Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show, part 2

 Now we can ride in Style...Another raffle I didn't Win..

Like I said, You find Quilts hanging everywhere

Quilts for every Taste and Style

 Lots of Men seemed to be enjoying the show too

 Click on the Picture to see more detail

 Amazing.. you rarely see the same quilts or Q patterns

 Lots of places to sit and get out of the sun.

Inside the Dime Store, 134 more Quilts are displayed

Just might find one of my quilts hanging there next year

I spotted this quilt a block away..sadly it wasn't for sale

 Impressive Quilt and I really like how it was quilted

We arrived in Sister's on Thursday, just in time for social hour at the lodge. We met other Quilters from all across the USA and beyond, many who have been coming to the show  for years. Actually we were the only newbies present. Afterwards we enjoyed a fabulous Wild Salmon dinner at The Thyme restaurant at the lodge. Later we had just enough time to hop over to the Stitching Post Quilt store, should have known we couldn't possibly see everything in 2 hours, we had to go back Friday night and then again on Saturday night too. So much neat stuff besides Quilt Essentials can be found in this shop including Yarn. My daughter is the knitter in the family, and I actually found her something unique she didn't already have. I will reveal what I bought her later, all I will say now is; she Loves it. For myself I found a bit of fabric I just had to have plus a pattern or 2, but my favorite find was 5 great "Zentangle" books, at a cost I could afford. Being a longarm quilter I've been following this new trend...so many possibilities for new back fills ideas to incorporate into the quilting of your quilts.
Thanks for stopping by, more tomorrow.

Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show, part 1

 Our Cabin at Five Pines Lodge

 Quilts were hung everywhere even at the Lodge

 Look close in the center of Pix...the deer out the back door

 Inside the Wonderful Clock shop in Sister's

Just a sample of what's ahead

Although I've lived in Oregon all of my life I've never been to Sister's let alone their Outdoor Quilt Show. To say I was impressed is simply an understatement. Every Quilter needs to experience this fantastic event at least once and I  certainly understand now why so many Quilter's go back year after year. The show itself is Fantastic the town of Sister's is simply wonderful on it's own. I plan to go back just to shop the town and see what else the surrounding area has to offer. Might add there are many divine Quilt Shops on all roads leading to Sister's, plus the fantastic ones right in Sister's. 
The weather was perfect...heard some years it got mighty hot.
I will continue to post more show pictures, I took 375 before my battery died mid day. Unfortunately it died just as I was about to enter the Teacher's Tent where their work was on exhibit for all to see up close and personal..oh my what a site for quilter's eyes and I don't have picture one.
Enjoy and Thanks for stopping by today.

Quilts, Now It's Vacation Time

It's almost vacation time so I've been busy finishing up my customers quilts. My good quilty friend and I are going to the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sister's Oregon. Neither of us has been there before so we intend to have a great relaxing time. The only reservations we could get was for the resorts Bridal Suite...I know..I know but we really wanted to go and stay in a place right in Sister's. I'll post lots of Pictures when we get back.

Here's what I've done lately. First one is a beauiful green batik quilt that my customer made for her friends housewarming. Although you can't see it, it is an allover panto called "Curls N Twist" used a medium green So Fine Thread.

The second quilt is made using "In the Beginnings" fabrics...very fun and a happy quilt 62"x72". To quilt it I used my "Swirls" CL boards. I was most happy that the thread colors I chose for quilting it worked out so well. The Backing fabric was Lilac so I used So Fine Lilac thread in the bobbin for Top Thread I used a much darker thread Superior's "Lava" "Mauna Loa which is a varigated Purplish color...I'm so pleased; without even adjusting tension not one dot of purple showed up on the back side. Oh how I love my machine and more everyday. I remembered to take a pix of the back side of the quilt mostly because I wanted to add a picture of what the "Swirls" stitchout looks like to my customer Quilting Choice Album.

Thought I was going to have time to work on one of my own quilts when I returned from Sister's..not so cuz more customer quilts came in. Life is Good.

Enjoy your summer and Thanks for stopping by.

Show N' Tell

I made this Quilt from a kit which I got from Connecting Threads awhile back. I'm always on the hunt for kits, that once made, will offer me lots of good Longarm Quilting opportunities. In quilting this one I decided to go for a light custom look because that's about all my customers are willing to pay for, although the entire quilt is SID which would bump the quilting price up a notch.

I'm pleased with the overall result except for the borders. Not fond of the stars in the corners nor wavy line piano keys I did along the edges. 

