Tula Pink Stack 'n Whack

Reneta made the fun Stack 'N Whack quilt as part of a friendly little challenge between friends.

Last year friends Reneta, Amy, Shalane and Jocelyn were attending a retreat a Fabriculous in Swan River, MB.  They noticed a whole bunch of Tula Pink fabric on the sale rack and decided that they would pick their favorites and create some variation of a Stack 'n Whack quilt out of it before the next retreat.  Well thanks to Covid, the retreat did not go on as planned this year, but Reneta did get her quilt top done. 

 

Reneta used the leftover blocks on the back.  We both really like the Pieces of My Heart Pantograph (which surprised both of us).  It is fitting as the skull fabric on the back does have heart eyes.

 

Ginger Snap

  

When Karen dropped this lovely quilt off on my porch,  I didn't know what was inside the bag.  In Manitoba, we are currently under "Code Red" Covid restrictions so I can't have anyone besides household members inside my house.  When I unfolded the quilt top and saw the one unique block I wondered if there was a story or something that prompted that design choice?

Karen made this quilt in the colors of the last family rabbit Mister Collins who hopped on to heaven in June.  The corner square was included to denote his love of gingersnaps and bananas.  Karen shared a picture of Mister Collins and said I could share it here.

  

I did share a number of pantograph options for Karen to select from but "Ginger Snap" was perfect in more than one way. 

This is the second time Karen has made this Hungarian Blue Pattern by Clothworks Textiles.  She made it about 10 years ago when their first rabbit Ping hopped on to heaven.  Ping was a black and white Rex and had a lime green color and loved carrots.  I think Karen knocked it out of the park with that one as well.   I was still able to find a copy of the free pattern online and you can download it here.

Between Friends

Bonnie made this striking quilt for her grandson.  The pattern is called "Between Friends" and is from the Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs.

I sent Bonnie a selection of more "masculine" pantographs to choose from and she selected Twister, we decided on a charcoal colored thread.  She also used a Northcott wide back that I had from the Canvas line in the black colorway.  I think it all came together splendidly. 

Mail and shipping has been a bit unpredictable of late but Canada Post did not fail us.  The quilt made it from Selkirk to Gilbert Plains, Manitoba in record time, and after Bonnie got the binding finished Canada Post and USPS did not let her down and her grandson in Maryland got it in time for his birthday.

 

Three for Tannis

Tannis has been busy quilting, moving her sewing room and finding projects that just need to be finished.  It was fun to help her get these three UFOs off her list.  The first is this green "5 yard quilt".  We settle on the Mimosa pantograph for this one.

The second was a Disappearing Nine Patch made for her daughter entirely of "Bug" fabrics collected over their travels.  The "Fanciful Fliers" pantograph seemed like a perfect choice for completing this one.

And last but not least was a hexagon star quilt that she made in a class a number of years back.  the "London Fog" pantograph was a pretty finish.

 

 

Shelia's Disappearing Nine Patch

I recently finished this lovely king size Disappearing Nine Patch for Shelia.  She told me this quilt will be for her and she used fabrics and scraps from her stash.  Her color palette is very pleasing and looked great in my room.

Shelia chose the Sweet Pea Pantograph and used one of my Northcott Stonehenge wide backings in navy to complete the look.

I used a nice medium gold/beige thread that looked nice on all of the fabrics.

 

Donna's Compasses

This quilt was made by Donna and she is keeping it for herself.  So often my clients make quilts to give away, that is always makes me happy when they make something special for themselves.

Donna requested custom quilting for this one.  I decided that ruler work was the best way to highlight the compasses she worked so hard to paper piece. The straight and curved lines would have the best chance of showing up on the background fabric as well. 

I stitched in the ditch through all the compasses and added a single echo in the background around them.  The sashing got and egg and dart motif and the borders received bead board treatment.   Donna and I decided to use Quilter's Dream Puff batting for extra loft, and it really helped the quilting show up.  Quilter's Dream Puff is not nearly as expensive as wool and it a great option to consider when a loftier batting is in order.

 

Floribunda

I had the pleasure of quilting this stunning quilt for Tracy earlier this spring.  Tracy was one of three co-leaders of a Block of the Month applique project for the Manitoba Prairie Quilters.  Since this is 2020, the big reveal that was originally scheduled for June, finally took place virtually in October.   The pattern comes from Applique Addicts.  The centre block is called Miss Hannah, and the surrounding blocks are called Floribunda.  The pattern designer is Erin Russek and she blogs at One Piece at a Time.

Tracy requested crosshatching behind the large centre applique.  We discussed different feather options and ways to treat the smaller applique blocks, and ultimately she left many of the design choices up to me.   Tracy not only does amazing hand applique, her piecing is spot on as well.  The sashing with a saw tooth edge was certainly a unique feature of the quilt layout. I used that to determine the size of the crosshatching.  It all lined up beautifully thanks to Tracy's attention to detail and precision.

After a lot of stitch in the the ditch work around the tremendous amount of applique on this quilt, I had fun playing with feathers in all of the sashing and border sections.

Here are some close up photos of the 12 smaller blocks. I just love how the mushroom background and border let the blocks just pop.

       

Thank you Tracy for trusting me with your beautiful quilt that was obviously a labour of love.