Author: Lana

I learned to sew at age 11 at my local Singer store. I was so intrigued by all of the supplies in my friend's sewing tote box I spotted while playing at her house that I rode my bicycle home and told my mom I wanted to take sewing lessons. I found my niche. I made most of my clothes through high school and even made room for my sewing machine (in cabinet) in my tiny college dorm room. I bought my first quilt book when in my early 20"s at the St. Louis arch gift shop. It was a book about the Cathedral Window and I was intrigued with how that was put together. I played around with it, but continued to sew garments for my kids while they were young. I got back into quilting when my son and daughter were in middle school, feeding my need for continued creativity. I took various classes locally, and eventually made my way to Syracuse, NY for Quilting by the Lake, and Carmel, CA for Empty Spools. It wasn't until I took Betty Cotton's Cotton Theory Class at Camp Cotton in Osseo, WI, in July, 2012, that I found what I was looking for. Everything just clicked for me and I felt like I now knew this "secret" that made everything so much easier and more fun and had to share it with other quilters. "Quilt first, then assemble" means no more getting down on my hands and knees on the living room floor and pinning the quilt back, batting and pieced quilt top together and then trying to get it through my machine's throat area or, worse, paying someone big bucks to do it for you. And no handwork. I'm in.
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Moore’s Sewing

2315 E Imperial Hwy

Brea, CA 92821

714-279-6830

October 6 – 9

I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Intro to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact Moore’s Sewing to register. Hope to meet you there!

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Quality Sew and Vac

1203 Andover Park West

Tukwila, WA

October 1 and 2, 2021

I’ll be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Design Your Quilting for the Whole Quilt. Please call Quality Sew and Vac to register.

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Quality Sew and Vac

1201 SE Everett Mall Way

Everett, WA

425-290-8000

1-800-687-5175

September 28, 29, 30

I’ll be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, Design Your Quilting for the Whole Quilt, on the 28th and 29th and Pro-Stitcher Demo and Class on September 30. Please contact Quality Sew and Vac to register.

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The Quilt Barn

2102 East Main Ave

Puyallup, WA

253-845-1532

September 8-11, 2021

I will be teaching Getting Started with Longarm Quilting, Free Motion Quilting, Can’t Have Enough Rulers!, and Introduction to Pro-Stitcher. Please contact The Quilt Barn to register for one or all of these classes. Hope to meet you there!

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OSQE Dallas Show

August 18-21, 2021

You can find me in the Superior Thread booth or speaking about thread at one of the sessions.

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TWIST

This Week in Studio Time –

Six fat quarters and you can have a quick baby quilt using the Yellow Brick Road quilt pattern. I added a border. I love the way this goes together. If you have a friend who is learning to quilt, this is a fantastic pattern for them, and it is so fun to put together that even experienced quilters will enjoy piecing this one! I come back to it again and again.

This week I also recovered a couple outdoor cushions. I’m happy with how they turned out.

I also made two of these quilt backing extenders. They are helpful when you are short on backing fabric so the machine carriage doesn’t run into the clamps. I took 2 fat quarters (one for each side), finished the long edges, and then folded it in half, right sides together, and stitched the end opposite the fold with a 1/4′ seam, and turned it right side out. Then I inserted a clean paint stick at the folded edge and marked the sides and the bottom of the paint stick. I stitched across the width and one side, inserted the paint stick, then stitched the other side to hold the paint stick in place. To use it, pin the end with the 1/4′ seam to your backing fabric, and use your clamps on the paint stick to stabilize your backing.

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Labrynth Walk Quilt

This has been on my list for quite awhile and I’m so happy I moved it to the top of my list. This was gifted to my grandson for his high school graduation. I was trying to think of a more masculine pattern to suggest to him. He liked the pattern and chose the colors. It went together so much easier than I thought. I hadn’t noticed that it’s really just two different blocks! If you’ve been considering making this one, I would encourage you to do so. I quilted this on my Handi Quilter Infinity using a design from Wasatch Quilting.

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Handi Quilter Educator Challenge – Do You See What I See?

The Handi Quilter Educator Challenge for 2020 was to quilt a Debra Linker ice dyed piece of fabric to emphasize the faces or figures you see in the fabric. This is called pareidolia, but we decided to call it simply, Do You See What I See?

This is the piece that I chose from the options. I didn’t “see” anything at the time, but liked the colors.
After gazing at it for awhile, the green areas became green jackets and I took it from there. I used Handi Quilter Preview Paper and dry erase markers to sketch out some ideas. Easy to wipe off and start over til I liked what I saw.
This is how I began. You can see I changed my mind on the center area once I began. At this point, I had decided the green jackets would be on aliens and this center point was going to be their regeneration point. There you go, the name of my piece was Regeneration Station!
Here’s my finished piece. The aliens are coming in to renew their energy. The design on their jackets match the grid in the center and indicates their energy level. The closer the grid in their jackets, the more energy they have. Some are coming in to energize and others are on their way out, having just finished energizing. Swarovski crystals for the eyes. I left the background unquilted as I thought it made them seem as thought they were floating in nothingness in outer space. Crazy, I know, but I think I was writing a novel about these guys while I was quilting them.
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Handi Quilter Educator Challenge – Vintage Quilts

At our training, we accepted a Vintage Quilt Challenge. Brenda Groelz, Director of Education for Handi Quilter, has been collecting vintage quilts for years and now it’s time to get them quilted. Our directions were to quilt them in a way the original piecer would not have imaginied. You may add a border, but you are not allowed to wash them because they are fragile. We drew numbers and when our number was called, we could have our choice of around 30 quilts. There were only 11 of us. I loved the salmon color of this one. It was machine pieced and not in too bad of shape.

I added two borders and quilted it on my Handi Quilter Infinity. I think the dark teal blue border really sets it off nicely.

Close up of the quilting. I used Pro-Stitcher in the solid areas and borders and free motion on the rest.

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