Last March, my bosses at Shannon Fabrics asked me to cut my travels short and come home. I was pretty sure my workload would decrease and I’d be able to finally spend some time learning to longarm quilt, so I bought a small Grace Company Q-Zone Hoop Frame and Q’Nique 15R from CaliQuiltCo. I’ve worked with Tayva many times and she was just starting to sell the machines, so it was an easy choice on where to buy one.
Fast forward a few months and the reality began to set it that not only was I not going back on the road, I wasn’t going to have any less work to do! Sew Together Tuesday had gotten some momentum and suddenly I was busier than ever. So the whole set up sat immobile for months. Then I had a bunch of quilts to finish and not enough time to do the design, piecing and quilting. So I asked Hawke to help out.
He did (and nailed it with that Prismatic Portal quilt), then in the process he learned a ton about quilting with the longarm. We did some more trials with the Cuddle® backing and with the Luxe Cuddle® backing. He taught me, I taught him, and together we taught a Sew Together Tuesday, all about using a small longarm to quilt with Cuddle®.
We had such a fun time (and so grateful it all worked pretty smoothly!) and I’m incredibly pleased that he was willing to help me out and not just behind-the-camera this time. Plus he tried something that I’ve wanted to, but haven’t developed the fine motor/artistic skills yet…. he traced big Kaffe Fassett flowers to create an amazingly beautiful quilting design on the back.
Seriously–How gorgeous is that? I can’t wait for him to do a whole quilt like this for me. <wink>
What we both realized is how much fun we have working together and how great Cuddle® works for quilt backing. Okay, we already both knew that last part… I’ve used it on a dozen quilts or so, but it was really great to show everyone how pretty and simple it actually is.
Happy quilting!
Oh my goodness, that is STUNNING!!! Love it!
Your demonstof the process really made it seem so much less mysterious and so much more accessible. Hawke’s work on the Kaffe floral is amazing and really shows the amazing results that can be had with Cuddle on the back! I’m so glad you shared all of it with us!
This segment on Sew Together Tuesday was so informative for those of us thinking about getting a longarm. Loved the collaboration between you and Hawke.