Quilting makes the quilt!

The exciting thing about sewing quilts, is the quilting part. Quilting is the act of connecting the layers-- front, back and batting-- all together so nothing shifts around.

There are many ways of quilting. One can tie it together every few inches with yarn or thick thread. One can use a basic home sewing machine. (My newest Alma Mater quilt, was quilted at home. Straight-ish lines for me.) Or there are such wonders as longarm quilting machines.  These machines are large and expensive (a low price is maybe $8,000) but super cool!

The fabric store in McMinnville has a basement with several of these machines for use. One can take a class with them, then rent their use for an afternoon, or one can test drive them in order to determine what to buy.

My boss, Laurie, and I took the longarm quilting class a couple weekends ago.  I got to quilt something that she started a couple months ago and that I had offered to quilt for her. Laurie likes straight lines and geometric-like grids, so I was pretty baffled for quilting ideas because an arrangement of straight lines just wasn't going to enhance the piece (especially not with my beginning skills.)

Luckily, I still had not gotten around to quilting it by the time our class came up, so I packed her quilt and was prepared to finally be done with the project.

Here is how the quilt ended up: a pattern of curlicues and loops in multi-colored thread.

Closeup of the quilting

On the Clothesline

The rainclouds came and went-- I finished this quilt just in time for a bit of sunshine!

Introducing the Alma Mater Quilt!

I did not intend to create an homage to Linfield, but yes, I did happen to use red and purple together. Valentine's-like colors was what I pictured.  Zack, however quickly put two and two together and asked, "You're making a Linfield quilt?" So there you have it~ Go Wildcats!

On the Clothesline

Newest on the clothesline is another baby quilt. This one is very very bright! The quilting has two lines of Xs centered in the middle star on the front.  I just love the flannel backing I found.

Also, can you believe Oregon is still having great weather into October? I expect the rain to come by the weekend though. Or at least by Halloween. What's more classic than all the Oregonian kids dressed up with raincoats and layers included in their costumes?

Dress

Here are a couple pictures of the dress. When I wear it, it feels a bit off centered (due to my sewing, not my body.) Sewing the zipper (first one ever) was  a good learning lesson. It took a lot of patience, but was fairly simple. This was a good practice run because I had not encountered a lot of the basic steps before. Dressmaking is waaaaay different than quilting.... especially since I'm not a fussy quilter. I don't mind off centered things or mismatched points in my quilts.

Hand basting the zipper in place

WHAT IS THAT?

 Somewhere I must have missed a step that instructed me to trim or fold that excess over. Anyone have ideas on what step I missed?

Front

 

Back

 

First zipper ever-- I'm still pretty proud of it.