What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I'm so glad I'm not alone in using edge-to-edge designs on a pieced quilt. I'm prepared to put edge-to-edge designs on any quilt unless it is something super special. 

The more I thought about custom quilting on Color My World, the more I realized that you won't see the quilting. While the quilting style isn't really important, it's the texture it creates that matters to me. And it's also the density. If you look at some of the photos of quilting for Color My World, the windows might be heavily stitched or with ...

Over the millennia and different cultures, people have created labyrinth designs on walls and floors. This ancient tradition endures in new buildings, parks, computer games and from today also in quilting! read more

My grand parents had a smallish cherry tree in the corner of their garden and every Spring it would ‘dress itself in a pink fluffy ballgown’ and it would sprinkle pink leaves with every little breeze. I loved that tree and I told myself that I wanted one of those in my garden when I grew up. I haven’t made that come true yet, but there are plenty of other brightly colored flowers, bushes and trees in my garden. I can’t resist a bright bloom!

In the Netherlands we have saying about the month of April being fickle: ‘April doet wat hij wil’. Strong winds yesterday, pouring rain today and forecasts indicate that we will get a taste of Summer this weekend.

To celebrate sunny weather on the horizon, let’s fill our fabrics with flowers! This weeks design ‘Finnish Flowers’ is inspired by fabric designs by the Finnish company Marimekko. Their bright and bold designs always brings a smile to my face. I have two pieces of Marimekko fabric in my collection that I have found while thrifting.

The Finnish Flower free motion design ...

 My customer Janice received a whole pile of beautiful tiny pieced blocks from the family of a quilter that had passed.  She decided to make smaller quilts with the blocks and gift them back to the family and to a charity.

The first project I quilted for her is this fabulous Red, White and Blue quilt with the 8 point stars. 

This "before" picture shows how pretty the top is even before it received it's stitching "bling".

The stars are only 4" square and the piecing is impeccable.  Whoever stitched these was a master.

Being that this one is ...

My customer Donna brought me this Black and White Bow Tie quilt to help her finish. 

Here is what it looked like "before", after it was loaded on the frame.

She added a pop of color in one of the blocks.

The pantograph she chose, Bubbles, worked nicely to soften the angular lines of the piecing.

 Thread used was Glide Black on the front and Sterling in the bobbin.

The backing is a soft pale gray print with snowflakes on it.

Thank you Donna for having me quilt this for you.  I look forward to seeing your next project.

My client Kate sent me another great top to quilt for her. It's a fun design called Interrupted Log Cabin which can be found in the book Quilt with Tula and Angela.

It's certainly an interesting modern design that would look great in practically any color palette.

Kate chose the Modernish pantograph which suited the linear style blocks well. Quilters Dream 80/20 batting in Natural along with Glide Mercury thread for the top and So Fine Brown Sugar rounds out the other materials used to finish this one.

Kate always takes advantage of my trimming service and ...

 My client Linda made a new quilt for her grandson's birthday.  He picked all the fabrics.

Evidently he loves Orange and Purple.  I don't know if he also chose the pattern she used to piece the top but it's a variety of Friendship Stars in an Irish Chain setting.

Linda had a tough time choosing the stitching design.  I steered her to the Caldor pantograph and though she wasn't sure, she trusted my judgement.  Being that this was for her grandson, we wanted a design that looked more masculine and modern.

I think the Calder pantograph ...

Along with her Batik Mountains quilt, my client Sandy also brought this wonderful Mountain Skiers top for me to quilt for her.

It started out as this fabulously pieced top.

Sandy had a unique request for the quilting.  She wanted vertical freehand wavy lines of varying widths similar to the quilting I had done on the sailboat wall hanging I stitched earlier this year. Her intent for the quilting was to have it mimic the lines in the snow created as skiers made their way down the mountain.

I loaded the top sideways on the frame to make stitching the ...

I truly enjoy the variety of tops that my clients bring me to quilt for them.  It certainly keeps the job interesting.  This is the batik mountains quilt that I helped my client Sandy complete.

This is how it looked before being quilted. The large variety of batik colors and prints she used makes this quilt visually dynamic.

I believe she told me these blocks were paper pieced.

Sandy was sure of the look she was going for and quickly chose the Modernish pantograph for this quilt, along with Glide Sterling thread for both the top and in the bobbin ...

