100 Free Quilts Update

I finally got the opportunity today to catalog more quilts, since I braved the horrendous traffic and mad-shopper conditions to acquire more quilt hangers. These final quilts have been languishing in their boxes, and while I still have not checked every single one for square sides, pressing, and other such things that I requested, I think the sheer variety will give me tons of experience. There are some flannels, some foundation pieced items, some interesting piecing techniques, applique, embroidery, and overall some real beauties.

The final list came to about 30 quilts. One of them (in the HOLD spot) is actually a quilt that another longarm quilter did, and to be honest, it looked AWFUL. The person who sent it over wanted me to add stitching to it, but it hurt my eyes to look at it (plus pre-quilted quilts are not ideal for long arming.) I asked for this stitching to be removed, which was quite easy to do since the stitch length was about 3 or 4. That's right - 3 or 4 stitches to the INCH, as if this quilter was basting it instead of quilting it. They also used these looooong lines followed by a loop, then another looooooong line, and then to make matters worse, quilted in puckers & pleats. Ugh. I should have taken a picture of it but no one needs to see the horror this poor quilt went through.  It made me mad to think of someone expecting to get paid for doing that.

I took the opportunity to photograph and measure each quilt, and document the contents of each box. For those folks who sent checks to cover shipping, I did cash your checks already since I'm sure it's much easier to balance a checkbook when outstanding checks are accounted for.

As I photographed each quilt, I gave some thought as to the color thread I would use for the design. I noted several things in the process:

1. Wow! What a way to build up my thread stash! Do I really need 5 different reds and 3 different oranges? You betcha!!
2. Am I ever glad that I had the presence of mind to order color cards well in advance of this moment - for both King Tut and So Fine! This was immensely helpful in doing an appropriate color audition for threads without owning 150 cones.
3. I love working with Superior Threads, and seeing as how Handi Quilter uses it in their factory to test their machines, I think I'll stick with what works. I know that some people sent over spools of certain other things, and maybe I'll venture to try them on smaller samples or test runs, but for reliability of my machine operation, Superior is, well... superior.
4. On a couple of quilts, I did decide to venture a little bit out of norm for me, still with Superior, but on one quilt I'll be using metallic thread, and on another a monofilament.  Unfortunately, Superior's MonoPoly Clear is so popular, they can't seem to keep it in stock long enough for me to order it.  Let's hope I'm a little faster on the purchase button when it comes back in.
5. In the long run, it's going to be better for me to provide batting for my customers. I know some of you are shaking your heads "I told you so", but honestly, I was curious to see what other people were willing to put into their quilts.  I have a ton of Legacy batting in the Studio, but that doesn't mean they have cornered the market on awesomeness in the batting department.  Seeing what people are sending in is more about the fiber content that most people choose vs. the manufacturer. There are some interesting selections among the bunch though: a 100% Wool batting; a 100% Cotton by Hobbs; and several different kinds of Quilter's Dream.  (May I soon get to see what the fuss is about.)  Most of it was either 100% poly, or 80/20 blend.
6. I think people need help choosing backings just as much as they need help putting borders on straight.  Ok, no one appointed me Backing Police, but as I auditioned different threads, I have to say I put more weight on the thread choice due to the color of the backing versus the fabrics in the quilt top.  It's probably worthy of it's own post, but there's just one thing I have to say now:  Busy Backs are a quilter's friend! If your quilt has all these adventurous colors on the front, and then you decide that a solid white backing is the way to go, your long arm quilter may not have the guts to use a thread color that will just highlight mistakes.  Now, if you instead decided to go with a printed back, with other colors incorporated, the quilter has more options for thread choices and can really have the freedom to play.  I believe solid backings limit options.  There are exceptions to this that I've seen in my pile, but not many.
7. Not every quilt looks good with a variegated thread.  I was actually quite surprised at how few quilts for which I selected variegated thread, given my love for them in general.  I found solid colors suited many more quilts, although there were a couple which literally screamed out for variegated (Mary's quilt comes to mind.)

I am on vacation now from work for 2 solid weeks, but even so, I don't think I'll be quilting up any of these anytime soon.  Why?  Well, I'm devoting several days to just cutting & piecing, and then I also have a ton of new videos to record for AccuQuilt, which I cannot do with my cutting table all covered in piecing projects.  I also am committed to finishing my carryover UFOs, which means commandeering Mr. Darcy for a marathon session of about 30 table runners.  That should be very fun, simply because I can railroad them and just play completely at random.  There are so many of them, if I make a mistake... eh, who cares?  I can also practice binding on the long arm.  That should be interesting. Oh, and I suppose on at least one of those days, I should carve out a few hours to finally hang my closet door panels!  I took my bedroom closets apart back in February, and here almost a year later - still not done.

So when I do get around to quilting up the free quilting, what should my first project be? I'm considering #10-13 (this is a railroading project so working on one is working on all four, but they are strip quilts & I can use each row for a different stitch); #18 (it's a baby quilt so it should be FAST & give a sense of accomplishment), or #1 (because it was first & it would be sort of a good-omen to open the free quilting.)  What do you all think?  Which quilt should I start first?



Happy quilting!