Category Archives: customer quilt

Funky Pinwheel – Queen Size

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Back in November 2014, I fell in love with a quilt that I was quilting for Darlene R.  It turns out that the quilt was made utilizing some clever acrylic templates made and sold by Jodi Nelson of Pleasant Home.

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The templates were perfectly designed to cut 5″ charm squares with the perfect angle to make the Funky Pinwheel block.  This is the quilt. I quilted it with my Swirls template which gave the blocks the appearance that they were turning in the wind–the perfect quilting template for this quilt!

Customer Quilt

Customer Quilt

I contacted Jodi Nelson to see if I could purchase a set of templates from her.  As it turns out, Jodi is no longer selling her templates.  Darlene was very generous and loaned me her templates so that I could make my own Wonky Pinwheel quilt.

13 - Wonky Pinwheel - this one needs quilting & binding

Funky Pinwheel – flimsy – 95″ x 103.5″

I worked on my Wonky Pinwheel quilt over the Christmas/New Year’s season and finished it to the flimsy stage on January 2, 2015.  This is a large quilt – finishing at 95″ x 103.5″.

Move It Forward

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I spent Good Friday on line with Linda – Moving it Forward.

We have decided that once a month we will take at least one day and move some projects that have stalled or aged as UFOs far too long forward to the next stage. That may mean getting a top to the flimsy stage, moving a top from a flimsy to a quilt, or completing some binding. What Move it Forward is not is a day to start something new. It is all about making progress on something we have already started previously.

Before I could work on anything, I needed to clear my work surface from the project that I was working on the night before. In between passes of the long arm on customer quilts, I piece string blocks onto used Color Catchers (that is the white rectangle you see in the upper left hand corner of the picture). I had 11 blocks partially finished – they needed a strip or two and they would be finished. So before working on anything else, I finished off those 11 blocks. On the previous weekend, I took some of the blocks I have made previously and pieced them together into this colourful scrap top. This top needs the sashing finished off on the right hand side and bottom, then it will be ready for borders.

The next project I had to finish was a customer quilt that had already been loaded onto the long arm the night before. There was only about 1/2 hour of quilting left.

This is the finished customer quilt. It is a Nine Patch Pizzazz quilted with the Wave.

The next project was my Bento Box. It had stalled at the borders. I typically stall at this point so this was a great project for Move It Forward day! Also, I had the expertise of my good friend Linda to assist in deciding on which colour to use in the inner border……….green….

….or red?

After discussing options back and forth, the red was chosen. And this is the finished flimsy. This one is for me so I am really excited about getting this top to this stage. I now need to go on the hunt for just the right backing.

The next project up needed binding. This is the fabric that was picked for binding.


I made 1/2″ wide binding for this quilt. An extra wide binding serves dual purpose as an additional border and binding. Strips of binding for a 1/2″ wide binding are cut 3 1/4″ wide.
Binding was machine sewn to the quilt after supper. This top is now waiting for a quiet evening or two of hand sewing in front of the TV.

The day was busy and my quilt inspector/supervisor played out.

After the flash picture, he did open an eye to let me know that he did not want to be bugged further!

I know that both Linda and I made great progress today so we will be looking forward to the next Move It Forward Day to move yet more projects to the next stage.

Let the Sun Shine In!

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Today’s temperatures were the same freezing temperatures we have had for the last couple of days. However, the sun was shining! It was too cold to be outside, but it was warm and cozy inside my studio. I have a large window in front of my long arm and this morning, I opened the blind and let the sun shine in!

It was so sunny, you could see the reflection of the quilt that I was working on in the window.

This is the quilt that I worked on today–not my quilt, it belongs to a customer. The last time I stopped to buy thread from my supplier, she showed me a new product from Superior Threads called Lava. I bought a spool to try and this quilt was the perfect quilt to try it on. This thread colour is Soft Breeze.
I leave you with two parting shots of my handsome, faithful companion, Joey.

Customer Quilts

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Once again I find myself not posting for two weeks. I have been busy quilting–just not for myself.

I quilted this first quilt for a customer to give as a wedding gift to a special couple that are her neighbours. The flower blocks were embroidered with her new embroidery machine. She asked for hearts in each of the floral blocks with waves between the blocks. This is a picture of the back of the same quilt. This picture shows the heart and wave quilting a little clearer.
This is a quilt that I quilted for an international friend. This quilt was pieced by a perfectionist and was a delight to quilt. I enjoyed looking at all the fabrics as I recognize many of them–some were in my stash in the past and some are still in my stash now!
The next three quilts were pieced by the same person. This lady is busy “using up her scraps”. How wonderful to give such colourful scraps new purpose.


This quilt showcases a wonderful collection of prints. The piecer of this quilt intends to gift this quilt to a very special friend.
This quilt was pieced by a new quilter–her first quilt! The woman who pieced this quilt is also an expert seamstress and her skills shine in this quilt–there are no mismatched seams in this one!
And so now that the backlog of customer quilts has been caught up, I can breathe and spend a bit of time working on my own projects……until the next wave of quilts arrives anyway!

Double Four Patch – Complete

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You have seen this quilt before in various stages of construction. Here it is again–this time complete. The last stitches were taken on the binding a couple of weeks ago. I was waiting for the rains to stop so that I could take this quilt’s formal shot outside–today was that day. The sun shone today, people were out of hibernation walking around the streets, and I could almost be convinced that Spring is really just around the corner!

I have been working less on my own quilts lately and more on customer quilts. The tally so far this year is 13 total quilts brought in for quilting–3 of which were mine. I have finished two of my quilts completely, the third is waiting for its binding to be sewn on. Of the 10 customer quilts that have come in this year, only 3 are waiting in the wings–one of those was received today.

I have also been working on the “less is more” lifestyle. Pam has been talking about reducing the clutter in her life and this seemed like as good a time as any to follow suit. We have been re-organizing, sorting, reducing, throwing away, donating, and refusing to introduce anything futher into this house that we don’t absolutely need. As my husband said today, “Sadly, despite all the stuff that we have gotten rid of lately, it is hard to tell the difference!” Although this statement seems very true right now, I believe that if we continue to soldier on, you will be able to see a difference when you enter this house. It may take a long while, but we will get there. Eventually we will be liberated from all this clutter!