Interview with APQS

A few weeks ago I was approached by APQS to do an interview on ‘Running a Longarm Business’.  I quilt on a 2008 APQS Millennium so was happy to contribute to this series of articles.  They published the article on their blog here last week so thought some of you might be interested in reading it, especially  if you are considering starting a longarm business in the future.  I share a lot of information on how I got started and what my business has grown into over 9 years.  I took a few pictures of my studio which is still a work in progress.  The walls are still a bit bare so I taped up a few quilts on the wall, shhhh that’s our secret! LOL!

I haven’t done any quilting this past week as I had a trip to Winnipeg and then a weekend trip to the States with Tim for our 23nd Anniversary. I did discover a few new quilt shops to me and even picked up this colourful collection of modern fabrics for a new project.   I can’t believe how I am really starting to like these modern and bright fabrics, I’m usually so drawn to batiks but sometimes a change is good!

And now that the weather is feeling more like summer I have been enjoying riding my new bike around the area.  Love the big seat on my Verza Cruz and I even have matching shoes when I go riding! LOL!

Twinkle Star Quilt

This is Gail’s beautiful Twinkle Star wall hanging and it is a paper pieced pattern by Quiltworx.  You can find the pattern and kit here at Keepsake Quilting.  The fabrics are all batiks and this is a great project if you are looking to try one of Quiltworx patterns for the first time.  I just love the teals, green, cream and white combination for colours.

I quilted it with swirls and feathers and CC’s in the star diamonds.  Used white and beige So Fine thread on top, beige Bottom Line on the back and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

I thought it would be neat to share the Before and After pictures of this one. I love how quilting brings a quilt to life! 

Oh, I shouldn’t have hung it in my kitchen.  Gail I might just hang on to this one a little bit longer…

Stars and Four Patches Quilt

This is Shelly’s Stars and Four Patches quilt and it is a pattern by Moda Fabrics.  You can find the pattern here. Shelly used all solid fabrics in shades of purple for this quilt and it has a beautiful modern feel.  We ended up deciding on just straight lines for the quilting and I think it really was all this quilt needed to keep that modern look.

I used white So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Last week we had a glimpse of the Northern Lights again and I took this photo off my deck.

Jamaican Star

This is Barb’s batik Jamaican Star quilt and it was designed by The Quilting Company.  The pattern is available for purchase here.  I believe Barb made this quilt as a graduation gift for her granddaughter, I’m sure she will love it!  I quilted it with the Bayside pantograph, used Quilters Dream Blend batting and beige So Fine thread.

I am really enjoying this new location for pictures, especially on a calm, sunny day!

Labyrinth Walk #2

Thought it was a perfect Sunday morning to take a drive and find some new photography spots for Gay’s Labyrinth Walk quilt.  She used shades of greys with a black background for this stunning quilt for her grandson’s graduation gift.  We first stopped at a park on the highway created by the Rainy River First Nations.  Think I’ll be stopping her more often over the summer as it greens up, love this little bridge.

I quilted Gay’s quilt with pebbles, water meander and diagonal lines.  I stitched in the ditch around all the seams to really emphasis the cool 3-D effect in this pattern.  I used Quilters Dream Blend batting and grey and charcoal So Fine thread.

Then we drove down to Barwick and discovered this cute lighthouse on the Rainy River. 

They also had a very nice dock so will definitely be coming back here too! 

Quilts for Humboldt

Many of you have probably heard in the news there was a terrible bus crash on April 6th in Saskatchewan involving the SJHL Humboldt Broncos team.  Many lives were lost and many will be dealing with this tragedy for the rest of their lives.   The quilt shop in Humboldt, Haus of Stitches, has started a ‘Quilters Call to Action” in making quilts for the Broncos and all that have been affected by this tragedy.   You can read about this project on the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guilds website here.  Their deadline for the quilts is May 18th. 

Quilting can be very therapeutic and for me making this quilt was a good way to ease that helpless feeling after the tragedy.   I hope it can provide comfort to someone in the days ahead.

They are asking for quilts in the teams colours, which are Green, Black, White and Yellow.  They have a block pattern on the site if you want to just make blocks but I wanted to make a completed quilt so used our Quarter Sections pattern.  Quilted it with Fascination, used yellow So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

A few other ladies in our town are making quilt tops so we will be sending them along together soon!

This weekend I was asked to teach a workshop at the Cabin Country Quilt Guild in Fort Frances, ON.  This is the guild I have joined since moving to Emo and they have made me feel very welcome into their group!  I taught our Highway 10 Designs Detour placemat and table runner pattern.  Here is a picture of all the ladies with their table runners in various stages.  I love seeing our patterns done up in different fabrics and it was a pleasure getting to know all these wonderful ladies better.

Retro Farmhouse Quilt

This is LeAnne’s beautiful Retro Farmhouse quilt that was a BOM from Fig Tree & Co.   It is all wool applique, hand stitched, on a grey linen background, so many wonderful textures!  LeAnne asked for custom quilting and let me decided on the designs.  It took me awhile to come up with the quilting plan but I knew I wanted to try out my new QP Big Curve Templates in the outer setting triangles.  I used the 30” template to create the curves and the QP Straight Edge for the lines and stitch in the ditch.

Hope your have your cup of coffee with you as I have a lot of picture to share!

All the quilting is done with 100wt MicroQuilter grey thread by Superior Threads.  This is my go to thread for custom quilting pebbles and heirloom feathers as there is no thread build up on the back tracks.

Batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

LeAnne did a beautiful job with her hand applique stitching and even added her initials to the very bottom corner on the date block.

I think this might be the last of the snow pictures as it is finally warming up here.