barrier Reef 

A SoFine40 with lots of teal, blue, greens and a bright lime yellow/green

Batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton Select

This shows the quilting as well as how the thread sparkled on Karen's!

and below, the sparkle of Glide on Debbie's

Love how she personalized her quilt too!

It's always so much fun to see the same pattern made sew different 

depending on fabrics and choices by each quilter :0)

Below is Linda D's Modern Building Blocks quilted with Rapunzel 

original post for Linda's quilt 

Proving that great minds think alike... check out the backings...

Karen's 

and this is Debbie's 

 How cool is that! I used the Cool Grey Glide on the back of Debbie's

quilt as well, it really sparkled on the Tula Pink backing fabric :0)

A couple of close ups of Karen's blocks with great fabric choices...

and a few of Debbie's... a different 

feel with the crispness of the white background fabric.

Karen has her quilt and Debbie's is quilted, trimmed and 

ready for it's binding... will be completed soon! 

I have fallen behind schedule again this month with unforeseen events, 

one being Michael's surgery. I am very happy to report that he is doing great! 

(and I won't have to mow the lawn again ;0) 

Have a wonderful weekend!

I am ready to get going on the longarm today to make up some time.

Tricky thing is time when you work in production, hard to make it up! 

Thanks for everyone's patience

Tot ziens, Jo

Changes for the New Year

First, some catch up from the end of last year. This is an Asian inspired quilt made by Betty D. for a member of her family going off to college. Betty chose a beautiful panel that inspired the fabrics for the Disappearing Nine Patch blocks. Quilted with Woven Wind from Apricot Moon with a gold Glide thread to add to the gold accents of the Asian fabrics. 

Betty added some very nice accents with a tiny gold and black inset border with flange. Very well done! We were also happy with how the quilting played with the panel print. 

Backed with a soft gold flannel backing. Well done Betty, thank you!
Looking forward to the wedding quilt and the little quilt is quilted :0)

A baby quilt made by Linda E.

Love how Linda used French Braids for the borders. Made from scraps with allot of pinks, it is quilted with an Antique Rose Omni thread color. We settled on a fun idea for the quilting... Fireworks and it worked! IMHO. Linda will cut the corners with 45 degree angles before added the binding for a different shape too. Well done Linda! Thank you

I am currently working on another quilt for Linda. It's made with blocks from The Farmer's Wife book and it's gorgeous! Pix soon. A close up of Fireworks quilting design...

I am very happy with my customers, which brings me to the subject of changes and making a difficult decision. I am no longer taking new customers with the goal of scaling back the time I spend quilting for others. I have such a wonderful local client base, a second decision is not to take internet quilting orders. The website will remain intact for the purpose of information and inspiration for both clients as well as fellow bloggers.

There are plans to add tutorials to the website. My goal is to give tips to other longarmers and quilters. Resources and links. It's a great business to get into and I would love to see up and coming quilters make it a success!

 Looking forward to what the New Year brings and the path it takes.

Tot ziens, Jo

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave"

Native American proverb 

Saturday Morning Post ~ Beckie and Claudia

On my frame this week ~ 

the Autumn Medallion Sampler for Peggy pictured in the previous post.

Birds for Beckie and something different for Claudia

Birds for Beckie

LOVE the fabrics Beckie put together for this quilt! 

The colors and a great pattern to showcase the prints. 

Quilted with a sweet little pattern ~ Bird in a Nest

Omni thread in Verbena

Quilter's Dream Wool batting

Just like the Autumn wedding quilt, the fabrics are the star.

The quilting is there for the texture

Beckie used the focus fabric for the backing as well

Absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you Beckie, see you later today :0)

Beckie and I are starting a new quilt project together ~ Moon Glow

and plan to work on the second block today.

This one is quilted for Claudia

again, the quilting is the texture that adds to the quilt

Quilted with a cotton thread from Signature in just the right shade of blue

and a wool batting to make the quilting pop

On the frame where you can see the texture of the design

Woven Wind by Apricot Moon

Also made with great fabric choices. And made well!

Borders are the most common problem area for longarmers. When borders are cut too small or too long and/or just added to the edges of a quilt top without measuring thru the middle, it makes for a challenge to keep the quilt square without quilting in tucks. Making a quilt like this one is is a good challenge in getting borders right and Claudia always does a beautiful job :0) So does Beckie. Sew nice to have good quilters as these two women for customers. Thank you Claudia and Beckie!

