2 QOV tops to longarm

 I'm longarming, and on my frame will be 2 Quilt of Valor tops.  Both are for the national Quilt of Valor Foundation.  This was the first one...

I love QOV quilts.  I attended our group's last awards ceremony where we awarded over 25 quilts to deserving veterans.  The man I gave my quilt to gave me 3 hugs because he was so grateful.

If you would like to serve veterans in this way you can visit the QOV Foundation website to find a quilt sewing group in your area. There are groups all across the country! 
https://www.qovf.org/about-qovf/whos-in-my-area/

 The search function on their site doesn't work very well if you enter a zip code.  You have better results if you zoom in on your location using their map.

Here's the 2nd one...

Yesterday, I cut out the pieces for a small wall hanging I plan to hang in my foyer/hallway.  It's a Jolly Bar quilt, from the Fat Quarter Shop. When you buy a Jolly Bar a free pattern comes with the package.  A Jolly Bar contains 40 5"x10" strips of a fabric collection.

Under my needle today

 I'm working on a large quilt today, 116" x 93"!  I haven't sent a post lately about what I'm working on in awhile.  I have my new wall hanging where it can be seen easily.  

If you're visiting my page looking for information about my services, I would love to help you finish your quilt!

Table runners

 I've finished 2 table runners and they were a breeze to make.  The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company called Friendship Chain.  The shorter one is for my sister.  She asked for a table runner with a sunflower theme and I found the perfect fabrics for it!  The other one is for my dining room table.

Van Gogh

This is a baby quilt I longarmed this afternoon, it's a top made by a customer. I used a design that reminds me of the curves in Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Back to work after a long delay

 My longarm machine is finally back from being serviced, being gone 6 weeks!  Far too long, I'll take it somewhere else next time.  In the meantime I spent time working on UFOs.  Here's one... the Sugar & Spice quilt from Studio 180 Design. The fabric collection I used is called Promenade by Moda Fabrics.

I feels so good to be back to work!  Here's the quilt on my frame this afternoon.  It's the second of 4 QOV quilts I need to finish this week.  2 are for the National Foundation and 2 are for the local QOV group.

Update 3/24/2024:  I have made the star blocks and laid out the pieces for the center 

of the Sugar & Spice quilt.  I still have 2 borders to add, then I can assembled the quilt top!

Latest QOV is on the frame

 Here's the latest Quilt of Valor I'm working on today!  National Sewing Day is this Saturday and I have 4 QOV tops to longarm so I can turn them in on Saturday.

Triangle Star

 

My latest quilt is called Triangle Stars.  It has 560 HSTs.  In August, my husband and I spent a week in Williamsburg, Virginia at a resort.  He spent some of his time riding his bike on the bike trails and I spent my time sewing the HSTs.  I put the HSTs together last month and now I'm making the applique blocks. There are appliques that go in each corner and then I can assemble the blocks!

Sugar & Spice quilt pattern

 My next quilt project is starting this week.  I found the very last fat quarter pack of the fabric collection Promenade by Moda.  This collection is sold out everywhere but I found one website that still had the fat quarter pack!  

The pattern calls for the use of 2 rulers made by Studio 180 and I have those rulers.  One is the Tucker Trimmer I and the other is the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler.

Quilt of Valor

 I made this quilt a few months ago, longarmed it and finally finished the binding this afternoon. It’s being donated to the QOV sewing group I’m in. 

Winnie the Pooh quilt

 I've longarmed 15 quilts since my last post and I thought I'd better get another post up since it's been so long!  This is a customer's adorable Winnie the Pooh quilt.  It's a queen size and it's looking great!

The Christmas rush has begun!  I've got 14 more quilts here, waiting to be longarmed.  4 of those are charity quilts, all for the Quilt of Valor sewing group I'm in.

Quilt of Valor tops

 I'm working on more Quilt of Valor tops this week.  It is a privilege to do a small part in making these comforting and healing quilts for Veterans who gave so much of their lives serving our nation.  

