Janice Petre's House of Quilting

The Fabric of Vermont Quilt Trip

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:55:55 +0000

The Quiltessence Quilters Guild is offering a quilt trip to Vermont June 25-30, 2012. The trip includes: Motorcoach transportation, five nights lodging, baggage handling, five full breakfasts, three lunches, four complete dinners (including dinner cruise), all listed attractions, guide service and guide gratuity

Monday - Middlebury Inn, tea and cookies, walking tour of Middlebury, wine and cheese reception, dinner at Founders Ballroom

Tuesday - Dakin Farm breakfast, Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, lunch at Vanderbilt-Webb Mansion, Shelburne Farms Estate, dinner at Waybury Inn, Shelburne Museum

Wednesday - Birds of Vermont Museum, country breakfast buffet, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, lunch buffet at Trapp Family Lodge, Trapp Family Lodge tour, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory

Thursday - Dawn Dash to Knits and Bolts, breakfast/coffee and donuts at K & B, Danforth Pewter lunch at Rosie’s Restaurant, Morgan Horse Farm, dinner buffet at Founders Ballroom, Quartet entertainment, Middlebury touring/shopping

Friday - Vermont Quilt Festival, breakfast, “Lobstah on the Lake” dinner cruise or Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Morse Sugarhouse, Montpelier, Rock of Ages

Saturday - return home, breakfast

Please see The Fabric of Vermont Quilting Trip brochure for more details.

MQX East Quilt Show

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 01:01:51 +0000

Sea Shells quilt entered in MQX East Show

I had an amazing time at the MQX East Quilt Show. The hotel I stayed at - The Westin Providence - had a great layout. It was perfect for the show as it had a walkway from the hotel to the convention center. The weather was cold and windy, but I was able to stay inside the entire time.

I thought I would write about some of the different things I noticed at this show vs the other shows I have attended. The quality of the quilting at this show was far better than any that I have seen. I told someone that one of the winning quilts had so much quilting that I thought it could stand on its own. There were also many new quilters that were entered in the competition. It was nice seeing new faces and new quilting.

I noticed two interesting things at this show. There were vendors allowing attendees to try out the quilting machines. I anticipate seeing even more new faces in the quilting competitions at future shows. Also, there was a vendor that was showing people how to avoid or alleviate the shoulder pain that many of us get from using our quilting machines. He was great!

So, all in all, it was a fabulous show. I had a great time and spent the week with great friends. I look forward to getting back and trying out some of the things that I learned from my classes.

First day of MQX East Quilt Show

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:10:01 +0000

I’m on my way to MQX East Quilt Show today. I’m looking forward to time away and time with friends while walking the show. It’s great getting to see the different styles of quilts and getting some new ideas. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that one of my quilts wins a prize – but even if none of them do, quilt shows are great for meeting new people, seeing the wonderful artwork of others, and spending time with friends I’ve met while in the business. I’ll be blogging more after I’ve been to some of the classes and after I’ve walked the show. It’s going to be a good day!

Quilts donated to Flight 93 Memorial Chapel

admin — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:54:11 +0000

Quilts donated to Flight 93 Memorial Chapel

On a recent trip to Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, I met Father Al Mascherino, who enlisted a group of quilters to design, sew, and quilt four wallhangings depicting the Four Freedoms, for use in the Memorial Chapel. I headed the group and 18 months later we had four quilts, each one 30” x 80”. I quilted the wallhangings and they were presented to Father Al in May, 2009. Flight 93 Memorial Chapel website

Reading Eagle Newspaper article: Four Quilts Honor Victims

Freedom of Religion

Freedom From Fear

Freedom Of Speech

Freedom From Want

My First Ribbon at a National Quilt Show

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:23:34 +0000

During one of my very first longarm classes, which was with Karen McTavish, I was encouraged to enter my wholecloth trapunto class quilt into a national quilt show for machine quilting. Since I had already made plans to travel to this show near Chicago, I concentrated all my efforts in working on this quilt to have it ready by the deadline – which was in 5 weeks. What was I thinking??? It took almost five days to trim the batting for the trapunto (and sneeze a lot). There were several days that I quilted for 14 hours. Knotting the threads was mind-numbing and finger torture. And when all that is done, you just pray that your design marks wash out.

The first day of the show, I decided to check out the vendors first. I had been wandering around for several hours and then thought I should check out my quilt to see where it was hanging. When I walked into the room, I saw a Red Second Place Ribbon hanging on it!! I was speechless. I stood there with my hands on my cheeks and a big open mouth. It took me several minutes to calm down. Then one of my roommates said I should go downstairs and claim my prize money. Prize Money!! I was thrilled to just see my quilt hanging; now I have a ribbon and money from a National Quilt Show! And to top it off, my quilt bested that of my teacher’s! This was a moment I will never forget.

Type of machine I use

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:10:42 +0000

Many people have asked what type of machine I use. My longarm quilting machine is an oversized machine head on a roller system mounted on a 14 foot bed. The three layers of the quilt – top, batting, backing – are attached separately and are then joined on a take-up roller. There is no pin or thread basting necessary – a big time saver.

The machine has a throat space of 22 inches which means the entire width and 22 inches of length are available to be quilted at one time. The machine head is hand-guided over the three layers and sews them together – forming the quilting designs. Hand quilters may take up to several years to complete a quilt. Longarm quilters can complete a quilt in as little as one day (depending on the design). So in addition to the great time savings, there is also the saving of finger tips (from pricking by needles) and prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome and hand injuries.

Also, hand quilters use one thread; machine quilting has two threads per stitch which makes machine quilting much more sturdy.

As a sewer and longarm quilter, I can make a quilt from sewing the top to quilting, adding a hanging sleeve, and binding the edges. I can also suggest several different ideas for quilting designs – whether it is an all over design or custom designs.

How I got into longarm quilting

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:24:24 +0000

After machine quilting on a domestic machine and having sore shoulders for two weeks, I knew I had to find a better way to finish my quilt tops. I tested several brands at a quilt show and found the Gammill Classic suited me best.