Bugs and Birds for Beckie

Three quilts for Beckie in May and June

Bugs and birds on this beautiful quilt Beckie made for her mom

Great fabrics mixed with some Radiance fabric

Radiance looks so amazing quilted, especially with wool bat.

Quilted with a gold Glide thread that added to the shimmer

with a panto with flowers, leaves and hummers.

A baby quilt Beckie made with lots of critters

Quilted with Summer Buzz

Cute backing fabric!

A third quilt Beckie made for Steve for Father's Day that I didn't get any pix of the finished quilt! This pic shows the bird border I was working on when the kids were visiting the weekend before the accident. I'll have to ask Steve if I can borrow his quilt to take some pix. I really loved this quilt and Beckie was so sweet to gift me the pieces of fabric left over to go with a panel I already have of the same fabric range. Thank you Beckie! You and Donna are the best. See  you tomorrow :0)

Quilting for Donna

This beautiful quilt is made by Donna L

Gorgeous prints and colors

I loved quilting this one! 

Custom quilted with a wool batting (love:)

using a teal variegated cotton YLI thread, black cotton

and a little gold Glide to add to the sparkle!

Thank you Donna!

I love quilting for Donna and Beckie. Friends and they work together, they started out as customers four years ago and now we are friends. We have lunch together every Monday :0), visit quilt shops and love quilting. Recently they both started machine embroidery as well. It's such a pleasure to quilt for both of them because I know what they like.

At times longarm quilting for others can be daunting when making decisions and choices on a customer's quilt. So far I haven't had any negative reactions (that I know of)! Always a challenge with a new customer. I am happy to say that most return with new quilt tops :0) I love my return customers because I get to know them and what they like and that's what makes longarm quilting the best job in the world! I see so many different styles of quilt tops, colors and fabrics. Wait until you see the one I am working on right now! And that's where I'm headed to finish this one with binding today. 

Another early start in the cool morning before the heat kicks in this afternoon. Stay cool!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun celebration for the 4th.

I spent the evening with a giant white dog on the bed! Only two nights out of the year she sleeps with me, the 4th of July and New Years Eve plus the occasional night with thunder and lightning. Such a big baby! Crystal doesn't know she's a German Shepherd!

Stars and Stripes

Independence Day in the USA

In honor of our troops and all that have served over the years for our freedom

Thank you

Some of the quilts quilted by Moonbear Designs for QOV and Quilts of Honor

This quilt went to a member of our guild, Annie's Star Quilt Guild in Chico, CA

Kaywood served in a MASH unit during the Vietnam war

Kaywood receiving her quilt at a Quilts of Honor ceremony that our guild hosted

One more quilt made in 2011
Arron Ray Clark Memorial Quilt, local soldier killed in Iraq

Embroidered blocks were donated by women in the Embroidery Club
at Cathy's Sew and Vac in Chico, CA
Fabric donated by Cathy's Sew and Vac
Piecing and Quilting donated by Moonbear Designs

Stars and Bars for Betty

Stars and Bars top made by Betty D

Quilted in June with 3 different block designs

The Star block quilted with a Sawtooth Star design

The Bars

and the open block

quilted with a floral block motif

All of the quilting was done with a gold Glide thread

Great batik fabrics! and a fun quilt to stitch out :0)

Thank you Betty

Another hot day today and it's not going to let up for another week. I started quilting on Joanne's quilt early this morning to take advantage of the cooler temps and then quit early again. 

Hope you all are finding fun ways to stay cool!

More vintage, this one for Leslie

Repros of vintage 1930's fabrics. A quilt made by Leslie, picked up today...

Bright and cheery mixed with solids.

Quilted on the Innova. Set on point blocks with setting triangles in solids. 

and more solids in the stars. 

Quilted with a panto by Anne Bright called Jubilee. 

Fun pattern with butterflies and flowers with hearts stitched in the design.

More flowers for this summer season... on my Innova! Just for fun :0)

This week is hot!!! Quit early today, it's just too hot. I am working on a custom quilt for Joanne, burying all the thread ends. It's just too hot when a needle slips thru your fingers plus it's not good for the computer so I shut it down early.