If you sew, please consider becoming a volunteer to make quilt tops for these men and women.  You can find a local QOV sewing group by contacting the National foundation.  Their web site  is https://www.qovf.org/

   

QOV awarded to a veteran

 I have the honor and privilege of longarming Quilts of Valor for both our local sewing group and for the national foundation.  I was happy to receive photos from the award ceremony of one recent quilt.  This quilt was awarded to Army Veteran Master Sergeant Christopher Pfahl.  His military service began in 1997.  He went into the Army reserves after two enlistments and has been deployed twice to the Middle East, once as recently as last year.  

Thank you for your service Master Sergeant Pfahl!

 

One of my own quilts

I've been stitching quilts for others for so long I forgot I had some of my own to get finished.  Today I put one of those on my frame.  Here it is!  This one was made 6 years ago!  It has 1840s reproduction fabrics used in it, and they are homespun all except for the background fabric.  I hope to get one more of my own on the frame before I start back on client quilts!

The latest quilt top on my frame

I've taken a week off from stitching because I stretched a ligament on the side of my knee. Not wanting to make it worse I rested my leg for several days to give a chance to heal. Today I'm gingerly walking around my longarm frame to start a quilt for a customer. Here's a photo! You can't see it in the photo but I'm stitching the Linda's Daisies pantograph on it with pink thread.

A recent customer quilt

 This quilt top is from a friend of mine who is also a customer.  She found this top for $15 at the Scrap Exchange!  The Scrap Exchange is a thrift store where any type of leftover materials can be donated.  You might find a microscope, pool noodles, beakers from UNC or anything you can think of!  Businesses, individuals and Colleges donate their leftover scrap/materials and you can buy it for a song. 

Quilt of Valor

 I haven't posted a quilt top in awhile so I thought I'd show the Quilt of Valor top I'm longarming today.  I love QOV quilts.  I attended our group's last awards ceremony where we awarded over 25 quilts to deserving veterans.  The man I gave my quilt to gave me 3 hugs because he was so grateful.

If you would like to serve veterans in this way you can visit the QOV Foundation website to find a quilt sewing group in your area. 
There are groups all across the country!  https://www.qovf.org/about-qovf/whos-in-my-area/
 The search function on their site doesn't work very well if you enter a zip code.  You have better results if you zoom in on your location using their map.

Under my needle today

 I've been longarming quite a few quilt tops this month, it's the Christmas rush to get quilts finished in time!  Here is the one I had on my frame this morning. I stitched a feather design on this one, the fabric collection is from 3 Sisters by Moda.  I finished it and now have another one I'm loading this afternoon.  It's a great time to be a quilter!

5 QOV tops to finish by Wednesday evening

 I thought I'd update my blog with the task for this week.  I have 5 Quilt of Valor tops to work on before our QOV group meets on Thursday morning.  Here's a photo of the one on my frame this afternoon.  I'm using a pantograph called Star Streamers on each of the tops.

A Great Buy Found on Marketplace

 I found a Baby Lock Ellageo 3 on facebook marketplace and decided to buy it.  It's a 20 yr old sewing/embroidery machine and I'm very pleased with this purchase.  I took it in for a spa day and had a new needle threader put on.  It was sewing well before I took it in but it is even quieter now that it's been lubed up.

This machine does amazing decorative stitches. It's a 9mm but has feed dogs that move sideways so even larger decorative stitches can be done. The picture below shows a regular 9mm decorative stitch next to one of the larger stitches.  I'm amazed how big it is.

But the reason I bought it was for the embroidery aspect.  I plan to offer quilt labels to my customers and this machine has 11 beautiful embroidered alphabets.

I recommend buying used machines!  You can find some pretty good deals if you're patient enough to wait for them to come along!

I've been working on this quilt for a customer.  She used a fabric collection by Loralie and I think it's a beautiful quilt!

Here's a tip for other owners of the King Quilter 2.  I placed a magnet on my handlebars using the screw that was already there.  Now my scissors hang out right where I need them.  You can find this magnet on the Home Depot website.   I also placed a small stick-on magnet that holds my self-threading needle used for burying threads.  You can see it in this photo on the far left.

Sewing for the Quilt of Valor group

 I'm stitching quilt tops for my Quilt of Valor group this week.  There are about 20 women in our group and we sew quite a few tops each year.  3 of us are longarm quilters that finish the tops into quilts.  Here's the one I'm working on today!