How Shall I Quilt This?

Every quilt is unique. Colors, design, size, they all come out differently. And as every quilt is unlike any other, each quiltmaker has their own likes, dislikes and favorite themes.

Some clients bring us quilts to quilt with a definite idea of how they wish it finished. Thread color and design have been decided upon before we ever see it. Often we receive a top with the direction to quilt it as we wish. That's almost always fun. I am happy to comply with either request.

I do get a little anxious, though, when someone with whom I'm discussing designs states: "You're the expert!". I feel an obligation to explain that Tom and I've been in this business for barely more than a year. I am not an expert. Between the two of us, we have quilted perhaps sixty to eighty quilts, anywhere from an intricately pieced 25" square to several king-size spreads, more than ten feet square.

Now here is my own conundrum. I have been working on a labor-intensive quilt since November, the pattern/technique from a wonderful book called One-Block Wonders (Maxine Rosenthal). I've been thinking about how to quilt it for a few months. Now I am very close to finishing the top. No particular quilting pattern seemed to "speak to me". It's difficult to describe the top, so I'll just have to show you. I haven't gotten a photo of it neatly pressed, but I think you will get the idea from it casually thrown out on a table to see after getting the borders sewn on.

Now, as to how I should quilt it, I'd come up with a few thoughts, but nothing that really grabbed me.

Today as I sewed with several friends, one of them brought out the quilt I'd quilted for her recently, and we all admired her (nearly finished) project with its binding attached. I'd quilted it with twisted ribbons, a fun pattern with swoops and loops that looks like ribbon twisting back and forth. 

Suddenly I knew how I'd quilt my project. On the suggestion of one of my other quilt pals, I will emphasize a few of the stand-out hexagon blocks with their own quilting pattern. But when I've chosen and quilted those, the rest will be finished in twisted ribbon! (Thank you Glorieta and thank you Cathie.) I am still unsure about thread color though -- am thinking I will quilt this in different colors at different sections, keeping the thread as little prominent as I can.

However, if you, dear reader, have other thoughts, please let me know. I'm always open to suggestion. After all, I am no expert!

Existential Flow? Huh??

Tom's last blog post ended with an invitation for you all to come back and check out "The Existential Flow of Quilting", written by me. He was pulling your leg, and mine. I'm no student of philosophy. I am, however, a quilter.

We have had the privilege of quilting a number of really spectacular quilts recently. I've asked two of the quiltmakers to allow me to post some photos.

Judy C. trusted us with a beautiful Civil War sampler quilt she'd begun in a class several years ago. As is common to we quilters, she produced many gorgeous blocks while attending, but got sidetracked when the class ended. She showed her unfinished quilt to Lauri, a mutual friend, a while back.

Now Lauri's a take-charge kind of gal and a great quilter. She got Judy back on track and helped her finish the top.

I love the Civil War reproduction prints, and there were so many pretty and fun blocks to quilt around. Judy had done all the "heavy lifting". This quilt mostly just called for stitching in the ditch, with some background stipple around borders and sashing.

Judy's quilt

Judy C's Civil War quilt

Karen W's beautiful batik nine-patch, pieced for an Emerald Valley Quilter's challenge, was also a quilt that pulled its own weight. She used her creativity and color sense to really bring those nine-patch units to life! Mostly, it just needed to be made into a quilt sandwich, but she left me opportunity to put some fun quilting into the individual nine-patches.

Karen's batik nine-patches, set within stars floating across a dark sky.

Nine-patch sketching with thread

And just when we'd gotten caught up with quilts needed before Christmas, our friend Molly had a baby girl. I didn't have much time, so thought a whole-cloth quilt might be the answer to saving time. Her mom was heading to California to meet Miss Bella yesterday, and I raced to get some fabric on the quilt frame. 

Silly me! Whole-cloth quilts may save time getting it to the quilting stage, but the nature of the thing is that it calls for lots and lots of quilting. So the quilt is quilted, but it has no binding attached. And I am too late to send Bella's quilt with her "Grumsy". I shall have to give the U.S. Postal Service some business next week when the quilt's complete.

