Rosebud Border

This is Melba's latest Stack and Whack quilt, one of many I have quilted for her.  This time I used the Feather Curl panto in the centre and custom quilted the borders.

The outer border is one of my favourite free hand border designs and I call it 'Rosebuds'.  I saw something similar done on a quilt on a quilting forum and they called it 'Onions and Garlic'.  I played with that design and put more emphasis on the swirl and it now looks like a rosebud to me.

It is a very fast and fun design to stitch out.

Warning....

If your going to do this....

...you'll end up with THIS!!!!

One week in my veranda and it has faded this much from the morning sun!!  I was shocked.  I know the sun can do a lot of damage to fabric but that much in one week.   And the worst part is the blue is my own hand dyed fabric! 

 *head hits desk* 

Since the damage is already done I might as well just keep rotating this quilt on the chair until it is all faded!

When will I ever learn!

Diamond Dazzler

This is Dawn's quilt that was a kit from Sew Batik called Diamond Dazzler. I have never quilted a Sew Batik quilt before and they are wonderful to work on.  Their batiks are so soft and you don't get that 'popping' sound when you quilt them.  You know I'm a bit partial to batiks so now I find myself browsing the Sew Batik kit selection and saying "I don't need another quilt....I don't need another quilt".  But I know resistance is futile and I'll be pressing the 'confirm order' button soon.

I used my Whirlygig panto and a soft gray So Fine thread.

Looks fantastic in my room and on the dock!! 

How can I resist???

Mexican Star Quilt

I finished quilting my Mexican Star wall hanging yesterday and got the binding on this morning.  I had no idea how I was going to quilt it so just loaded onto my machine and started stitching....and yes I did some picking too!  I gave myself one day to work in it so the deadline seemed to help get the ideas flowing.

 I used Superior Thread's Highlights to give it a shine and the quilting is all free hand.

Love the blue behind it....

.....I decided to decorate my neighbours shed! :)

Mystery #4

This is Lynn's Mystery quilt and she used beautiful beige and pink batik fabrics!  She asked for an edge to edge design in the centre and custom borders.  I did a large free hand swirl in the outer border to match the print on the fabric

I have been purchasing new pantos and was excited to use a new one on Lynn's quilt.  This panto is called Taro by Urban Elementz and I used King Tut thread. 

This weekend we bought some wicker furniture for my new veranda that Tim built onto my Shack last fall so I had a bit of fun taking pictures of Lynn's quilt in there.

When we put the set in the veranda I went into the Shack to look for a few quilts to lay on the chairs to add some colour.  I found these two quilts of mine that were just folded up on my shelf so they now have a new home.  Putting the quilts out here has made my decision to paint the door a new colour easier, I am getting tired of the green but didn't know what colour to go with until now.  I'll take pictures when it is painted!

Happy Anniversary!

This is Maxine's quilt made from the fabric collection called 'Lily and Will' by Moda. She used the Hopscotch pattern and I quilted it with my Flourish pantograph.   I seem to be rediscovering some of the original pantos I bought when I first started two and a half years ago.  I also just placed an order for 6 new pantos...the result of reading too many blogs and getting inspired by what I see.

Oh you may be wondering why I titled this post "Happy Annivesary"...well it is our Wedding Anniversary today.  Tim and I have been married 16 years (and together for 20 years).

Happy Anniversary Tim!!

He is my best friend and my handyman!

He also is very supportive of my quilting addiction!

We are redoing our bathroom right now, ripped everything out and are starting from scratch, and Tim was installing our new vent fan for the bathroom ceiling when I surprised him and snapped this picture.
I asked Andrew to take a shot of us (since I am usually behind the camera)....I love how Daniel always makes his way between us whenever he can.

Black and White

This is Rae's Black and White quilt and she wanted it quilted the same way I did my quilt that I had made last year. I really like her fabrics better, they are a great collection of different designs whereas mine were all from one collection that I won from a contest.   You can see my quilt at this post.  When I quilt straight lines like this I make sure my lines are NOT even. I purposely make them different widths each time because I like how  it looks, it gives it a more natural feel and I am not going for perfect.
While I was working on this quilt my channel locks decided to start giving me grief and would work sporadically.  If anyone knows the trick to fixing the vertical channel lock please let me know, they just won't lock any more.

