Quilting and Binding

[Music] I got your coffee. Awesome. Thank you so much. I've got your quilt top. Okay. All ready to go. And I picked this out for the backing. What do you think? All right. Is that all we need? This is it. Okay. Let's do it. All right. Let's go. [Music] Hey guys. Hi Becky. How are you? Good. Good to see you too. Hi Craig. How are you? Good to see you. Welcome to Missouri Star. Thanks for having us. Yes. I see you guys have a quilt. We a quilt top. Quilt top. We're ready to make it official quilt. We are. All right. Okay. Well, let's go this way and we'll get this thing official. Okay. [Music] So, these are all the quilts that are coming in. And so these are people who have sent their quilts in to be quilted. There's so many hours of hard work here. Isn't it so fun? I always love to look at these. It is fun. It's almost like you're going to um the store and kind of like clothes shopping and just to see the inspiration and see all the like who knows what they'll be like passed down to or gifted or these could be cherished by families for a long time. Well, we have a few different colors of thread we have to choose from. Oh my goodness. Do we Let's I think that we'll start off with some blues. Um, usually what we do is we get three or four different colors out. I don't know if I got bright blue or not. So, um, we try to lay it in all different colors of the quilt so we can see how much it contrast or how much it it complements the color that it's laying on. So, is there one of those colors that kind of looks good or there's something else that maybe I didn't grab? I kind of like this. This one? This one? I think I think it looks great. Looks really nice. Yep. Empire it is. All right. The next thing that we need to do is probably pick out a pattern. Okay. Um, so these are just a couple of them that I thought would look good. Um, I'm particularly leaning towards the Baptist fan. Your quilt looks very modern and Baptist Fan has a modern feel, but yet is also very traditional as well. Um, it's a it's a pattern that's kind of been around for a long, long time. I think that would be a great one, especially since your pattern has a lot of like sharp lines and angles. A a curve on the quilting, I think, is a nice complent to those sharp lines. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, let's do it. All right, let's get some batting cut. I think uh we have Angie over here ready to go. Perfect. [Music] So once you realize that a quilt is just one block repeated over and over again, the process doesn't seem quite so intimidating. Yeah, that's something I've learned through the process of Right. You can just start small and then this comes into this. Then this comes into this. It all just kind of builds on one another. Craig, are you ready? I'm ready. She's about to hit the magic go button. And this is where the the fun begins. There it goes. Then the magic occurs. Oh, I love this. Oh, this is going to look great. It's going to be amazing. See, you're already getting the jitter right now. I just it's so much fun to watch it happen. So, how long would a quilt this size typically take to long arm? Um, with this particular pattern in this size, we're probably looking at a couple hours, two and a half hours. So, not too awfully long. Yep. Okay. I'm going to get out of your guy's way. All right. Perfect. And Becky, I'll just be waiting to hear from you and I'll come by since we're done. Thanks, guys. See you. I got to tell you, this entire operation here is so incredible. in the warehouse. Now that I know what it means and I have context to what goes into quilting. Yes. And what finishing a quilt really means, it's just so awesome to watch it happen. Well, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. We have the best people here. And so we, you know, all of these teams work together to make all this magic possible, which is pretty cool cuz like you put all this time into the quilt and then you have to hand it over to someone like your baby. Well, and you got to see how much love and care they really put into it, which is the best. I couldn't imagine sending it anywhere else. And I just it's it's opened up a whole new world to me. And to know that I can work on a project at home and then box it up and ship it to you guys and you'll finish it to me. I mean, that's really neat. Oh, I I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I'm glad you trusted us to like walk you through this whole process. Yes, of course. And I have your finished quilt here to show you. Are you Are you so excited? I am. So, look at this. Oh my gosh, Craig. It turned out so amazing. This is Look how well it goes with our new pillow line. This was the entire the whole point. Cool. This is called Baptist Fan. That's the uh machine quilting pattern that you chose. And it looks like the Zen Garden with the sand when it rotates around. It really does. And I just I just think it turned out so awesome. So, let's look at this whole thing. So, it doesn't matter that you guys helped me finish it. I can still say I made the quilt. Absolutely. You made this quilt. This could live forever like in the family. Well, and that's what I think is so special about quilting is even people who don't sew themselves, they appreciate a quilt, right? Because there's memories and stories tied to them. And so, just like you said, you've made this and now it will be important to you and it will also be important to other people in your family. And so the only other thing I will add is you should put a label on it that says, you know, made by Craig Conover, my very first quilt. That's smart. And so then whoever has this years down the road because quilts typically outlive us, they will know the story. Like a label like right here. Absolutely. Yeah. And you and just, you know, write your little bit of the story and and what why it matters to you so that it will always be remembered. This is so cool. Well, thanks for showing me how to quilt. You are so welcome. Thank you for coming back to Hamilton to learn. Of course. I mean, I will be back soon cuz I have a family quilt top from a great grandmother that I would love to come have finished for my mom. I cannot wait to see it. It'll be amazing. I just can't get over the quality of this finished quilt. I mean, this would last forever. Oh, absolutely. It's it's something that will last for generations. And it's not a waste of time. I think that prevents people where it's like, well, I could just buy it, so what's the point of doing it myself? The point is this quality and the memories that go into it. It's been an awesome journey from when you first visited Charleston and set up the sewing room for me. I know that was so nice of you to trust me to come and do that. Oh, of course. But I mean, the goal was for me to get back in to crafting cuz I had kind of lost the reason I did it. You know, I got into the business side and forgot how much I love to create. And so, you helped me set up my room. Yep. You made your first quilt block. First quilt block. That's right. We decked out a Sewing Down South shirt. And then of course uh you were kind enough to come back here and we made a runner for your table and then now you've made this beautiful quilt that you get to, you know, keep forever. It really came full circle and if I can do it, anyone can. I hope everyone goes on their own quilting journey. Thank you again for coming back to town and hopefully we'll see you again soon. And you know, I just really appreciate you joining me for this whole journey. It's been so fun. You're a wonderful teacher and it's a testament to how many people really follow Missouri Star and everything you guys do. So, can't wait to make more. My mom's going to cry when she sees this. I love it. That's so great. Well, thank you, Craig. I really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for following along as we got Craig into quilting. I think you are officially a full-blown quilter. Oh, I love that. I love that. It's years in the making. That's right. So, we will see you all soon. [Music]