Detail of Bella's whole-cloth quilt

Yes, it is also probably crazy to make a quilt for a tiny baby in such an intense color. Shouldn't the quilt take a back seat to the delicate little person who is wrapped in it? Ah well, it shall keep her warm, no matter the color.

Bella's quilt, awaiting the application of binding.

Sorry for all you blog readers who'd wanted to read about the existential nature of quilting, you did not get that promised blog post. Maybe Tom will come through with some philosophical stuff next time!

Where We Are At

Tom longarming while jazz plays in the background

Tom here. Now that Denise and I have been longarming for about ten months, the feeling of newness has diminished somewhat and we've settled a bit into our roles in the business. Denise enjoys the companionship of fellow quilters (as in those who "piece" quilts) and naturally gravitates toward quilt guilds, sewing clubs and any group that has anything remotely to do with quilting. In the business world, they call this networking, but Denise just loves being with people and quilting.

I hope I don't alienate women readers with what I'm about to write, but it feels weird being the lone male at quilt guild meetings brimming with estrogen. So I'm okay with Denise attending those events without me. I'm perfectly fine handling the books, paperwork, website and other boring organizational things.

Nice feathers and echoing by Denise
on this Paris themed floral panel

So what about the quilting? I'm pleased to say we actually have clients -- and many are return customers! We offer three levels of service: all-over quilting, semi-custom, and custom. Most clients prefer basic all-over patterns. This option costs less and, depending on the color of thread, places greater emphasis on the piecework. I don't mean to brag, but I'm getting really good at loops, loops & leaves, and loops & hearts. Denise actually told a client that my leaves were better than her's. Well, I don't know about that.

At this juncture, Denise, being the more skilled and talented of our team, handles the more artistic, detailed and varied custom work.

So that's where we're at currently. As with any young business, we would love more clients. But I think we're growing at the right pace. Next blog post: The Existential Flow of Quilting. I'll ask Denise to write it.

Steps in the Creative Process

Easy rose. Nice, but what's next?

Tom here. I've always been fascinated by other people's creative processes. Bob Welch's Pebble in the Water describes the author's long, sometimes discouraging, but ultimately rewarding process of writing his previous book, American Nightingale. While researching the life of a heroic WW II nurse, Welch journeyed as far as Boston, Massachusetts and the beaches of Normandy, France. I was gripped from beginning to end reading this book about the writing of another book.

One thing about the creative process is you can't cut corners. Such is the craft of longarm quilting. Granted, learning quilting designs isn't quite so arduous as writing an award-winning historical nonfiction -- but steering the longarm has it's challenges.

Step in the process: doodling on paper

I previously mentioned my fondness for roses and how I'm intrigued by floral patterns. Early on, I found a simple rose design (above), which was pretty easy to quilt. Since then, I've discovered another more advanced rose in Cheryl Malkowski's Doodle Quilting.

Malkowski begins by saying, "It's easy to make beautiful roses."

Next step: practicing on muslin

So I took her word for it and headed straight to the longarm. Well, I soon discovered it's not that easy. Don't worry, I didn't practice on an actual quilt. Denise and I hone our craft on blank muslin until we've mastered patterns. My efforts at the new rose pattern were so bad that I was wasting good muslin. I realized that I'd bypassed a step in the process. I needed to backtrack, grab a pen and practice drawing the rose on paper. As you may know, most quilt patterns are a continuous line, so the pen stays on the paper from start to finish. After over three dozen pen-doodled roses, I resumed longarming -- with more encouraging results.

Is it the destination that's satisfying? Or is it the journey? I prefer the journey because of the sense of adventure and the feeling of moving forward. Of course it's nice to reach the destination, but I soon get antsy. Where do we go next? Hmm, a more complex, detailed and realistic rose sounds interesting. Show me that pattern!

About Time!

