Book Nook

Becky made this fabulous Book Nook quilt as a surprise Christmas gift for her teenage daughter.  The pattern is by Pen and Paper patterns.

Becky found some great fabrics for this quilt.  I love the striped fabric that she used for the pages.  The other fabrics led us directly to the selection of the Joust pantograph that echoes the Fleur de Lis motifs from a few of the prints.

The pretty pink backing was a really nice finish as well.

Scrappy Eiffel Tower

The is another scrappy masterpiece made by Reneta.  She saw a picture of a quilt in progress on Pinterest and decided she needed to make one for herself.  To our knowledge there is no commercial pattern.  Reneta was inspired by this post on the Red Poppy Quilts blog.  As Reneta was piecing it she was finding the quilt was turning out a little long for its width so I suggested that she leave off the top border.  The top border is usually hidden when the quilt in on the bed, so it won't be noticed and it helped keep the quilt a better proportion, without making oddly small top and bottom borders.

When Reneta passed the quilt top on to me she asked if  I knew of a Fleur de Lis pantograph that she could buy for this quilt.  I showed her my "Joust" pantograph with is definitely Fleur de Lis inspired, and she loved it and gave the go ahead

Reneta used her scrappy batiks for the tower and a mix of neutrals for the background.  She had just enough of this cool border print to finish the quilt.

And just a reminder that the pattern sale continues until Midnight tonight over at the 

Highway 10 Designs Etsy Shop....

Ring Toss

Vanda made this quilt for a special family friend that she is going to be visiting.  The pattern is called Ring Toss and was from the Summer 2014 edition of Quilter's World Magazine.

We decided on the "Joust" panto.  I haven't' used this one in awhile, but I always love how it looks stitched out.

Vanda provided a very pieced backing, some might call it another quilt top!  She was not happy with the leafy print in combination with her other fabrics, and didn't want to include those blocks on the front, so she re-purposed them as part of the back.  If you want to do something like this for a backing, you have to be extremely careful that you measure carefully.  If there is any extra fabric in a pieced quilt backing it can be very difficult to avoid pleats as it is out of sight during the quilting process (extra fabric has to go somewhere).  Fortunately for me, Vanda is a a very careful and accurate piecer and presser and there were no issues for me to worry about.

Not Your Mother's Rail Fence

It is always an exciting day when I get to reveal something new.  I am thrilled to show you the latest pattern from Highway 10 Designs - Not Your Mother's Rail Fence Quilt.

This quilt is a little twist on a traditional pattern.  Rail Fence quilts have always been popular because they come together easily and they just look good.  We have varied the strip widths to give it a fresh look.

This idea has been brewing for a while now.  Kathy made the pattern in a much softer colorway.  You can see more of it on her blog.

This lovely bundle of batiks that I had purchased during a Craftsy sale seemed like a perfect fit to give it a totally different look so off came that pretty ribbon!

This pattern is definitely beginner friendly so I enlisted some help piecing the top.  I cut, Kyla sewed the strips and Kendra was responsible for pressing.  Everyone got their favorite task, so we had a lot of fun, and it came together really quickly.

It is amazing how much you can accomplish via email.  Even though Kathy and I live more than 500 km apart, Highway 10 Designs is truly a joint effort at every step along the way.  Here is one of the photos she received when we were deciding what color I should dye the backing.

The darker purple it was.  I tried out a new pantograph called "Joust" on this one.  It has nice even coverage so I'm sure I will use it a lot.

Last week Dauphin was not looking like the winter wonderland it is today so the quilt took a little trip north for Kathy to bind and photograph.   Her photos are stunning just as I expected and I am happy to report that she is still speaking to me even though I sent her batik binding and a very dense hand dyed cotton sheeting for the back!  I knew she was tough enough to handle it ;).

If you are interested in making your own version of Not Your Mother's Rail Fence, PDF patterns are available in our Craftsy or Etsy Stores.  Paper patterns will be on the way soon!

I want to say a big thank you to all our friends, guild members and customers for all their support and encouragement of this venture/adventure that Kathy and I are on.  We are enjoying this next step in our quilting lives.  And I can't forget a big hug to our proof reader Eileen, your attention to detail is truly appreciated!