On Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest to a Longarm Quilt Guild Meeting in Maumee, OH. I know almost nothing about longarm quilting and I wanted to know more about the process so I jumped at the opportunity.
Show and tell was too much fun. Look at these amazing quilts.
This is a Celtic Wedding Ring. It is pieced in squares and the "elbows" are needle turn applique.
This is Cindy.....the woman with the "patience of a saint" to put the Celtic Wedding Ring together. Didn't she choose beautiful colors for her quilt?
When I saw this next beauty, I instantly thought of Moda Bake Shop Sampler. However, in the Sampler there are only 480 squares. This quilt has 2000....yes....two thousand squares. It was made by Sheryl Guess.
I really like how Sheryl laid out the squares. Can you imagine the work involved?
I really like green so you know this one jumped out at me. It was made by Lisa Spalding and the pattern is Magic Tiles.
Here is a close up so you can see the fabrics.
After show and tell we were indulged in an amazing pot luck lunch. I was thinking it would be worth joining the guild just to take part in their quarterly potluck. These folks know how to cook.....unlike someone else I know.
Don't I look happy and at total ease with Lisa's longarm quilting machine?
Oh yea baby.....I'm a natural.
This is a picture of my very first free motion quilting. I just zipped right along .... sort of like a Zen Master Meditating. I was at total peace and my breaths were even and deep.....in and out....completely at one with the machine, fabric and thread.
Ok, I lie like a rug (but you knew that). This is actually my first work and I was sweating like a hog. I was scared for some strange reason (I think it is because the black handles reminded me of my first time learning to ride a motorcycle.....I turned it over and darn near cried). I'm so glad that machine was on a big table and the room was full of nice people....because if it had turned over on me.....I would have been traumatized beyond recovery....LOL.
Being a Psychologist by profession, I just so happen to know a little bit about IQ. But that knowledge was completely useless on Saturday.
This IQ refers to IntelliQuilter!!! I had never even heard of such an invention. It is a computer controlled quilting system. Who knew? I'm so glad I was not in the Cash Cab being asked what this referred to....LOL.
Check this out. Lisa punched in some numbers on a computer screen and this is what happened:
I won't be doing anything this cool anytime soon but at least I know some of the lingo!!
The last piece here was made by Rich Spalding. I loved this Dragon Quilt. Rich used a pattern by MedowLyon Designs.
After quilting the design he used Paintsticks to highlight the areas he found interesting. I think this is soooo cool. Did I mention.....Rich has his own longarm machine? I thought that was really neat....both Lisa and Rich do longarm quilting. I was fortunate enough to meet some other couples who also use the longarm quilting machines.
The meeting was very enjoyable and again I got the opportunity to meet some very interesting and kind people. By the way, many of them liked my Spanky Fleece Socks!!!
Smiles,
Kelly
