SSOBB Blog Hop Featuring Chris Ballard

This week's featured Charter Member of

the Secret Society of Barn Builders is

Chris Ballard.

Long time readers know that Chris and I 

have been good friends and quilting buddies

for many years now.

Do you see those hands in the photo above?

The ones holding a copy of BUILD A BARN?

Those are Chris's hands.

Those two hands did ALL of the 

hand guided free motion 

long arm quilting 

for the BUILD A BARN quilts.

To see just a few examples

of the kind of quilting I'm talking about,

check out the Before and After Quilting page

on the BUILD A BARN blog.

One newly bound corner of The Seasonal Sampler

Check out these photos

of her work on

The Seasonal Sampler 

In early 2015,

as each of the SSOBB Charter Members

finished piecing their Gallery quilt tops,

they shipped their work to me 

so it could be photographed

"before" quilting.

(Getting the mail during that two months

was definitely a LOT of fun!)

Backing and binding fabric options 

were pulled from my stash 

as each of the quilt tops arrived.

Using the power of the Internet and email

to cover the sometimes international distances

between the SSOBB makers and my studio,

we consulted back and forth.

Each top was paired with its prepared backing,

any special notes for Chris from the makers,

and its own ID tag.

These were then handed off to Chris

a few at a time.

As she finished each group of quilts,

we arranged a parking lot swap

somewhere between her house and mine.

(There were quite a few meet ups

with quite a few miles 

put on both of our cars)

I am still so in awe of the way

Chris was able to juggle

everything in her own life

plus the intensity of deciding

how each of the quilts 

should be custom quilted,

and completing that amazing quilting

in such short period of time!

just-Spring by Kathy French

As each of the newly quilted quilts 

returned to my studio

there were more long-distance 

consultations involving potential 

hanging sleeve and binding fabrics.

If This Barn Could Talk by Belinda from Texas

Finally after each quilt was bound,

sleeved, and labeled

formal "after" photographs were taken

for the manuscript documents.

Detail - Autumn and Winter Skies from The Seasonal Sampler

The bottom line is this -

Chris did some a LOT of 

EXQUISITE and INCREDIBLE

 free motion quilting

on our SSOBB quilts.

And while photographs show so much,

there is nothing like 

standing in front of these quilts,

exploring the details,

and absorbing their overall impact.  

(The SSOBB members are still waiting

to see their finished quilts in person . . .

I can only hope when that happens

that they are as thrilled 

as Chris and I have been)

Detail - Autumn from The Seasonal Sampler

Thanks, Chris!

We could NOT

have done it

without YOU!

Quiltdivajulie