My Niece's Sixth Quilt

My niece, Miss S, bought a stack of five inch scrappy flannel squares at a local quilt shop.  On her last visit to Utah, she brought them to my house.  We laid them out on my design wall to determine a balanced layout.  Then she sewed them together at my Mother-in-law's house.

We quilted it on the Bernina Q24 with the Qmatic.  She chose a cute flower design.

It turned out so cute on the scrappy flannel patchwork quilt.

While the computer is fun and has great results, I could have quilted it faster than it took me to set it up on the computer.

She chose a soft pink flannel for the backing and binding.

This is the first quilt that she did most of the binding herself.  She did great mitering the corners!

Here she is with the finished quilt (on a really windy day).  She left for home the next day.

Miss S has already pieced her next quilt.  It is a jelly roll race.  I look forward to her next visit to Utah so that we can finish it together.

Quilting with my family is so rewarding.

XX,
Jasmine

My Nephew's First Quilt

This is my nephew Mr. C's first quilt.  My mother and I put together a few different boy kits for basic Turning 20 quilts and he chose this blue, green, and gray kit. I helped him cut it out and decide on a layout on my mom's new design wall.  Then my mom helped him sew it all together by pinning and pressing.

My mom usually starts similar quilts with the granddaughters when they turn thirteen, but only recently offered to teach the grandsons.  Mr. C was the first after Cheetah to make his quilt.   He is a senior in high school.  We learned that he was always a little jealous of his cousins and sisters who were given the chance earlier.  So my mom is grateful she listened to my suggestion and offered to teach the grandsons.  Three more of my nephews have expressed interest and will be making similar quilts soon.

I quilted it for him on the Bernina Q24 with the Q-matic (computerized quilting).  While I absolutely love free motion quilting, some designs look a little better with the computer.  (It is also nice to let the computer do the quilting when you have a nasty cold.)

Mr. C chose this fun boxy meander design.

I think it looks great on such a masculine quilt.

He also asked me to finish the binding for him which I did completely by machine.

I am so proud of him!  His quilt turned out awesome.

We bought a 90 inch wide gray minky for the back of his quilt.

I love how the quilting design shows up on the minky.

What a fun quilt with lots of memories.

I will always remember how appreciative he was every step of the way.  It is always nice being told that you are an amazing aunt, right?

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar.  Check them out to see what other quilters are making.

Bindings Galore

I mentioned in a previous post that my pile of unbound baby blankets was growing.  I had four at the time which were all quilted with the Q-matic on the Bernina Q24.

My pile doubled in size before I started on the bindings.

Two of the boy blankets (on the left) were quilted free-motion to try new types of thread.  Two were quilted with the Q-matic (on the right).  It took about half of the time to free-motion quilt them than for the computer to quilt them.  However, I can't free-motion quilt such cute lizards or such perfect squares and rectangles.  I definitely think that both types of quilting have their place.

I think there is a reason why I usually work on one quilt at a time.  Binding eight quilts at once wasn't nearly as much fun as quilting them!

I have already used the computerized boxy meander design on my nephew's quilt.  Hopefully life will get a little less crazy and I will have more time for blogging and playing in my studio.

XX,
Jasmine

Computerized Quilting: Bernina Q-matic

My mom and I recently went to the Q-matic class for the Bernina Q24.  Before the class I had not even turned on the computer.  Honestly, I was having too much fun playing with free-motion quilting on the longarm. ;)

The teacher was so helpful and inspiring that I practiced on a little muslin the next day.

Then I pulled out some baby flannel to practice digital pantographs on as well.

Normally, I use the envelope method to finish the edges before tying the blanket or quilting it.  I only buy a yard and a half for the top and the back.  I ended up sewing scraps to both ends of the backing to make it longer.

I cheated by not using the side clamps and just kept the stitching a half an inch in from the selvages.

It was so much fun that I just kept going...

and going...

and going!

The only problem is that now I have a growing pile of baby blankets that need binding.

I could have quilted these much faster if I just free-motion quilted them.  However, they were great practice for learning a new skill.  Maybe sometime I will combine free-motion and computerized quilting in the same quilt.

It is probably a good thing that I practiced on these baby blankets.  My nephew Mr. C just finished piecing his first quilt top.  He really liked the boxy meander digital pantograph that came with the Q-matic.  I may practice that on baby flannel before trying it on his quilt.

XX,
Jasmine