Bunch of quilts.....

OK, this post is going to be a bunch of pictures with brief descriptions...each quilt deserves its own post, but I just can't find the time at the moment. I have teacher gifts to make! The above quilts are Quilts of Valor.

I love the quilting on this one! Everyone knows that Baptist fans are my favorite Statler Stitcher quilting design, but these Baptist clamshells are a darn close second! Don't they look like Sashiko Waves? I love the timeless simplicity. I paired the clamshells with a simple cable boarder.

This one is quilted with Eagles and Stars.  Some young MP is going to LOVE this quilt.

I quilted this quilt with a very traditional Baptist fan...same thing for the last quilt in this post. LOVE a Baptist fan!                      

This quilt is going to be auctioned for the Parkville Animal Shelter. It is very dog themed, so I had a blast picking from my thousands of quilt designs something very canine! Scotty dogs around the boarder, paws over the dog portraits and an edge to edge inside with bones and paws.

This one I love so much! It is a Swoon quilt made by Paula in my KCMQG.She wanted Baptist fans. I LOVE the texture the fans give this quilt!

And I made a Leather purse for a lady. She saw the bag I have been carrying lately and wanted me to make on for her. I love how it turned out....I kinda want to keep it myself, but I have a ton of bags, don't need another!

Have a great weekend!

xo,
Tia

A very busy day of all sorts of things.

Today has really been a full day. Strange? Certainly. But a very full day. I felt a bit like a pie man from mother goose. I woke very early after a dream where I was trying to find the cat box so I could keep my dumb cats safe while I escaped a zombie apocalypse that was descending on my old neighborhood on FT Hood. The kids and sewing machines were safe in the van and Stanley (my lab) was at my side, but the van was a convertible so I was afraid the cats would jump out. I ended up showing the new residents around my old house and telling the to mind the blinds. Crazy Army Wife situaltion I am sure....yes zombies are on their way to eat my brains, but I really MUST show my new best friend the quirks of the home she is moving into. I woke up with my heart leaping out of my chest. I guess my husband was having a bad dream too because we both just got up and went for a walk. I love pre-dawn walks. The birds are so loud it is like we live in a rain forest and it was a bit rainy so it was refreshing.

After that and getting the kids off safe to school I decided to go to the last spouse luncheon on post. I nominated myself to be the quilting leader and next year (starting in August) we are going to have a quilting BLAST! Not your grannies quilting around here...although any grannies are welcome- there is very much to be learned from grannies.

Then friends came home with me and I took their T-shirts to make them into quilts...I cut up a bunch of Tri Delta t-shirts to make into quilts....and then my husband and I met with an attorney about taking my business to the next level.....whatever that may be? I have such dreams, full of quilting (and zombies apparently). As soon as I find the perfect spot downtown I will be building a studio. You are all welcome!

That leads me to my next bit....I was looking at my quilting services page on my blog here. Wow! That is ever so dated. I have a very fancy quilting machine, but the picture is of me with my old Gammill Supreme in my Garage in Texas ( I think it was 115 F ) when that picture was taken. I am now much more fancy! I have a studio that encompasses my entire first floor! We live above it with our children and Zombie alert Lab.

See that is happy me with 3 of my favorite machines! My 2 Gammill Long arms and my tiny Scottish Singer Featherweight. My badass Bernina is around the corner.

I am in a quandary...How do you make a Quilt machine look as AWESOME as it is? Especially when it is getting dark out? I know I don't do much for it.





Maybe the machine and the computer? It is a fancy pants Statler Stitcher after all? I have not done much blogging at all about the differences in the two machines. I just started quilting and haven't looked back a second.

Maybe just the machine? Naa...

Just the computer? Who likes Computers? I really am not wild about them, but this one is pretty awesome. For real life.

Maybe the old machine...she is amazing as well...and I plan to get her a new table one day soon. She will love that. You can rent her to quilt your own quilts if you are near Leavenworth and have a hankering !

I don't know how to market myself. I know that I LOVE to quilt, I know that I have the best tools and machines at my fingertips, I know my turnaround is very fast. I free hand quilt, custom quilt and do a magnificent edge to edge.

I am trying to reinvent myself as a quilter instead of being just a bag maker. I am wild to design quilts, but Quilting is where my passion has always been. I need to make it so in real life!

xo, Tia Curtis

My #xplusalong quilt is quilted

Hey there! Here is my second quilt for the blog today. It is my #xplusalong quilt from instagram. I kinda dig instagram. I am forever snapping pictures and putting them there but them I forget to blog about them as well. It is such a great crafty community out there! I started making this x-plus quilt. The main blocks are inspired by a spectacular quilt from the Tokyo quilt show. I found the tutorial to make the blocks on Bad Skirt Amy blog, but I can't find a link for it right now and it is making me a bit crazy. Anyway I was only good for this many blocks...so I filled in with half square triangles of my new favorite sorta solid ( Hand dyed Ombres by Marcus Brothers). I also decided it needed a couple boarders, I was going to do a bunch of fancy boarders, but only managed this many. and only one is fancy.

Here the quilt is on the frame with my long arm. I used a combination of both computer guided designs and my own freehand quilting.

