Here is a cool Music Quilt with Spikey Swirl allover quilting, gold thread & Hobbs Polydown batting. This is the front of her quilt. The name of the quilt pattern is Moscato D’asti. I’ll share a pic of the pattern photo too. Its the reverse color way. I like the way Jackie made the pinwheels dark so they stand out more.

The next photos are of her quilt back. This turned out really pretty but was difficult for the Longarmer since I cannot see the back while I’m quilting. Its not uncommon for that much piecing next to a solid piece of fabric to draw in and cause trouble in areas that cannot be seen by the quilter. Its hard since this is hanging upside down on the machine.

I did have to take out a large pleat in the center and do some “quilter magic” to re-quilt that area and make it flat enough to be quilted.   Thankfully there was a good outcome but I like to avoid this if possible. This quilt turned out to be a lovely two sided quilt. I love the piecing and anyone that sees this quilt would never know that there were some moments during the quilting process that involved some extra care.

It’s a great teaching opportunity when I can share info about quilts since I see such a variety of them. When I used to get my quilts Longarm quilted all I knew about the process was where to find my quilters house.  I really didn’t know what went into the quilting process.  I like to share ‘why’ I have some special requests or restrictions. Its easier for clients to know what goes on in the quilting process and why we charge extra fees at times that we weren’t expecting during intake.

**Just a note to say, if you love your quilter, bring them a simple quilt back and that will guarantee a good outcome. I don’t want to have to charge for extra work when it can be avoided.  Love the quilt though. It really turned out to be a beauty 🙂

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This is Celeste’s Quilt made with homespun fabrics. She chose channel quilting, Quilters Dream Request batting & Taupe Grey thread.  The back  is a taupe floral wide backing.  This is a really soft light weight throw. It will be really comfy to curl up with.

This is Martha’s Transparency quilt. This was a quilt made from a workshop she took with Bill Kerr, of http://www.modernquiltstudio.com   Don’t you just love the fabrics? They are from Modern Quilt Studio’s line of fabrics.  Here’s a link to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/modernquiltstudio/

The quilting design is called BerryVine, the thread is charcoal grey & the batting is Wool.

I love this. I can’t wait to finish my own Transparency quilt now.

This turned out to be a really flannel cute baby quilt.  As a quilter I cannot always guarantee a good outcome when it comes to highly pieced quilt backs.  I was relieved when I turned it over and found no pleats in the back. In the end it is a lovely quilt.

This is the quilt back. I understand that pieced backs are trendy and look how great this looks!  It’s also a great way to use up fabrics.

Now from the long-arm quilters point of view, this is the type of backing that gives me worries. It’s easier to explain when you see the backing loaded on the machine. See the next photo down.

Why do Longarm quilters like to avoid highly pieced backings???

While this is a nicely pieced backing, it was a bit wider at the top than at the bottom.  That is a hint that something is off.  It doesn’t lay flat. Yes, I have clamps to add to the quilt edges but I really don’t want to use those to try to pull the fullness out of the backing. I don’t want to stretch her quilt.  What will happen when the clamps are released?? Will it pull back in and lay like a ruffle?

The next step is to lay the batting over this, then place the quilt top over the batting. After that you can understand, I cannot see the area that is sagging on the back.

The photo below is looking up from under the quilt back, under my machine. You can still see after clamping the sides, the piano key area is still drooping.  I cannot guarantee what will happen when it’s quilting.  Now there is a 50/50 chance that will pleat. (the fabric will fold over  itself and be stitched down that way) If it pleats I have to rip out that area, turn the quilt upside down, try to steam it down & restitch the design backwards.   That is a lot more work, a lot more time.

So the reason Longarm quilters are not excited about highly pieced quilt backs is because they take us longer to deal with in general, and because we cannot control what is happening on the bottom layer of a quilt when its quilting.

Thankfully, this turned out well and is a lovely quilt.  I think the backing would have made a beautiful second quilt top.

Finishing up a quilt for Martha. More pic’s when it’s finished.

Also quilting but not photo’d is Jackies baby quilt.

Beth chose a wavy design for her modern strip quilt. The thread is light green & the batting is Legacy.  This is a really soft snuggly quilt.

This is Maralee’s pretty batik quilt. The quilting design is Champaign Bubbles, the thread is teal & the batting is Hobbs 80/20. She chose a pretty batik backing. Won’t this be a wonderful gift?   She does a nice job piecing, which makes my job so much easier. Thanks Maralee, this was a fun quilt to work on!

Here are some photo’s of a cute little charity quilt I quilted yesterday.  I had a Dr’s appointment  which gobbled up a lot of my work day, so with what was left I loaded a quilt for the next day & quilted a small charity for guild.