The backing fabric.

Almost finished is a sample quilt for Honey Run that will go to PIQF.

Checked in a couple more quilts this week that will go into ASQG quilt show

coming up in November, the weekend of the 7/8th

Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico
You all are invited!

Have a wonderful weekend
Tot Ziens, Jo

Happy Birthday Kelly!

This is the Big Wedding, it's been up on my design wall until I came up with a design for the quilting. A big part of this quilt is hand appliqued onto the back ground fabric. As a traditional quilter, stitching an all over design on a hand appliqued quilt is against the rules!!! Definitely in the eyes of the quilt police. Well, the QP do not live at my house any more :0) I'm breaking the rules!

Here is the Big Wedding draped over the frame of my longarm frame... quilted with... yes, an e2e design that IMHO fits the modern lines of this quilt. Kelly agreed :0) and that's what counts the most. What gave me the confidence to go ahead with the e2e is the original quilt in the book Adding Layers by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession. Kathy's quilt pictured in her book is quilted with an all over pattern by Adri van der Zel. "minimalist quilting is a great way to go with contemporary-style quilts." ...a quote from the book.

The beginning of my stitch out. I probably could have scaled the size a bit larger, but other than that I like the texture that it creates, the curves and lines, how they mimic the blades. The design is called Woven Wind by Apricot Moon. Quilted with Omni in Flax on the top and Vanilla Wafer on the back, both theads from Superior...

Batting is Quilter's Dream Blend

 The center of the quilt

My pix are a little over exposed with the winter sun pouring into my studio. Taking good shots of quilts is an art in itself, which I have yet to master! Something else I really appreciated in Kathy's book are the photos and great settings. You really should check out her book! I purchased it last year and love it :0) It's great to see some very traditional quilt designs brought into the 21st century!

The fabrics Kelly chose are from Moda, Persimmon by Basicgrey. Once the binding is on, this quilt will be hanging up at Honey Run Quilters in Chico, CA. Drop by and take a look.

Thank you Kelly

Happy Birthday today!

Tot Ziens, Jo

Quilting to finish out the year 2014

It's been a tough two weeks, loosing Crystal suddenly, the holidays 

and getting the last quilts finished for the year. A wrap up...

 Sandy E's quilt

A scrappy modern quilt which I did my custom e2e

Crazy Swirls

 We were both happy with how this one turned out

The texture of the design, quilted with a silver/grey Fantastico thread

brought this beautifully pieced scrappy quilt up a notch

Thank you Sandy

T-shirt quilt for Linda S

Pieced for a customer, all made of her husbands T-shirts

from years of attending the Reno Air Races

 From 70s, 80s and 90s events

 Some classics

 Quilted with Star Spangled Banner

Thank you Linda

More airplanes, these cute airplane blocks pieced by Donna

in a quilt made for a new grand baby coming soon :0)

Quilted with a cute airplane e2e

Wool batting and a teal minkee backing

Thank you Donna

Below, the wall hanging for Joyce

 now quilted with echo, crosshatch, SID

 and floral designs added to triangle and square set on point spaces
created around the large Churn Dash center

Thank you Joyce

Five for Cindy G

Loved the colors in this quilt made by Cindy

 Quilted with a Dogwood e2e

 made with a great backing too!

A scrappy flannel quilt quilted with Woven Wind e2e

Three more that were posted here

A second scrappy flannel quilt, this one quilted with a leaf e2e

The kitty quilt, quilted with Catrina, an e2e

The first one quilted for Cindy was a wedding gift for a friend

not finding the pix however it's been posted here.

Thank you Cindy!

A store sample for Honey Run Quilters

 This beauty is pieced by Anne

 A large log cabin made with great fabrics available at Honey Run Quilters!

 Quilted with pink thread in a new design

Zen Roses

Thank you Ronda, Anne, Kelly, your sample will be quilted soon!

and the whole crew at Honey Run Quilters

That does it for the year

It's been a good year, with lots of changes, some good, some not so much

Moonbear Designs and Quilting will be closed for the remainder of 2014

Thank you to my wonderful customers! 

I appreciate you so very much

Michael and I have a customer appreciation day planned for summer 2015

Enjoy your Holidays!

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy, Peaceful New Year

from Jo and Michael

In memory of Crystal who enjoyed greeting everyone

I miss my beautiful girl '0(