I used my Terry's Twist Rulers www.sallyterry.com in the corners of the 15" Star blocks. I really love these rulers, makes the job so easy when I remember to use them! In the other blocks around the star I used DeLoa's Boomerang ruler www.deloasquiltshop.com at first I was going to crosshatch this area but remembered I needed to keep is simple overall so I just stitched a few lines instead, actually I like the way it looks. The star points I did freehand CC's  and boy do I need more practice. In the braded area between the blocks I did Freehand feathers. I SID around both borders, stars and brades. SID is just something I do...although I never use monopoly type thread, I use whatever color of regular thread best matches the entire quilt. I really don't like to change thread colors so my limit is 2 thread colors per quilts. I don't like to{rarely} frog so I go slow. The EZ wheels on my machine really does make a big difference for doing SID work.

As I said the blocks on this quilt were 15" sq. and for the first time I was able to quilt the entire block without advancing and with room to spare...all because of...meet {no name yet}....

Gammill Vision 22-10 with EZ glide wheels and a camera. I was simply so impressed by the iimprovements made by Gammill on the Vision 18-10 Premier model that I owned for a short while...I just had to inquire...if the next step up machine would dare fit in my little 10'x 17' room. Actually all I really intended to do at first was to only upgrade the frame...they say good things happen...well they did and I couldn't pass it up. Used as a Demo machine for a very short period...it runs so quite and smooth my DH can't even tell its running except when it beeps. I could have gotten the new breeze wheel system but I loved the EZ wheels on my other machine so I stayed with the EZ wheels. I'm just thrilled with the entire system and so far it loves and stitches out perfect with every type of Thread I have in my huge collection. Now about the space {footprint}..overall I have more room behind the machine now than I had before, both frames sit 22" from the wall, this machine sit differently on the frame than the Premier did so I have more room behind the machine which is good because most customers want panto's. I've bought a few larger pantos. Although my goal is to PPP and be able to offer more "Allover" freehand designs that can be quilted from the front, plus I'm working towards a lite custom signature to offer as an alternative to pantos.

Thanks for stopping by.

MQX West in Portland

Is it October Yet? I know summer is hardly here and I am already wishing for Fall! Yep can't wait for MQX West to arrive in Portland!!!!! And to top it off it's my Birthday too!
I've never been to a Longarm quilting show before...can't wait to see what I've been missing out on and to think I live just 10 minutes away. I feel so darn lucky to live so close. I plan to take the MAX rail line to the show each day instead of paying for parking. With the savings I can buy an extra CONE of thread each day. I sure hope I allowed enough time to hit the vendor floor? I've signed up for 6 lecture classes and one hands on class. At first I planned to take more hands on classes but after thinking about it I decided to wait until next year for the hands on classes. I simply don't know what to expect, except I'm planning for a fun packed week of learning, seeing, breathing LA Quilting at it's finest. 
I Hope to meet lots of new friends at the show too. So if you are coming let me know and we might be able to meet.

Between working and doing customer quilts I've been pretty busy. It's taken me awhile but I just had to make one of those 1600 quilts you see posted everywhere. I won a Jelly Rolls at the trend show this Spring and I was just itching to use it. I didn't count the strips until after I'd sewed them together...55 of them where as the directions only need 40...I didn't think I'd ever get the first row sewn and I actually had to stop and make dinner and then it was too late so I couldn't finish sewing the row until after work the next day. It also took me 2 days to see the end of the second row too...that 650 extra inches sure took lots of extra time to stitch. But the end result was wonderful I think plus the fabric was batik so I was able to use a panto I'd been wanting to try out for a long time, it's called "Razor Grass" by Jodi Beamish.
I finished making this quilt just in time...Using "LAVA" thread, I loaded my 1600 quilt onto my new "Quilt Frame" and along with the new Quilting Frame,, it just so happens a new "Quilting Partner" came along too...it's so exciting, wonderful and stitches beautifully. I'll introduce you soon...
Thanks for stopping by.

Beach Trip

 

I spent 5 days at our little beach shack on the central Oregon coast in the tiny town of Seal Rock which is famous for it's many wood carvers shops and the most delicious Homemade fudge shop called "Indulge" on the Oregon coast. Yep it's all made from scratch and their "divinity" is devine. Plus their portions of Tillamook Ice Cream are huge, and she makes a killer Iced Chocolate Mocha too. The weather was beautiful the entire time so I was able to get

alot of yard work done. But this trip was

mostly to rest so that's what I did. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Usually we find lots of agates but the beach was sand covered this trip. That's whats so wonderful about the beach, the landscape is forever changing. The same beach is different every time we go down, you never know what you'll find.

Finally Finished

I finally was able to finish the poke a dot quilt shown in my last post. Actually finished putting the binding on 5 quilts while I was at the beach house this week. I save hand sewing the bindings on my quilts for when I go to our beach house on the central Oregon coast. Just so happens the weather was beautiful. Anywho the quilt finished out at 52"X69". I used a panto "Daisy Galore". The striped backing is part of the collection of fabrics by Fine Lines.