Category Archives: Longarm Machne Quilting

Quilting Customer Quilts on my APQS Longarm

Mar28

Landscape Quilt – what a blast!!!

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Landscape 1Well, I really had a great time yesterday playing with my first landscape quilt.  I’ve been wrestling with something to do for a fabric challenge and hated my first project, sew…here is the beginning of my second try.  I have been collecting landscape fabrics for quite some time so now have a big pile to fold and put away again.  The roof of the old house is the challenge fabric.  Lots to do yet, it is only glued together so far.  Trees need foliage (thinking Angelina or snippets), thread painting, quilting, and embellishment.  It has turned out to be a fun project!

I love red and white quilts.  This one belongs to Paula and I just quilted a lovely edge to edge design onto it.  It was a pleasure to quilt, nice and crisp and square!

Paula q paula qt

Hope to get more accomplished on my landscape later today, although I have “the worlds biggest quilt (at least that’s what it feels like) on my table and quilting it.  Sure glad it wasn’t an inch bigger.  Actually it is a bedspread with extra fabric and is about 120” across and five yards – yes 5 – long….sigh!  Pictures later.

BE HAPPY…..Karen

Mar25

When your 3rd child turns 40…KEEP BUSY!!/new fusible technique

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Keeley flowers close up keeley flowers

This is a really happy and bright quilt, designed and made by Keeley.  She really should go into pattern making!

This second, soft and cuddley rose quilt was also made by Keeley.  Such a different feel and style to both quilts.  I love them both!

Sure glad I had these to quilt on the day my daughter turned 40…and she thinks she feels old!  We did, however, enjoy a fantastic steak birthday dinner with most of the family at the Texas Road House..great peanuts too!

Another discovery that really looks great – a new, to me anyway, way to fuse without adding the fusible paper to your project.  Check out this tutorial:  http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com.au/2006/04/my-fusing-method.html

I’m heading to Michaels to find some Liquid Thread today!  Worth a try!  BE HAPPY!  Karen

Keeley roses

Mar18

Keeping Me Busy!

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I have been working on customer quilts and have a few pictures to show. The first “pile” of yellow dog toysis left over strips of fleece that I braided into pull toys for dogs.  I will give them to family dogs and take the rest to the shelter.  They were just the selvage edges that I cut off before finishing the edges of the blankets for a dance team.  The second picture is a delightful wall hanging, meant to hang on a high wall in a stairwell.  Joyce did a great job of designing this.  The last is a quilt made by Mary.  It has the cutest embroidered blocks.    Back to work for today.  I have a king size quilt on the long arm, 102″ x 96″

BE HAPPY…Karen

Joyce Wall hanging in progressMary A overall qult pic

Mar7

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Sandy Quilt back Sandy quilt blocks Sandy quilt close up Sandy quilt full view

This quilt is finally off to the Hurricane Sandy victims, many of whom are still out of their homes and in need of a “quilty” hug! I had the honor of putting this quilt together and quilting it, however many great kudos go to the ladies who made the blocks and to Michelle of the Quilting Gallery.com who organized the effort. A big thank you goes to Evelyn Boundy of British Columbia, Canada, Rebecca Brown of Utah, Suzanne Cooper of Texas, Jaynie Gamble of Texas, Lisa Page of New Zealand, Merry Kay Strohm of Arizona, and Mary Pat VanSchyndel of Wisconsin.

Off to get it mailed….

BE HAPPY….Karen

Feb28

Hints for a great binding and Sandy Quilt donation project

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Great little quilts from this weeks quilting schedule. The fourth picture is not QUITE a quilt yet but is on my list for the upcoming weekend. These are blocks from all over the place. There are 42 total blocks donated by Mary Kay from Arizona, Evelyn from Canada, Jaynie from Texas, Mary Pat from Wisconsin, Rebecca from Utah, and Lisa from New Zealand. I will build these into a wonky quilt pattern and they will be sent to E-Quilter to be distributed to the people who went thru Sandy, the horrible storm on the East coast. So many are still without homes! It really feels good to give back to people in trouble. I hope to piece, quilt and bind this quilt and get it into the mail next week. Watch for a finished picture.

I had a wonderful time at my David Taylor class last weekend. One of the tips I learned, which I think is fantastic, is how David keeps his quilts perfectly square. Get twill tape (1/4″) from your local fabric store. Measure your quilt carefully and pin a piece of twill tape from exact corner to other corner. Do opposing sides as step 1 and 2. Be sure to pin the twill take carefully, ends, then middle, then split the difference as many times as you need to. Sew with a straight line stitch making sure the tape is right along the edge and does not extend into your quilt where the binding will not cover it. Then, measure the other two sides, excluding the first tape, pin as you did the others and stitch. THOSE EDGES AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE ANYMORE AND WILL ALWAYS BE EXACTLY THE SAME! No more uneven edges to bug you or quilt judges!

BE HAPPY…..Karen

Feb14

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! and freebie notice

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A big Valentine hug to everyone! Hopes for lots of candy, dinner out, and especially quilty stuff!  A great pattern for hearts is a free download on Sarah Vedeler Designs site.  She is the designer that has designed the BOM for The Quilt Show for 2013.  She has made hers out of the Dupioni Silk fabric mix that is available in quilt stores (at least thats what it looks like to me).  It is very nice, modern, and very colorful.  Take a look at her site.   www.sarahvedelerdesigns.danemcoweb.com/    Click on the SHOP tab and scroll down to the Free Downloads pic, click there and you’ll find the heart quilt.  I love color!

