Good Morning, Quilters!
Congratulations to Andrea R (UK)! YOU have won a box of Aurifil thread in our I Love Home Quilting Sweepstakes! I will pass your email address on to Jacquelynne Steves so we can get the fabulous box of thread off to you. Enjoy!
LOOKING BACK
I am going through old quilts and old photos. Reviewing…
When I started quilting-back in the 90’s-I hand quilted all of my quilts. I still love hand quilting but I rarely do it any more.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Everything changed for me when master quilter, Diane Gaudynski came to my guild for a lecture on machine quilting on a domestic sewing machine.
I fell in love with her quilt, A Visit to Provence. and set my sites on learning everything I could about machine quilting.
First, I had to master feathers –that is when my doodling began. I doodled feathers constantly. I even traced around nickels to get the curves right-a recommended technique at the time.
Once the quilt was designed on paper, the next step was to transfer the design to fabric–always challenging. I went through a lot of the blue washout markers!
The stitching was simple-just follow the lines and concentrate of getting the stitch length even.
THREE POINT EVALUATION
I like to ask myself three questions when I finish a quilt:
What worked? What didn’t work? What would I do differently next time?
What Worked: I think the end result is beautiful! I adore classical feathers and cross hatching! I still use this quilt regularly. I love how the matching thread creates the texture and I think the batting supports the style of the quilt.
What Didn’t Work: I hated did not enjoy the excessive time it took to design and mark–more time than it took to stitch. I love to stitch. I hate to mark.
Also, I need a lesson on binding…and mitering corners.
What would I do next time? Find a binding tutorial. Now that the pattern is created…try another color fabric and perhaps a different stencil design in the center. Or use the feathers around an appliqué.
For more information about Diane Gaudynski’s techniques find Quilt Savvy HERE (affiliate link)
In the beginning….
My early quilting was very classic…feathers, cross hatching, stippling (yes, I can stipple!).
I relied heavily on stencils and patterns. And while I still love this look— it lacks personality.
My quilting style change dramatically when...
To be continued!
A BACKWARD GLANCE
What about YOU? What inspired YOU to quilt?
Has YOUR style evolved over time?
Perhaps you could take a minute to evaluate your old quilts. Write down a few notes in your quilt notebook?
We’d LOVE to hear about YOUR quilting journey!
Happy Stitching!
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all the purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
37 comments
Keta
Beautiful just beautiful! I would love to learn fmq.
Barb Ellis
Some years ago we had a lady named Carol who would do FMQing on her jackets and table-runners at our quild. I would watch her and think I could probably do this. Well I had a lot of a mess and sometimes it worked great but I was ready to saw it was beyond my talent. Then I did a 1 day a month quilting class with different teachers and then I found you. I now love quilting more then making the quilt. I can’t wait to get the project finished so I can do the free motion. Thanks Lori.
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Yes!!! Music to my ears!
Andrea
I’m loving your look back and how your quilting has changed. I’m just starting my quilting journey and taking advantage of the fantastic people who share their knowledge.
Also thank you so much for the chance to win the Aurifil threads, I am over the moon I won ????
Marta
Congratulations… what a special thing for a beginner ! Happy for you !
Norma
I have sewn since I was 5 years old, but I resisted making quilts. Then we bought a beautiful southern house built in 1877. She started whispering that she wanted quilts. Then she said that she NEEDED quilts. Finally, I paid attention and promised her one little throw that a friend quilted. But, that was not enough! She no longer had to ask for quilts because I wanted them in every room and then seasonal quilts for every room. So began my quilting passion. I started with stitch in the ditch quilting. I then paid to have quilts quilted. Your blog, book and crafts class have made me a free motion quilter. I am hooked. I keep pens and a notebook in the car for our cross-country trips. I doodle the designs I want for my next quilts. Thank you!
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So nice to hear! Your house must be lovely!
Marta
Lori . I hope there will be a post sometime on putting designs onto the fabric. I have a large one which will be sewn, (thread art?) not pieced, on a whole cloth… 28 X 38 inches. Thanks…
Mrs. Plum
I have sewn since I was 5 years old, and although I sewed many, many garments, I resisted quilting. My quilter friends all encouraged me to try it, and I finally decided I wanted 3 wall quilts for my home, and after I made those, I would never quilt again. Ha!!!!!!! What I realized early on was quilting required fabric, to which I have a costly addiction. Almost 20 years later, I am still quilting and loving it. I have been blessed to be able to take classes with some of the industry’s titans, including Diane Gaudynski. Mostly I design my own quilts. I like incorporating different techniques, trims, embellishments, etc. into my work. I began as solely a piecer, but now enjoy needle-turn appliqué as well.
