Happy Halloween!

We are just about ready to leave for a Halloween Wedding Social. It's been a long time since we had a reason to dress up so this was a lot of fun.  I think I will have to stick close to Nolan all night, as my Lucy costume is much more identifiable when next to Charlie Brown himself.

 I didn't want the day to go by without sharing Reneta's cute table topper that I finished for her this week.  Reneta knew exactly how she wanted this one quilted so it made my job really easy, no deciding what to do!  Reneta used a tutorial from The Fabric Mill blog called "Spiderweb Table Topper".

Superman

This fun quilt was made by Amy and if her new hubby will part with it, the recipient will be an adult friend of theirs.  Let me begin by saying that she did not have a pattern for this quilt.  She looked online for examples of the logo and got out a sheet of graph paper and made a plan that evolved as she went.  

I do have to say that it took me awhile to figure out how exactly to tackle this one.  I stared at the blank canvas like you see it here.  I wanted the quilting to fun but not juvenile, and enough to highlight the quilt without making it more time consuming and costly than it needed to be.  The only ruler work I did was to outline the shape of the shield.  For the rest of the quilt I didn't do any stitching in the ditch, or marking - I just went freehand. The yellow got u-turns to make it recede and help make the S stand out, and the red got just enough of a large meander to keep it from bagging and sagging.

The blue background got a version of "Dwirling" from the "Pajama Quilter".  

The thin yellow border got a wavy line.  The outside red border had me stumped the most - in any other quilt, it was a lovely size for feathers.  The swirl/banana combination seemed to do the trick.  I will have to remember this one for the future!

Log Cabin with Applique

This beauty was made by Pat.  A lucky granddaughter will be receiving this one.  I stitched in the ditch around the Celtic applique.  Pat stitched all of it down by hand, and did a lovely job.  I decided the centre block would look nice with a frame and feathers and some small stippling next to the applique.

I echoed around the butterflies a few times and then filled the remaining area with feathers that filled the rest of the background areas of the quilt.

The border framing the centre block got some curling "nemeshing" feathers.

I also stitched in the ditch around the log cabin sections and added a variety of petals and curls.  The outer border was treated with piano keys and swirls.

Here you can see the entire quilt layout that includes a pillow tuck section with a lovely floral applique.

I love how this section came out!

Christmas Quarter Sections

The is Reneta's latest stash busting Quarter Sections quilt.  This one dug into the vast collection of Christmas fabrics, and she didn't even have to buy fabric for the borders! You can see Reneta's other Quarter Sections quilt here - it dug into a different part of her stash.

  

Reneta used her favorite cuddle fabric on the back, so I used my favorite companion batting - Quilter's Dream Puff.  Reneta left the quilting choice up to me, so I used the "Holiday Garland" panto and Magnifico #2063 - Clover Honey thread.  I love shiny gold thread on fabrics with some metallic in them.

 

Now, time for a little shameless self promotion - Quarter Sections is a Highway 10 Designs pattern (the company I co-own with my dear friend Kathy) and you too can bust your stash or keep the economy rolling and make your own.  Pattern is available in our Etsy Shop as a PDF download or in the mail.

Striped Diamonds

 

This fun scrappy quilt belongs to Eleanor (who lives in Michigan) but was brought to me by her daughter Dawn who lives here in Dauphin.  Eleanor and Dawn both have a much stronger artistic sense than I do, so it was fun working with Dawn to come up with a quilting plan.

Dawn envisioned something sort of tribal for the quilt design so I suggested the "Fossil" pantograph.

Thread color selection for pantographs on quilts with widely different colored sections can sometimes be a bit tricky. I was headed towards a neutral green, but Dawn wanted thread that would stand out.  We decided to change the color of thread on each pass of the panto, and use a contrasting color to the area of the quilt.  I used the 6 shades of So Fine! thread you see below.  They often blend into the fabrics, but they still add some extra interest to the top.  I enjoyed stepping out of my box just a little bit!

(I wish I had gotten better photos, but my camera battery and the sun didn't cooperate for me that day.)

Pedal to the Metal (with a twist)

This quilt was made by Patrice and is a fun twist on the Pedal to the Metal by Highway 10 Designs.  Instead of making all of the blocks the same like the original pattern shown below, Patrice added a second color way to make it her own.  I love seeing the creativity of others!

   

 Patrice made her quilt for her 3 year old grandson, and wanted a youthful quilting design, so we opted for allover freehand double circles.

The Pedal to the Metal pattern does not yield much waste at all, but Patrice was very resourceful with her strip set ends and pieced them into the back of her quilt.

I really enjoyed quilting up this twist on Pedal to the Metal, and Patrice tells me she has another idea for her next version.  Can't wait to see it!

  

  

Friendship Stars

This quilt is perfect for the season and was made by Grace.  Looking at this quilt I am reminded that quilts do not need to be complicated to be lovely - one block made in 5 colorways and simple sashing to pull it all together yields a great result.

Grace prefers less dense quilting, so opted for the "Plush" panto.  She provided a rich copper Fairy Frost backing for a nice complete look.