Dresden Plate Quilt

This is Sandra’s Dresden Plate quilt and it is going to be a wedding gift for her daughter Heather this summer.   Sandra spent some time collecting fabrics that she knew her daughter would love, like polka dots and teal.  Heather likes to say ‘a quilt always needs yellow” so in went a pop of yellow too.  Sandra knows her daughter loves traditional quilts and likes her quilts quilted into “hard little blankets”.  For me that means ‘lots of quilting’ and this is the maximum density in quilting that I like to do!  Sandra also loves feather designs so I knew I could never put too many feathers on her quilts.  So between Sandra’s choice of pattern and fabrics, and my quilting designs I think that was mission accomplished!

I started with the flowing feathers in the outer border and tried to give them a more random, uneven look which turned out great!  I’m usually keep my feathers more even but I needed to stretch out of my comfort zone and so happy I did!    I added feather curls in the sashing and then tried a feather design that Desley showed me and I used it in the background.  I stitched in the ditch around the Dresden Plates and then used my curved ruler to add the curved lines in the blades.  Then a simple swirl in the center to finish the job!

The grey border and sashing fabric is grey Essex Linen!  Batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

I used 402 So Fine thread on the whole top and off white Bottom Line on the back so no thread changes.   This gave the back a whole cloth look and I love the texture it created!

Winter Experience

One of the best things about writing a blog is the people I have met through it!  About 6 or 7 years ago I started corresponding with Desley from Australia and she has a blog called Addicted To Quilts.  She is an extremely talented longarm quilter so I highly recommend you check out her blog and her past posts.  So much eye candy to see and you can now find her on Instagram as I got her addicted to that when she was here.  We have been saying for years it would be great to meet in person and this fall she booked her flight to visit and have a real Canadian winter experience.  The weather cooperated and she got a taste of the bitter cold as well as some warmer days.    While she was here she missed a few 41`c days back home.  
We spent a few days in Winnipeg and she saw her first sundogs as we drove around southern Manitoba in blowing snow conditions!   We were not going to let the weather stop us from getting to a few quilt shops!

Then we drove to Dauphin, MB to visit Lori and check a few more things off her bucket list.  Driving and walking on a frozen lake was on her list and we added ice fishing, snowmobiling, and seeing a ice pressure ridge on the lake.  I love that she saw and experienced things she had no idea existed, and that she loved the sound of snow squeaking under her boots!

Lori’s husband Nolan guided Desley as she drove the snowmobile for the first time.  They went out to the pressure ridge and got some fabulous photos.

I had some great luck with the ice fishing and had my first Pickerel on the line before the rest had theirs in the water. Lori did a great job baiting my hook!   I landed two and had to throw one back as it was too large to keep.

Lori and our friend Genny cooked up lunch on the ice shack wood stove.  We were toasty warm in the shacks and ended up spending most of the day on the lake in –24’c temperatures.

As you can imagine I was so happy to be out on the lake again, I’ve really missed that this winter.

So after that adventure I took Desley to Emo for a few days and we did some snow dyeing, drove to a few quilt shops in Northern Minnesota and then I took her on one of our local lakes to do some snow shoeing and make a snow angel!  It was a beautiful day with no wind and –1’c, that is rare for January.

Then to end her trip we drove up to Gimli, MB for a quilt retreat, stopping for a photo op at the centre of Canada on the TransCanada highway!  

 The retreat was a lot of fun and Desley was able to meet a lot of my friends.  We took the Diva Wallet class and I made mine out of cork, love it!    Desley then helped me piece what might be a new Highway 10 Designs pattern, its just in the testing stage, and then she helped me start my Jelly Roll Rug that is all the craze on Instagram.  I just have the large ball of ‘yarn’ ready and will make the rug soon.

I am so glad that Desley was willing to take that long flight to visit me and she did a very good job at convincing Tim and I to come visit her and her husband in Australia in a few years.  I think that would be a great 50th birthday gift, don’t you?   :)

 Here is the view of Lake Winnipeg from the Lakeside Resort in Gimli where the quilting retreat was held!

Now its time to get back to work, my winter holiday is over.

Fadeaway Quilt

This is Kerri’s Fadeaway quilt and the pattern is by V&Co. She used solid ombre fabrics to get the fade effect from the top left to bottom right.  Very cool!  Since the blocks are 16” I used my largest scale panto, Fascination.  Thread is white So Fine and the batting is Quilters Dream blend.

I had Tim drive me around the neighbourhood and stopping when I thought it was a good spot for a photo shoot. Found this beautiful spot on our road with hay bales so stopped there first.

Then I had no trouble convincing him to stop at an old train station in the middle of a field and hold up the quilt there.  We then walked around to study the building and soon noticed a camera on it.  We waved and then went on our way!  I’m sure when the owners check their camera they will think we are crazy! “ What are they doing with that quilt”.   :)

Traction–Pattern Number 10

Lori and I have been working on this pattern for awhile now, it can never be said we rush the process!   I’m happy to introduce Highway 10 Designs newest release – Traction!  This pattern is now available in paper and PDF instant download in our Etsy shop here.   This is an intermediate level pattern and the only ruler you need is your 6” x 24” ruler to cut the angles. The pattern gives instructions for three different sized ranging from lap to queen.   We have made three samples of this quilt in different colour ways to show you how great it looks in different fabrics.   The first one pictured is the first on I made back in the summer in a light grey, back and yellow colour palette.  Very bold and masculine.  I quilted it with the Plush pantograph and used Quilters Dream Blend batting.

The second one Lori made and she used blue,  light grey and dark grey and it is our pattern cover quilt.  Lori did an amazing job custom quilting this one and I love how she extended the diamond design into the border.   The snow backdrop makes it look like tire tracks in the snow, hence the name!

Now to our third sample which I pieced in light batiks in a more feminine colour palette with a light yellow, pink and a pink/yellow print.  The pantograph is Wave on Wave and the batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

I was having trouble finding a backing to match and them I remembered I know how to dye fabric!  So I did a bit of ice dyeing as we didn’t have any snow when I was quilting it. 

We also just printed our Stellar pattern so all ten of our patterns are now available in both paper and PDF in our Etsy shop.   

Global Migration Quilt

Back in June I quilted Marlene’s Global Migration quilt that she was pattern testing for Anne who had written the pattern.  Anne asked that I not blog about it until it was published in a magazine and this week it is now in Make Modern Magazine, Issue 20!  You can get a peak at the issue here and see Anne version that she beautifully quilted herself!   She also posted pictures of hers on her Instagram @plaidnuthatch

After seeing how Anne quilted hers I told Marlene we should do something different and she suggested feathers!  I was more than happy to quilt flowing feathers and they went so well with the pieced flying geese.  I used white So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Sorry for all the pictures but I really miss that view making it hard to limit the pictures!

Bet you didn’t expect to see anymore pictures from Schist Lake.   Well my next post will have some pictures from there too!