Thanks for encouraging doodling. Not only are designs developed, but spatial memory as well.
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Quilting is addictive!!
Maureen B. in B.C.
Hell ya! Scratch any quilter and they bleed red dye, or perhaps tie dye.
Blanca Rico
I love the results and would love to try the method.
Congratulations for Andrea for winning the prize!
Carole @ From My Carolina Home
Yes my quilting has definitely evolved, from simple and not worrying about details, to more and more complex with increasing accuracy. Such a fun hobby. Thank you for sharing all your quilting designs, and congratulations to Andrea – Aurifil is the best!
Silvia Regina Borges
My beginning was very hard trying to “drive” my sewing machine. A little ago all that I knew resumed to regular stippling and a bit of feathers, wonky ones. After your Craftsy classes oh God, how much I improved my quilting dexterity. Some time ago I used to draw zentangles… I even made one in fabric and used colored pencils to embellish the fabric zentangle! But now after watching your awesome quilting designs, I think I can reach a good standard. Thanks for sharing your gifts.
Michele K
I joined a guild and took classes. One was a design class. I invited others to join me and we used the book fearless Design for Every Quilt by Lorraine Torrence & Jean Mills. The book is meant for groups. It gave us the common celements of design and was fun to compare our individual work. We have been together several years and move on to topics as we are inspired – lots of “you can do it” resources.!
Janet Licari
I was inspired by my husband’s mother who made quilts using kits from a catalog company. They were beautiful applique and cross stitched and embroidered quilts. I bought one and loved it. I bought a quilt magazine and tried a pieced quilt…loved it even more! At that time everything was done by hand. A few years later I moved into machine pieced and hand quilted…I love to quilt feathered designs and have quite a collection of patterns. Finally there were quilting shows on PBS stations on TV and I saw there were large machines you could free motion with and some home machine sit down quilting. Later the internet happened and there is tons of information and inspiration. Craftsy for one, is a ton of inspiration and instruction. I was lucky enough to find The Inbox Jaunt and love it. Thank you for all of your help and work. I love to read your posts!
Annika
There is a great Craftsy class on binding and miters, by Susan Cleveland. I believe you as a Craftsy teacher can easily check this out!
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Thank you! I did watch this great video. (The quilt shown is more than ten years old–i have since learned to miter corners)
Sunnysewsit
I, too, like the piecing process, having evolved from garments and home dec projects to quilting. I even like the FMQ – IF the project is not too large. I recently finished quilting a 76 x 90 quilt and stitched in the ditch on all of it. I hated dealing with all the bulk of a larger quilt, so those will be sent to the long-arm quilter. But for smaller projects, I love the freedom of free-motion quilting, and Lori, you have given all of us who follow your blog such inspiration!
CarolE
My style of quilts hasn’t changed much. I really like traditional quilts. Lately, though, a few modern quilts have caught my eye. What has changed the most for me — I made quilt tops for 10 years. I was too afraid to try the actual quilting!! You, Lori, and other quilters encouraged me to do the quilting. I finally dived in knowing with practice it would get better. Now it is my favorite part of the whole process!! As I piece a quilt I’m thinking about how I am going to quilt it!! Thanks for all the encouragement!
Barbara
My older sister got me hooked on quilting back in the 90’s. She was addicted to fabric and planning quilts. When she started showing me her stash and her hand pieced, hand quilts I was hooked. Back then I didn’t know about the “rules” of quilt piecing let alone quilting the quilt sandwich. I simply found a picture of a partial quilt that struck my fancy and started by drawing out the way I wanted it to look and bought some fabric. My first quilt had many mistakes, hand pieced and hand quilted, but I’m rather proud of it. Since I’ve loved sewing clothes for many years, learning to piece by machine came naturally to me, as did my addiction to fabric. Of course, I have many unfinished quilt tops and have been trying to learn free motion quilting so that I can finish all of them at some time or another before I’m too senile to remember how to do it. Hopefully that won’t any time in the next 10 or 15 years!
Becky Thompson
My quilting began with the birth of my first grandchild. I already garment sew so how hard could it be? ha Seven years and a long arm later, here I am! ta da! Complete with a $348 a month payment at zero percent for the next 3 years. I convinced myself it was free money and this was my retirement-retirement gig so it’s an “investment”. I can’t doodle at all – so I have no idea why I follow your blog…envy maybe? – so I purchased the Quilt Butler to do all the “drawing” for me. The Butler and I get along pretty well. I discovered I enjoy the piecing process, I’m not so fond of the applique process, and when I stitch on my sit-down or domestic machine, it looks like a 4 year old did it. But I love fabric, shop hops, following a pattern, playing on the long arm, and binding. And I love perusing the quilting blogs like yours!