New tool – to me! Well I finally stopped by the closest Harbor Freight in Sugar Land. Forever I have been wanting to stop by and pick up some 18″ long magnets that help hold the quilt tops I am quilting. I did manage to get several and really like them. BUT, as important, hanging right next to my magnets was a small magnetic wrist band.  It has wide elastic with a velcro closure and is advertised to hold screws, etc. that one might be working with.  HOWEVER, look how wonderful it is to hold a small pair of thread snipping scissors as well as pins.  FANTASTIC…this way I always have my scissors, don’t always need a pin cushion handy, and don’t have a pair of scissors poking me in the “girls”!  Whoo Hoo!  What a find.  I love both things!  Probably only longarmers would use the magnets but the wrist band is super!  I have researched and find that the claim of a magnet near our computerized machines not being good is a false assumption.magnets in use

Packaging of long magnets

Magnets in Use on My Longarm

magnets

My fantastic new find – the wristband.  It is truly comfortable!

wrist magnet

Until Later…BE HAPPY ….Karen

Jan18

Trash dresses and dinosauer quilt

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Well, missed posting last night but did enjoy dinner out with my daughter and son-in-law, even if it did result in another costume assignment..sigh!

Finished Debbie’s Dino quilt yesterday.  It is such a boy’s quilt,complete with 3 dimensional dino parts.  I quilted it all over with the cutest edge t edge design depicting all kinds of dinos.

Had to stop playing and quilting today.  Just too much dust and junk laying all over the house so I dedicated the day to house cleaning and laundry.  Well, at least I can ignore those tasks .  for a few days.  This weekend should be fun.  Hopefully I will have lots of pictures for you.  My grand-daughter Meagan and I will be making six different dresses out of trash!  Should be interesting.  Lets see…toilet paper rolls, bubble wrap, newspaper, soda cans etc.  Here we come!  Stay tuned

Meanwhile, BE HAPPY!dino 1 dino quilt dino

Jan13

Leisurely Sunday of Quilting

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Boy this was a lazy Sunday.  Some sun here in Houston but mostly cloudy skys.  It has been nice though, probably upper 60’s, lower 70’s.  I spent most of the day playing with a machine applique block that has been laying on my worktable for a couple of months.  I also finished up a quilt belonging to Sandy K.  It s so cute, a casual baby quilt with lots of applique and hand embroidered cats and dogs.  I have attached pictures of the whole quilt and some close-ups of the blocks.  Check out the quilted border – I thought the houses looked great as an accent to the houses in her blocks.  I will give it to her on Tuesday – hopefully she will be thrilled.

This week is scheduled to finish up the solo costumes for my daughter’s dance team and hopefully make a big dent in the team modern dresses (27 of them) that she needs.  I also plan on getting back to my Adobe Illustrator for Dummies book.  I have to learn this program!!!

Enjoy the week and, most of all, BE HAPPY!

Karenhouse 1 house 2 house with umbrellas quilted house border Sandy K quilt

Jan10

Technique for this week – coloring your quilts with pencil!

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COLORING WITH PENCILS  

72 Colors to a box

72 Colors to a box

Borders Colored with pencil

Borders Colored with pencil

This was an auction quilt I made for our guild auction.  I wanted something different so I found a wonderful pattern for quilting the border and then used my Derwent Inktense pencils to color the border to enhance the quilt design.  Using the Derwent pencils, which resemble water color dependent upon how much water is applied is so simple.  Color the areas you want, you can shade to your hearts content, then brush with a small brush dipped in water until you get the effect you want.  Just be careful (ask me how I know), too much water will run the color thru to the back of the quilt.  So Easy! AND IT’S PERMANENT!!!  This is the container that the pencils come in if you buy the 72 color box.  I highly recommend them.  Other pencils, like Prisma or even the cheapest from the grocery store will work with this technique but will not give you the intensity of color that you get from the Derwent pencils.  Most other pencils must be sealed with a textile medium of some sort.  Tomorrow I will show you how you can use these pencils to make a quilt, combining them with embroidery from your embroidery machine.

QUILT FOR THE DAY   This is the quilt for today that I am quilting.  It is much like a t-shirt quilt and as little quilting as possible was my objective.  There were a lot of memories built into this quilt that I felt needed to be the highlight.

Until tomorrow….BE HAPPY

Karen

www/karenthequltingdiva.com

Nancy's memory quilt

Jan8

I love Purple!

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Isabelle's 8yr. Grandson's quilt

Isabelle’s 8yr. Grandson’s quilt

P1030678 (2)Caitlin

Champ on his "throne"

Champ on his “throne”

 

 

 

 

 

Boy, I sure wish I could figure out how to place these pictures so they make more sense.  Today has been long, gray and dreary here in Houston.  I finally got myself motivated to get some work done and went upstairs to the studio to quilt a customer quilt.  This is a really Purple quilt, trimmed in lime green for Isabelle’s 8 year old grandson.  The next will be another for her 11 year old grandson.  That’s on the schedule for tomorrow.  Also costuming away today – more solo costumes.  I decided to quilt this one with bicycles figuring all eight year olds love their bikes.  Hope you can see the bike in the picture.

When I quilt, as usual, Champ and Caitlin are upstairs with me.  Champ has his own sofa and you best not sit on it or he will “box” you to death.  Caitlin has a huge pillow under one of my work tables.

Stayed home today from my usual Tuesday schedule because we were scheduled to get some really mean rain – barely a drop came of course.  We even had Flash Flood Warnings.  Sigh….

Tomorrows another day….meanwhile, BE HAPPY!

Karen