Cover Girl!

A quilt that I quilted for my pattern-designing friend Kate Colleran made the cover of the January/February '15 issue of Quiltmaker magazine (on Newstands tomorrow!)!!  How exciting is that?!?

Quilted on my Innova (although I don't recall if it was on Joey or Charter).  WooHoo!

Ruler Work! Lots and Lots of Ruler Work!

Today Charter and I are doing some ruler work -- lots and lots of ruler work.  I'm very pleased with how it's turning out, but not so please with how long it's taking!

Joey is working away on a Paris quilt.  Super cute!  Quilting with Anne Bright's Viva la France b2b pattern and King Tut Alabaster thread.

-Cricket

For more recent posts . . .

Check out my Facebook page at The Quilted Cricket.

What's on Joey Today?

Do you know that my longarm machine is named "Joe Sakic?" --  "Joey" for short.  I'm married to a hockey player (novice, old-guys' team), have a son who plays hockey, and am a Colorado Avalanche fan.  I'm also a HUGE fan of Joe Sakic (who, sadly, no longer plays).  -- Anyway, I named my machine Joe Sakic because I figured I'd be spending a lot of time with it, and who wouldn't want to hang out with Joey?  

But, I digress . . . so, on to the point of the blog (and in keeping with my goal of blogging before another 7 months goes by). 


Today on my machine is another of Chris M.'s quilts.  This big quilt (114"x114") is just full of wonderful colors  of bright red, light blue, mint green, and a sunny yellow.  There are polka dots and flowers and stripes and paisleys and plaids.  


I'm putting an all-over/edge-to-edge design on it from Anne Bright called "Jitter Bug."  I'm using King Tut's Sunstone thread. 
Something about this quilt makes me want to watch Donna Reed reruns (or put on a dress and a strand of pearls and go vacuum the rug).    

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

I swear, if there was a prize for being the worst blogger ever, the Cricket would win it, hands down!!!  Look at that!  The last time I blogged was in November of 2011.  NOVEMBER OF 2011!!  That's so pitiful.  The Cricket's got to get it together.  


I'll periodically think about blogging, but then figure "who'd be interested in that?" (or somebody in my household wants to be fed, and while making a meal the idea vanishes) so I don't follow through.  But today a light bulb went off.  My customers love seeing pictures of their finished quilts.  I email them pictures with their invoices and I try to post them on my website, so I figured "Hey, how about posting pictures of their quilts in progress, on the machine, being quilted?"  So, I'm going to give it a go (as my British SIL would say).  

 Today I'm working on Chris M.'s ZigZag quilt.  It's got this terrific lemongrass colored background fabric.  And, sometimes I just love it when a customer says, "Do whatever you want."  My initial response is typically, "Really?  Whatever I want?  SWEET!"  So, I'm doing whatever I want on Chris M.'s quilt: I'm using King Tut's Lemongrass thread and Quilty Pleasure's Cascade Swirl Design.  (Check out the sleek graphics I imported depicting the thread and the design.) 

The cascade swirls are just terrific, you can twist and turn them any which direction you want.  I am turning them so that the swirls show up in the lemongrass background.  Michele from Fellow Longarm Quilter's Yahoo Group turned me on to these little gems.  (Thanks Michele!)  There are eight different cascade sets, and they sew out beautifully!  They have wonderful rhythm to them and I thought they'd be just perfect for this project (not to mention I've been jones'n for a project to use them on). 

So, that's what's happening at The Quilted Cricket today.  I'm not going to let another seven months go by before I blog again.  I'm gonna get off the "Worst Blogger Ever" list.  (I've also gotta figure out the lighting in my studio, so the pictures turn out better -- in my spare time.)

'Til next time.

-Cricket

Any day spent quilting is a good day!   

A Thrifty Cricket (or Wandering the Aisles at Lowe's)

One of my favorite things to do is wander around hardware/home-improvement stores to seek out what I like to call "quilty tools."  On a recent excursion, I found this little apron at Lowe's (suggested retail price: $1.49!).  I love finding things that make a light bulb go on over my head.  I saw this and thought "that'd make a terrific little handy-dandy tool belt!"  

It's a simple little canvas apron with two large pockets on the front --and, of course, a giant screen-printed Lowe's logo (but for less than two-bucks, I can live with the logo).  I took it to my domestic sewing machine and added more pockets by simply sewing straight seams and creating pockets of varying sizes right where I wanted them.

Viola! -- a personalized tool belt that holds everything thing I need for working at my longarm.    From left to right, it holds the following:

• A Zinger -- retractable clip-on holder for my scissors
• Tweezers - great for picking up those errant threads and pulling up bobbin thread
• Small Screwdriver -- for changing needles or removing needle plate 
• Soft Touch Thread Pic (with leather cover over pic end so you don't stab yourself in the belly when you bend over) for "unsewing" (aka frog stitching, seam ripping, etc.) areas
• Oil Spout (with plastic end cap -- again, to avoid getting stabbed when bending over)
• Mini pin cushion (pilfered from a wrist pin cushion and safety-pinned to apron) for pins and a self-threading needle
• Brushes for cleaning
• Mini screwdriver for adjusting tension on bobbin case
• Pen/Pencil
• Needle Puller Rubber Disc
• Red Snapper Mini Clamps for loading quilt backs and a piece of tailor's chalk in the big pocket on the right

That's it!  Easy-peasy!  It's so convenient (and much more efficient) to have everything you need right at your fingertips.  You, too, can make your own customized tool belt in just a few minutes and a buck-and-a-half! 

                                                                                      -Cricket