Fabrics and Quilts Galore!

Here's what happened the week of April 13th. It was a busy 2 week period beginning with the previous as I gave 2 workshops/trunk shows and it was sale week at Spruce It Up.

Date: April 14th

Lolah's friend: Carole L.

Name/Pattern of the quilt: French Braid

Thread: Yellow Glide

Panto graph: Rose Vine

Batting: 100% polyester

Photos and a finish: Very pretty braid in these colors!

Date: April 14th

Lolah's friend: Carole L.

Name/Pattern of the quilt: quilting fabric to make a bag

Thread: Red Glide

Panto graph: Rose Vine

Batting: Soft and Stable

Photos and a finish: A wonderful bag in the making! Lolah loves Soft and Stable and the product quilts up beautifully!

Date: April 15th

Lolah's friend: Ann A

Name/Pattern of the quilt: Frozen panel quilt

Thread: Pink Glide

Panto graph: Easy Peasy

Batting: 100% poly

Photos and a finish: Ann has a very steady hand and did really well on both quilts!

Name/Pattern of the Quilt: Little Buckaroo

Thread: Mocha Glide

Panto graph: Interlocking Stipple

Batting: 80/20

Photos and a finish: This is really sweet!

Her friend dropped by to have a go with Lolah during her lunch hour!

Great baby quilt!

Date: April 17th

Lolah's friend: Marilyn O

Name/Pattern of the quilt: Jelly Roll Race

Thread: King Tut in purples and pinks

Panto graph: Hearts in Bloom

Batting: 100% cotton

Photos and a finish: Another gift for a teenager in need! Kindhearted Marilyn!!!

This just sparkles Marilyn!! Love that border detail!

Date: April 18th
Lolah's friend: Lise C-D

Name/Pattern of the Quilt: BOM at the Fabric Cupboard
Thread: Raven Glide

Panto graph: Chinook

Batting: 100% cotton

Photos and a finish: 

 A feature we love at Spruce It Up is to apply the binding while the quilt is loaded. It is so much faster but it does require a steady hand... a skill Lise possesses.

It's not always quiet while someone is on Lolah! There's hustle and bustle going on here! Check out the Show and Tell page (look on the header for it) and see the work brought in that week.

Marie announced an Ocean Waves Bargello class:

Shortly after the sale we received a new order of fabrics! Yes we do get excited to see new bolts!

Friends dropped in to see the new fabrics...

and chose their favorites for the Bargello class! Here the girls are looking through a value finder.

We do take time for ourselves! Sew evening with friends... Despite what the sign says, the shop was closed and it was after-hours! Hollie brought her Margaritaville and treated us all to a refreshing drink... dinner by our in-house chef followed.

Take time for yourselves! Have a sew day!

Toodles,

Lorette

Peggy's DWR, a secret no longer!

Connections... it amazes me every time I meet someone new just how they heard about Lolah and the shop especially when they're from away. In this case, Peggy, who is from New Glasgow, NS, was at a quilting class wondering how she was going to quilt this top in time to gift it. Someone mentioned Spruce It Up Quilt Shop so she called to inquire.

She visited for a consultation just before Christmas. She was prepared to do a heart design in the center of the rings; since I had loaded a sample piece on Lolah, I let her try out her design. She has experience with free motion quilting on her own sewing machine but as those of you who have tried a longarm know, quilting on Lolah is a little different. 

Peggy returned in early January with her gorgeous Double Wedding Ring quilt made for her daughter's wedding present. I was asked to keep it a secret until it was gifted and I gladly obliged! This one is a BIG beauty...

We had some thread issues at the beginning; batiks tend to test our skills with tension. The thread was so close to the deeper shade that there was a chance we wouldn't be able to find the loose threads to tie them off so Peggy learned how to use the side-loading needle and clamp.

Once Lolah behaved well, she was off and running... Hollie fell in love with this fabric. We even researched where we could find some... no luck, but if you know where we could get our hands on some let us know please!

Peggy chose to free motion quilt with Filtec's Glide in Raven, a lovely deep purple. As you can tell, she became quite comfortable with Lolah and soon was quilting with one hand. Basting down the edges was a must in preparation for the binding.

This is a huge quilt, made for a queen bed.

Hollie convinced her to add a little heart and a special message in the bottom ring... a lovely touch!

Basting the bottom edge... it takes a while. Lolah may be stitch-regulated but she doesn't have a programmed basting stitch.

What's not to love about this backing?

A BEAUTY revealed!

Hollie's husband Micheal and friends dropped by so we sent them outside to photograph the quilt in the sunlight!

Peggy was thrilled with her day. I'm sure her daughter and husband were in awe when they opened their gift. It's gorgeous!

Peggy provided this photo of the newly married with their quilt... they look pleased don't they?

I wonder how long it took Peggy to bind it?? Perhaps she'll let us know...

Toodles,

Lorette

New Format and Blogging Errata!

I have come to the realization that blogging is quite behind and at this rate, it would be difficult to catch up. Lolah has been very busy and tweaking of the photos is most time-consuming. Since readers to this blog have come to enjoy the pictures of the work done on Lolah, I don't want to eliminate them. Instead, starting with this post, I will condense the blog posts to HIGHLIGHTS. 

March wasn't such a busy time because we were away for the last two weeks. I've already told the story of Hollie and Shannon. I mistakenly introduced them as coming to quilt in MAY; it should have been MARCH. Another error was in the last post. In it, I introduce the winner and tell you there are 5 more chances to win. That should read 3. Corrections have been made!

The first of the Highlights will finish Lolah's March quilting except for one: Marilyn's Past President Challenge quilt which I cannot show you until after the June guild meeting. So here we go:

Date: Mar 5th: 

Lolah's friend: Lorette

Name/Pattern of the quilt: Spruce Logs (top made by Hollie)

Thread: Filtec's Glide Celery on top, Coffee in bobbin

Panto graph: called Paris by Natalie Gorman for Urban Elements

Batting: Eucalyptus! This was a sample given to me to see how I liked it, how it quilted. It created so much lint that halfway through the quilting I had to stop and clean Lolah. I have never seen so much lint!! The manufacturers will have to make improvements to this product before I will buy it!

Notes: This is about the time I started adding binding while the quilt was loaded, a feature you might like to do on your quilts if you come with  your binding prepared.

Photos and a finish: 

Date: March 9th

Lolah's friend: Daughter/Mother team Amy & Debbie

Name/Pattern of the quilt: Olivia's Big Girl Bed quilt

Thread: Filtec's Glide Salmon on top; Pearl in the bobbin

Panto graph: Whole Lotta Love and freehand hearts around the outer border

Batting: silk

Notes: Amy had basted and stitched around the outside border. We chose not to remove the stitches and to load it since the basting was well done.

Photos and a finish:

Date:  March 11th

Lolah's friend:  Odette and Irene 

Name/Pattern of the quilt:  A Quilt for Mother

Thread:  Filtec's Glide Peppermint on top; Celery in the bobbin

Panto graph:  Easy Peasy (now a new favorite for Odette!)

Batting: 80/20 cotton/poly

Notes: Irene was to quilt a nautical lap quilt but there wasn't enough backing to make a 2-sided quilt. Remember the backing has to be larger than the top.

Photos and a finish: 

I hope you enjoy the new format. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so from now on I'll keep my words to a minimum! As always, if you have questions about any of the quilting, please feel free to comment below or email me... you know where to find the info: up there... on the header!

Be sure to stay tuned as there have been numerous gorgeous quilts leaving the shop. I promise to work on the next Highlights report sooner rather than later!

Toodles,

Lorette

PS: Watch for the Row By Row blog post...