Dianne's Quick Quarter

 

Dianne made this dramatic bargello style quilt.  The pattern is called "Quick Quarters" and is from the Eleanor Burns book called "Quick Trip Quilts". 

Dianne normally rents time on a longarm and does her own quilting, but this time out she was happy to pass the King Size (102 x 115) off to me. 

Dianne selected the Windswept pantograph, and the extra wide Quilter's Dream Blend batting.  I think I surprised Dianne with the thread options I presented.  She loved how So Fine 512 - Medici which is a lovely green-gold color than blend nicely across all the colours in the quilt.

Dianne supplied a lovely Northcott wide backing from the Dream Weaver line.

Cindy's Landmark Quilt

Cindy made this neutral and modern version of the Landmark Quilt by The Blanket Statement.  Cindy selected the Arrowful pantograph and I love the little bit of movement it adds.  We opted for a cream colored thread that blended into the background to not distract from the pattern.  The quilting always shows up so wonderfully on the cozy fireside backing.

I tried a new photo location in town that I hadn't really checked out before.  We also used a new tool....

This is Nolan, the quilt husband/quilt holder who never complains, even when conditions are less than optimal.

I saw this idea somewhere online (I wish I remember who to credit) of adding clamps to some sticks to assist in quilt holding.  I showed it to Nolan and he made his own version.  I believe the original used duct tape, but Nolan opted for a screw and some artificial sinew to lash the clamps on the sticks to create his "arm extensions.'

This lovely mural was located in the wind tunnel created by two buildings...I'll show you the not so glamourous behind the scenes.  Let's set sail....

Let's wait out this gust for a bit....

Almost.... his reach is greatly increased with the new tool  - this quilt was about 80" x 98"!

Victory!

Bold and Beautiful

 

I had the privilege of quilting this beauty for Barb.  The top was pieced by Anne Reimer, who sadly has passed away, and Anne's friends and family are working to get her quilt treasures complete.

 

All of the colouful fabrics in the quilt's body and the applique border are hand dyes that Anne did herself.

The top really didn't need me to do anything to make it beautiful, so Barb and I opted for the "less is more" approach.  Barb selected the Raindrops pantograph for the body of the quilt. 

For the outer border I stitched around the applique and added a simple piano key border.  To determine the spacing of the piano keys, I looked to the piecing in the body of the quilt.  All of the quilting was done in a slightly off black thread.

Wonderful Woodland

This is Loraine's version of the Wonderful Woodland quilt by Art East Quilt Company.  Loraine picked up this kit from Keystone Modern Creative, and it is still available if you need to make one for yourself.

I suggested adding my freehand woodgrain quilting to finish this one off and Loraine agreed.  It is my favorite quilting design for patterns such as this.

 

Crossroads

This is new quilter Kerri's Crossroads quit.  The patterns is by Quilty Love.  She wanted simple straight line quilting for a clean modern look.

When Kerri contacted me about quilting, she had some very different questions for me - would I be able to tackle her project?  Was her quilt doable?  These questions had me curious - so I asked for a photo and more info.  It turns out Kerri had taken her quilt somewhere else and had a very negative experience, especially for a first time quilter. She said the communication was frustrating, but as a new quilter she didn't totally know what to expect.  After quilting about 36"of it, with a single line of stitiching through the centre of the squares (I could still see the needle holes) they decided that they could not complete the projects as the "seam intersections were too bulky" and it wasn't pieced well enough for straight lines to look good.  They returned the quilt to Kerri and she was shocked and filled with doubt.  I am still perplexed as to what was causing the other quilter issues, as this top looked like it was made by a seasoned perfectionist quilter, and it was well pressed.  

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I gave Kerri some different options and discussed the pros and cons of straight lines, and Kerri decided her vision was irregularly spaced straight lines so that is what we moved forward with.  I could tell Kerri was still a bit apprehensive when she dropped her quilt off because of her past experience, so once I had it on the machine and things were progressing exactly as I expected I texted her this photo to put her mind at ease.  

I often say hiring a longarm quilter to finding the right hairdresser.  You need to find the person who "gets" you, and your feel comfortable with.  I was happy to help Kerri finish her project.  She now wants to make more quilts and enjoy her new found hobby.

I absolutely love the mustard coloured backing fabric!

 

Elephant Abstractions

Reneta made this fabulous version of Violet Craft's Elephant Abstractions quilt for two very special people in her life - her son and new daughter-in-law who finally got to have the wedding celebration this weekend.  

Reneta and I went back and forth about how to quilt this one.  Reneta wondered if custom quilting was the way to go, especially because it was for a wedding gift.  The quilt top makes an impact before quilting, and really only needed to be held together to make it fabulous, so we were down to horizontal straight lines like the pattern cover and a couple of pantographs. Ultimately we decided on the Time Warp pantograph and both of us couldn't imagine it any other way now!

I used a Charcoal grey So Fine thread that blended nicely in the range of elephant fabrics as well as the purple Grunge background.

 

Simple Sampler

 

I recently had the pleasure of custom quilting Marlene's beautiful "Simpler Sampler" quilt.  This quilt is anything but simple, but it comes from Kim Diehl's book entitled "Simple Sampler."  Marlene did change up the border to make it her own, and I like the simplicity and how it frames the beautiful blocks. 

Marlene and I discussed a few of her quilting likes and dislikes but she said she prefers not to say too much and let her longarmer decide.  The hardest part for me was coming up with a plan for the pieced blocks.  I took my inspiration from the centre blocks and added diagonal lines in the background of 8 of the blocks, radiating out from the centre.  I like how the pattern gives your eye a place to rest.

The other four blocks were treated with a different motif that matched the molar feather quilting in the border.

The wool applique blocks didn't leave a lot of room for quilting, so pebbles seemed like the perfect choice to fill in all the small areas and make the applique pop.

Thank you for trusting me with your quilt Marlene, it really is a beauty.