Quilts for Humboldt

Many of you have probably heard in the news there was a terrible bus crash on April 6th in Saskatchewan involving the SJHL Humboldt Broncos team.  Many lives were lost and many will be dealing with this tragedy for the rest of their lives.   The quilt shop in Humboldt, Haus of Stitches, has started a ‘Quilters Call to Action” in making quilts for the Broncos and all that have been affected by this tragedy.   You can read about this project on the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guilds website here.  Their deadline for the quilts is May 18th. 

Quilting can be very therapeutic and for me making this quilt was a good way to ease that helpless feeling after the tragedy.   I hope it can provide comfort to someone in the days ahead.

They are asking for quilts in the teams colours, which are Green, Black, White and Yellow.  They have a block pattern on the site if you want to just make blocks but I wanted to make a completed quilt so used our Quarter Sections pattern.  Quilted it with Fascination, used yellow So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

A few other ladies in our town are making quilt tops so we will be sending them along together soon!

This weekend I was asked to teach a workshop at the Cabin Country Quilt Guild in Fort Frances, ON.  This is the guild I have joined since moving to Emo and they have made me feel very welcome into their group!  I taught our Highway 10 Designs Detour placemat and table runner pattern.  Here is a picture of all the ladies with their table runners in various stages.  I love seeing our patterns done up in different fabrics and it was a pleasure getting to know all these wonderful ladies better.

Retro Farmhouse Quilt

This is LeAnne’s beautiful Retro Farmhouse quilt that was a BOM from Fig Tree & Co.   It is all wool applique, hand stitched, on a grey linen background, so many wonderful textures!  LeAnne asked for custom quilting and let me decided on the designs.  It took me awhile to come up with the quilting plan but I knew I wanted to try out my new QP Big Curve Templates in the outer setting triangles.  I used the 30” template to create the curves and the QP Straight Edge for the lines and stitch in the ditch.

Hope your have your cup of coffee with you as I have a lot of picture to share!

All the quilting is done with 100wt MicroQuilter grey thread by Superior Threads.  This is my go to thread for custom quilting pebbles and heirloom feathers as there is no thread build up on the back tracks.

Batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

LeAnne did a beautiful job with her hand applique stitching and even added her initials to the very bottom corner on the date block.

I think this might be the last of the snow pictures as it is finally warming up here.

Not Your Mothers Rail Fence

This is Mary’s version of our Highway 10 Designs pattern Not Your Mothers Rail Fence.  Mary used mainly Spirit of America fabric by Buttermilk and the blue fabric is from Primitive Stitches by The Little Red Hen.   I quilted it with the Rhapsody pantograph, used beige So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Mary’s fabric choices really highlight the design in the pattern which is a variation on the traditional Rail Fence pattern.

The wide backing was sweet too!  I used it as the inspiration for my pantograph choice.

There is still a bit of ice/snow along the edge of the Rainy River but the river is pretty much free of ice now.

Here is what our pattern cover quilt looks like as well as one I made using light batiks.  The choice of fabrics really change the look of the quilt.

Radio Way Baby Quilt.

This is Peggy’s Radio Way baby quilt which is a pattern by Jaybird Designs.  Peggy used this adorable fabric collection, called Cold Comfort by Dear Stella, that she picked up at Up North Quilt Shop.  The fabrics have northern animals like Polar Bear, Moose, Fox, Wolves, Deer, and Eagles.  I quilted it with the Bora Bora pantograph to give the feel of wind across the design.

You can see the quilting texture better in the outdoor shots.  It was really windy out (again) so I was lucky enough to get a few shots in the snow.   It is slowly melting here but I can still find a few locations with snow but that won’t last much longer.

City Slicker in Black and Bright Batiks

It always amazes me how one pattern can look so different done in different colourways.  Our Highway 10 Designs pattern City Slicker is one that keep surprising me as I see pictures of the quilts others have made with it.  A few months ago we saw one done with a black background and bright fabrics so that inspired Lori and I to make one for ourselves to promote this pattern. We were at a retreat at Road 17 N in Winkler this March and pieced one out of our bright batik stashes.  I just love how it turned out!  Here it is laid out in the shop as we decided which block would go where.

Our friend Audrey was also at the retreat and she just finished a City Slicker done in V&Co fabrics called Simply Colouful. See what I mean by how different they look!

I custom quilted ours using only black So Fine thread.   I debated about using a bright variegated on the batik fabrics but decided that I liked the boldness of the black on the batiks.  I stitched in the ditch around the black fabrics and added 1/4” stitching in the black frames. I then added the alternating large and small circles, all free hand.  They are no were near perfect circles but I’m totally okay with that as I know when you stand back and look at the whole quilt that is not what you see, the focus is the great texture it creates.    I then added the X’s on the batiks to give the four patch a stain glass window look.

I used Quilter’s Dream Black Poly for the batting as white will leave white fluff on the black fabric!

I found a great new location for taking pictures near our house. Its along a creek with a small fence perfect for laying quilts over. Most of the fences here are just wire so this was a great find!

I picked up a great wide backing at Up North Quilt Shop, a beautiful teal and purple batik.  Think I need to go back and stock up on more of this fabric!

Looks great in the guest room!

This quilt really does look like a City Slicker in our little rural town!   :)

If I have tempted you to try this pattern you can visit our Etsy shop here.

Quilt Reflections 2018

Just a reminder that the Manitoba Prairie Quilters are hosting the Quilt Reflections Quilt Show this weekend at the Canad Inns in Winnipeg.   I really enjoy this quilt show as they have so many amazing quilts on display and I also have fun shopping the vendor mall.  I had the privilege of quilting their raffle quilt, for the second time, and you can see that blog post here.   Last show a few of my clients won ribbons on their quilts in the Commercially Quilted Category so I wonder if any of my clients entered quilts this year?

I’ll be checking out the show on Friday so hope to bump into friends and clients through out the day.  That is the best part, meeting clients that I have only talked to on the phone or by email.  It is great to put a face to a quilt!