Kim McLean's Flower Pots

 My customer loves to do applique quilts.  Usually she would be a traditional quilter, but the colours of Kim McLean's patterns with Kaffe Fassett fabrics have appealed to her.

All freehand except for the centre circles on the outer appliqued circles.

Thread So Fine Fiery Opals,  Omni Wild Lavendar and Bottomline Silver.

The wadding was Nuwool which gave a great definition to the shapes quilted.

This is the Flower Pots quilt.  Customer asked for "quirky but not heavily quilted."

She was rapt when I dropped it off to her today.

 Love the look of the back with the early morning sunlight on it.

Quilting Circles Freehand with a template

I do no have a Computer on my longarm machine so if I want to make a consistent design then I need to use a template to stitch around.  I wanted to stitch small circles on the inside of these appliques.  My extended base on my machine is 15" x 18" so a lot larger than what I needed for  a 2 1/2" template.  So I made myself a small one out of the matt board you put behind tapestries before framing them. I then used Duct tape to stick it to my machine. Can peel it off and put it back on quickly and it doesn't hit the roller.

I then centre the template on the piece to be stitched.  I start my stitching with the needle half way between 6 and 9 on a clock face.

I then hold the template with my left hand coming to the right of the needle.  I am also holding onto my threads here so that they are tight.

I stitch in a clockwise direction keeping my fingers on the template.  As you approach where you start stitching you need to move your hand around.  Here is where my fingers end up as I finish stitching around the template.

The finished circle.  Hope this visual helps the friend that needed to see it :)

The block without the pins

This customer requested a Feather Wreath in the plain blocks between the Dresden Plates.  I had to mark a few reference points with a Purple Air Fading marker, but it is all stitch Freehand.  Might have been easier on the body with a computer,  instead 20 full size and 20 half size 8" wreaths and 30 Dresden Plates.  There was also a 3 wreath table runner and a one wreath  runner. All down ready to go home now.

Quilting Pins

 I like to heavily pin a quilt top if I am not quilting all of the top in the first pass.  On this top I have finished quilting the dresden plates and the borders with a pink thread.  Now I am at the bottom I am changing over to a cream thread to finish the quilting.     I have tried using every type of pin that says quilting in its title.  Well every pin longer than 1 3/4".  I paid a fortune for Clover Flower Head Quilting pins but the heads are coming off them.  They are great when used under a ruler with the extended base on, not so great when you stitch through them.

Corsage pins had great length but the head was too big when you rolled the quilt onto the rollers.

 I have come to really love the Bohin Extra Long Glass Head pins.  These pins are 1 7/8" long and 0.80mm in diameter.  So are a heavier weight pin and they don't bend when pinning through the layers.  I got mine through Victorian Textiles and with a recommended price of $12.95 (for 100) they are cheaper than the Clover pins.

Officially Titled

Queensland Quilters Inc had their AGM today so it is now official.

Persistence Pays Off

I have been trying for a few years, admittedly very spasmodically to create a facebook page for Busy Quilting.  Yesterday being the first day of a long weekend, and with footy on the TV I tried again.  This time I didn't give up.
Now I can remove all the quilty type likes from our personal page.

I have also mastered watermarking my photos, so now I can photo post to my hearts content.  I love the possible quilting designs in this backing fabric. Still to master watermarking on my phone or tablet.  Maybe that will be an exercise for the rest of the weekend, although the outside garden are screaming out for some attention.

 I just wanted an easier way to showcase to my customers how good their quilts look after I have quilted them.

Milady is For Sale

Now that Miss Molly has gone,  I have upgraded Milady to a New Gen Millie.  She will be shipped back to the USA in early July if someone doesn't take a liking to her in Australia.

Milady is only 15 months old,  happy and lovely worker,  she comes with her own box ready for shipping.  Yes I can include the lovely red bow she came to me with.

Pearl White in Colour.  240volt complete with Quilt Glide for the fine detailed stitching, on off switch within reach from the front of the machine.  LED lighting and one switch blacklight.  Horizontal and Vertical channel locks.

For any one with a 2007 or earlier Millenium she would be a great upgrade. Or for anyone with a Freedom that would now like the thread cutter and channel locks.

Trade in price only $7000 negotiable within reason.  Replacement cost is well over $14000.

Improved Work Area

After Miss Molly's departure my room was left a mess!!!!

So very late  Monday evening and yesterday I spent a lot of time restoring order.

I had been making flat pack furniture for my grandson's bedroom while visiting and thought his bookcases would make a great base for my pressing surface.  I used to just place it on my ironing board when I needed it.  I think I will use it a lot more being up full time.

My husband put a larger top on my cutting surface so I have an overhang over my sewing table, that now hides some of the fiddly bits!

I am still to organise my design wall and my office area.  I would like a corner computer desk but I can't find one that will fit in the specific space that I have.  I also want to put a cork board on the wall near my desk so that I can put my reminders on it rather than the design wall. Will continue to use my Great Grandmother's wooden chair with the shortened legs,  Vertically Challenged Disorder must  come from my mum's side of the family.

Haven't even had a chance to unwrap Milady since I covered her up before heading south.  That will be on the agenda for tomorrow as I have quilting that needs to be done.  I still have my normal ironing board up, it does protrude half way through my door opening into the family room,  it is easier to pull it out in front of the TV from that spot.  It feels like I have more space in my room just by moving some furniture around.  I will see how the flow goes tonight.  I will be stitching while  the State of Origin is on!

Goodbye Miss Molly

I sold my second APQS Millenium machine to a lady in Southern NSW, the weekend before I headed down to Dubbo to await my Granddaughter's arrival.  As we were not at home that weekend and I was at the Queensland Quilters Picnic the day before we left, I had to hurriedly dismantle my machine.  I easily accomplished that by myself while my husband was at work.  The fun started when wrapping it to transport to the new owner.  She was very fortunate that my husband had to take his work ute past her farm (well as farms go 20 kms is past).

So we boxed everthing we could, left the tabletop in one pieced and heavily wrapped it in old fabrics. I then made a cover for it as well.  The Machine head sat on pillows and quilts in the back seat of the ute.

The economy of the ute wasn't that good heading south, and passer bys must have wanted a second glance at what just passed them.