Northwoods Memories Quilt

This is Ellen’s Northwoods Memories quilt and the pattern is by Beth Ritter. You can find the pattern at Beth’s Etsy shop.   Ellen beautifully hand embroidered each block using green floss on a batik background. She used a very light stabilizer on the back of each block keeping them nice and flat, great idea!  She pieced a lovely variety of batiks in greens and browns for the sashing and borders.

I cross hatched the embroidery blocks and stitched in the ditch in the rectangles using MicroQuilter 100wt beige thread. Then I switched to green So Fine thread for the loops in the sashing and leaves in the outer border.  Batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

The embroidery blocks on this quilt are so beautifully designs so here are more close up pictures.

We went kayaking on Lake Despair last weekend which is only a 30 minute drive from our house.  It was pretty windy so we stuck to the east side on the downwind side of the islands.  Saw two otters, a fox, and four turtles sunning themselves on a rock.

Only one turtle left when I got close enough for a picture!

Falling In Love Quilt

My friend Wendy and her husband George, the owners of Fabriculous Quilt Shop, designed this fun quilt.   I knew I had to stretch out of my batik comfort zone and make it in bright modern fabrics.  The pattern is called Falling in Love and you can find the pattern for sale at their shop or on their website here.  I really enjoyed working with the modern fabrics and can see myself collecting more! I had shared this picture in a May blog post of the fabrics I had purchased and they worked perfect for this quilt.  The fabric are a blend of Tula Pink, Kaffe Fassett, Blueberry Park, and Grunge Dots. I like to mix collections rather than just use one!    The background is a white on white print.

I quilted it with straight lines and then changed the quilting in the white heart to cross hatching and CC’s.  I called it ‘Hugs and Kisses” quilting as it looks like X’s and O’s.

I used white So Fine thread on top and white Bottom Line on the back. Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Now its time for me to get back to quilting for my clients, it’s always fun to take a little break and squeeze in one of my own projects!

Hello Sunshine! (Part 1)

Ready to see a super cute quilt... and its not even finished!  This is Phyl’s Hello Sunshine quilt and it is a machine embroidery pattern by Kimberbell.   Phyl purchased the embroidery pattern from Road17N in Winkler, MB.  I saw their shop sample of this quilt at the MPQ’s Quilt Show in April so used that for inspiration for this quilt ( thanks Shari!). I dug into my repertoire of folksy quilting designs I had a blast quilting this summery quilt.  You might still be able to find the embroidery CD pattern at Road17N on their website here or just contact the shop.

Now I said that it wasn’t finished as Phyl still has some 3D-embroidered embellishments to add.  In the photo below you can see the mason jars (made out of clear vinyl)  with what looks like straws in them…they are not straws but sticks that hold pinwheels!   Also some more flowers will be added as well as balloons coming from the bicycle blocks and tails for the kites.

Here is the whole quilt.  I cross hatched in the outer border and did tiny loops in the inner border.  Stitched in the ditch around all the embroidery and used fills like stippling, swirls and loops in the background.

I used MicroQuilter 100wt white thread on top and white Bottom Line on the back. Quilters Dream Blend batting.

Had to get a picture of it with my new cruising bike! :)

Love how the pineapple blocks are made and the bicycle block is my favorite.

When Phyl finishes the rest of the embellishments she will send me photos that I will share on the blog!

Now usually at the end of June I announce I’m take July and August off. Since I am still re-establishing my longarm business after the move I decided to take a few quilts in July and just take August off this year.  But since I am done my June quilts I am going to have fun and work on a few of my own projects for the next 5 day!

Pumpkinville Quilt

This is Rae’s ‘Pumpkinville’ quilt and it is a pattern by Bunny Hill Designs. She purchased it as a BOM project through the Fat Quarter Shop in 2012.   Rae’s original plan was to needle turn all the applique pieces so she bought matching silk thread to do the job.  Well she realized this might take a few years to complete so she changed her mind. She decided to fuse the pieces and then applique by machine using the blanket stitch.   Rae was very happy she changed her mind as she started this project in November 2017 and it is now almost done!

A lovely folksy quilt like this needs a lot of fun background fills like swirls, curls, stipple, loops and flat meandering.  I stitched in the ditch around all the applique piecing and added a few details to some of the pumpkins and roofs.

I quilted bead-board in the outer border, loops in the inner border and l’s and e’s in the random sashing strips throughout the quilt.

Rae also added some hand embroidery embellishments and will add more now that the quilting is done.

I used MicroQuilter 100wt thread in an off white on the whole quilt top and a off white Bottom Line in the bobbin.  Quilters Dream Blend batting.