On my longarm today…5 reasons to go quilt shows

October 18, 2016 Lovelli QuiltsLeave a comment

It’s fall here in the Upper Midwest, the trees are all turning magnificent colors and the weather is beginning to cool. It is also quilt show season, before winter driving becomes an issue. Here are my top five reasons to go to quilt shows:

To see amazing quilts, such as this stunning Best of Show, AQS Des Moines 2016 (plus many additional ribbons) quilt by Bethanne Nemesh. It is a whole cloth quilt with an Art Deco inspired peacock design as it’s central motif and beautiful feathers. The quality of the machine quilting was excellent. I particularly noticed that despite the heavy quilting the motifs stood out from the back fill. In addition she used ‘advanced’ edging techniques such as covered beaded piping and tiny scalloped edging.
To discover new gadgets, such as how my Gammill Dealer attaches a tablet to her longarm.
To get inspiration and ideas for my own quilting projects–how to fill up negative space. I liked how Judy Mercer Tescher used block design along with back fills to complete the stars in her quilt Stars and Sparks.
To take classes–I took a class with Judy Woodworth, an amazing quilter, about back fills. I can hardly wait to try some ideas and practice in my studio. I won the class demo with Judy’s stitching. I love those little feather blooms.
To meet old friends and new friends. I always have fun going through a show with friends because they see things I don’t notice. It’s also fun to meet new friends–sit at a table with someone or on a chair next to someone and ask about their quilts.

I hope you enjoy some quilt shows this fall!!

On the longarm today…Swoon

August 3, 2016August 1, 2016 Lovelli Quilts2 Comments

I feel like I should be putting one hand on my forehead and one on my heart as I sink gracefully onto a fainting couch. But, no, it isn’t that kind of a swoon, the quilt on my longarm today is made using the pattern, Swoon, by Camille Roskelley. It is a wonderful pattern which is well written and easy to make. There are many ways to quilt a Swoon quilt top and for, me, that is one of the challenges–because I want to try them all!! For this quilt, I chose a block pattern from One Song Needle Arts which would lay nicely in the block, emphasizing the different segments of the block, and yet be a cohesive design. I always try to add ways which cause a viewer to look at a quilt and find interest from across the room, from closer, and then from closer still. One way to do that is to lay a quilting design on top of the quilt so that it doesn’t follow the piecing exactly, but it emphasizes it.

As I design a quilt layout, I look for designs which repeat motifs found in the fabric, in the piecing and/or in the applique. For the Swoon quilt I noticed that several fabrics had circles, and that several had flowers. I chose to combine several different flowers by Anita Shackelford for the sashing.

I was very pleased with the way that the quilting turned out.

Now is a great time to get started on Christmas gift piecing. I can guarantee that any quilt sent to me for quilting in August will be quilted before Christmas (custom or edge to edge).

Have a great quilting adventure!!

On my longarm today…Scaling quilting designs

July 11, 2016 Lovelli QuiltsLeave a comment

I love quilting baby quilts and this sweet pattern with small Churn Dash blocks is no exception. I wanted the quilting to reflect the vintage pattern and the retro feel of the fabric. The blocks were 6 inches square, which is about half the size of a standard block (12″). It would look funny if a quilting pattern designed for a 12″ block was used on a 6′ block. In my software, Creative Studios 6, I was able to preview the quilting design.

In the first example, the Butterfly and Flower design by Kim Diamond, is shown on the quilt top as if it were stitched out with the default size of 12″, notice how large the flowers of the quilting design are compared to the size of the block, and the individual pieces which make up the block. In addition, the size of the flowers in the quilting design are approximately 10 times larger compared to the size of the flowers in the fabric.

In the second example, the quilting is denser, but it is also more in scale with the block size and the scale of the prints. I much prefer being able to preview how my quilting is going to look on my computer monitor and then hitting ‘undo’ than to quilt something out which I don’t like and taking my seam ripper out to undo it!

The finished quilt had a soft, ‘quilty’ look and feel–just perfect to wrap a baby!!

Have a quilty day!!

A quilt party: Spiked Punch on the Longarm!!

November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 Lovelli Quilts6 Comments

It is such a joy for me to quilt for clients and to help them finish quilts. Last week I spent my time on a client’s quilt, made from a pattern called Spiked Punch by Tula Pink. The fabrics in it were from Amy Butler’s latest line “Glow” and some Tula Pink fabric. Here is a screen shot of the quilt mockup:

I used a Whispy Feather design by Donna Kleinke of One Song Needlearts, a fill pattern by Anita Shackelford and a curved grid fill of my own design. It was fun to place the feathers ‘behind’ the stacked bricks (something I’ve seen hand-guided quilters do) with computer-aided design and quilt it with the computer. Note, I still sat and ‘helped’ the needle to stitch in the ditch along the bricks. It is fun to fill the negative space with quilty lusciousness!!