Maureen B. in B.C.
Lori, I tried free motion in the very first quilt I ever made … talk about hubris! No one told me I couldn’t, so I thought I could. Just like little kids drawing, it isn’t until someone tells them it’s not great that they stop thinking they’re brilliant. But I digress.
I have a friend who made a few quilts and was urging me to try quilting, I was avoiding it because I have a tendency to be a ‘both feet’ person … I never try anything lightly, I always end up ‘both feet’ involved, and up to my neck. Around my house I have a trail of things from my crafting life … the macramé period, the ceramics period, the folk art period, the watercolour period, the acrylics period, and now the quilting period which is ongoing. Anyway, this friend kept prodding, while I stayed steadfastly strong … until a particular seaside fabric showed up in the local fabric shop. I thought, “well, I could make just this one, and then Gerry would leave me alone”. So she helped me, and I made my ‘one and only quilt’. I was happy. THEN, Gerry’s husband got a job in Houston; they were moving, soon. Gerry had promised to make a quilt for our mutual friend, Sylvia. “Maureen will make it for you, Sylvia” Gerry says. EEK! I’ve made ONE quilt, and now I’m supposed to do a commission? EEK!!! I think about it a bit, then I say “OK, if Sylvia is happy with EXACTLY the pattern I have already used, I’ll give it a whirl”, Sylvia is a very easy friend.
Sooooo, it wasn’t the FIRST quilt that hooked me, it was the SECOND. After that there was no looking back. But every time I see Gerry I let her know this addiction is ALL HER FAULT. The last time I said it she asked if she was ever going to get off the hook, and I replied NO! There has to be someone to blame, right?! ????
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Lol!! Your story is hilarious!! Im so glad you made it to the quilting path!
Maureen B. in B.C.
Me too. The trail of unfinished projects ends here, with yet more unfinished projects, but quilty ones this time, so I can’t die until they’re all done ????
Diana Lassahn
My first quilt wasn’t quilted as I didn’t know anything about that. It was a Christmas quilt with 8 santa faces from 8 pillow panels. Instead I embroidered it. Took 2 winters. LOL. Then I did hand quilting until the number of my quilts were too many and I went to machine quilting.
Martha
I’m enjoying this look back! A great way to observe personal growth and changing styles!
Nadine Vining
Diane Gaudynski is one of my heros. I’ve spent many a rainy day binging on reading her blog archives and learned so much, as I do from you, Lori, and I appreciate the time and effort you devote to your readers. I still sigh for perfection in my free motion quilting, but love that I have been able to give away many, many children’s quilts to charity in my quest to learn this wonderful art form. (And your motifs are on them) So thankful for the internet, you tube and dedicated bloggers such as yourself.
Rosemaryflower
I love your story of your adventure, sometimes dipping your toe into something makes you want to jump in immediately. I am so grateful for your enthusiastic sharing of your skills and guidance. I have learned a lot, I do not have a lot of hands on practice, but your blog is my greatest resource for inspiration
I have always been a sewist, and just started the piecing. My quilting (finishing) days are ahead of me because regrettably all of my finished tops or other projects needing backing pinning and quilting, are stacked very high on my dining room table. Yes. Now you know.
And, as long as I am spilling my guts here, I have four projects on the burner, just working on all of them at the same time.
I am nuts. Don’t tell anyone.
My barrier to completing projects is time, and how I choose to spend it, I would rather make all the tops. I am taking care of daddy now, and also a gramma to two littles.
AND we just got a new kitten (after the tragic loss of my young handsome Pierro in my profile picture)
Life is good.
Dawk
Am I the only one here who thinks she sounds normal, LOL? Seems like you’re living a very full life. Thank you for sharing.
Vivian Lewis
Thanks for sharing this story!
Kathy D
Nice to see you Rosemary! We all need extra time -like 48 instead of 24 hours in a day.
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We are all a little nuts…. thanks for sharing!
Mary Wolfersberger
I can’t believe it! Am I the first one awake this morning??? My quilting style has changed since finding you, Lori. I have branched out from scared traditional to free motion frenzy, willing to try any pattern. Thanks for expanding my vision.
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Love “free motion frenzy!” Cant wait until October!
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