Tuesday, June 30, 2020

㆕ Four Charity Quilts 🎁

During this time of global pandemic,  Minnesota Quilters  is not able to meet in person, but there is still a need for charity quilts. MQ has made it easy to help by having curbside Quilting For Others pick-up and drop-off every Wednesday, from 11 to 1 PM. They have quilts in all stages to choose from--blocks to be made, squares to be sewn together into tops, and quilts to be quilted. As a longarm quilter with a newly added computer to practice with, I took home 4 quilt tops to quilt, with backs and battings.

One of the MQ ongoing projects is Heartstrings quilts, strips sewn on muslin foundations, with a red strip down the middle. These quilts go to the Harriet Tubman Women's Shelter in Minneapolis. Three of the quilts I brought home were Heartstrings quilts, plus a fourth quilt was a small quilt.

I quilted my first quilt with "Swirls" and love how it turned out ⤵️
For my second Heartstrings quilt I used "Malachite"-another success, although it didn't start out that way. The backing was a sheet, and on my practice stitching on the edge, to test the tension, it looked great on top, but on the back the batting was poking through on nearly every stitch! I switched to a smaller size needle, 3.5, and all was well again! Yay!  ⤵️
The quilting shows up great on that solid sheet backing! So glad I was able to tame it. ⤵️
For my third quilt I tried an edge to edge called "African Safari" ⤵️
I saved the smaller quilt for last, as I thought it would be easier and quicker to quilt. When I opened the bundle, I had to change my whole plan! There was too much random fullness in this quilt to use the edge-to-edge design I had hoped to try out. ⤵️
Instead I did a freehand overall meander, with careful manipulating as I went, so as to not add anymore pleats or tucks. Here's how it turned out. ⤵️
Here are the four all together! ⤵️ They're ready to go back to MQ at their handy curbside pick-up, drop-off!!
Grace and peace!!! ~Nancy

16 comments:

  1. They're all so beautiful! I love the look of that solid back, really shows off the texture. I always think it's magic that the right quilting design can make a top that's not flat ... well, flat!

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  2. You did a great job on all four of these, Nancy! It's really cool that you're able to quilt different designs on these nearly identical Heart Strings tops, to see the different impact that each different quilting pattern brings to the piecing. EXCELLENT save with the smaller needle on the bed sheet backing -- that was genius for sure. I really struggled with a charity quilt that came with bed sheet backing due to the tight weave. I don't remember whether I tried a smaller needle or not (I have blocked out all bad memories associated with that particular quilt!). You did a great job disguising the extra fullness in the last quilt, too. No one would ever know the top had "extra personality" in some places. I have probably asked you this already, but which computerized program did you add to your APQS machine, and how are you liking it? Did you get the APQS specific Quilt Path, the third party IntelliQuilter, or some other option? I'm wondering what the learning curve is like and whether you are finding adequate support and resources easy to find?

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  3. Nice work, Nancy! I love the quilting designs. I have a couple of quilt tops that I should donate; I just need to get backings for them.

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  4. Nancy they are all beautiful! You are doing so much with that longarm and I enjoy seeing each quilt completed.

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  5. I love the texture of Malachite, I have done something similar freehand. Good work my friend, I am sure the guild appreciates your talent.

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  6. Beautiful!!! Love the string quilts. Although many of our favorite activities (eating out, meeting friends, going to the spa) are not possible, the need for charity quilts is sadly never ending. Your quilting is exquisite - as always. Stay safe.

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  7. I love the malachite design--so cool! What a great way to practice your new program!

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  8. I can only dream of having a long arm. Someone did lots of work on those string blocks. I can't wait until our guild can finally meet again.....sigh....

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  9. Such beautiful projects for a special group of ladies. I'm sure these quilts will be a blessing. I love how LAQs can cover a "multitude of sins" with their gift of quilting! The work of this special group of people is my appreciated by me! Blessings!

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  10. Lovely quilting! Thanks for the show!

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  11. Beautiful job and you mastered the last one with fullness. It will be gorgeous once its laundered. Thank you for linking up to Put your foot down.

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  12. Wonderful job and fun that an experienced quilter like you is still learning! The needle save was genius as was the meandering to “make the fullness work”! Great job!

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  13. Beautifully done! I love the Heartstrings quilts. The red strip down the center is a great unifying feature. You did a great job taming the extra fullness on that small quilt :) Thanks for linking to TGIFF this week :)

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  14. Really, really beautiful job as always. Love the scrappy heartstrings quilts, and appreciate your honesty about how not everything is easy and what you did about it so we can all learn. Thanks for linking to the Chameleon's Colour & Inspiration party. :)

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  15. What a great idea for a group to organise! I am really impressed. And what a great way for you to get practice!
    Love the results on all the quilts. You have done so well with the different designs. I love seeing all the different quilting you do.

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  16. Great idea to have curbside pickup for the charity quilts because the need is always great and doesn't stop, even for a pandemic! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.

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