Logging with Sally!

Sally was the first customer to play on Lolah in June 2014. At that time, I hadn't decided to take photos for the blog so I don't have anything to show.

Files and photos (2014) saved on that dead hard drive are being recovered (I hope successfully) by our son who brought it home with him. We'll know soon if the drive was damaged beyond recovery! It looks promising after diagnostic testing so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Sally returned with a colorful log cabin pieced by her friend Hollie. We had a long thread-choosing session which, to me, is always fun because the color you think you'd like is sometimes not the one you end up using. Sally chose FilTec Glide in Celery, a pale green and a wool batting.

How do you quilt words on a dark fabric? Do you freehand? Do you mark it with a white chalk pencil? Sally wanted to write "Blessings are all around us" on all four narrow borders. In order to keep the spacing and lettering the same size, we made a template in Word, and traced the blessings on Glad Press & Seal, and "pressed" it on the border. The idea is that you can quilt over the Press & Seal. It worked but it was a little difficult to see the lettering perhaps because of the reflected light off the surface. So Sally used the template mainly for spacing.

And off she went... working freehand...

Sometimes, one handed...

Lights off... except for Lolah's lights...

Hollie kept busy making another apron...

We do have fun...

The backing is quite lovely!

But look at this beauty!! Hollie had left before Sally was done quilting so we had to enlist some help to hold up the quilt for photos! 

Writing adds a personalized touch to any quilt... this one is extra special to Sally! 

Well done Sally! This will keep your guests warm this winter!

The barn progress was spotty over the holidays but we are thrilled with how it looks. The garage doors have been installed, the power has been hooked up, all the siding is applied as well as insulation, the geothermal units are in although not connected (grrrr....) but the building is secure, and we've been able to move in some boxes from the farmhouse in time for our children to arrive! The wood paneling has been delivered and will be first order to finish the walls upstairs so we can continue to empty house and trailers. Sorting, tossing, keeping, and donating will be a bear! 

In this photo, the siding is not yet on the north wall... the two openings will get barn doors fabricated to look like the garage doors by our contractor using some siding planks. This should keep the north winds from wrenching the doors from our hands when opening them. 

I hope you all enjoyed a great holiday season! Happy New Year everyone!

Toodles,

Lorette

Hollie's threesome!

Christmas ORNAMENTS update....

Before I launch the next session of Lolah's friends, I want to tell everyone that there are still a few ornaments left to purchase... hurry... go have a look and make your donation today. You can call me to reserve yours or email me your request! I'll set it aside for you! PLEASE!!

On with the show...

I first met Hollie in the summer of 2013 at the Lupin Quilt Fair & Sale. I purchased 7 quilt tops and several were Hollie's. As the show was drawing to a close, I went to pick up my purchases; Hollie came up to me and introduced herself. I love her work, she's an expert piecer and she has a great sense of color. We seem to like the same fabrics/colors/scrappy look.

If you've been to the shop in the last few months, especially if there was someone on Lolah, you might have met Hollie. She is a local crafter who grew up in the area; she's very productive and sells her crafts at many local shows and at the craft shop in her village. 

Hollie is a dedicated hand quilter. I remember the first time she came to visit the shop and she looked at Lolah with skepticism. Not her thing! As she worked with those who came to quilt on Lolah, she became anxious to try her hand at it. Soon she was so excited to try Lolah that she even dreamed about what and how she would quilt.

She came armed with 3 lap-sized quilts... not shy at all about the process! Her first quilt is called: To Ryan; she chose wool batting and FilTec's Citron Yellow Glide Thread, a perfect green color thread that seems to glow in black lighting. 

We turned the overhead lights off, turned on Lolah's black light. She quilted this quilt in no time at all. 

Sweet... Hollie is looking for a black light for Ryan's room! How cool would that be for a little boy to sleep under a glowing blanket?

The backing is flannel.

This quilt was done by 10:30am.

What a lucky little boy!

Wasting no time, we loaded quilt no 2 and then the shop got busy. I don't have pictures of Hollie quilting on this one but we have the finish. 

Quilt no 2 is a gift for her mother-in-law for Christmas. This one also has a wool batt and it was quilted with FilTec's Mango Glide thread. 

Beautiful birds on this fabric... all free-motion quilting. Did I tell you that Hollie prefers free-motion to pantographs? She has tried her hand at the latter and she doesn't care for it. 

The backing for quilt no 2 is this gorgeous Christmas fabric... I spot a butterfly... the thread looks gold on the backing! Very good choice Hollie.

Her two quilts...

By the time she finished the second quilt, it was 11:30 am and lunch time. Customers were still in the shop and after they left, we loaded top no 3. This is a Santa panel to which she added a series of borders pulling fabrics from her extensive stash to coordinate with the colors in the panel... very clever. I recognize some, drool over others. 

Hollie brought this panel to the shop one day to find the right fabric for the outer border. This tree fabric was perfect. That day, I thought the panel looked familiar... I reached on one of the shelves under Lolah and took out my Santa panel... exactly the same! No wonder I like her fabrics! 

We turned out the lights again... wool batting made these quilts so soft... this time she used FilTec's Graphite Glide... the color name sounds grey but it looks blue on this quilt.

I took the following picture to record her start time... 

Hollie was anxious to try some ruler work... as a hand quilter with years of experience, she has developed a sense of how she will quilt the top she's working on. That is a big help when it comes to working on a longarm. Here she's quilting it the same as what she intended to do by hand. Only it took her less than 2 hrs instead of a week.

There was a lot of rolling back and forth to work around the quilt which is much easier to accomplish with a helper.

Hollie went looking in her stash and found this plaid for the backing. She's made it a point to use up some of her stash and made a pledge to refrain from purchasing ANY fabric in 2015!! Now I couldn't do that!! 

Well done Hollie! Three quilts completed each taking less than 2 hours. 

All the time she was quilting, she was dreaming of her next session... stay tuned for her second visit! Didn't I tell you she was productive? I wasn't joking!

Toodles,

Lorette