May has been a very eventful month.... a lot of it was not that great. Dave and I had to come to the very hard decision of having one of our little wiener dogs put down. She was 12 years old and had many issues. She has not been able to stand and walk around for 3 years. We carried her every where she needed to go, but that last few months she was in a lot of pain. It was one of the hardest decisions we have had to make in a very long time.  A couple of weeks prior to our decision Candice (or oldest daughter) had to have the dog she has had for 15 1/2 years put down.  I have tried to keep busy and am doing a very good job of that. I finished this quilt last week for Laura W. I though it was so cute. I did not think it required this custom treatment, but her daughter wanted it quilted like this. I do think I made the quilt look great.

This quilt belongs to Patti V. I forgot how hard Judy Nehmier's quilts were to quilt.....  It turned out good and Patti was happy. This is one of my art quilts. It is thread painted, quilted and bound. I have had to block this one. After I finished with the quilting and thread painting, I decided that it needed to have a border. It just did not look finished. I don't usually ever add borders once I have quilted the pieces. The center is stiffer than the border. I think it will be fine after the blocking is finished. 

 I am calling this one 'Winter in the High Desert'. 

It measures 26"W x 19" H.

This along with some of my other fiber art pieces will be shown and sold at the 'Gallery Moab' in Moab, Utah in the month of July.  The 'meet the artist reception' is currently scheduled for the evening of July 9th at the Gallery located at 78 N. main in Moab, Utah. 

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Happy Quilting!

Charlotte  

Thursday May 12

It seems like I have been working on this one for a long time..... I haven't, but it is slow going. All but the background fill was ruler work. I am still have issues with the bobbin thread. I almost always use 11 stitches to the inch setting on my machine. For this background fill I should have used much smaller stitch and thinner thread. It looks good, but I think it would have looked much better on the back than it does. I used Superior Threads Magnifico on the top and Sew Fine in the bobbin. We used 80/20 batting. 

Sunday April 3, 2016

Bev's quilt

On this one we used 9 oz poly and Superior Thread's Monofilament.

Shirl Williams quilt was an edge to edge  design. I tried using one of Superior Thread's Rainbow threads and I could not get my long arm to sew with it at all. It broke the thread about every 12 inches.  I switched to Magnifico and still had issues but I could get half way across a run before it broke. I had a couple of runs with out any breaks. I was very frustrated. I have had tension issues, on my Innova,  off on and on for a couple of years. This causing me to take twice as long (or more) on each job than I should have to. I end up picking out and re-stitching. While Dave and I were up in SLC last month, we stopped by the Innova shop (Quilts on the Corner in Sandy). I picked up all new thread guides, needle plate (throat plate) and a new check spring. I called ABM to find out what size allen wrench it took loosen the tension assembly so it could be removed and we could get the old check spring out and the new check spring in. I had never changed my check spring and it defiantly needed to be replaced. I was told that as much as I use my machine I probably should change the check spring every six months and that you should normally change them once a year. I know the check spring is important, but did  not realize that they needed to be changed that often and I sold the machines when I worked for Let's Quilt here in St. George.  Anyway.... ABM has technicians that are available to answer questions and walk the customer through problems.  When I talked to Michael he told me to call him back before we did anything, after we had removed the old check spring. Well..... we did not call him back and managed to not get the check spring seated correctly. So when I started adjusting the spring it wound back on it's self.  I sprung the check spring. I was like a slinky that had been pulled and would not longer work. Michael suggested that I get a new tension assembly. I decided to do that. I called Quits on the Corner  and ordered a the new precision tension assembly, 5 of their special red bobbins and 3 extra check springs. We got the new assembly installed and did the adjustments as well as we could. I really have loved my Innova, but I sure wish we had a service person in St. George. I would like to have my machine tuned up, the table leveled and all those kind of things yearly, even if I have had no problems.  The machine is to heavy for me to lift and carry to my car to make the track to Sandy, Utah. I don't like doing the fixes myself and my husband really does not like to do it. 

 I have actually decided if I don't quit having tension issues, I will not be quilting for clients very often. It is just to stressful for the money I make. I am not going to invest in another long arm either (I am entering daily for the APQS long arm give away...... it would be wonderful to win it). 

After having the issues I did with Shirl's quilt, I loaded a baby quite of my own, used Permacore in the bobbin as well as the top and it quilted fine..... I quilted fast too.  The next client quilt is a Judy Nehmire quilt pattern pieced by Patti V.. It is a red and white quilt, wonderfully  constructed. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have any issues with the thread on this one.  

Now it is late, I need to go to the APQS website and make my daily entry into their contest and then hit the sack! This next week is a full week. We will be having two different groups of visitors. I am looking forward to that!

Happy Quilting to you all!

