Okay, I'm ready to open up my new quilting business, The Quilted Lemon. Isn't that exciting?!
Don't we all have quilt tops that are just sitting in a cupboard waiting to be turned into a finished quilt? With so many gorgeous panto patterns you can have a quilt with feathers, flowers, geometric lines, leaves, well it's completely up to you what you'll choose to have quilted on your top. Together we'll pick the right look for your quilt.
I can quilt tops up to 118" x 118". You may provide your own batting or choose between Quilter's Dream Cotton or Quilter's Dream Poly. If you're looking for that crinkly look then go for the Cotton because it'll shrink 1-3% in the wash. Poly won't shrink so if you've pre-washed your fabrics before sewing your top and backing then it'll keep it's flat look. Backings must be 8" larger than the top. So if you have a top that's 60"x80" then you'll need to provide a backing of 68"x88".
The first seven cones of Superior Threads So Fine #50 were purchased from my LQS, Eddie's Quilting Bee. That was very convenient but since I'm starting a business I set up a wholesale account with Superior Threads. They're such nice people and oh so helpful. Aren't they pretty colors? Between all of these cones they'll blend with the majority of fabrics. You'd be surprised how much those bright lime and orange colors just blend into the background of busy pieced quilts. So far I love how strong the So Fine thread is while stitching away with Freddie. It doesn't shred at all and doesn't make too much lint as compared to cotton threads. I also got a few trial spools of Fantastico, a variegated thread, to see how I like it. Finally someone told me that Floriani's machine embroidery thread also worked well in longarm quilting machines. I found a few spools on sale for $4/each to try them out as well. Oh no, watch out, there may soon be a thread stash.
A few weeks ago I received a box in the mail from my mom. She had sent me a quilt flimsy that she pieced about 18 years ago or so. It's a rail fence pattern done in black/white and white and grey fabrics. There's also a piece of cross-stitch with my sister Nicole's name. My mom recalls making this in a class at JoAnn's back when my sister and she were sharing a condo. Now that I have Freddie, my mom wanted the top all finished. I sewed a few of the grey borders that were just pinned on and the final black border. Then I loaded it on Freddie and away we went.
The backing is a busy multi colored ditsy floral on a black with white pindot ground. You can barely see the quilting on it. I used Superior Threads So Fine #50 thread in a light grey color. Hobbs 80/20 batting. The quilting pantograph is Chartreuse by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz. All quilted on the APQS Freddie with IntelliQuilter robotics system. The quilt measures 74" x 96" so not quite a queen but bigger than a twin.
And for those who have asked to see Freddie in action, here's a video of him working away:
Isn't Freddie loud?! Luckily Fearghus and Fiona don't seem to bark at it thank goodness. You should hear Miss Fiona when the vacuum cleaner is running. She's crazy!
You'll notice in the final quilt picture that we added a cushioned floor mat. It helps so much with standing for long periods of time in front of the machine. Also in the video you have a glimpse of a blue pool noodle. If you're wondering what in the heck that is for ... well it's to prop up the side clamps a bit more so that the edge of the quilt is level. The pool noodles have curtain rods inserted in them and they sit on top of Freddie's roller bars. So there you have it, what Freddie sounds like when he's happily stitching along. Of course I still have to supervise him. On this quilt I had five thread breaks. When that happens I stop the machine, fix the break (or refill the bobbin), and then back up and restart the stitching where it left off. Once I take the quilt off the frame I go back and tie knots and bury them.
Now I have to figure out what fabric to get for the binding. What do you think about either a black with white dot? Or perhaps a white with black dot? What do you think?
Poor little retro 50s era dining table and chairs. The chrome is dingy and needs to be cleaned with some steel wool and then polished. The chairs need a new vinyl makeover. But overall I loved this little dining set. I got it back when I was a single girl living in Burbank near the studios in a little 1-bedroom in a four-unit bungalow apartment building. It was perfect and fit nicely in the dining nook. Then when Steve and I got married it made the move to northern California and for a brief time it went with us to Florida. It was the ideal size for that tiny apartment that we rented on the ocean. But once it came back with us to California it didn't do too much. For a long time it held a second tv in the family room. Want to know how many times we used it? Maybe a handful. It had happened, we had outgrown the dinette set.
I placed it on the sidewalk hoping that it would find a good home. No, after a few days I realized that no one was going to sweep it up. Then I tried to take it to the Salvation Army and they said no, we don't want to take any furniture that's not perfect or almost new. Sigh. I didn't have too many options at that point. It was off to the dump where I had to give them $16 for the privilege of letting them take it away. Oh I do hope that one of the dump employees took pity on it and took it home with them. It's so sad how hard it is to get rid of furniture nowadays. But I didn't want to advertise it on craigslist and have lots of strangers coming to the house. None of Steve's coworkers wanted or needed it. I feel a bit bad for the poor things but I no longer could use them and needed the room. Goodbye dinette set.
Last year Mary P sent me an email sharing a picture of her version of my free peacock applique block (here). She said that it was going to be the center block for a round robin that she and her friends were running. Well it's now a year later and her top is finished and has been returned to her.
Wow, am I impressed with the talent of her friends. Christine G added the little scallop border to the peacock block. Then Becky R (with a little help from Andra R) added the lovely applique vine border. The french braid was from Mary E. While Mary R (boy, they had a lot of Marys on their team!) created the white and blue border. Finally the last border of 10-minute blocks sewn with peacock fabric was thanks to Debbe S. The ladies did a fantastic job of bringing the peacock block to life. Thank you so much Mary P for sharing this with us! You and your friends have created a beautiful quilt that you'll treasure for a long time.
I'm so happy to see how many people have used the peacock applique. And remember, if you use it I would love to see what you've created. And if you're looking for the peacock pattern, it can be found here.
