Do you know who Thomas Knauer is? He is one of my favorite modern quilters. His quilts are graphic, beautiful, and always contain messages. Whether it is coded, like his morse code or braille quilts, or a little less subtle, like his Sunbonnet Sue’s with machine guns, he is always telling a story with his quilts.
A few years ago Thomas offered a weekend class at Gotham Quilts. I wrote about it.
I developed a serious quilter crush that weekend, and have been following him closely ever since. It isn’t easy – he’s not big on sharing on social media. Or, maybe he’s normal and not as frenetic about sharing every detail of his day on social media as I am. In any case, you need to pay attention if you want to keep up with Thomas. Good thing I’m a creepy stalker, right?
He’s got three published books, all of which are excellent and live on my bookshelf.
At the beginning of May I received a message telling me that he had a top that was ready for quilting. I know he has a longarm, so I congratulated him. Then he started chatting about different designs. I was so flattered to have Thomas discussing quilting with me. When he asked me if I could quilt it for him I was flabbergasted. Me? Why? My first question was “What’s wrong with your longarm?” I’m seriously such a dope. When opportunity knocks on my door I always, always assume they have the wrong address.
Fortune has smiled upon me, folks. Thomas’ longarm is having technical difficulties. Is it wrong if I hope he opts to work with me again before getting it fixed? I mean, I feel terrible for someone who has a machine that isn’t working. That would drive me mad. But, it’s working out pretty well for me.
These are the tools I used for this project:
- Slim ruler by Angela Walters – it is my favorite ruler for straight lines
- Snips by Thread Nanny – that hook helps me pull out stitches when thins go awry
- Curved embroidery scissors by Gingher
- Thread Pic for retrieving loose threads after quilting is done.
- Side threading needle for burying thread tails
I received his lovely quilt in June and admired it. Seriously. I had an Original Thomas Knauer in my studio, and I had my hands all over it.
Thomas had requested triangular spirals, with a thread break in each block. It was a pain in the butt, but totally worth it. I don’t have photos of the full quilt for you – I don’t feel right stealing his thunder. I do have close ups and photos of the back, though. This quilting came out so nicely.
Also, Thomas’ points are perfection. I love it when my client pieces are so well made. I did take some extra time on this piece. Since so much of it is white, I spent time on each row, clipping the frayed edges of the fabric to make sure there were no loose threads shadowing through.
I did a little video of that, if you want to see the process. Be warned – I am super duper anal retentive on quilting, but I do not care much for video editing.
I can’t wait to see it bound and finished! It was so exciting getting to work with someone I admire so much. I was definitely terrified at first, and that kept me from starting for an extra two weeks. Once I got started, though, I was fine. One of the secrets to being successful, for me, is not to promise what I can’t deliver on. As long as I’m honest with my client, we can come up with a design that will make us both happy.
Okay. One final note. I have been taking classes on becoming a better artist and business woman. One of the things I’ve been doing is listening to a bunch of books on these topics. One thing I’m hearing over and over again is that I have to know what I want, then go get it. The knowing is hard for me – but I know that I want to feel this excitement and pride again. (My family may have different feelings on this – my shrieking and squealing were probably a lot to tolerate.) I’m trying to keep track of the things that bring me professional pleasure.
With that in mind, I reached out to a well known quilter this week and let her know I was available. I had discussed quilting for her last year, and told her I would be terrified to work on her pieces. Time to grow up and ask for what I want. I want to work with more quilters I admire. I’m putting it out into the universe. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Congratulations, Jen. This is wonderful news and so deserved. You are working hard at your business and finding ways to grow it. To have your hard work noticed and requested must be so awesome. Looking forward to seeing mroe.
Thanks, Rochelle! I’m glad you follow along with me.
Wow! And you have quilted it so beautifully
Thank you so much! I am really happy with the job I did this time.
What an awesome opportunity and great way to stretch yourself and learn about what brings your joy. Fabulous quilting, too. 🙂
Thanks, Yvonne! You are one of the reasons I’ve moved from feather quilting to straight lines.
It’s gorgeous, keep reaching and growing you will get to where you want to be if you get the nerve to ask for what you want! I have confidence in you, you always put your clients first when you start a new project, whether it’s a quilt top or the finished product. I had a quilted by Dizzy Quilter in my house and it’s now a beautiful quilt in one my nieces homes.
My nerve is growing by leaps and bounds!
Hi Jen! Go get it, girl. If you don’t ask you can’t receive. I am surprised and shocked that you have to do the fabric trimming before quilting. I would expect the piece to be sent to you ready-to-go. Maybe I’m naive and have been doing a lot of work that I didn’t need to do before sending pieces out for quilting. So glad you are enjoying this opportunity that came your way – I’m thrilled for you!! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne
Hey, Roseanne –
Most quilts are ready to go. I take a little bit of extra time on the ones with white backgrounds. No matter how much time is spent prepping, a little bit of fraying happens in shipping, especially with solids like Kona. And I only do this kind of attention to detail on my custom quilting projects. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do this for every one. I have a different one on today with the same issue – I give it a quick once over on each row, not quite as thoroughly as Thomas’.
Lovely explanation in the video! I have grown as a quilter because of you! Thank you!
That’s so great to hear! That’s why I share
What fun to to an original Thomas Knauer quilt…and now can say he has an original Jen Strauser quilting. I hope you are ready for showers from the universe!