Have a quilty day!!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival and Wacky Witchy Way

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 Lovelli Quilts3 Comments

I’m entering Wacky Witchy Way into the Blogger’s Quilt Festival which starts today. Voting will start November 1.

I was inspired by the great fabric line from Maywood Studios, Black Cat Crossing. Although it is a Halloween seasonal fabric line, most of the prints are very versatile and can be used in many quilt applications. My houses could be witches are wearing hats put on with flair. Or, my witches could be houses with crackled eyes. I made free-motion free-standing lace spider webs, there is a tutorial here. The spider web quilting is a design by Jessica Schick.

I will be adding my link to the Original Design Category in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival. Don’t forget to vote!

Meet Statler

February 24, 2014 Lovelli Quilts1 Comment

When I tell people that I am a longarm quilter, I am usually greeted by a blank look and then they look at my arms!lol. A longarm quilter uses an industrial sized machine to sew together the quilt ‘sandwich’ (top, batting, backing). My Statler Stitcher/Gammill machine can be either hand- or computer-guided, as a result I can quilt thousands of designs with craftmanship, artistry, and creativity. I love combining creativity with the precision which computerized quilting can bring to a project. Statler allows me to both quilt a perfect traditional 8 pointed star and a wonky star in a whimsical style.

Have you named your sewing machines? My grandmother used to call her car Betsy, and several of my friends have named their sewing machines–Bernie, Ramon, Bob etc. I thought maybe I should name mine, my first thought was S.(tatler)Teal (because, in a fit of extravagance, I decided on the optional paint job–Statler is teal with sparkles), but then I spelled it out and realized it spelled ‘steal’. I wasn’t sure I wanted to name this beautiful machine something criminal. So in the meantime its name is Statler, not a bad name, but maybe not as exciting/exotic as it could be. My sons thought I should call it Sven. What do you think? I want to make a machine cover for it with its name appliqued on it.

Statler is my first longarm machine. I certainly stepped into the deep end of the pool, monetarily and skill-wise. Most people step up to computerized quilting after they have used a hand-guided machine for a while. I certainly faced a steep learning curve when I got my machine, but my dealer, At the Heart of Quilting, showed me how to use it. They have also been available to help me when I had a couple of minor mechanical issues (all resolved thankfully in a very quick time frame, mostly due to ‘pilot’ error). I’m fairly comfortable with some of the more common problems with longarms thanks to their training and support (I haven’t had to adjust the timing yet, but I know they will help me when my machine needs it).

The biggest problem I had with longarm quilting was my own frustration at not being able to do things perfectly the first time. I know in my head that no one does anything perfectly the first time, including me, but my heart wanted perfection. It was incredibly nerve-wracking to quilt a client’s quilt, because I wanted a happy client so badly, I had a hard time even starting the quilt. Once started, I then spent several all-nighters taking out stitching which didn’t conform to my expectations. It seemed like there was so much ‘stuff’ to remember. I am so thankful for the charity quilts (Mission Stitchers, a quilting group at our church, and Quilts of Valor) and quilts pieced by friends which I quilted during this time because they allowed me to gain confidence and increase my skill level. I’ve also quilted a lot of my own tops, now all waiting on binding, and just recently I picked up some fabric panels which I will quilt to increase my skills. If you are new to longarm quilting I encourage you to try any of these methods to increase your skill and confidence. Now, I am having fun with my quilting and (mostly) achieving the good results which I expect. Have a quilty day!

Quilts of Valor

January 26, 2014January 26, 2014 Lovelli Quilts1 Comment

The Quilts of Valor foundation delivers comfort in the form of a quilt to combat veterans. Longarm quilters volunteer to provide batting, thread, and quilting services for quilt tops. I’m lucky to assist quilt makers finish their quilts with quilting. Before Christmas I quilted 4 quilts for a client. I changed the original quilting design so that I could place each block’s individually and have my Statler Stitcher quilt from one edge to another. I’m really thankful to Joan Knight, Page Johnson, and Anita Shackleford who taught me how to edit designs. The design which I modified was Flower Block 6 with Star which came standard on my Statler. Modifying it to stitch from each block’s point to point was well worth the effort!