Dancing with Francis

I remember three years ago driving to Bellingham to pick up my dog "Lucy". I had mentioned to my husband that I wanted a baby and he suggested we get a dog first, which in hindsight was perfect. I immediately started searching for German Shepherds everywhere I could. When I saw her cute, big eared face on Craigslist, I knew this would be my dog. My husband and I drove up the next day to take a look at her and we fell in love. We met her previous owners at a beautiful park and she was all puppy at four months old. Those big paws, falling all over the place, and yet curious and protective at the same time. She has turned our house into a home. I just love her! left: 4 months old right:  Norah 16 months, Lucy 3 years Ok, enough about my little family. :) My dear client Sharon sent me this beautiful quilt and I finally have a moment to write about it this morning. Can you guess whats on it?.... If you guessed dogs you would be correct! Dogs in sweaters to be more precis

I live two miles from town but it really feels more like the country up here in the valley. We have a neighbor that has about 15 acres and has the cutest little llamas. I was driving home late one evening as the sun was setting and there was this funny shape sticking out from the tall grass. Upon slowing I realized that it was a llama laying down but his neck and head were higher than the grass! It brought a smile to my face after a long day.  This lovely quilt was made by Nancy for her friend that loves llamas. The pattern is "Lloyd and Lola" by Elizabeth Hartman. It is going all the way to Germany to its forever home.  I tried to give the llama "hair" so to speak with McTavishing designs. I really think I achieved this, especially in his face. I did feathers for the ears too. I am calling this llama "Drama". He has so much character! On the blanket he is wearing I wanted simple quilting. Straight lines were the answer. I had an ide

Have you ever done a Sew Kind of Wonderful project? I have their rulers and a few of their patterns if you are interested. They are so fun and these girls make reading patterns easy! They have lots of modern designs and tons of patterns! Go check them out!  Teresa from Sleepy Valley Quilt Co . in Port Angeles, WA made this beautiful Mod Pineapples quilt. She asked me to do my magic.... so I did!  I can tell you I had no clue what to do in the negative space when I saw this quilt. So I started with the pineapples. I wanted to keep them simple so as not to deter from the fun quilting I knew I was going to do.  Simple straight lines in the pineapple spikes / half square triangles. Then straight lines in the center square. What is great about Sew Kind of Wonderful is that they are longarm quilters too. So they have created a longarm ruler to get those curved lines perfect when you quilt a pattern of theirs! Here was the start to the negative space. I cr

Many of you know that I belong to the local quilt club. This year I had the pleasure of being the chairperson for the show. I have to say it was a lot of work! However, the ladies that have been doing this for years made my job so much easier. I can't thank them enough. Although the show was only three days, with setup and take down, I was at the facility for six. I felt like I was living out of my truck at times! Norah, my thirteen month old daughter, had a ball while she was there with all of her adopted grandmamas. I brought her little trike with me and she was so cute being wheeled around the gym.  Anyways... I am finally recouping and thought I would share this quilt with you! Can you say labor of love?! Martha came to me in late December and said Brianne I have a quilt for you...  It was from designer Yoko Saito and Martha named it "Enchanted Village". She had several images of the quilt done by others and how they had quilted it. This was my interpretation

How to Prepare Your Quilt For “Dancing With Francis” Thank you for choosing Dancing With Francis to do your quilting! Francis is an Innova quilting machine and Brianne is the artist. They have been a team for the last five years and have no end in sight for their artistic ability. Every quilt is different and unique. Each has its own dance to the stiches that are sewn into it. Please know that once you drop a quilt off, Brianne’s artistic thoughts may change to enhance your quilt. Many quilters trust Brianne and let her do her “magic”. If you have certain design elements that you wish to have in your quilt, please bring pictures with you at drop off. She will try her best to incorporate your wishes into your quilt.   Here are a few tips for preparing your quilt to bring to the studio. Backing Fabric In order for Brianne to mount a quilt to the leaders on Francis the backing of the quilt needs to be larger than the quilt top. If you choose to ha

A wonderful client brought me this quilt a few months ago. I finally have a moment to write about it! I really like the challenge of sampler quilts. These types of quilts make me think about the quilting a little harder than normal.  In the morning I like to lay the quilt down on the cutting table to really get the texture pictures! I tend to keep things more traditional with sampler quilts. Can you see the cross hatching in the basket below? Keeping it simple with straight lines in the busy sunflower blue border helps the quilt hang straight. A little more cross hatching in the block below with added straight lines to define the block and wishbone motif as well. Echoing is fun! See how the leaves below are echoed? Then there are swirls around the block with a cute curve in the center green square? This quilt was beautifully pieced. The amount of time a sampler takes, especially with the applique! Oh my! I really appreciate the amount of work that goes