Gail's Lug Nuts

This awesome version of Lug Nuts was made by Gail.  Gail was a student in a workshop I taught in January.   I loved the rich neutral fabrics that she had selected, and was very curious as to how her choice of one brick red fabric would look in the final product.   (Lug Nuts uses nine different fabrics and we normally suggest 3 lights, 3 mediums and 3 darks.)  I think end result is awesome!

  

Gail prefers a light touch with the quilting and chose one of my newer pantographs called "Expression".  Gail chose to do the optional pieced back to use up some of the leftover hexagon sections.

I just love how the landscape brick fabric look in the quilt!

Lug Nuts is a great stash buster if you have 1 m cuts lying around.  It is also a pattern that is much easier to construct than the final product would suggest.  No y-seams!   Pattern is available in the Highway 10 Designs Etsy Store, or ask your local quilt store about it.

Magic Tiles

Bonnie brought over this classic quilt top made from Kathleen Bissett's Magic Tile Pattern.  This pattern was extremely popular a decade or two ago, and really stands the test of time as it makes into a very striking quilt.  

It took my awhile to decide what quilting options to choose.  At first, I hesitated to sew across the thin black sashing as it was so crisp I didn't want to muddy it up.  I knew the two borders would allow some custom quilting to show, and wanted something dense enough in the center to balance that out.  I felt stitching in the ditch beside the black only would leave the center feeling a little flat, so I opted for a simple pantograph called "Raindrops"for the center.

You can see the quilting on the Stonehenge backing Bonnie selected from me.

I did a simple feather with a curl in the turquoise outer border, and a new to me twist on my regular curls in the black border.  I used a dark turquoise thread in the outer border and center and a charcoal grey on the black border.

Circle of Life

When I left home on June 14 to visit my mom and travel to Emo, Ontario to visit my friend Kathy, I had no idea how different my world would be one short week later.  My mom passed away June 21 after spending a peaceful 12 hours in the palliative care unit.  I was thankful to be with my mom in her last days, and to be in Winnipeg to help my brother and sister-in-law with the care-giving that became necessary at that time.  I truly believe that God's hand was involved in the timing of my little holiday.  Although Pulmonary Fibrosis caused her to grow weaker and limit what she was able to do,  she was mentally strong until the end.  

https://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-256396/SCHINKEL_JOYCE

Just before I left on my trip, I had the pleasure of quilting this skulk of foxes for Reneta.  

 

Reneta requested my all-over wood grain quilting on these darling baby boy quilts, and suggested that I quilt right across the names as well.  Reneta provided one large piece of wide flannel for the backing and I was able to do all four quilts at once. 

Here you can see them before I cut them apart to return to her.

 
Reneta adapted the layout, but used the "Fancy Fox" pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

I love the texture that the wood grain quilting provides to this quilt and I think Griffin would agree!

And here is more sweetness to balance out this post!