I've intended to get a new post up for days and days. Life's been busy and I haven't found the time. This will be a fast one. Next one, I hope to have figured out a "random number generator" and offer a giveaway, an antique linen handkerchief -- maybe it's actually a linen napkin, that I've quilted. Could be used as a small table or dresser mat, or hung on a wall.

In the meantime, I'll put up some images of a fun quilt we quilted for one of the coolest fabric shops around. I've mentioned this before, but it's quite amazing to see the dimension added to a quilt top once the batting and backing are applied with thread.

This quilt top was pieced by the talented people at Piece by Piece in Eugene.

Loaded onto the quilt frame.

In process.

Quilting complete.

Here is their wonderful quilt, having been bound and washed. You may see it hanging on the wall at Piece by Piece. Isn't it fun!?

This is a bit of a wall quilt I pieced and quilted. We will be vendors at the Coburg Quilt Show on July 26, so I am madly piecing small tops and we are both quilting them as examples of our work for the show. This is a great quilt show, well attended and with spectacular displays. It's in the picturesque little town of Coburg, just outside Eugene. 

I'd encourage you to open your calendar, block Coburg Quilt Show onto Saturday, July 26, and show up between 9 am and 4 pm. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

One last photo: this is a block of a very fun quilt I quilted for a customer several days ago. 

Don't you think that will liven up a room? (Thanks, Karen, for the opportunity to quilt it!)

The Man Can QUILT!!!

I came home from work one night last week to find Tom had quilted an entire baby quilt on his own. Now, he's done quilts and parts of quilts in the past, but has been hesitant to load them on his own or come up with his own designs -- except on practice quilts.

His work has gotten better and better. For a man who, one year ago, needed a definition of what it meant to quilt something, he's come a long way. And I love to hear him say, "and in three months, I'll be way beyond this".

He finds new designs in books or magazines, on youtube, and even comes up with his own. Yep, I'd let him quilt my pieced tops without hesitation.

See for yourself! This is exclusively Tom's work, the first and third being practice pieces.

Our culture has changed a great deal in some ways, with adults teaching the next generation not to grasp stereotypes. Children no longer assume doctors to be males, or RNs to be women, and only mothers to stay at home as their offsprings' caregivers. Writers, artists, paramedics, CEOs come in both sexes.

I am no longer surprised to glance at a large delivery truck on the highway and see a woman at the wheel.

Yet the stereotype seems to be deeply ingrained in our images of quilters.

Tom gets no credit for quilting when both of us have worked on a client's top, though I always ask their permission if it's a project we are both likely to work on. I am the one thanked for the finished product, and when they pass on a referral to someone else, that third party has no clue that there are two quilters under the name of Quail's Nest Quiltworks.

We know of other men who quilt. One of them does all the quilting for his wife and daughter's fabric shop. I wonder if his clients assume his wife actually does the quilting after hours.

Can men quilt? I'll let you judge for yourself.

One Stitch at a Time

Tom here. It's been nearly three months since we received our Gammill longarm quilter. Denise and I have made great progress and our skills have improved with each session. My only apprehension about this venture concerned whether my skill level would meet the expectations of potential clients. I figured (correctly) Denise would take to the machine in no time. After all, she's spent most of her life successfully embracing creative pursuits, whether it be quilting, knitting, painting, photography, writing, etc.

As for me, I took a home economics class in junior high (where I learned to use a sewing machine), and as a teen, tied fishing flies, which I sold on consignment at a local store. Oh, and I could spin a basketball on my finger. With this in mind, my heart thumped a bit as I began quilting for the first time.

Not that I'm competitive, but I've gauged my progress based on careful observation of my wife's stitching. Whenever she quilts a beautiful design, I experience pride in her skills, along with a self-imposed prodding to rise to her level. If any competition exists between us, I'm sure it only makes us better.

I gravitate toward leaf and floral designs, whether it be a trillium meander, oak leaves or my latest discovery: roses with leaves (mine pictured). My love for gardening is undoubtedly to blame.

Roses & leaves meander

In less than three months, Denise and I have made fine progress. Just think where we'll be in a year! I'm confident the results will be wonderful -- one stitch at a time.