Man About Town

Cheri made this quilt out of Northcott's "Man About Town" Flannel collection.  The quality of Northcott's flannel is second to none making this a luxurious quilt. 

The pattern Cheri used is called Double Slice.  It uses a layer cake and you can see the tutorial here.

We decided on Quilter's Dream Midnight Poly Batting to keep it nice and light (and prevent any potential bearding through the back), a mossy green So Fine thread and the Fascination panto for a nice all over texture.

I am also excited to show you row 4 of the mystery row quilt I am participating in.  

A little more paper piecing for these Aspen leaves.  I decided to keep this row a little less scrappy than the last.  I used only two fabrics in each leaf, but the large color variation in the batik print gives the illusion of more.

 I am really loving how the rows look together.  Can't wait for the next set of instructions in early May!

More Care Home Quilts

Ina is truly the scrap quilting queen!  Here are three more quilts she has made for her local care home - #11, #12 & #13 that I have had the pleasure of quilting.  Hope you find them as inspiring as I do.

 This disappearing nine-patch has the "yo-yo" panto, Stonehenge wide backing and Quilter's Dream Blend batting.  Ina skillfully used both a white and a cream in the background, which most of us wouldn't think to do.

When I pulled this nine patch out of the bag, I had a feeling that I should do something other than a panto as I didn't feel as though I wanted to stitch over the thin black sashing with a contrasting thread.  I am very pleased with the end result.

And once again the Stonehenge backing fabric shows off the quilting very nicely on the back.

 The outside border was a little too wide to leave unquilted so I decided that some simple loops was all that was required.

This one is another Disappearing Nine Patch, and the white and blue combination led me to the "popcorn" panto which has a cloud like texture.

Stack 'n Whack

This is Vicki's Stack 'n Whack quilt.  Her fabric choice provided subtle patterns in her pinwheels.  I decided a little custom quilting was the order of the day.  Below you can see a before and after while it was on the machine.

Vicki requested one of my wide Stonehenge backings and it really shows off the quilting nicely on the back.  We used Quilter's Dream blend batting, So Fine thread on top, and Bottom Line on the back.

I haven't done this border design in a while.  I first used it back in my domestic machine quilting days.  I learned it as "Onions and Garlic" and it was a great treatment for this medium width border.

Flying Paisley

This cheerful little lap quilt was made by Reneta with some leftovers from a jelly roll quilt.  We decided on the Flying Paisley panto and I think it adds great movement to the quilt.  I used a bright purple magnifico thread.  

Reneta loves cuddle backing, and I used Quilter's Dream Puff batting.  Cuddle and puff is a favorite combination of mine.

This quilt is a gift for a family friend who is graduating this year, so I added her name and Grad 2015 to a couple of the flower petals.  It is a little hard to see in the picture, but I was pleased with the effect.  The personalization was subtle, but seemed fitting.  It is a little easier to see on the back.

Dresden Plates and Dragonflies

This is another one of Dorothy's gorgeous applique quilts.  She hand appliques like a machine! I stitched in the ditch around all the flowers and leaves. For the plates themselves I decided to stitch between the blades and add a simple spiral in the centers.  

The the pillow section of this quilt had me a little perplexed from the start, as it changes up the spacing for the background significantly.  I decided an all over approach would be best.  When it came to my attention that Dorothy has a special affection for dragonflies, my dilemma was solved.

I drew the outline of the dragonfly shape with a homemade stencil, and free handed all the details.  The rest of the background was filled with gentle curls with a bit of a teardrop shape in the center to keep them feeling soft.

The piano key border got stitched in the ditch and the beige border got a simple "e and l" treatment so it wouldn't try to compete with the rest of the quilt.

And a couple of shots of the back because it is pretty too!

 And one more plug for Dorothy's upcoming show.  It's going to be a great one!

Dorothy's Japanese Applique

This applique masterpiece belongs to Dorothy.  It is a large part of the reason that I was pretty quite here last month!  Dorothy does exquisite hand applique and challenges me (in a good way).  Her mix of a batik and Asian fabrics is masterful.  I like both kinds of fabrics, but tend to keep them in separate quilts. I may have to step out of that box. This has to be one of my favorite quilts that I have ever had the pleasure of working on.

My goal for the quilting was to make the applique shine.  All the border fabrics were quite busy, so the only thing I knew would show up at all was some line work.  I did the curve echo in a gold magnifico thread is the Oriental border.  The green batik got a brownish Magnifico thread and a variety of designs to tie it all together.

The background fill behind the applique is a mix of pebbles, echoing and a fill that was inspired by the gold design in the border fabric.

 It is a little easier to see all the quilting of the back of this one.

 

And because I don't think that there can be too many pictures of this stunner, here are some more.

The pictures really do not do this quilt justice.  If you are in the area and would like to see this quilt, and other amazing quilts by Dorothy like this or this, you can do so by attending her exhibit this May right here is Dauphin, Manitoba.  I am really looking forward to it!

Walk in the City

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I lasted posted something here!  Life has been busy, and time on the computer just didn't seem to be found.  Hopefully I can make up for it as I have been working on some lovely quilts.

The is Eileen's version of Walk in the City by Elisa's Backporch Designs.

Eileen decided on the "Wrought Iron" panto.  I think it suits the quilt really well.  Although it is hard to see in the photos I used a shiny Maginifico thread in a dark steel blue.  I wanted in to have a bit of presence everywhere on the quilt.

Eileen provided a lovely navy Stonehenge backing, and I now have it in stock as one of my wide backing options.

The sun wouldn't cooperate so you don't see any texture in this picture, but the colors are pretty accurate and you can see the cool print on the border fabric.

I did find some time to finish my third row in the mystery leaf row quilt.  Aside from being an attractive leaf the stems are 3d which adds a nice bit of interest.

It only took three months for me to go a little rouge and put my blocks together differently than the instructions.  The sample we saw have coloured fabrics bordering the leaves.  I decided I wanted them to float so I added more background fabric and just added the colored sashing pieces.