Custom Quilter, I Am!

Today I quilted my first custom quilt.  For real.  I know, I was surprised, too!  And it turned out pretty fantastic!

I’ve been wanting to make a chevron quilt for quite some time, and I finally did it – and quilted it today.  I knew exactly how I wanted it quilted, but I didn’t think it was something I could do myself, so I was going to ask Lucy, the owner of the shop where we rent long arm time, to quilt it for me.  Gretchen & Lucy had a conversation about it and Lucy said I could totally do it myself, and today I did!

My first plan was to stitch 1/4″ on either side of the seams:
Chevron

And that looked ok, but after conferring with Lucy & Gretchen, I decided to add another set of stitches right down the middle:
Zoom Grey

And I liked that so much better!

This was the first time I didn’t just program the computer and let it do it’s thing…I marked the quilt and plotted the points (then let it do it’s thing!).  You can even see my purple dots on the photo above.

The chevrons ended up orienting differently than I originally planned, but that’s because I had more fabric to add width, but not length (I had 9 prints and I didn’t want to repeat any, with 1 print on the back).  I honestly don’t think the recipient will care!

Oh, and here’s the back, in case you were wondering:
Back Zoom
Back

I was originally planning to use a lighter grey on the front as my solid, but I needed help deciding and took the Moda color card to work and asked my coworkers for help.  They’re not quilters, but that doesn’t matter when you’re picking out fabric colors! Here is where I originally posted about the solid color dilemma.

Ok, enough close-up photos – here it is…
Chevron Top Zoom

Chevron Top Done

I’m so thrilled with how this turned out.  The finished size is 60 x 70, and I used Amanda Jean’s Zig Zag tutorial over at Crazy Mom Quilts. The prints are Legacy by Angela Walters.

I’ll bind it this week then have to figure out how to give it to the recipient.  She has no clue!  Isn’t this fun?

I sent a picture to Angela Walters and she posted a shout out to me on her FB page.  Made my day!

A couple more things for today…

Here’s Lacy, the shop dog doing her thing, she pretty much hangs out like this the entire time we quilt:
Lacy - the shop dog

AND lastly…..My quilting Partner in Crime, Gretchen, launched her blog!  Yee Haw!  She’s been making some pretty fantastic quilts over the past few years, and I was telling her she needed to share them with the world, and now she can!

Check out her Blog:  My Pieced Life.

It’s that time of the week – linking to Lee and Kelly and

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About msminnesota

I'm a wife, mom of two (one blue, one pink), and I work full time. Our family loves to camp, and we're often on mini adventures during the summer. My fall/winter/spring/rainy day hobby is quilting. I started about 10 years ago, then put everything away when The Blue One was born. A few years ago a good friend decided to take up this 'hobby' and I've been back at it ever since. She's my partner in crime (A.K.A. 'the enabler'). I have no aspirations of becoming a quilt designer - I'm just not that good at geometry (I rely on my math major/computer programmer husband to help with piecing backs at times!). This little blog is my way of chronicling my quilting adventures. Occasionally I post about non-quilting things as well. Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to say HI! IG: wannabequilter
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28 Responses to Custom Quilter, I Am!

  1. Ashley says:

    I think your quilting looks fabulous – and the middle line makes it! Great choice.

  2. knitnkwilt says:

    It’s always fun to learn a new skill! Cheers!

  3. Julie – It looks great! Lucy and I told you that this is something you could handle. Now you have to teach me! The new owner will love the gift of a custom made quilt!

  4. Way to go! It looks fantastic.

  5. Renee says:

    Beautiful quilt! Love those fabrics paired with the teal and grey. The quilting works perfectly with the chevrons, I love that size quilt!

  6. Sabrina says:

    This turned out so amazing! Congratulations on doing the quilting because it totally makes the quilt!

  7. Kim M says:

    This looks great and that extra line of quilting down the middle of the chevrons really adds something!

    Kim
    http://tiesthatbindquilting.wordpress.com/

  8. genie says:

    Thanks for your visit to my blog. Kudos to you….this is one awesome quilt…and the back is just the best. I would never do it. You are so talented. The picture of Lacey is adorable. What a cutie pie. genie

  9. Thanks for visiting my blog! I cut them out using a tumbler ruler. It’s really not that bad. You just keep turning the template, it goes fast! I am thinking I will do a link up when the year is over for people to share their quilts if they save a piece from each of their quilts and make one from them. I think it would be fun to see what kind of a mess we can come up with LOL. Would love you to join in if you happen to do this! You did a great job on your quilt 🙂

  10. love the quilting and love the colors in this one!

    Thank you so much for sharing at Needle and Thread Thursday!

    🙂 Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

  11. Joanie says:

    Your quilt is absolutely wonderful! Love it! You said you mapped it out.Did the machine stitch it automatically being programmed or did you guide the bars? P.S. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)!

    • msminnesota says:

      The machine stitched to the points that I plotted. I spent a few minutes plotting the points (programming the computer), then ran the program and the machine stitched all the lines I programmed in, then repeat…54 times. 🙂

  12. Great work on your quilting – I’m super impressed with it. Using your machine sounds very complicated though!

  13. I love how you decided to quilt this, it looks great!

  14. sogalthoughts says:

    That’s amazing. Wow.

  15. Pingback: Everybody should have a Julie! | My Pieced Life – Like a quilt, life is a pieced work of art.

  16. Pingback: Ruthie’s Quilt – A Finish | Wanna-Be-Quilter

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