Doodles

It seems like every quilt show there is that one time of day that growd this out... the vendor mall gets a little. Late afternoon around 3:30 4pm. Never fails. Houston Quilt Festival is no exception.

When it gets slow like that... I doodle. 

My machine is my pencil...

Today was blacklight doodles!

Adjustable Handlebars

One of my favorite features on my A1 Quilting Machine is the adjustable handlebars. They are completely adjustable! 360 degrees!

Hahahaha! Sometimes I'm realllly slow on the uptake. Last night it hit me. I have adjustable handlebars! Instead of trying to angle my phone and phone mount just right... move the handlebars!!!!   DUH!!!

This is a pic I took from that angle... I'll try a video tomorrow.  Today we are going to the wooden boat festival.

Point to Point Sashing Design

The quilt that I just finished I used a combination of computer designs and freehand feathers.  The computer design in the sashing was done using the Point to Point feature with my Quilt Gallery. I thought I'd share a quick video on how I created the design...  I must say I'm addicted to Point to Point designs!!!

Ta Done

Looks like I went missing again...  dang it!

I have been quilting along with be at Sew Expo a couple weeks ago and training new A1 Quilting Machine owners.

Just taking this one off the frame...  Curly Weave by Karen Thompson.  I really, really love the texture it creates!

Doodle

My last post was showing how I fill in and embelllish a compuerized design...   This one started out with a loopy meander that someone test driving a machine at the A1 Quilting Machines Inc booth.

Northwest Quilting Expo

This weekend I've had the pleasure of having a booth at the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland, OR.  It's been busy, busy,  busy!

One of my very best customer's let me hang a couple of her quilts that I quilted for her, and let me tell you....  They are getting a lot of attention!

Getting There

Between working at Quilt Harbor 2 days a week and updating machines for A1 Quilting Machines owners some weeks I don't get a lot of time to quilt. That's ok... I love what I do! I love helping A1 owners keep their machines up to date with state of the art precision.

Anyway, this quilt is getting there... not much left to go.

Ta Done

I finished this last week....  absolutely love the way it turned out!!! This quilt was pieced by one of my best customers. I always enjoy working on her quilts. Her colors and fabric choices are wonderful. I believe the pattern is Sidelights...

I did the blocks with my Quilt Gallery computerized system...

A did ruler work with freemotion quilting in the sashing and small gold border...

In the center I outlined the print fabric and add a background fill in the green...

I used the channel locks on the Quilt Gallery to do the bead board quilting in the purple border...

Sometimes I like the back the best.... :-)

On the Machine

No...  I have not fallen off the face of the earth.   I'm still here!  LOL  Just super busy.  During April I went MQX East, then to Paducah Quilt Week...  home for a week then off to HMQS in Salt Lake City. The last two weeks I've been traveling to Oregon, Eastern Washington, and back to Oregon doing upgrades and training for customers and their A1 Quilting Machines!  Have I told you I love my job?

This week between travels I've been working on a quilt of mine that I pieced about 4 years ago... 

I may have gotten carried away with some of my quilt designs!

Why Use a Black Light

After I posted about using my black light in my post about Sew Expo I got several questions about why I would want a black light.  Well, several reasons....   the first is because it's really fun with neon thread!!!

Seriously, you know when you are quilting white thread on white fabric and it's really, really hard to see?  With the use of a black light the white thread will glow purple... Well, everything glows, which makes it much easier to see where you are quilting!

With permission form my friend Tracey Browning I'm sharing a couple pix of her's so you can see the difference.

With the black light on...

And with just the white light....

Big difference!!!!

Also, believe it or not, the black light doesn't bother my eyes as much as the bright white light does sometimes....  I'm lucky that my A1 Elite Platinum has a build in black light  :-)

Sew Expo

This last week my A1 Elite Platinum quilting machine and I have been sharing a booth with my friend Mech the owner of Perfect Borders ....   so much fun meeting new friends and visiting with great friends!!

When not busy showing what my machine can to new quilters and welcoming new A1 owners into the A1 family....  I've played with neon thread and my black light.  Also, exploring my modern quilting side!

Ta Done.... Stack n Whack Quilt

I belong to a group of women that meet every Wednesday morning at the Senior Center...  some bring hand work such as embroidery, or binding.  A lot bring knitting and some bring nothing to work on.  Regardless of skills or anything else, these  ladies are the nicely most generous ladies you every want to meet!

The Senior Center doesn't charge us anything for the use of the room.  Instead we make them a raffle quilt once a year with the proceeds going to Meals on Wheels.  This year they were having a hard time deciding what to do for a quilt to donate,  Sooo, I got to thinking about the dozens or more shop and class samples I have that never been quilted.  I rummaged through them and came up with a Stack n Whack that I thought they would like.

I just finished quilting this earlier this week.  I've taken it to my good friend that would take it to the group for binding.  So anyway, I thought I'd share it with all of you.

The batting is Hobbs 80/20 black.  For the ruler work and block quilting I used InvisiFil by WonderFil in black.  For the freehand designs done in the secondary pattern that forms where the blocks meet I used Rainbow by Superior. (I will have to look up what color).  I also use 2 machines....

Yes...   I have two A1 machines on one table.  One is my older Elite, and the other is my newer Platinum with Quilt Gallery.  I used my Elite with the InvisiFil...   and the Platinum with the Rainbow.  (I did not use the Gallery.  This is all done freehand.  I thought the machine was going to be heavier with the Gallery on it, but once the belts were disengaged it moved like butter.  It move just like my Elite with no problems at all!

So for the freehand quilting I used designs from Just Leaf It....   first time I've done leaves in a long, long time.  I almost forgot how much fun they are....

 Piano Keys in the border...

 It was overcast the day I was taking pictures, so it was hard getting good once that showed the details...

 I haven't heard from the group...  so I hope they like it!