Picnic Day

Eileen made this cheerful quilt.  The pattern is called Picnic Day and it was from the Spring 2016 issue of Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts

We auditioned a number of pantos but when "Yo-Yo" entered the race, it was the clear winner.  Eileen left the thread selection up to me and I opted for a Magnfico in a very light grey. 

Eileen selected one of my new Stonehenge backings.  I just love this light grey color and I think it will be very popular.

Such a pretty summer palette!

A pair of pretty quilts and a furry friend

This first quilt was made by Vanda.  We decided that a simple panto was the order of the day because the fabrics and pattern had enough interest.  Vanda selected the "Raindrops" panto.

While I was snapping a few photos I had a bold visitor.  I thought he was going to hop right on the pretty quilt!

This blond rabbit is a very unique color.  All of the others in the neighborhood a dark brown now in the summer.  He is cute and very friendly.

The second quilt of the day was made by Karen.  The was got some freehand quilting as attempting a panto with the loose prairie points would not have been fun.

Hearts, swirls and flowers were the perfect motifs to play with for this little girl's quilt.  And of course the minky shows it all off so well.

Amy's Cross Stitch Heart Quilt

Amy made this charming quilt as a present for a wedding that she is attending this weekend.  Amy left the quilting decisions up to me, but she did request that I quilt "McMillan Est. 2016" somewhere on the quilt.  She asked me to make it bold, as she made a similar quilt for herself and her last name is a little hidden.

I love how the personalization turned out, but I really was worried when I started the stitching.

I started out with a single green thread and the results were awful.  I thought maybe if I added a second line of stitching over top of the first I might be okay.  It looked like I was quilting drunk!  (I didn't take a photo of that.)  But, instead of ripping out my stitches I decided to keep going.

Apparently a lot of thread was just what the quilt needed.  I just kept going over and over it until I was satisfied that it was all filled in.  Phew!

I quilted a feathered hear inside the cross-stiched heart, although it is a little hard to see.  I filled the white background with teardrops and pebbles.

The outer border was crying out for feathers, and I had fun with hears and curls in the other two borders.  

Great job Amy, I'm sure this gift will be treasured.

Reneta's Chevron Quilt

Reneta made this great chevron quilt out of a couple of Lecien Fabric charm packs that she picked up at Fabriculous, a great shop in Swan River, MB now with a second location in Gimli, MB.

Reneta made this as a wedding present, and since the recipients are Mr. & Mr. I wanted to keep that in mind as I chose my quilting designs.  Reneta is one of my clients who has always told me that she doesn't love feathers, so I thought this was the perfect time to show her that all feathers are not the same.  I call these square feathers, but they may have another name.  

I used Magnifico thread on the whole quilt and it has a nice sheen that complemented some of the fabric that had metallic elements.  I used a steel blue on the solid grey and a bright green on all the printed fabric.  Some continuous curves with a little triangle thrown in was all the printed chevrons needed.

The backing is this fun print call Free Fall by Tula Pink.  It was such a great compliment to the front.

Cheri's Quarter Sections

Cheri made this sunny version of the Quarter Sections quilt by Highway 10 Designs.  Instead of using a specific collection of fat quarters, Cheri collected fat quarters during her travels to various quilt stores.  Cheri farmed for many years so the "Quarter Section" theme was very meaningful to her.

Cheri chose the "Zephyr" panto and I think it gives the feeling of the wind blowing across the prairie.

I love how Cheri pieced extra blocks into the back.  A nice surprise when you turn the quilt over!

This quilt just makes me smile.  Perfect summer colors.  Great job Cheri!

Pat's Leaf Row Quilt

This is Pat's Leaf Row Quilt and it is the fifth one I have had the pleasure of quilting.  With Pat's fabric choices I decided to do some custom quilting,

I tried to highlight the blocks with some simple design elements and repeat them over the quilt to pull the whole thing together.

I love stitching out the "fat leaf" design in the sashing strips.  I used a variety of background fills just for fun.

A really beautiful quilt, great job Pat!

 We have had some strong winds lately that took out branches and trees in the area as you can see in the background here.