What a busy week!

My head has been spinning a bit this week. I had three custom quilts on my longarm, which means my piecing time was at a minimum. I did get to spend a bit of weekend time on a lovely hand appliqué project.

I’ve been working on my photography skills, too. You’ll be seeing lots of “flatlay” shots as I practice with my new backdrops and lighting kit.

The appliqué project is a shop sample of The Collection Quilt by Carolyn Friedlander. Carolyn is a very modern quilter, but she emphasizes traditional techniques. I’ll be honest – I didn’t truly fall in love with her work until I saw it in person and was able to see the detail and quality of workmanship. You know I’m a sucker for tiny stitches. Even when I was allowed to touch some of her work, I couldn’t see the appliqué stitches. Now I’m smitten.

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I plan to make my own version of The Collection Quilt later this year. I’m still considering fabric options. Island Batik is an obvious choice, but part of the journey of this pattern is experimenting with different weights and hands of fabric. I will have to do a careful consideration of my stash to make sure it is a good composition. Maybe batiks, linen, and lawn?

My first client quilt this week was this beautiful piece by Wendy. It was made using salvaged fabrics she found at Fab Scrap. (I’m planning a warm weather adventure in Brooklyn this year.) Wendy is rejoining the quilting community, and I’m so happy for her! Her first quilt “back” is really beautiful. She chose this amazing wide back, carried by Gotham Quilts. I quilted it using Warm and Natural batting, and this great wavy line panto, called Modern Curves by Anita Shakelford.

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The next project on my longarm was the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild QuiltCon Charity quilt. This is my second year quilting the charity quilt for the guild. Most, if not all, members of the guild contributed a few blocks to the quilt, which was organized and assembled by Deb Hunter. I was given a free hand to quilt as I liked. I decided to emphasize the geometric nature of the quilt by using mostly straight lines, rather than curves. I did add a very few curves here and there. I had a lot of fun with geometric doodles. You can see this quilt on display at QuiltCon in Nashville later this month.

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Wednesday found me at my weekly Rebecca’s Reel Quilters sew-in. Every week I struggle with attending or not. I can’t get much done on my longarm when I’m not at home, but I find that I enjoy spending a few hours with my friends so much, that it is totally worth it. This week I was working on my Tula Pink City Sampler quilt, which has been a WIP since 2016. I’m really looking forward to getting this one onto my longarm.

Thursday morning started with a fun visit to the car dealership to make my brakes stop squealing. This was my third attempt to get this problem fixed. After a few well placed swear words, combined with a threat to buy a car from a different manufacturer, my brakes are silent again! I did get to spend a little bit of time working on La Passion.

My last client project for the week was by Cindy. She decided to show off her excellent piecing by having me stitch in the ditch, which means I stitched along each seam line. This is a time consuming process – when you use a longarm stitching in the ditch means using rulers. Hooray for Audible!

Friday found me in the shop at Gotham Quilts. My longarm class was cancelled, so I spent the day trimming one client piece and binding another. I love playing with the clients and chatting with the owner. We get such an interesting mix of people coming through the door in the city.

With that, I’m off. I alway hope for a relaxing weekend, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t in my future, ever. Today I’ll be taking my son to a mock SAT test, then doing a feverish house cleaning session in preparation for a Super Bowl party tomorrow. Oh, and the party is starting right after my quilt guild meeting, which I don’t skip, because I’m the membership chair.

I’m sure I’ll be sneaking in a bit of sewing this weekend. I like to get a head start on the coming week whenever I can. That usually means cleaning the studio, loading a project onto the longarm for Monday morning, and organizing the projects I’ll get to while the computer is quilting.

Here’s wishing you happy and stitchy weekend!