Last night this fellow was sewing behind me. He has plans to make a viking quilt, but I am taking too long, so he wants to just do it himself. I am trying to help him out with my sweet little featherweight.

I am pretty happy with how the quilting turned out, but the fact that the quilt it hilariously NOT square gave me a bit of drama at the end. So few of my quilts are square...I am such a hasty piecer. I just want to get to the quilting!

You can see the bigger green boarders here. I figured it would be hard to see them, so I didn't do anything too wild in them. Just a feather and some curved crosshatching.

I used one of my new tricks here in the pink triangles! Point to Point quilting! That I will use often!

More curved crosshatching in the plain blocks...

And the back is Anna Maria Horner Linen. I think this is where most of the drama stemmed from. I didn't order enough so I tried to be thrifty and the back was about 2 inches skinnier than the top....so my original boarder quilting plan had to be scrapped for feathers on the sides. At any rate I think it turned out just fine and someday I will bind it and toss it on my bed...I really can't wait to see the texture after I wash this quilt! Next up will be a bunch of T-shirt quilts and some Hero bags that I have been dragging my feet on.

Have a the best week ever!

xo,
Tia

Lori's quilt

Hey there! How are you all doing? I hope you are good. I have been busy quilting away. I had a great Statler Stitcher Class last week with Beth (Show Me Quilting). I bought my New Gammill from her earlier this year and she has been teaching me some of its more complicated tricks. Really Really amazing stuff....I quilted this top for Lori right after I finished her class and some easy going back and forth lines was just the thing for a mind filled to bursting with new ideas!

The texture on this quilt is going to be really amazing. I used Quilters Dream Cotton batting in Deluxe loft. I just bought a roll of it and I love it. Seems each batting I use by Quilters Dream I love. At the moment I provide Quilters Dream Cotton (in both Select and Deluxe loft), Quilters Dream Wool, Quilters Dream blend and Quilters Dream Puff. I have not tired the puff yet...maybe on my next quilt?

I also wanted to show this label on the back of the quilt. Isn't that great? I do love my Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild.

Sweet Viola the Ocean Waves quilt

Happy Saturday morning! I hope you are all good. It is a great day here to just burrow into your sewing room and create wonderful things. It is grey and rainy and I love it! I finished up the binding on this old quilt this morning. I found this top in town at an antique store. I only made it as far as the first couple booths, and had to dash out (after paying of course) with my treasure in my arms. I guess I was afraid some other feral quilter would snatch it out of my hands. This patten is called Ocean waves. Obviously it is a scrap quilt. I have another one with the same pattern downstairs but it is only blue and white, it is quite wonderful how just the fabrics make such a different effect. I feel like this quilt is almost laughing with the joyful bits of fabric that were used.

I tossed this top up on my frame almost as soon as I got home. I was between tops and was dying to try out some of my wonderful Statler designs. When I bought my new Gammill Long arm from Beth it had a multitude of wonderful designs loaded on it's computer and this was the chance for me to try a bunch of them out. Normally my clients like me to hand guide my custom quilts, and I love it, but I wanted to play with the perfection of the Statler Stitcher.

My kiddos came down and had fun picking out designs as well. The Dove was from Ethan.

 
The Peacock was Emma's choice. Anyway, this quilt will be given as a wedding present today to one of the men who works with my husband. I hope they like it...I am always torn when I give quilts. I LOVE quilts, pretty much any quilt I like. But what if the people I give it too think I am an idiot giving just a blanket? Will they see the love and blessings that were stitched into this piece? Will they see the fun and happiness I wish them to have in their marriage?

I got tired of quilting the diagonal lines, and just did swirls at the bottom part....I wish I would have done swirls all the way through it...or figured out how to do diagonal boarder quilting...I will learn that Monday, so I will do it on my other Ocean Waves quilt.

Oh well, if they don't like it I will be happy to take it back and use it in my household.

Here is the Label that came with the top. Viola hand pieced this quilt back in 1954. I wonder what her life was like? I hope it was a good one!

Do you feel odd about giving quilts as gifts? Sometimes I feel they may be perceived as over the top...or old fashioned, but my house is swelling at the seams with quilts. I really don't NEED any more, but boy to I love to make them!

Have a happy weekend!
Tia

a pair of shirt stripe quilts

Hey there! Today I have some shots of the Shirt Stripe quilts I custom quilted for a very nice lady. I think these quilts are filled with some of the best stripes don't you? She said that most of the stripes are from stripe shirts that she has been collecting.

Since the quilts are for little boys we wanted the quilting to be more linear and masculine. I used my channel lock feature a ton on this quilt and I LOVE it so much!

The quilting is wonderfully visible on the solid backs. Great quilts! I have a couple other finishes to show soon. One I  kick myself for not taking a picture of, but maybe I can catch up with it at KCMQG. Who knows?

Have a great day and I hope you find time to make some great things!

xo,
Tia

Collage winner!

Hei there folks!

I sure hope you are all doing well! I forgot to choose a winner for the Collage pack of fabric! Shame on me. Ha.

I finally emerged from my Quilt lair long enough to pick a winner. Such great words you all picked. The winner is....

1. 
   SarahApril 16, 2013 at 10:38 AM

   Lately my favorite word has been make. I feel I need to have that tattooed on my eyes, it motivates me to get started and do stuff!

   Reply