Dancing with Francis

Every quilt is unique. The piecing tells the story of the time and patience the quilter put into their project. The color choices tell of a personality, either for a specific person or of themselves. This quilt was beautiful all around. The color was striking, class red and white with a splash of black. Being modern had me excited to work on it too!  Fresh off Francis and ready to be squared and surged. I chose to do straight lines in the 2" border. Straight lines in borders really help a quilt hang straight. Plus they are easy to quilt and with as much as this quilt had going on in the inside, the simplicity of the straight lines was the perfect pair. Wonky flying geese.  The wonky flying geese were tricky to figure out continuous quilting. The key to custom quilting is figuring out a plan to continuous quilt. This quilt I was able to figure out a path to continuous quilt and that made quilting the black/white flying geese and the red background around them e...

Today is Saturday. And a rainy one at that. I have been going through my Google Photos finding quilts that I haven't written about. Here is Norma's Quilt. I was able to give our local quilt club a few discount coupons and Norma was a lucky winner! She made this quilt for her granddaughter, but she can't have it until after our quilt show, which is in July! I always find it amusing that quilters make quilts and have them quilted but can't give them to the recipient until after a certain date. I mean if you have worked this hard you deserve to show it off!  Working our way down the quilt.  There are so many things I enjoyed about this quilt. I love the simple color way Norma chose. The black and white and gold are classics. I only used black and white thread (Superior So Fine #50) on this quilt. Black in the black and then white in the white and gold fabrics. I thought about changing to gold thread to quilt the gold, however, the amount of time to stop and start w...

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fabulous time with friends and family. I know I sure did! There is something magical about Christmas that I just can't pinpoint. Maybe it is the cozier weather, the coming of Christ, the beautiful decorations in my little town, and the overall joy of people on the street. It is just magical. What was even better was getting to share it with Norah.... who is six months old already! Where has the time gone!? Having fun with reindeer antlers!  In my mind I wanted to take all the kids (my younger brother, 9,  my sister, 3, and Norah) to Lazy J and actually cut our own tree down. Who am I kidding?! We went to the JC Penny parking lot after a run to Costco and picked out this tree. Luckily I found the bin of Christmas stuff from last year and had lights and ornaments! It was so fun to listen to Christmas music while decorating with the family. Norah loved sitting in her bouncer and watching us decorate. Norah's first Christmas tree. ...

I hope everyone is having a blessed day! I never realized when I had a baby my life would change forever! No longer do I get to quilt for 5+ hours a day. It is thirty minute sessions spread throughout, and if I am lucky and she takes a nap I might get an hour. :) I wouldn't have it any other way. The tired, coffee filled days are marked by Norah's milestones, currently working on saying "Mama", and the quilts that I am so blessed to work on. Can we just take a moment to see how cute my little one is and my almost three year old sister! Happy Halloween!  Remember my quilt "Triple Diamonds"? Look under the July tab.. "Folks... We have a Winner". It won 1st Place Large Quilts at our Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt Club here in Sequim. I wanted to put it into Paducah, but I don't think I have perfected a pattern yet, and I am always improving on my technique as a machine quilter. One day it will happen! Anyways, my dear client Sharon pieced my pattern ...

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...