March 25, 2016

Another month is just about over. This month I have been having issues with my Innova long arm again. We have decided it probably is my check spring. I, being the mechanical genius I am, have not changed the check spring in all the years I have been using my long arm. I have quilted a lot of quilts. I have "checked" the check spring, but have never replaced it. I recently was given a Merit Award at the  Utah Women's Art Exhibition 2016 for my piece "Delicate Arch #1"  . While in SLC to receive the award and attended the opening Art show, went to our area Innova dealer. I purchased a check spring (should have picked up 3 or 4 since they were only$3 each), thread guides and a needle plate (throat plate).  My husband and I got the old check spring removed, but did not get the new one seated properly in the tension assembly. When I started to adjust the check spring, the spring wound back on itself and ruined that spring. After talking to ABM (who are always there to help if you call) decided I would order a there high performance tension assembly. It came yesterday and I am putting off putting it in. I am afraid I will mess it up. The older I get the less confident I feel about doing things like this. If I can't get my husband to do it for me in a bit, I will have to do it myself. I wish he liked doing stuff like that, but he doesn't. Right now I am putting it off. I guess I should go and get busy though....... I have client work that needs to be done and the days are go by so quickly it is scary. Wish me luck!
Here are the latest client quilts I have done.

February 2016

February is about over. February has been a very busy month. I had a lot of work, meetings and attended our Dixie Quilt Guild annual retreat.  I was sick last year and missed the retreat. I had so much fun catching up with friends I have talked to in what seems like forever. Our guild is so large it is hard to even say Hi to everyone!  

I have had a couple of really great things happen this month. I sold my first wall hanging. The piece "Flat Pass #1" is in it's new home in KY. My aunt purchased it for my cousin and his wife.  I also got news that the piece entitled "Delicate Arch #1" has been awarded the Merit Award at Utah Woman Artists Exhibition 2016! The art show is at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center  in West Valley, Utah. The awards will be at 6:30 March 10.  The show runs through April.  Just a little more than a     month. 

The weather was so nice today. I worked outside in my yard for a while. I sure get tired faster than I used too!I love being outside though. I need to get tomatoes planted in a couple of pots soon. 

Here are the quilts I have quilted recently....... fun quilts. 

                                                           RuthAnn's quilt

Laura's Quilt

Nancy's Quilt

Phillis's quilt 

Kate's Quilt

Marie's Quilt

January 23, 2016

I keep saying I can't believe how fast the time is going buy.... I really can't believe it. Christmas 2105 has come and gone. Candice, Season, Micah, Dave, me and all of our dogs had a great Christmas. We missed Megan and Patrick very much and hope to see them later in the year.  Dave and I went out and cut our Christmas tree and I do believe it was the best tree we have ever had. It was not dry when I finally. I love pinion pine! We made a very quick trip to Moab and went to visit my Aunt Vera who lives on the Funk farm in the Dove Creek, Colorado area.
I have been busy. I have finished 2 art quilts and am working on a 3rd. The quilting is almost done on it. I have the binding picked out and will hopefully have it sewn on tomorrow.

                                                                      Flat Pass #2

Behind the Rocks # 2

These pieces are both done from water color paintings I have done a long time ago.  My Aunt called and asked if I had an work that I though my cousin and his wife might like for Christmas. I had them look at some of my previous work and Dan chose 3 different scenes. One of which was Flat Pass.  One was a watercolor of the La Sal Mtns in more of a winter scene and the third was a view from inside of Wilson Arch, located south of Moab.  The Wilson Arch piece is the one I am working on now. I have not started one of the La Sal Mtns. yet, but I have an idea of what I am going to do. I plan on painting the basic fabric for that piece tomorrow.

I am keeping busy with client work too. I finished 2 quilts for Bev Nelson and one for Brenda Jones.

Brenda's Lone star

One of Bev's quilts

Megan and Patrick are engaged. Patrick purposed on New Year's Eve. We are happy about that, but don't know when they are planning on getting married. 

My goal for this next year is to get photos of my pieces on a web site. It is possible I will be a visiting artist for a month in the Moab Gallery! I am very excited about that. I would be so great to sell a piece of my art work, either a quilt or one of my paintings. I also am going to do more painting this year. I plan on joining the Watercolor society here in ST. George. I belonged in Salt Lake City when we lived there, but just haven't had time to add one more thing here.  So many things to do and so very little time!

That just about covers everything so until next posting..... Happy Quilting!

December 16....Marie's quilt

It has been a while since I have written on my blog. Christmas is just around the corner!

Dave and I went to Moab for a short visit the first part of December. I had a client's quilt to deliver and needed to get Christmas gifts taken to Moab. We stayed at our friend's home and had such a great time. It was so good to laugh and relax.

I finished Marie Wheeler's second quilt.  This one took me a while to decide how to quilt the larger blocks. Marie fussy cut the fabric to create the large blocks and I did not want to do anything that covered them up, so decided to stitch around the design. We used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Superior Threads Magnifico on the top and in the bobbin.