Quilting Philosophy

I started quilting in the late 1980's before rotary cutters and strip piecing burst on the quilting scene. In my first class we were taught to draw around cardboard templates and cut pieces out with scissors!

After making quilts for my husband's grandchildren and trying to quilt them using my regular sewing machine I decided there had to be a better way. So I did some investigation on long-arm quilting machines, I found a dealer nearby and went to a 2-day workshop. It was love at first sight. My Freedom model arrived in April of 2005. The first real quilt on the new longarm was a surprise going-away gift for our Postmaster.

What I love about this business is the opportunity to work on quilts that I would never make myself. Whether it is a hand-appliquéd Baltimore album quilt or the newest and brightest fabrics from the cutting edge designers, I get to help the quilt maker complete their vision of the quilt. 

My goal is to help you create the quilt you envision. In my opinion the quilting should enhance the top, not take over and stand out. It is there to hold the layers together. Quilting in the right design can enhance the piecing or add an all-over texture and/or movement. It can subtly help shift the focus from one part of the quilt to another. Dense quilting pushes the fabric down and to the background. Outlining and extra batting techniques will bring other motifs to the foreground.  

My style of quilting tends toward the traditional. I love all most all types of feathers, cross-hatch (XH) and SID. To make the stitching blend with the piecing, my thread of choice is very thin polyester. The color will be chosen to match or blend with the areas to be quilted. This lets the quilting design show through without the thread becoming the star of the show. Variegated, shiny and other specialty/decorative threads are available and can be used if that is what the design element calls for.