Debbie's Disappearing Nine Patch

Debbie made this really lovely Disappearing Nine Patch quilt with fabrics that she originally purchased to include in her wonderful Leaf Row quilt that you can see here. Debbie ended up with a bit of a different palette for that quilt, but really ended up with a lovely (and large) secondary project. I tease Debbie that she only knows how to make big quilts - this one is 114" long!

Debbie wanted simple quilting and we decided that the Fascination panto was just right.

I love the rich backing fabric she provided.

A beautiful quilt that we will be well received by the lucky recipient.

Wavy Lines

Sherry brought me two lap quilts and she knew exactly how she wanted them quilted.  She even brought me two references of other quilts done with wavy lines that she liked, so my job was pretty easy!

The above photos don't really show the details of all of the fabrics Sherry used.  Sherry always has a way of surprising me with her fabric choices.  I always find her quilrs very appealing, but they always contain fabrics that I would never have thought to put together.  This floral and the batik strips look beautiful together, but I can say for sure that I wouldn't have even tried them out together.

This was the interesting color of thread that blended so well with Sherry's fabric palette.

The second one uses a neat focal fabric with birds and I really like it as well.

I found the last bit of this Stonhenge backing in my remnant pile.  It was meant to be.

Cross Stitch Quilt

This unique quilt was made by Sandra.  Each of the blocks is cross stitched,  so when Sandra told me this quilt was many years in the making I could certainly understand why!  I wish I had gotten a better photo of the entire quilt, but it had a white backing so I wasn't going to risk taking it outdoors for photos, and our fall has had many a cloud covered day!

Sandra prefers a lighter rather than heavier amount of quilting, so the only place I went a little more intricate was on the solid outer border.  Our goal was not to overpower the fine detail of the cross stitch blocks.  I did simple swirl in the pink sashing with a matching color of So Fine thread, and piano keys in the wide floral border with a shiny gold Magnifico thread to match the metallic accents in the fabric.

Deciding what to quilt in the cross stiched blocks themselves was the hardest part of the process.  I wanted to find something that would let the cross stitch shine, but also be enough quilting to keep the blocks from sagging and bagging. 

I used Superior's new Microquilter thread and stitched right over the hand stitches.  This thread is 100wt and very matte and it almost vanishes completely.

The border was a lot of fun to quilt!  With the outer border being solid the curling feathers show up really well and don't get lost.  I think they were the right finishing touch for this quilt.

Rail Fence Twist

This is Nancy's Rail Fence Twist quilt. If I remember correctly I believe the pattern came from a magazine.  

The batik fabrics hid a lot of the quilting, but the Bora Bora panto provided a nice even texture.  I used a Magnifico thread for a bit of shine, but couldn't capture that in a photo.

If green is one of your favorite colors I think this would be a quilt you could enjoy for a very long time.

Eleanor's Mini Lug Nuts

This hexagon quilt was made by Eleanor. It is so cheerful and fun, just like Eleanor who I finally got to meet in person.  I have quilted for Eleanor before, but as she lives in Michigan and I live in Manitoba we hadn't met.  Her quilts always came to me through her daughter and my friend Dawn.  

 Eleanor based her quilt off our Lug Nuts pattern, but since she had fat quarters instead of yardage and a 6" instead of a 10" 60 degree triangle ruler she just adapted things to suit her.

Eleanor had a very clear vision of the kind of quilting she wanted.  She was immediately drawn to the Dazzle pantograph, as she didn't want any curvy quilting lines.  I tried to show her some other options, but the artist knew what she liked!

  

The back is really fun as well and shows off the texture of the Dazzle panto really well.

Susan's Leaf Row Quilt

This blog has been silent for much longer than I anticipated.  The fall has been zooming by a record speed and I haven't found the time to keep up with sharing all of the beautiful quilts that I have been working on.  Time to change that!  This beautiful quilt was pieced by Susan.  I love how Susan creatively handled a small shortage of her border fabric by using her sashing fabric in opposite corners.

 Susan wanted very simple quilting so selected the Raindrops panto graph.

Susan is a true quilter and wanted to create a unique back using a leftover row and fabrics from her stash.  I had a little trepidation when I load the backing as I was worried there might be a risk of pleats and puckers, but Susan's careful measuring and pressing made for a flat and square back that didn't cause any problems even with a mix of cottons, batiks and pieced blocks.

I was also impressed once again with how my Innova handled the job.  Where this leaf row on the back lines up with the row on the front of the quilt I was at times sewing through 4 layers of fabric, fusible interfacing and batting and I didn't have a single thread break or tension issue!  Love my Innova!