Jun 30, 2017
Well here we go again another two weeks goes by and no post. Last post I mentioned maybe quilting one of my own quilts before my schedule got crazy. I should have known better, life got really crazy and still is. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel though so that is good.
I was just sitting at my computer with a brownie in the oven that I was making for the church Canada Day picnic. I don’t like to leave the room when I have things in the oven. I tend to forget them and not hear the timer, this never turns out well. I received an email from Craftsy regarding a sale they had on this weekend, I haven’t looked at Craftsy lately so with 20 minutes to kill I thought I would take a look and see what was new.
There was one class that I hadn’t seen before on machine quilting so I watched the trailer and then went down to the reviews. Sometimes I don’t know whether to shake my head or just laugh. I actually do a bit of both. This particular class got mostly rave reviews but there were a few 1 and 2 star reviews so I read them.
This is where the head shaking comes in, after reading the reviews it is quite obvious that the writers reading compression is not very good. The few bad reviews all complained about how disappointed they were etc etc re whatever it was but here’s the deal, the class wasn’t about those things, in fact it clearly says it in the description of the class and in the trailer!!! These people are leaving bad reviews not because the teacher can’t teach but because these people can’t READ!
Oh well, I feel sorry for the class instructor though as these people who obviously have issues are bringing down the overall score of the class which is a shame. Hopefully the instructor realizes this and doesn’t take these comments personally.
On Sunday there was a silent auction for Dee’s Orphan Kitten Fund. It was fun catching up with an old work friend and seeing all of the items up for action. Kevin and I adopted our Mia through Dee’s and my friend had asked me to make a quilt for the auction. I heard it went for $180.00 which is below it’s value but still better than it could have been. I had taken a bigger picture of this from my phone but when I moved it over to the larger screen realized it was fuzzy. This was a small lap size although I put a hanging sleeve on it in case someone wanted to hang it.
The other quilt I finished was a custom made quilt.
This was a graduation present and it was made of fabrics that all had meaning for my client. Some of the fabrics she picked out at the Cloth Castle and some were from old duvet covers she had growing up. The pattern was one she saw on pinterest and wanted me to make. It is just 2.5 inch strips cut at different lengths and made into 12.5 inch blocks. I cut some of the panels of the duvets apart and used them on the back of the quilt. I used the Bora Bora pantograph from Urban Elementz which you can purchase at the Cloth Castle. I love the way this turned out and hope she gets many more years from her memories.
So Happy Canada 150 to all.
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Jan 29, 2017
Well, here we go again and another week gone by. I woke up on Monday morning not feeling well, and sure enough I ended up with the cold that seems to be making it around the city of Victoria. I guess it’s that time of year. I’m finally feeling better now though yeah!
So, in light of the fact I wasn’t feeling well, not a lot got done last week. The Cloth Castle where I am now working part time is a one stop sewing and quilt shop so they sell regular sewing fabric, home dec fabric, quilting fabric as well as notions, sewing machines and even knitting supplies. I used to sew my own clothes and knit my own sweaters but then I found quilting and well that has been my focus for the past 11 years or so. So since I was down for the count anyhow I used my time to brush up on watching YouTube videos on sewing and knitting as a refresher for myself.
I did get a hand applique block completed though.
The pattern is Vintage Valentine by Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool. This is block 10 of 12. I started sewing these blocks about 11 years ago. This was supposed to be a block of the month which has turned into a block of the year (more or less). I will finish this one day but not sure when.
I also managed to finish the quilting on my first great niece’s quilt. I just have to sew the binding on now.
I did take a picture of the quilt but it didn’t turn out well and I ran out of time to retake it so I will have to show a better picture when I have finished sewing the binding on. I choose to highlight the star with straight lines and just did a simple stipple in the centre as I wanted the dog fabric in the centre to shine and didn’t want anything too complicated to take away the focus from the fabric. I choose to replicate the stipple in the border however I doubled back to make a ribbon effect just because it make it look a little fancier.
I like how this quilt turned out and am hoping my nephew and his wife will like it too.
In light of what is going on in the world I wanted to close this post with this quote.
Please remember to love one another.
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Jan 20, 2017
It’s Friday! For some that is a day to celebrate the end of a long and busy week. However I am finding that when one works for oneself there really aren’t any defined days off. Even when I don’t have client quilts waiting in the wings I am still working at something for the business whether it’s designing quilts, or learning some new quilting designs.
This week was even busier than normal although I am excited at the new possibilities this will bring. I started working part time at a local quilt shop, The Cloth Castle . I only had a few short shifts this week however I loved it. I love helping people pick out fabrics and working with colour and seeing what they will create with their purchases.
The Cloth Castle is where I purchased my Handi Quilter Avante and the store usually has both an Avante and a HQ Simply Sixteen on the floor. These models are available to rent and you can either purchase the floor model or of course order a brand new one.
Yesterday I got to play with the Simply Sixteen and it’s a really nice little machine, I really liked it and it would be perfect for people who don’t have the space for a larger machine.
This morning I taught my first class on how to load and use the HQ Avante to some woman who were interested in maybe renting the machine.
Now some would think, but hey Janice, don’t you have your own longarm business, aren’t you taking business away from yourself? The opposite of that is won’t the store think you will steal all of their customers for yourself? Well, here is the thing. Angela Walters has her own store, does amazing longarm quilting for people and yet she also teaches, writes books and helps people quilt their own quilts.
There will always be people, like me, that love to quilt. We love the whole process from designing our quilts, piecing them and designing the quilting itself and then actually quilting the quilt. We don’t want to give up control of the design process to someone else.
There are still others who love to piece the quilts, they love working with the fabric, playing with colour but when it comes to basting the quilt and quilting it themselves, they just don’t want it, it simply doesn’t interest them. Those types would rather hand the quilt off to someone like me! Someone who can do that part of the process for them.
Next you have people who love the whole process but simply don’t have the space or money for a longarm and maybe just don’t have the time to complete everything themselves. For these people renting a longarm for an afternoon is an excellent alternative or maybe taking some machine quilting classes so they can quilt on their domestic machines. People in this category quite often utilize the services of a longarm quilter for their larger quilt tops or quilt tops that may require quilting that is beyond their capabilities or time allowances.
So, you see there is something here for everyone. I am excited to see where this leads and am looking forward to the journey.
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