Longarm Quilting for Someone New

My cousin's sister-in-law contacted me out of the blue to ask if I would longarm a quilt for her. The funny thing is that my cousin lives in Ohio and the sister-in-law lives in a northwestern suburb of Milwaukee. It's probably a 40 minute drive from her house to mine. The surprise for me is that she remembered that I was a quilter. I was definitely honored by her request and immediately said yes.

The quilting challenge for me was that there is a block that's embroidered and she doesn't want any quilting over it. This is something I haven't done before but I love new challenges.

She chose her thread.

She chose her quilt design.

And away we go!

I went around the embroidery as best as I could.

I'm happy to report that she loved the way it turned out. She is new to quilting and is loving it so she asked me if I would be her quilter. I absolutely said yes!

In the meantime, friends of ours asked Jeff to make a 4-foot tall wooden tree. They have a cat that likes to get into trouble and they wanted something to replace a Christmas tree. Here's what they asked for. They love it and will use it this year unfinished and stain and seal it in the summer when they can do that outside. I like it so much I might just have to ask him to make me one.

5 T-Shirt Quilts Delivered

I had the wonderful opportunity to make 5 t-shirt quilts that would become 5 Christmas gifts. The quilts were all made from a Navy Veteran Submariner's t-shirts.  The client sent the shirts to me back in late August and I had mentioned to her that I would be out of the country and traveling for over a month so these wouldn't be finished until November. She wasn't worried, but I was. 

The shirts were prepped with fusible interfacing by September then they weren't pieced until October. I got them on the longarmer and by the beginning of this month they were all quilted. Unfortunately, my husband was having a cardiac procedure on November 4. I decided to make the best of my time in the hospital waiting by hand-stitching the binding on. It was a great way to take my mind off of his procedure. By the time he was settled in his hospital room, I had finished the binding for 2 of the quilts.

I sure had lots of room to spread out at the hospital.

I completed all the binding within a week and prepped my invoice to send to the client. Frankly, I was ok with her waiting to pay so I could take a break - haha! But like all good people do, she paid me promptly so I had to prep them for shipping right away. That means getting photos of them finished needed to be done. Sadly, the November skies are always overcast so it was very difficult to get good shots. Everything looks so gloomy. 

Each one of these quilts has a plaid shirt, a submariner t-shirt, and pieces of a life well lived. I did my best to make sure all 5 had equal elements to reflect the personality of the wearer.

I also tried to make sure that each quilt had a front pocket that I quilted around so the pocket is still usable.

It was clear that this person was somehow connected to Hawaii as well as to the Navy.

The challenge was making sure there was some color balance and equal sizing for each one.

The backing for each quilt is a different fabric. I felt the need for some differentiation among them.

After they were all done, I had very little pieces of shirts left.

I had a little help with the shipping. And I have to say, what a challenge that was! The price for shipping all 5 quilts in one big box was double what it cost to use 5 priority mail boxes. I don't know if that's because it's a long way from Milwaukee to Phoenix which is their final destination. I was quite surprised by that.

We headed to the post office less than 24 hours after payment like a good business should - haha!

In the meantime, I wasn't paying close attention to my kitty who snuck into the garage. His curiosity got the best of him as he stuck his all white face into the exhaust pipe on Jeff's motorcycle. Just look at that dirty, adorable little boy. I can't tell you how much trouble it was to get that off. 

I sure hope the recipients like their precious gifts.