Thursday, February 28, 2013

Vintage Kansas City Star Quilt

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This is Rae’s Vintage Kansas City Star quilt which was a block of the month project from the Fat Quarter shop in 2012.   Rae’s only request was that there be no feathers in the outer border so I did a Bead Board design which compliments the feather motif in the light sashing areas.  I made a stencil with a simple loop design to use in the corner stone blocks and framed it with a 1/4” line to match the bead board.  Each block is quilted with a different design using feathers, CC, straight lines, etc.  I stippled all the light background fabrics to compliment the texture of the feathers in the sashing.

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It’s hard to capture the quilting on the back in a picture but it really shows up nicely in person!

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If you look closely you can see a large pile of snow on the ice, my son and I are building a quinzee.  If you don’t know what a quinzee is check out this link.  We still have to hollow out the inside this weekend.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Curve it Up – Dresden Plate Block #9

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Here is the next block for the Curve it Up Quilt Along, its the Dresden Plate.  You can find the instructions for this one on Jenny’s blog here.

I now have 9 blocks done and really like how this quilt is coming together.  I am getting short on my hand dyed background fabric so hope I have enough to finish this quilt.  Don’t think I can dye the exact same color shade again!

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I presented the next set of instructions for our guilds Mystery project last week and here is what we have everyone doing….more HST!    128 to be exactly but this time they are only 1 3/4” square!!  :)

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I also received a package in the mail containing these lovely Bali Snaps!   I had won a guessing contest on Linda’s blog, the second one I have won on her blog!  I guess I’m a good guesser!   She send me a gift certificate for an online fabric shop and I had no problem finding some lovely batiks.  Thank you Linda, that was so sweet of you!!

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I have been busy working on a beautiful Sampler quilt this week and will be sharing that soon!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Oak Leaf Quilt

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This is Valery’s Oak Leaf quilt and it looks great among the evergreen trees!   I know this is a Quiltmaker pattern but I couldn’t find the issue number.   I quilted it using the panto Fascination and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.    

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Monday, February 25, 2013

Big Swirls…

..made by this big kid!

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I couldn't resist anymore, it was like a giant blank slate just waiting to be drawn on!  :)

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That was a good workout!  :)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Island Sunrise #5

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This is Evelyn’s Island Sunrise and she used two set of patterns to make her quilt larger than the wall-hanging size we made at the guilds workshop.  The green and blue batik fabrics make for a wonderful colour combination.   She asked for an edge to edge quilting design and I chose the Curlz panto.   So Fine green thread on top and blue Bottom Line for the backing.  

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I showed the backing I snow dyed in the last post and I was very pleased with how well it matched the quilt top.   I’m feeling more confident in my fabric dyeing results but know that it is still part experience and part luck!  :)

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Friday, February 22, 2013

Up Next

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I just snow dyed this backing for another Island Sunrise quilt that I will be putting on my machine next.  I’m really enjoying this side to my business, dyeing backing for my clients quilts.    I know not all quilts look good with a snow dyed backing as they are very bold pieces of fabric but they seem to suit Judy Niemeyer quilts because of the high contrast of  light and dark fabrics on the top.   For this backing I mixed two different concentrations of Marine blue  and a small amount of a green and poured the liquid dyes onto the snow.  Here is a peak of the quilt it is for.   

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Island Sunrise #4

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This is Val’s Island Sunrise quilt that she made at our guild’s Judy Neimeyer workshop in the fall.  Love the combination of blue and browns in the batik fabrics she chose.  I used the panto called Mimosa, Lava thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

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We have had more snow and blowing snow so after I filled my boots up with snow taking these pictures along the shoreline I marched over to the rink to find my path yet gain filled in!   I’m really getting my shoveling skills perfected this winter!

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Val brought a lovely brown batik fabric for the backing.

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Monday, February 18, 2013

Civil War Reproduction Quilt

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This is Sandra’s Civil War Reproduction Quilt that she made using Marcus Brothers Reproduction fabrics.    It is a Marti Michell pattern that came with acrylic templates, those always make the job so much easier.   Sandra asked for custom quilting and loves feathers so I hope I put enough feathers on this quilt for her :)  I used the beadboard design in the outer border and cross hatching in the sashing as the fabrics are a beautiful larger scale floral print and I didn’t want the quilting to distract from the print.  I did a free hand feather wreath in each block, a curl feather design in the green fabric, and a feather motif in the corner triangles.  The center medallion I treated different then the bordering blocks with a variation of feathers and straight line designs.

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I used the same So Fine thread color across the top, a light brown and bobbin thread was a light beige Bottom Line.  The batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

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It was –30’c this morning when I shovelled the ice to take pictures so it looks like we are in for another cold week!

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Winter Walk

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We woke up to more snow today and now my path to my patch of ice is all blown in.  Guess I have a bit of shoveling to do but I’ll wait until the snow stops falling.  Glad Tim and I took our bush walk yesterday as the snow was already pretty deep to be trudging though.  It was only –5’c so no more excuses that it was too cold, we needed to get outside for some exercise.   And was it ever a work out!!
First we have to make our way across a small opening from the road to the bush, the snow was thigh deep. We were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the start of our trail!  Definitely more snow than the last time we walked this trail.

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Someone had commented a few posts ago about what I wear when I’m out taking my quilting pictures… this is it…just add a scarf.   I had to take my scarf off at this point as I was just sweating and hot in all that winter gear but need it to keep the snow out of our boots and from going down our backs .  Nothing can wake you up more than snow falling off the trees and going down the back of your neck!  

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