Checked in 4 more quilts this week, 3 today. When Leslie picked up her quilt today she brought a gorgeous quilt made with fabrics from Honey Run Quilters with one of Theresa's patterns, Starlight, the same pattern as the last sample I quilted here. Met with a new customer this morning at HRQ that brought in a charm quilt she has been working on for many years. All hand pieced in a block she called Baseball. I know it as Apple Core. Wonderful vintage fabrics and again, the real deal! Frances brought in a really cute quilt she made for her grandson that will be custom quilted, a kit from Morning Star. Stay tuned. With a new customer coming in tomorrow morning with a quilt for custom quilting, October is closed. New quilts coming in will be set up for November!

Thank you, I appreciate your business!
Hope you all find a wonderful way to cool down this evening.

See you on the flip side!

Vintage Quilts in May & June

Post of a few of the quilts completed in May and June. This top was brought in by Cindy, top was made by a late friend, also a longarm quilter she made with a Linda Ballard pattern. Iced with a quilting design of pinwheels, Cindy's favorite block to make this quilt her own.  

More pix... the following quilts are tops made in the 1930's. This top was brought in by Bonnie and is a fund raiser for a local organization. Made with 1930's fabrics, no repros here...

Bonnie requested a daisey quilting design that looked like many of the 30's prints. The blocks are very different with set in Y seams and were machine pieced. Well done and great fabrics!

Another top brought in to Honey Run Quilter's by Tava. Made by a family member, Tava's grand mother, also in and with 1930's fabrics. This is the familiar hexie pattern, Grandmother's Flower Garden. Quilted with feathers in a swirl design and a diamond on the alternating blocks...

Love these colors... and they match Tava's room. It was meant to be

and one more also made by a member in Tava's family with a multitude of fabrics and colors from decades ago... this top is now quilted for Tava's grand daughter Leslie.

Leslie picked the backing fabric, a traditional color for the 1930's, great choice.

Quilted with Summer Buzz, a fun pattern with bugs and flowers. Great fabrics here too... as scrappy happy as it gets!

More finished tops to be posted, for Beckie and Donna and Betty and more, another day. Very happy to almost be caught up. June started out with almost a dozen quilts promised for May in addition to the quilts already promised in June. Tomorrow is the last day of June, with only two quilts promised for June left to be finished, it's good to make progress. Thank you again to my wonderful customers for your patience. 

Just a reminder, turn around for new tops is currently October, altho that is subject to change. Call for current info. Thank you, Jo 

Have a great week. 

Stay cool, we are in for triple digits here in the North Valley

Where to start?

Working weekends to catch up plus a family event, I took a break from blogging. Making progress both with completing quilts and getting the bugs worked out of the new longarm system. Had a terrible time with thread shredding, very frustrating. It was a combination of several different things and it was a challenge to get dialed in. Completely different from my SOB (some other brand) longarm.

Michael, owner and the M in ABM, manufacturer of Innova called me and helped allot. He knows longarm machines inside and out. I read that he will be teaching a class at Birds of a Feather in 2015. 

Auto Pilot is so different from my SOB as well. I have learned lots of tricks and 'get arounds' to make the system work for me. An upgrade is still in the works, July is what I am told and I am looking forward to that. The up side is that it is an amazing system and once I get me and it all dialed in it will be wonderful! A word of advice to anyone thinking of changing systems, if you do custom work, give yourself more than 30 days to get up and running! Pantos are a breeze especially with the new e2e function (that works) plus I found several ways to do them on Auto Pilot to get rid of that repeat look.

Thursday I spent most of the day in Yuba City at the Sew So Shop/Innova dealership. Picked up some different thread guides, a plate to fix my left handle and sat in on a class Jim was doing a demo on pantos with a handful of new Innova owners and we shared some pointers. 

On the home front, posted about Bobbe and her quilt on Ramblin' Rows this morning. She is making good progress following a serious auto accident. JJ, Jennifer and the kids were also in the car. Added to everything, there has been a change regarding another longarmer at Honey Run Quilters and as a result, I am getting more calls requesting longarm quilting services. Judy J always says to me "Be careful what you wish for" :0) 

FYI, anyone checking on my lead time... currently my turn around time is in October. If you are planning any quilts for Christmas, best to get on the list now :0)

I will post more pix next week of quilts completed since my last post. For now...

Theresa's Starlight made with Paris and travel fabrics
Sample quilt for Honey Run Quilters

Theresa is the best at putting fabrics together!

Quilted on the Innova, very dense and lots of fun

Swirls, Pearls & Stars

It's actually a fill that I stitched out as a panto

Sample quilt back

 Enjoy your Sunday, I am taking a much needed day off :0)