Well my quilt for McCall's is back from the longarmer and as promised I am going to show you the quilting on the backside. I picked a tulip motif and she nested everything together so well. I love it. I hope you can see the quilting..I tried some photo effects and you can always click on the photo to enlarge. The backing is just Moda Muslin in white. The quilter said an unpieced back would make for a better finished quilt and I also didn't want prints showing through the front side. This was from a 108" wide fabric.
I picked tulips and really this was a very directional quilting motif in the book, but the quilter changed things up a bit and nested the rows together so it gives the appearance of allover quilting like I wanted.
Up close...tulips are special to my heart. When I see tulips, yard sales, and donuts I think of my mama. My sister Marguerite thinks of her when she sees a hummingbird...my mom loved those, too.
Here is a darkened up version. I think the quilter did a great job- better than I imagined even. Every stitch is so even. Her name is Nancy Baker of Baker's Longarm Quilting in Alvin, TX. The twins and I picked up the quilt this morning at her studio and then we spent the rest of the day at a couple of neat parks in Alvin and their favorite Jungle McDonald's (really it's just a treehouse in the play area, I have no idea why I started calling it Jungle McDonald's except maybe they act like wild animals there).
I got some better pictures of my next MBS project which debuted March 5 as well as over 100 photos of my boys playing. Having a kick in the pants to take more pictures of my kids is the best benefit of blogging. I am not normally a scrapbooker/photographer type.
Train Kid and Scooby Kid feeding the ducks. Scooby Kid tried to feed the duck like we feed the dog a treat. Next I hear "Hey he bit me!"
Pray this was not the duck that bit him. WHAT IS THAT??? It's only on half of his head. New meaning to the phrase "ugly duckling."
The play structure is a giant concrete tunnel through a hill and then all kinds of slides and stairs and bridges coming off of it. I was able to get a lot of neat angles.
And then this young woman comes up and starts doing the merry go round for them. There you have it...hope for the next generation! It was so kind and it allowed me to get lots of great pictures of them as they made their turns around.
So our trip to the quilter was made palatable by lots of fun at a park. Have you ever used a longarm quilter??? What did you think?
I made a wedding quilt for my son and his wife last year; it was 96" square and I didn't want to try quilting such a special piece on my own machine. I was very pleased with the longarm work that was done. The pattern was busy so I chose simple meandering but it came out lovely. I am trying to quilt as many as possible on my own (still learning!) but for the bigger, special pieces I want to send them to a longarmer. So glad that you are pleased with your results! It looks terrific.
ReplyDeleteyes, i've used 3 long arm quilters. one quilter was great and i loved her quilting, but she went out of business to help her hubby in a new endeavor--a very sad loss!
ReplyDeleteThe other two quilters (both sponsored by quilting shops) unfortunately gave me back quilts that had to be unquilted and totally re-done. since then i've learned to ask how long they've been in the quilting for hire business before i turn over my quilts.
Hello - yes I have used long arm quilters. I love the work that they are able to do. I could never do it on my domestic machine. One complaint though - it often takes way too long to get my quilts back. Thus 4 years ago I became one of "them". I understand now why it takes so long, but I do my best to get quilts back to their owners within 4 weeks.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that pdudgeon had a bad experience.
I must be the lucky one, since I use a local long arm quilter who does great work, has reasonable prices and turns around a quilt in usually no more than a month. I've been using her for years and she knows what I like - variegated thread and interesting all over patterns. Several gals in my guild are long arm quilters so I have choices but I stay with my choice since she gives me such great services and her work is great.
ReplyDeleteI love that tulip quilting pattern. Tulips are my favorite flower and I gave my quilter a top last week and requested an all over pattern with tulips. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I'm always pleasantly surprised.
Happy stitching-
What are the general price ranges for having someone do the quilting?
ReplyDelete