Don't you just love it when a client brings you a project that just sings to you. That's what this one did for me. Charmaine pieced this absolutely gorgeous Asian Half Square Triangle top that I had the pleasure of quilting for her. 

Here is the "before" picture.  There are so many gorgeous Asian prints in these blocks that I was staring at this for a long while before I got to work. It was mesmerizing.

See what I mean?  The prints shine when paired with the Black tone on tone print that she used. This strongly temps ...

I'm sure you've heard the old saying "the shoemakers' kids have no shoes". That's what it's been like here, at least regarding our own bed.  While I've made plenty of snuggle quilts that reside on the couch and get used by all of us regularly, our own bed was neglected for far too long.

I'm a little embarrassed to show you the "before" picture but I'm so happy with the end result that I want you to see the huge difference my new quilt makes.

I had purchased this quilt from a store ...

I have a recent finish to share with you today - my Posh Pumpkins Placemats.

They started with these panels that I purchased way back in the summer of 2013.

I had also purchased these 1/2 yard pieces of coordinating prints. As usual, it all went into a project bag, onto my shelf, and there it sat waiting until now.

I did some simple borders around each of the centers, mixing them up so none of them were the same as another.

The piecing didn't take long to have them finished and ready for quilting.

Using one piece of ...

Over the summer, one of my cousins commissioned me to make a quilt to be a gift for his son who will be deployed in January. He wanted it to be an heirloom and it was really important to him that it would be made by family for family. He asked that it be Marines theme so after hunting around online to see what themed fabrics were available,  I drafted a design, which he loved BTW, purchased the fabrics needed and created this quilt.  I've named it:

Jonan's Semper Fi

This is the stack of fabrics that I ...

My second Ghastlie finish to share has also been a long waiting UFO. I created these blocks for the Wicked Blog Hop in October 2012.

Since I'm trying to focus on getting projects actually finished, this one wasn't hard to get to the completed top stage and then it was added to the pile to get quilted.  I turned the blocks into a table runner for my long dining room table but it could just as easily become a skinny wall hanging if I so choose at some point.

Each of the family members got a narrow border ...

Today being All Hallow's Eve, it's the perfect time to share a recent finish.Way back....say 10 years ago this month, I hosted a couple of Halloween themed round robin type events though this particular one was back and forth between me and one other quilter, hence I called it a See Saw Swap.

My swap partner, Edy, didn't have a blog then and unfortunately I've lost contact with her in the years since but I'm still thankful to her for the fabulous additions she made to my quilt.

I started out with one ...

Next up in the gallery of completed client quilts is this bright and colorful top by Charmaine that features simple squares set on point.

I've been good lately about remembering to take a "before" photo so that you can see just how much more the quilting adds to the finished project. 

She used a cute construction site print as the focus fabric and coordinated the other fabrics.  I especially like the multi-color diamond print fabric that she used for the border.

Such great texture adds much needed movement to the simple square blocks.

Most of the time now Charmaine ...

My client Charmaine created this adorable Blue and White Yankees  and bear themed quilt for a special young man in her life. 

"Before"  - loaded on the frame and ready to go.

The bears she created and appliqued on are just so cute. I don't remember what she told me about why this one is wearing a purple vest and has an N on it's hat but I'm would venture a guess that he's a big baseball fan and the colors and letters chosen mean something special to him.

The other fella is sporting a green vest ...

Quilt Inspector #1, aka Maverick, was front and center for this quilt's photo shoot. This is Kate's large star quilt that I had the pleasure of quilting for her.

This is how it looked when it was loaded on the frame.

This is how it turned out.  I can't imagine all of the time it took for Kate to piece this quilt.  It's huge, measuring it at 110" square.  

For a traditional quilt design using retro fabrics, a feather motif was the obvious choice. We chose the Plumage panto.  Since it is a denser design, each ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thrilled to announce that my most recent design, Strolling Pathways, is included in newest book from Martingale Publishing and Moda Bake Shop titled Charmed-A Dozen Delightful Charm Pack Quilts. The book release date is October 3rd but can be preordered now from @martingaletpp or from Amazon. You can also check to see if your local independent quilt shop will order it for you. My quilt features the gorgeous Slow Stroll fabric line by Fancy That Design House.

The pattern uses 3 charm packs (you can also use scrappy charms) and 4 yards of a background fabric. I loved ...