All the ties that bind

“Please make three memorial quilts made from my husband’s ties”.  That is how this project got started when Doris dropped off a bagful of ties and lots of memories.

She wanted all three quilts to be different in design but wanted as many of the ties as possible to be used in each quilt.  Originally, we thought the 39 ties would be adequate but soon discovered that each tie, even when deconstructed and opened up, does not have a lot of fabric.

The designs we came up with required the addition of cotton fabric to fill it out.  We used a soft beige complementary color.  Doris loved them and that’s all that counts!  

Memory/memorial quilt making is always a joy and a challenge. We are so touched to be allowed to honor the person and to help keep their memory alive. It always amazes us how a tub full of clothing can be turned into an article of comfort and renewed love and joy. When someone allows us to share in the life of their loved ones, we take that responsibility very seriously and do our best to honor them with the quilt design, the colors used and of course, the final quilting, which brings the whole project together.

Some of our projects have included quilts made from sparkly jeans, men shirt pockets, wool coats, and baseball caps! We’ve made wall hangings, lap quilts, king size quilts and even pillows. Go to overthetopquilting.com/memorymemorial-quilt-gallery/ for examples of our work.

Susan

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Geometry is a Quilter’s Friend

 The baby seems to be happy with the final result which made the math challenge worthwhile!

Finding the angle

Jeanne really challenged us with this one!  She wanted this elephant quilt wall hanging to be quited with lines indicating rain showers on the entire piece, including a very specific backing. But the lines of rain needed to be at a strict 60 degree angle. Geometry to the rescue.

We used the formula for a 30/60/90 triangle which helped me know the proper positioning of the quilt top on the backing/batting. It was necessary to ‘pad’ Jeanne’s quilt top with triangles which ’tilted’ the piece on our longarm machine so the 60 degree angle lines were straight-across lines,  Although it looked weird when loaded on the longarm leaders, the quilt was at the angle Jeanne wanted and gave me a perfectly straight line (using my APQS Millennium channel lock!). Thank you Euclid or Pythagoras (I don’t remember which).

 

Have you ever had to use geometry to get a quilt done in a unique way?

Susan

 

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Sunny Sunflowers

All who loves sunflowers will fall in love with this quilt! Raye designed this king size quilt herself and gave us the privilege of quilting it for her. It was a gift to her daughter. Note the intensive use of batiks throughout the top. She wanted it quilted in as elegant way as possible, with different designs in each of the separate area.s and borders, no trivial feat.

She was quite pleased with it, as were we.

Susan

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A renting we will go!

Have you ever wanted to complete your own quilts using a longarm machine?  We can help you with that!

Take our Rental Certification Class, finish a charity baby quilt, get some goodies and you are ready to finish your own quilt top, just like Cindy did.  Didn’t she do a beautiful job? Her freehand design is so perfectly spaced and perfect for her simple practice piece. It will be well loved, too, when we donate it to an organization which support new born babies in need.

Go here to get details and to sign up.

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We’ve opened APQS Austin – a longarm quilting studio in Central Texas!

Chris, Mom, and I are so excited! We’ve opened a new, spacious studio in Cedar Park, Texas – for clients from all over Central Texas. Our new location is:

Over The Top Quilting Studio
The Commons Shopping Center
200 Buttercup Creek Blvd – Suite 111
Cedar Park, TX
(Here’s a map)

We will continue to see clients by appointment at our studio in Westlake Hills, Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our new studio has 4 APQS longarm machines for you to try and to rent, longarm essentials on sale, and a classroom for us to exchange ideas and knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

The expanded services at the new studio include:
♦ Machine rental on 4 APQS longarm quilting machines:
— Millennium
— Lucey
— Lenni
— George
♦ Longarm quilting classes:
— Beginner’s Longarm Quilting Class
— Advanced Beginner’s Longarm Quilting Class
— Longarm Rental Certification Class
♦ APQS Certified service on your longarm machine
♦ Longarm supplies and accessories

Of course we still are very proud to longarm quilt your quilt, our quilt creation: t-shirt quilts, memorial quilts, and custom quilts.

Thanks to everyone who made our grand opening a success – and a fun and educational event! For our friends who were not able to attend, here are some images from the day.

A video of the Grand Opening ribbon cutting and first visitors.

Slideshow of the Grand Opening – a fun event for all ages.

We’d love you to come visit us at our new studio location!

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What a busy two weeks for longarm quilting in Central Texas!