The pattern is Espalier by Hermione Agee. The batting is a light weight cotton. The backing is flannel. I did slightly different colors thread to match the fabrics. The top thread is a pink taupe color to match the background fabric. In the bobbin I chose a darker cream to go with the toile print backing.  This didn’t come with a binding so I dug through my fabrics and found a shade of green that I think works well with both sides of the quilt.

This is a photo of the charity quilt before quilting, while loaded on the machine.

After quilting off the quilt machine.

Here is a shot of the binding that’s applied to the front but not yet sewn to the back side.

I couldn’t resist this shot. I love toile prints. I’m not sure what’s going on there but they sure dress well for being in the woods.

I saw on Facebook this morning that Material Girls Quilt Shop in Dearborn will be closing their shop. Here is the newsletter that was posted on Facebook. http://newsletters.quiltropolis.net/vShare.aspx?S=162&N=103725&ID=100030&NL=554

Their closing sale begins tomorrow. This was a nice shop, although a bit of a drive from my location.  The shop owner is very nice. They had a lot of great notions and fabric. Congrats to them on retirement, they will be missed.

I encourage you to visit any of the local shops that are still open. They remain only with our support.

Have you ever pieced a quilt and found the pressing just didn’t hold up?  I know I have. I have the luxury of seeing a lot of quilts and have found that pressing can really make a difference to the final outcome of your quilt.  It can really make a quilt pop.

As a Longarm quilter, it’s not uncommon to have a quilt arrive that was pressed but after some folding or time in a bag, the pressing popped back up.  I want to share what I’ve found helps avoid this.

This is a recent quilt that was huge and of course those large quilts are harder to give that last good press before dropping them off to the quilter.  What happens when the seams pop back up is the quilt just doesn’t lay as well when spread out on the Longarm machine.  I can press them for you but I charge a lot to do that. Why? Because time is $$ and this is something I hope arrives ready to load on the machine. Plus, I don’t like pressing just like everyone else.

So what can cause a seam to pop back up?  Well since I don’t get to see what happens in others homes, I’m going to talk about what I find helps to keep them flat.

This was the bottom borders of a quilt. I noticed the seams were not laying flat and nice at the bottom of the quilt. I flipped them over and did what I could with my steam iron to get them going the right direction and so they would hold the press and lay well.  It made a huge difference on the front side of the fabric. I also made sure that on the front, right side of the fabric, that the seam was open with no speed bumps flapping into the crack of the seam.

Here is what I find helpful to hold a press.  A hot iron, check to make sure the iron is hot!  You don’t want to scorch the fabric but it needs it to be hot enough to do the job. You may need to press it more than once.  Also watch that the iron has not auto shut off.

Pay attention to the direction of the seams.  Press the whole seam in the same direction. If the seam is flipped the wrong direction (try to avoid this when sewing) carefully clip the seam to be able to continue pressing in the same direction as you began.  Changing direction mid seam (the twisted press) doesn’t hold, it doesn’t look good on the front of the quilt and makes stitching in the ditch nearly impossible. You really can see that seam flip from the front of the quilt.

When you press a seam let it lie on the pressing surface until it cools. You can also put some weight on the seam while it cools (a pressing block of wood works great). You may need to press again until it holds.  After it cools then carefully lift it from the pressing surface and continue. You will see a difference. Now try to not wad the pressed portion if possible.  I place my ironing board right up against a table so I can drape the weight of the quilt top on the table. This really helps.

Use a spray starch of choice. I like a stiffer starch that doesn’t flake.  I prefer to starch before cutting fabric but then if a fabric is thinner or soft want to add more when pressing the pieces and block.  If you can get the fabric to feel stiffer, it’s less likely to stretch.

Finally, don’t rush when pressing. Since you’ll be moving the quilt top you want to have the pressing hold up.  After you do all this work pressing, don’t bundle it up and put in a bag, instead carefully fold the quilt top and hang it on a large hangar. You can buy Quilt hangars from dry cleaning stores. They are worth owning.

Proper pressing helps the quilt come together. It helps you measure the size of the pieces accurately before squaring up so the block goes together effortlessly. Remember most issues with quilts start from the center out. If well pressed you won’t get a surprise measurement after doing the work and you should have an easier time applying borders to the quilt.

Here are a few more before and after pressing photos. It’s easy to see how the pressing would lay flatter when turned over. I know pressing is not something we look forward to doing but seeing the end result it’s worth it!

The quilt below is the before & after. This is how they should be pressed before drop off.

Finally, your quilt will lay better for quilting and you will have a happy Longarm quilter.

Press on!!

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