Passage Quilting and the Kindness of Strangers

I started passage quilting this last week. I have not been doing as much charity work as I used to, and I started feeling like I was missing service work (see previous post on subject) so I am making a real effort.
The first Saturday of the month is BB Quilt Club and the second Friday is Passage. The Queen of BB (not me, I am the Keeper of the Quilts)has ruled that in order to belong to BB; one must do Passage, attend regular meetings and retreats... I didn't go to the last retreat so I better get on the ball and get my passage done.
In the past, I delivered quilts to BB so the binding could done or made ready by passage. She Who Works Miracles With Fabric, took some Blue, White and yellow fabrics and made 2 tops in the Rolling Pin pattern -- from Me And My Sister Designs. I quilted one last Friday, delivered it to BB and it went out to be bound, so maybe we will get it back this week. I'll do the other one next week.

GIVE AWAY!! In honor of these being quilted this month... I am giving away a copy of the Rolling Pins Pattern. Leave a comment to be entered, it runs till Monday the 21st of July (10 days)

I am a Utility Quilter, not an Heirloom Quilter. What does that mean? It means that the quilts I quilt are meant to be used. Loved. Drug around, tossed in the washer, dryer and generally abused. I have been working to figure out how to quilt, the way I want to quilt, in a fast and efficient manner to keep the cost low for those who want me to quilt for them. By Quilting Passage quilts I get the opportunity to quilts lots of different quilts and gets lots of practice, trying different things. I like to make a single pass, free hand quilt, with little or no cutting of thread. No super tight fills but hopefully good thread movement. Here is a picture of a quilt thats ready to be trimmed and bound.

Amy from TheCalicoCat sent me 2 tops from her pre-baby destash for charity. One of them is a pieced strippy quilt, with the strips going left to right instead of up and down. Is there name for that pattern? idk. Anyway its wonderful! Just the kind of work I like doing, a nice blend of contemporary fabrics and style with a splash of tradition. I am doing a "feathers to fill" pattern like the above pink/green. Except that because its a "strippy" I am trying to make each strip a bit different but related.

I wanted to get it finished today to take it to Passage but I am going to take longer than 2 hours to quilt it and so I will bind it myself. I will keep you posted. :)
Tech Talk: I was gonna use a King Tut thread called "baby blanket" but it proved too dark, so I switched to Maxi-Lock "pastel sprinkles". I am using Bottom Line 620 cream on the bobbin.

Above on the Rolling Pin Top I floated the top by not rolling it up on the bar. A frequent passage shortcut. Notice I rolled up the The Calico Cat HB top, I am using this top as a practice run for a paid job. I float tops a lot. I usually float tops I quilt for me and passage but when I am getting paid I won't. It doesn't seem to make a difference in the quilt but its a time thing. I really hate pinning on. Really hate it, so much so, that I must be paid to do it. ;D

Please leave a comment and get entered in the give-away (be sure that I can contact you, is your email included or on your profile?)
as always
Quilters Rock!

Getting Back to the Fun!

Jacquie won the Q-tools! Hurray and its in the mail!
Marsha got a couple of Fat Quarters from Batik Textiles!
and Michele got some Japanese charms and a pen.. hmm that sounds lame but they are cute!
That was my first give-away and it seems like I should have figured out that I need to post a lovely picture and story of give away and then people will comment. duh!
So after the holiday I will totally do another one, I need to learn how to blog it right! Practice.

I worked on my HST quilt top but I have lost all enthusiasm for it. I want to make another of this type! A 9Patch-Snowball!

This one I made for passage a couple of years ago and it was one of my first long arm attempts.
I made a couple actually, this one with a white background and finished edge points, this black one:

I didn't do the edge and I think it was much less interesting. I did another (no pic) that was calico background and I liked it a lot.

Heres one I did for my DH, this picture is cute but in real life it's lacking something. I think making the background a mid tone and using everything in the 9P/SBs was a mistake.
So I want to try this again...
I really should be quilting, but I am still not feeling it. Lately, I have been feeling that I have totally gotten lost in the "business" of quilting. I really like the "service" of quilting and only started the "business" to help me pay for the "service" part, now I feel like I spend so much less time on the "service" part. So I am refocusing! Service anyone?