My Home Quarter

  

This is going to be a bit of a unique post.  I made this Home Quarter quilt top, but I did not do the longarm quilting!  I made this top at a Highway 10 Designs retreat earlier this year (remember quilting retreats?) that Kathy and I hosted at Keystone Modern Creative.  The fabric was a bundle of fat quarters in the Libbs Elliot Tattooed North line.  I didn't have a plan for the quilt so it went onto my "to be quilted" stack.

This spring I participated in a quilt-a-long and won a super generous prize of a $200 gift certificate for longarm quilting services donated by Shelly of Ma Tante Quilting in Minnedosa, MB.  This first question I was asked was "Did I want the prize?" as I was a longarm quilter myself.  My answer was an enthusiastic "Absolutely!"  I have followed Shelley on Instagram since she started and she does absolutely lovely work.  Shelly has a fully computerized machine and can do totally different things than I can as a hand guided quilter.

.  I liked the quilt top well enough, but it didn't come out quite like I thought it would in my head.  I thought some digital modern quilting might just be the thing to take it up a notch.  I knew I wanted a very detailed very geometric pattern.  I searched many pattern sites online and settled on this design from Karlee Porter called "Fancy Schmancy."  Parallel straight lines and perfect circles are the exact opposite of what I normally look for in a pantograph!

  I decided that since the top was feeling a bit plain before it got quilted, I would add a surprising backing fabric for a little more interest.  This quilt needed more mustard than the few splashes on the top!

Shelly did a wonderful job scaling the pantograph to suit my quilt. I sent along Quilter's Dream Puff batting and I love the loft that the quilt has even after its dense quilting.   It was a fun experience sending my quilt off to have someone do something that was outside of my capabilities.

Home Quarter is available as a pdf download or in paper format on the Highway 10 Designs website.  You can also ask your favorite local quilt store to stock it for you.  This is the queen size version that uses 36 fat quarters.   

Thanks Shelly for helping me get this out of my "to be quilted pile!"

 

Covered in Hope

 Covered in Hope by nite owl quilting

Shelia brought this lovely quilt over for some custom quilting.  The pattern is called Covered in Hope by Nite Owl Quilting.  Shelia changed out one of the words to something that was more meaningful to her.

I stitched around all the applique and added a stipple background fill that seemed very fitting with her choice of background fabrics.

When we were discussing ideas for the border, Shelia mentioned that she could see Butterflies flying her and there.  I was happy to oblige.

Spring Equinox

 

I am SOOO excited to share this quilt that I made! (Happens occasionally!)  I loved this pattern the first time I saw it on Instagram.  The pattern is called Spring Equinox and is by designer Taralee Quiltery  who lives in neighboring Stonewall, Manitoba.  My niece Amber was graduating high school this year, so it felt like the perfect fit to make it for her.

I also decided this quilt was the perfect opportunity for some over the top quilting.  I have only done something like this once before when Reneta pushed me out of my comfort zone with this quilt.

I was easily able to buy the pattern online, but at this time all the fabric stores were closed to the public.  I sent Jennifer at Needle Craft and Studio in Beausejour a picture of the front cover and the fabric requirements and she put together the fabrics for me with a little consultation over IG messenger.  After a curbside pickup I was off to the races.

For the quilting plan I knew what I wanted to do in the background - a mashup of feathers, paisleys, swirls, pebbles and curls;  and I knew I wanted to keep things simpler in the flower so that there would be good contrast.  I used most of the Quilted Pineapple curved rulers that I owned to get all the different arcs just right.

When I am making a gift for someone, or am working on a quilt one of my clients is giving as a gift, I love to be able to personalize it.  I decided one set of leaves was the perfect spot.

I used one layer of Quilter's Dream Puff Batting to ensure the quilting would have enough loft, and one of my Northcott wide backings called Simply Neutral in grey.

I was happy with the quilt top before it was quilted, but I am over the moon with the final product.  I did a multicolor binding which isn't something I normally think about, but it turned out better than I imagined. 

And if you are still scrolling I will leave you with more pictures as I just couldn't decide what not to share. 

 

Dawn's Our Hearts Will Go On

Another quilt that looks great in my bedroom!  This beauty was made by Dawn for her niece's wedding.  Unfortunately Dawn could not travel to Michigan to attend because of the current Covid restrictions, but she could send lots of love to the new couple with this quilt.  The pattern is "Our Hearts Will Go On" by the Fabric Addict.

Dawn selected the Tickle pantograph, Quilter's Dream Blend Batting, and Northcott's canvas wide backing to complete her project.  I had a lovely shiny Magnifico thread in a blue/green that looked just perfect with the batiks for the top and an off white Bottom line thread on the back.

 

Glen's Hunter Star

I recently had the pleasure of quilting the fantastic king size Hunter Star quilt made by Glen.  It could have happily stayed in my bedroom don't you think?

Glen is a relatively new quilter.  He started over the winter when he was snow birding in Arizona.  This is only his second project!  He made his own templates and I have to say it all came together beautifully.

This quilt will be living in Glen and Angela's master bedroom so they choose the Bora Bora pantograph together.  We chose a very light taupe/grey thread that didn't call too much attention to itself, but also didn't totally disappear in to the background.

 

Welcome to My Pad

This is Reneta's version of a new quilt pattern from Art East Quilt Company called "Welcome to My Pad."  Reneta served as a pattern tester and she sent this darling frog along to me for some pantograph quilting.  

.

We quickly agreed that the Raindrops panto was the perfect choice, especially when you take note of the directional background fabric that she tamed.

There is a second option for this pattern that involves a frog prince as well.  Check it out here.

 

"All a Twitter" Place Mats and a Lovely Log Cabin

I just found pictures of some pretty projects that I completed for Reneta over the summer but almost forgot about!

Reneta made this darling table centre and placemats out of the leftovers of fabric from another project.  She loved the Hoffman digital print "All A Twitter" so much that she couldn't let any of it go to waste.  She requested custom quilting and it was a fun project for me to do.

This is the second log cabin variation that Reneta made from her swap blocks.  The border fabric is just perfect!  You can see the first one here.

Reneta loved the Wildflower pantograph so much that we used it again.  Reneta used up a number of leftover backing offcuts to come up with the backing this time around.  A true resourceful quilter!