Log Cabin Swallow

Our guild hosted a swap back in the spring, and I realized I didn't share what I had made for my partner.  The theme was Log Cabin, and we were given some likes and dislikes from our partner but the rest was open.  I got my friend Dawn and knew I wanted to try to include a snow dyed fabric in the mix. You can see a little of my process here.   Snow dyeing is always a bit of a surpise,  so i did three pieces to ensure I ended up with something I could use.  

Here are all the fabrics that I finally decided on.

Once the top was pieced, I had to come up with a quilting plan.  Enter the plexiglass and whiteboard marker.  After some doodling I came up with a plan that I thought would work.

I roughly marked where the spines of the feathers should be and then just went for it.  It is fun to do small pieces like this (about 20" x 20").  

I did stitch in the ditch around all the logs in the log cabin blocks.  It help to make it nice and crisp.

Hoffman Dream Big

So many of the longarmers that I follow on social media have been sharing pictures of these amazing panels that they have been quilting.  Although I feel I was a little late to the party, I couldn't resist trying my hand at one too.

 The panel is from Hoffman fabrics and it is a digital print called "Dream Big."  It comes in a lot of different colorways, but this purple was my favorite.  Here you can see it just after it was loaded before I added any stitches.

Figuring out what to do in the center was the most challenging part.  A lot of others filled the center with pebbles, but I knew I wanted something different.  A gave myself a few chalk lines as a guide, and chose to use a few pebbles and petals with lines that followed the print of the fabric.

Once the centre was done the fun began. Feathers!!!  I was able to quilt the entire panel with one color of thread.  I chose my favorite 100 wt thread - Microquilter in baby pink.  I two layers of batting - Quilter's Dream Puff on top of Quilter's Dream blend.

The last design choice was deciding what to do where there weren't full petals.  I choice tight parallel lines. 

I'm glad I chose a fairly a white backing for this one as I love how the quilting design looks.

 And one more photo just because I can.  I sent this panel off to the quilt display at our local Art Centre, and I can't wait to have it back and find a home for it!

Custom Wedding Quilt

I had the honor of quilting this custom designed panel for my super talented friend Dawn.  This quilt was used as part of the wedding decor for her son and daughter-in-law's wedding this summer.  It was an awesome photo back drop for guests.

Dawn is usually busy making amazing art quilts,  which you can see at http://www.freespiritarts.ca/  but she has some pretty awesome graphic design skills too.  She created both my Night Owl Quilting logo and our Highway 10 Designs logo.  She used meaningful words and phrases, combined with her artistic vision to create the panel that you see above.  She then sent her design to a special fabric printer that could handle wide goods to be printed. 

All I did was quilt the Fascination panto to add a nice even texture and not take away from the design.  Enjoy looking at some of the details!

Hoffman Supernova Seasons

My friend Wendy from Fabriculous recently asked if I wanted to try my hand at quilting one of the new Hoffman Supernova Seasons panels.  Shortly after I said yes, my mind went blank and I had no idea what I should do!

 I decided to use the fabric design as my guide, and chalked the circle on before I loaded the panel onto my machine.  I stitched around the reindeer and two lines for the circle.  Next I followed the fabric design and stitched the straight lines in the center of the circle.  The distance between the lines varies, I just tried to keep with the angle of fabric design.

A curling feather border on the outside of the circle finished it all off.  This was a fun little quilting only project.  Small enough to easily handle on a domestic machine too!

Dorothy's Celtic Applique

Dorothy brought me this quilt that she made as a wedding gift for a special couple in her life.  She followed a pattern for the Celtic applique, but the layout was her own creation.

I quilted a topographic all over design in the body of the quilt.  I used my favorite gold thread - Magnifico 2063 - Clover Honey as most of the fabrics have a metallic accent on them.

The background areas behind the applique were filled with pebbles.  For this job I used my favorite thin thread - Micro Quilter.

Dorothy purchased one of my wide backings in a deep brown that complimented the rest of the quilt perfectly.

Hudson Bay Point Blanket Quilt

This modern quilty take on a traditional Hudson Bay point blanket was made by Amy for a friend who loves all things Hudson Bay.  Amy used this tutorial From Miss Make.

  http://www.missmake.com/2012/02/hudson-bay-point-blanket-quilt-and-free.html

Originally when we talked about how to quilt this one, Amy and I discussed straight horizontal lines.  When she showed me the backing that she had chosen, I suggested a change in plan.  I love the Buffalo check backing, but the odds of parallel lines from the front being parallel to the print on the back were slim to none!   So instead of the quilt ending up looking like the quilter was drunk quilting, we decided to look at pantograph options.

I have all my pantograph pattern traced on clear plastic that I lay over the quilt top to help envision what the end result will be.  Sometimes the shapes in a pantograph suit the quilt, but the scale does not.   This set up photographs quite well, so if we can't be in the same place I will send my client a selection of different pantographs on their top so they can choose.  Amy and I thought "Maple Syrup" was this icing on this Canadian quilt cake.