Fabriculous Viking Quilt

You might remember this quilt that I started last year that was a gift for my sisters birthday!  Well her next birthday is coming up so I thought I better get cracking and finish it!   The pattern is called Fabriculous Viking and you can find the pattern here. Don’t these Vikings look fierce and cool!

I fused the applique pieced on the background using Steam a Seam Lite 2, my favorite fusible web.  I didn’t stitch them down as I like to quilt my applique pieces down once on the longarm when it is my own quilt.  Saves me a whole step and I love the look!  I used a light yellow MicroQuilter 100wt thread for the background and black and brown Bottom Line 60 wt thread for the applique pieces.  The batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

Now since I am friends with the pattern designers I made a special request for a lady Viking and George was awesome in coming up with this great block.   She is not in the original pattern so is a Tamarack Shack exclusive for now but you never know, they might make it available in the future.

But these two guys are in the pattern and I had a lot of fun quilting their beards, once I figured out how to quilt a beard!  I did a water meander for the background that was simple and quick!

I even have the binding on the quilt and ready to give my sister when she come to visit me at the end of April!  Only 11 months late but that’s okay, she will forgive me...right sis! :)

Prismatic Star Quilt

This is Missy’s Prismatic Star quilt which is a paper pieced pattern by Judy Niemeyer of Quiltworx.  Missy owns Up North Quilt Shop in International Falls, MN and this quilt was a class she held at her shop a few months ago.  This is the first time I have quilted for Missy so I asked her if she liked feather quilting and she said they are not her favorite. I’m so glad I asked as I would have put feathers all over this quilt!   So my next idea was to have lines radiating out of the star with some fillers. I first doodled about 8 different fills but it was getting too busy so I simplified it with only two designs and very happy I went with this route. 

The fabric used is Timeless Treasures Gypsy Tonga Strips and the batting is Hobbs Heirloom 80/20.  I used a light blue So Fine thread for most of the quilt top, and switched to a light plum for the purple diamonds.

I quilted CC’s in the diamonds, stitched in the ditch around the large diamonds and did free hand swirls and U turns in the background.  I used my QP Fat Edge ruler for the diagonal lines.

Chalet Quilt

This is Shelly’s Chalet Quilt and the pattern is by Kate Spain.  The fabric collection is also by Kate Spain for Moda and is called Merry Merry.

The pantograph is called Hollyberries, thread is white So Fine and the batting Quilters Dream Blend.

Sweater Weather Quilt

This is Shelly’s Sweater Weather quilt and the pattern can be found in Quilty Magazine, Nov/Dec 2017 issue.  The designer Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts did a great blog post about her design here.

Shelly added her own applique designs with the tree and moose on the sweaters, so cute!  Definitely not ugly sweaters!   I used Flurry for the panto and I actually spent some time figuring out how to get the large snowflakes to line up in the toques!  The batting is Quilters Dream Blend and the thread is a grey So Fine.

We had lovely blue sky today but as usually a bit windy making the photos a challenge.

Still lots of snow here but it is melting fast!

I had a nice surprise last Friday night, I finally say Northern Light for the first time since moving to Ontario.   They can’t compare to what I use to view up north but it was really nice to be out taking pictures in the middle of the night in my pj’s! ;)

One nice thing about our new house is I have a large window in my bedroom and was laying in bed when I noticed the green glow outside.  I was able to watch them for about an hour before they disappeared.

The Night Before Christmas Quilt #2

This is another one of Lorette’s beautiful applique quilts!  The pattern is called The Night Before Christmas by Bunny Hill Designs and this is the second one I have quilted, you can see the first one here.  Lorette made this quilt back in 2013 right after she oldest sister passed away and I imagine this was a very therapeutic process for her.  It took her 6 weeks to make and it is all hand appliqued and embroidered. The little mice are made out wool and are so sweet.

I custom quilted it with beadboard on the outer border and used a stencil for the corner squares.  I SID around all the applique and blocks and added a variety of background fills including pebbles, swirls, wavy lines and loops.

Lorette sent wool batting and asked that it be layered on top of my Quilters Dream Blend which created wonderful texture with the quilting.  I think she has now converted me for the two batts on these special quilts and I might have to order a couple of packages of wool to have on hand!

I just love quilting these overlapping swirls, they really add a lot of great texture!

I thought this would  be the perfect quilt to show you one of the smallest church in Canada!  It is right down the street from my house and so cute. It is called the Norlund Chapel, it is 8’x10’ and can hold 8 people.  It was built by two local men in 1973, the chapel is open as a house of prayer for all 24/7.  The chapel's steeple was salvaged from a church fire in 1971.

Merry Merry Snowmen

This quilt belongs to Lorette who owns Spruce It Up Quilt Shop in Port Elgin, New Brunswick.   She has two longarm machines in her shop that are kept very busy with renters, so much so that she doesn’t have time to custom quilt her own quilts so she asked me to quilt two lap quilts for her. I just finished the first one, it is called Merry Merry Snowmen by Bunny Hill designs.  Lorette did all the applique and embroidery by hand and all the snowmen are made from wool.   For her applique she used ‘Cheri’s Cool Tool” mini iron with the applique tip to turn the edges over freezer paper, she said this is her favorite applique method and loves this tool.   Lorette made this quilt back in 2013 and it only took her 5 weeks to make!  It has been hanging in the shop since waiting to be quilted so I’m very happy to help her finished this project.

Lorette send a wool batt and asked me to use it on top of my Quilters Dream Blend batting. I am rarely asked to use two batts but this turned out wonderful!  Just look at the texture it created!

For thread I used a beige MicroQuilter on top and a beige Bottom Line on the back.  I used my Quilted Pineapple Fat Edge Straight ruler to quilt the cross hatching in the outer border.  I SID around all the applique and blocks and added loops, stipple, curls, pebbles and wavy lines for the background fill.  I used a small stencil for the corner squares in the border as well as a few blocks in the quilt.