Claudia's Round Robin

In 2010, I joined a round robin focus group at my guild.  Here is Claudia's.  She made the pieced block in the center.  I was the first to receive her block, and the instructions for my round were to turn her block on point and add a 1 to 2" border.  I machine appliqued the flowers and leaves to the corners, using the light purple fabric she included as the middle section of the flower.  I bordered this new "block" with the same purple scroll fabric that was used as the outer section of each flower.



 

Here it is after quilting. 

 

A couple close up pictures

 

the back

 

close up of the back



Claudia's "Shirt Off My Back"

Claudia purchased these antique quilt blocks and wanted to give them new life.  She chose a flower design for the blocks and leaves for the sashing and border.

full quilt

 

close up

 

backing



Claudia's flannel quilt

I love Claudia's flannel quilt.  She chose just the right blend of fabrics to make this quilt look as comforting as it feels.

full quilt

Simple stars and loops pantograph

 

backing 



Claudia's "Starwatch in Rose"

"Starwatch in Rose" is the first top Claudia asked me to quilt.  Isn't this stunning?  The stack and whack stars, the lone star center, the double flanges, the mitered corners--all perfection.  I think this was about 6 years ago, right at the beginning of my longarming.  I would quilt this differently now, but I think Claudia was happy with it.

full quilt

 

 I stitched in the ditch following the print of the border fabric.

Again, in the ditch, plus long curls in the diamonds.

 Leaves in the blue and white borders

backing

 

I guess I didn't ruin it--yes, that's a blue ribbon from the year she entered it in our guild quilt show!  Congratulations, Claudia!





"Rust is not a crime"

One of the guys I work with at my day job said this is called a rat rod.  It was in the parking lot of Pieceful Quilting before Hurricane Sandy.

 

There were lots of things to marvel about on this, I use the term loosely, vehicle.  I'm assuming the antlers are purely decorative, but I'm also assuming the bungee cord is helping to hold parts together.  I'm not sure if the keg on the back was for the car or for the driver, but I love the lettering on the windshield--"Rust is not a crime".

AND it sports a NY license plate.  Really? 



MQX 2012 classes

I attended MQX 2012 and took a lot of classes.  

I attended just about every lecture class Mary Beth Krapil taught on the Pro-Stitcher for my HQ Fusion and on the digitizing design software Art and Stitch.  She is an excellent instructor and really knows her material.  I learned a lot from the Pro-Stitcher class because I'd been using it for a year, totally self-taught, and was familiar with the functions.  It was enlightening to see how I could now do things more simply and get the same results.  I wish I had been more familiar with the Art and Stitch program.  If I ever make time to use the program, I know those notes I took will turn out to be very useful.

I also took two hands on classes.  I've taken classes at MQX three separate years and this was the first time I was dissatisfied. 

First, let me say that the quilting of the instructor that I was not pleased with is gorgeous.  She has won many awards.  Teaching skill, however, does not always go hand in hand with mastery of the craft.  She did not spend any time roaming the room to see how her students were doing.  The batting supplied in exchange for a kit fee was stiff, scratchy and lumpy.  No backing was supplied.  The thread shredded incesssantly. My major complaint is not about the inferior supplies, but that the information provided could easily have been taught in an hour, but I paid for a four hour class.  I don't know how all of the students felt, but the woman who shared my frame was also unhappy with the presentation of information and subpar supplies.  And yes, I did fill out my class review form noting my concerns. I'm not sure if this was her first class or if she had an off day, so I will not mention her name, but she is not on the 2013 schedule.

My other hands on class was with Judy Woodworth.  I highly recommend her.  She made sure the students' technical difficulties were taken care of immediately (empty bobbins, tension issues, etc) so they had more carefree practice time.  She alternated sit down white board instruction with standing at the frame to allow us time to practice what we learned, yet time to rest our bodies.  She showed us samples so we could see the background designs she was teaching us used in a real situation.  Besides being an award winning quilter, Judy has a captivating personality and is an excellent educator.

Okay, below are pictures of my quilting in these two classes.  Both classes used width of fabric to load on the frame, so you can get some idea of size and quantity of the quilting.  The black fabric is from Judy's class, the tan from the other one.

First, we did a simple crosshatch.

Then we used a water soluble pen to draw a grid to use for continuous curve quilting.  While I waited for her to go to the next step, I did it twice.

Then we quilted a brick design.

Then we quilted clamshells.  Again, I quilted a second, smaller set while waiting for her to continue.

Then we cut paper out, snowflake fashion, and used that to make an original quilting design.

Now, my sample from Judy Woodworth's class. 

And again, a comparison of the results of the two classes.



Sheryl's pumpkin quilt

Sheryl's pumpkin quilt was the first of three tops she gave me to quilt for her.  It was very brave of her to give me three tops at once when I hadn't quilted any for her before.  We communicated via email about the quilting on this cute seasonal wallhanging.

full quilt

 

I quilted pumpkins in the four corners and leaves in the wide green border.

I used the pieced star design as a quilting pattern for the four corners in the fence border and in the nine patches in the main portion of the quilt.

 

curlicues in the background

 

backing