What a busy two weeks! First the grand opening of our new APQS longarm studio in Cedar Park, Texas for all of our Central Texas clients. Now Quiltcon at the Austin Convention Center – Thursday, February 19th through Sunday February 21st.

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Please come visit us at booth 211. We like to see you and hear your experiences using longarms in unusual ways, from assembling quilts, quilting quilts, to creating quilted fabrics for so many uses. And having fun doing it. We’d love to hear what you think we should be doing, now that we’ve expanded our services for you. Chris and Susan will be there along with a number of experts from the APQS family.

We’ll have 3 APQS longarm machines for you to see and experience.

We were mentioned in the Austin American Statesman article on Quiltcon and modern quilting. We think that’s pretty cool!

See you at Quiltcon?! We hope so!

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One for the Winner’s Circle

Terri brought us a very packed box of ribbons she and her horse had won over the years and asked that we create a quilted wall hanging from them.  She had already done some research on Pinterest looking for a design but when she walked into our studio and saw a wall hanging we had created a few years ago, she knew she had her design choice.

Each ribbon had to be disassembled from its rosette, cutting through the wires and cardboard that held the winning ribbon together. Using the simple flip and sew method on a foundation of muslin, we set about using as many ribbons as possible in each block.  The challenge came in the ironing; these ribbons are made of acetate and therefore, melt pretty quickly under a hot iron.

Once the quilt top was completed and a simple meander done using our APQS Millennium, we tackled the rosettes. Choosing the biggest one for the center position, we added others to the block intersections and carefully spaced some more in the borders.

Voila, a lovely, colorful, vibrant wall hanging filled with memories of decades of horse competitions. Unfortunately, since Terri had ribbons in her box from 1976, we had to send her home with lots of  leftovers.   She was a very accomplished horse-woman! Maybe there will be another quilt creating challenge in our future.  She surely loved the one we made for her!

Susan

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Forever classic

Baptist Fans on a simple striped piece quilt. Loopy figure 8’s on a modern quilt. Each are ‘forever classic’ in their own way. To the maker of the quilt the quilting designs fit perfectly. Although one is a very traditional quilt with a very traditional quilting pattern, once the quilt maker paired it with some shams in her newly decorated room, it looked fresh and up to date.

The second non-traditional, that is, modern quilt, was made specially to showcase the fabric. (it was commissioned as a way of highlighting a new fabric line). Since the fabric was modern, the design needed to be so too. Loopy eights it was!

Both patterns were executed using our APQS Millennium and the computerized feature, Quilt Path. It’s so delightful to work with high quality fabrics, highly interesting quilt designs and superior tools!

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10 year old quilt designer

We immediately fell in love with this quilt top. The simplicity of the design, the inventive use of color and the great proportions made this very attractive. But when we heard that it was designed by a 10 year old boy, we were floored. Although his grandma Lynda sewed it together, she did so under his direction.

The batiks were richly combined and made a perfect canvas for some wonderful quilting on the front. But when we discovered that the backing was Minkee, it was even more fun! Using a deep pile fabric on the back allows the bobbin thread to really sink in and make wonderful shadows.

I used my brilliant APQS Quilt Path on my Millennium to quilt it using Anita Shackelford’s design. Modern Snails, which I just love for it’s playfulness and depth.

We learned that Cooper really enjoys manipulating fabric and in particular, shows real talent as a designer. He is someone to watch as he grows up. Remember his name; we may be enjoying his quilts in a few years to come.

Susan

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Texan or New Yorker or both?

A few years ago, here in Texas, we met a delightful couple, Katie and Brian, who needed help completing a few quilts. We watched them create a family with each new baby. And we helped complete the quilts for those new babies.

Then we got the news that they would be moving to Brooklyn, NY. But before they packed up and left, Katie brought over a large box of Brian’s old sports T-shirts and asked us to make them into a quilt. We were given full creative license on the sashing, border and backing fabrics and we had a ball picking them out. Although the quilting is simple, it went so easily using our APQS Millennium longarm machine.

The sashing is a combo of whites and grays, signifying the edginess of Brooklyn living. The border is a more subdued gray, almost corporate-tie-like to recognize Brian’s work in Texas. And the back is special. It looks like birds on a wire, ready to soar which is exactly what we expect from this young, beautiful, vibrant and talented family.

So, are Katie and Brian Texans per their birth or New Yorkers per their current location? We say they are both – the best of both at that too.

Susan

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