Swirls

My baby Twister quilt is finished now I just have to wait for my friend to have her baby so I can add the label. I think this quilt should be good for a boy or girl and I quilted a simple swirl design to keep it neutral.
I know I needed to practice my free hand swirls and to stop relying on pantos for this design so this was a good quilt to start with.  You can really see the quilting in this next photo.

I have learnt that I can work this design well if I move from left to right, but if I try to come back working right to left I have trouble seeing where I'm going.

Once I realized that I put Helen quilt on and tried again with this new knowledge.  And the result was much better.  The swirl were evenly spaced and more circular!!  I still need to practice this some more but it is definitely an improvement.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival Spring 2011

This is my third time participating in the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and I know I will be spending a lot of time on my computer this week enjoying the festival. I chose my Winner's Bouquet quilt to showcase as it was a quilt that took 2 years to complete and I struggled with 'how to quilt it'.   I have been quilting professionally for 2 1/2 years on my longarm and even though I have quilted over 200 quilts I still suffer from the dreaded 'Sit and Stare' once in awhile.   Not a very productive technique if you are familiar with it!

I love working with batik fabric and had been collecting earth-tone shades for awhile so when I can across this beautiful pattern I knew that was the quilt I had to make with my fabric.  I loved the acrylic templates that came with the pattern and that made cutting a dream.  Once I had all the piecing done I hit a wall....."how do I quilt the odd shaped background".

I could have done feather but the fabrics just didn't call for that type of quilting.  I wanted the quilting design to enhance the piecing not overpower it.
I came up with a few designs, which were all over ambitions design that I drew out on my plexiglass design board. Now if you don't have a plexiglass board run to your local hardware store and get one because they are one of the best quilting tools there is.  You just have to add the colourful electrical tape on the edges so you don't accidently draw past the edge of the board!

So after 6 months of the Sit and Stare technique I finally decided on the final design and the quilting went quickly, especially when I discovered I had a ruler that had the same curve as the piecing!!

So the quilting was all free hand and ruler work.

Now if you like me and like your art over your bed to match your quilt I thought I would show you what I made to go with it.  I discovered Snow Dyeing  this winter and dyed this piece of fabric that I framed and put over my bed. In Northern Canada winter lasts 6 month of the year so we have plenty of snow to play with. And to be honest this fabric was more of a 'planned accident' that it match my quilt but that's our little secret :)

  If your curious what Snow Dyeing is all about I posted a tutorial Here.

I hope you are all enjoying the festival and thanks for stopping by.

Shades of Gray

This is Judy's quilt and she just requested it be quilted with a pantograph and left the choice up to me.   I knew the quilting would not show up that much on the front but you would see it on the gray Minkie fabric on the back.    I chose Flourish and used gray So Fine thread.  I love how the design show up on the Minkie!

This is a good post to share one of my current project with you too.  I thought I would be brave and venture away from my favourite batik fabrics and try something new. I have a friend who is expecting a baby in July and I wanted to make them a baby quilt that didn't shout "baby quilt".   I picked a charm pack collection by Moda called Sunkissed and added gray for the background.  Yes I blame Jenny for this purchase!  I don't think I have ever bought gray fabric before but I really like it.

I have all the blocks made using the Lil' Twister ruler and just have to sew those together.

The white and gray fabric will be the backing.

Mystery Quilt #2 and #3

This is Alene's 2011 Mystery quilt that she made using a collection of fabric from Connecting Threads.  She chose my Feather Curls pantograph for the quilting and was very happy with the result, so was I!  

I decided to number these quilts as I post them since I know I am going to get quite a few to quilt.  

And here is #3, Rae's Mystery quilt that I did light custom quilting on. I SID and added a square in the stars plus loops in the outer border. Just love the colours in this quilt.. turquoise, grey and black!