Dancing with Francis

I designed this quilt on EQ7. I wanted to do a pieced traditional look, with a modern approach to quilting. I fell in love with this fabric, it is "Zola" by Quilting Treasures. I immediately ordered two jelly rolls because I wasn't quite sure how much I needed, plus I loved it! I hardly made a dent in the 40 strip roll for my quilt. I'll have to figure out what to do with the leftovers later.  Here is a picture of the quilt on my brother's bed. He basically is only home on the weekends, and he knows how much work goes into my quilts. He also loves them and I think he enjoys seeing all the new creations that arrive on his bed! I need to put a sleeve on this and get it hung, but for now it is nice and flat on his bed, thanks Bub!  My mom saw this quilt on Francis and immediately fell in love with it. So I told her she could have it, because I have never actually made a quilt for her, and she deserves it. I just haven't given it to her yet.... :)...

I began this quilt in September of 2016. Between moving twice, having a baby, doing my normal quilting, learning a design program, and writing a pattern, I can officially say it is a pattern!!! (Hopefully with no errors!) Thank you to all the lovely ladies who helped proof it for me. If you would like one, then just email me, dancingwithfrancis@gmail.com. They are $12 each. I will be doing both retail and wholesale orders! Should I mention that it won First Place in the Large Quilt Category at our local show?! :) Baby Norah is just a month old!  I must say that this quilt was a huge challenge for me. Learning EQ7 (the design software) was a huge learning curve, as well as learning how to operate my computer through different programs. I much rather quilt all day. :) The effort was well worth the reward. So happy to have accomplished this at 25 and with a baby! I can't say thank-you enough to everyone who has helped encourage me to do this.  The quilt ...

Goodmorning Quilters! I love being able to wake up, have a cup of coffee and then walk ten feet to my studio and start creating! There is something freeing about owning your own business. At times it is testing, hard, emotional. However, most days, especially in the profession that I am in, is gratifying, creative, and fun! Since moving back home, I have distributed cards to the local shops and have been pleasantly surprised by the loyal customers that have returned to me upon hearing that I am back in town. I love the loyalty and the support to continue in my profession and to build back up the business. Thank you to those ladies who have called and said "Welcome home! Can I bring you a quilt?" Anyways, on to the quilt! Trish, is a member of our local club and brought me this Glacier Star quilt last month to quilt for the 2018 quilt show. She is ahead of the game! To be honest, it baffled me on how to quilt it. I went online to a Facebook site of longarm quilters and...

Look at the fabulous color! Aren't Mola quilts just fantastic. The intricate stitchery and tiny little fabric pieces make for an eye catching piece. Gunvar, the owner of this piece, picked it up in Panama a few years ago. She explained to me that it was going to be a wall hanging.  Gunvar explained that she did not want any quilting inside the Mola piece, just quilting in the black. At first I was a little worried. When the inside of such a large piece is not quilted it tends to "flop" forward. I made sure to explain this to her and she understood what I was explaining, but still insisted that it not be quilted, as she was going to mount it to a frame. So I did not quilt inside the Mola.  What I did do, as you can see in the picture above, was stitch a 1/4" outside the Mola. Both Gunvar and I liked this idea of a so called echoing line around the Mola. It frames the beautiful stitchery and makes it clear where the piece is and where the quilti...

I have about five minutes before little miss wakes up, so this might be quick! Miss Norah sleeping I wanted to share my quilt, "Triple Diamonds" that I have been working on since last fall. Some of you may have seen the progress on Instagram or Facebook . It is my own original design and this past weekend it won 1st Place Large Quilts at the Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt Show in my home town! I am beyond happy to have accomplished another win. Without the help of my family for their continued support, my clients who trust me to quilt for them, and my friends who make me laugh when it has been a stressful day, this would not be possible. Hanging at the show.  I knew when I started this quilt that the outside and inside navy borders would have straight lines. Straight lines in the outside border make the quilt hang straight. Also, the width of the inside and outside navy borders are the same, so to keep it consistent, I wanted to carry the straight lines in both areas. I ...

Hi Quilters! I have been wanting to write about this quilt for about a month now. However, Pat, the owner, didn't want to let the "cat out of the bag" so to speak until our local quilt show, which happens to be this weekend! I am so thrilled to share it with you. First of all, this quilt is huge! I want to say it is 110 x 110. Thank goodness Francis is 14' in length and can accommodate such a large quilt. Pat did such a wonderful job in choosing the colors for the Lone Star's. It really is a striking quilt and very masculine. The outside border is between 6-8 inches. (I can't remember!) This is quite large for an outside border. I knew I wanted to do some kind of straight lines in this area because it is such a large quilt and I wanted it to hang nicely. I decided on doing some straight lines (see picture below) and doing some softer feathering in the star centers of the outside border as well (picture above). I am very pleased with how both turne...

Good Morning! Today is a lovely day to share another fabulous quilt that Peggy so graciously let me do for her. Peggy had seen one of my quilts hanging in our local quilt shop, Sleepy Valley Quilt Co., and had asked if I had quilted it. Thank goodness I had cards at the shop so she could call me! It amazed me that she could know me by my work. Just goes to show that practice, patience, and continuing to challenge yourself with design and technique proves that you can create your own style of quilting and be recognized for it! Peggy had previously drawn designs that she thought would compliment the quilt on paper. She brought me this paper and I simply took what she liked and put my style into it. I had previously watched a DVD of Judi Madsen's called "Fabulous Background Quilting". I took one of her ideas for applique, which is to echo around it a few times. Although these trees are pieced, I used the idea and echoed around them once. From this picture you ca...