Snowmen A To ZZZ

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I had the pleasure of working on this lovely version of the Crabapple Hill Studio's "Snowmen A to Zzzz" pattern.  Barb did all of the hand embroidery and crayon shading, and mom Dorothy assisted by piecing the blocks together and adding the borders.

Barb selected the Snow Winds pantograph and it makes for a very pretty quilt back.

In order to not overwhelm the delicate hand embroidery, I used my favorite thread for this type of application - Superior's Microquilter.  It is a 100 wt. polyester and it melts into the embroidery beautifully to let the embroidery remain the star of the quilt.

So many hours went into this lovely top, so I will share a few more close ups of some of the blocks.

Hoffman Bali Tiles

I recently quilted this cheerful quilt for Michelle.  The colorful squares are from Hoffman Batiks and were sold a few years back under the name "Bali Tiles."  I was stumped as to how to quilt the tiles for awhile as I didn't want to take away from their crisp designs.  There weren't too many quilted examples out on the web.  Of the few I saw, the tiles designs were outlined and echoed, but that didn't feel right for this quilt.  I took a few photos of the quilt top and started doodling on my favorite app "Draw on Photos."  I decided simple on the tiles and some feathers in the solid black might be the perfect balance.  I sent my doodle off to Michelle and she gave me the go ahead.

Here you can see the final result.  Michelle provided a poly batt and the quilting showed up well, especially with batiks on both the front and back.  I used a grey Microquilter thread over the tiles.  You can see I changed up my designs for the cornerstones as I didn't want to have dark purple thread on the white squares.

  

Those black triangles were calling for me to play in them.  I used a variegated purple Fantastico thread which shows up well but doesn't draw too much attention to itself.

I was pleasantly surprised at the pattern that emerged on the back.

Winter Wonderland

The exquisite quilt belongs to Gail.  The pattern is "Winter Wonderland" by Crabapple Hill Studio.  Gail's mom did the embroidery in green rather than the red of the original pattern and Gail pieced the border blocks and put the top together.   

I must say the embroidery was impeccably done and it was truly an honor to get to work on this one!  I looked online for other examples of how this quilt was quilted, and found most to be densely custom quilted.  When I shared these with Gail, they didn't mesh with her vision for the quilt.  We discussed many options, but in the end, a simple pantograph called "Bora Bora" was Gail's choice.  I can see a cold north wind blowing across the quilt, and it lets the embroidery be the star.

I used Superior's Microquilter thread which a fine, but strong 100 wt. thread to quilt across embroidery and all.  I am very pleased with the results.  

 This is definitely a quilt that will remain a family treasure!

A Treasure for Megan

Every once in awhile I get to work on a quilt that has an interesting story.  This quilt that Marilyn put together for her granddaughter Megan  is one of those quilts.  The Dresden Plate block you see below was made in the 1930s by Megan's Great-Great-Great Grandmother.  Those aren't '30's reproduction fabrics, they are the real thing!   I love personalizing quilts, so Marilyn and I decided quilting Megan's name in the centre of this block would be just the right touch.

 If that was not cool enough, this cross stitched block was made in the 1960s by Megan's great grandmother!

Marilyn prefers lighter quilting, rather than a lot of feathers or other dense motifs, so I did my best to honor that request.   I did a dimple crosshatch right across the cross stitch with my 100 wt Micro Quilter thread.  I used the MicroQuilter on the Dresdenn plate as well.

I used the "onions and garlic" border, swirls, and a ribbon meander in the background. The leaves jut got some simple continuous curves.

I'm sure Megan will treasure the quilt that was made with love by generations of women in her family.  It was an honour to work on it.

Chilly Charmers

The fun and folky quilt was made by Gail.  The pattern is a Block of the Month from Pearl Louise Designs called "Chilly Charmers."  I should note that you are really not seeing the final product as there are many embellishments that Gail will add now that it is quilted.

All of the applique was fused and then stitched down with a machine buttonhole stitch.  It really adds to the charm of the quilt.  Gail & I decided that I would stitch in the ditch around the applique and then keep the rest of the quilting fairly light.  I used two threads for the entire quilt.  So Fine #489  -"Lewis and Clark" was my choice for the borders and colorful pieced sections, it is a mossy green than was good at blending with black and green and red.  For the stitch in the ditch and the background quilting in the blocks I used Superior's new MicroQuilter thread in Natural White.  It is a 100 wt and just blends in so well even without an exact color match.

Gail requested simple piano keys on the border and I think it was a great choice as it frames the piece nicely, and doesn't compete with the busy print.  I had a lot of fun playing on this one.  Thank Gail!

Map Quilt

This unique quilt was made by Reneta for her daughter McKenna's upcoming high school graduation.  Reneta had been struggling to come up with just the right idea for the quilt but when she found this Mark Ashkenazi panel at society6.com she knew she had her inspiration.

The panel is 100% polyester, so not your typical quilting material, but it quilted up just fine.  Reneta use a Batik precut strip package to frame the panel.

I love how the quilting turned out on this one, although I was a little stressed that things might not work out they way they looked in my mind.  The horizontal latitude lines were a breeze to quilt, but even after turning the quilt, the gentle curves of the longitude lines were challenging on the longarm as I didn't have rulers to match the ever changing curve.  With the help of many Quality Street chocolates to calm my nerves it all came out great!  I used Superior's Microquilter thread on the map section.  It is a 100 wt thread that blends in really well.  I wanted to add texture but not distract from the artwork.

I used the grid that Reneta created with her piecing to quilt clam shells in the colorful section, as was able to fit in just a wee bit of personalization too.  Although it is hard to see I used a lovely variegated Lava thread in this section.

The Tula Pink backing is young and cheerful.

You will notice in many of the above picture you can see bare concrete and grass.  Those photos were taken last week.  This is what we woke up to yesterday.

Lots of drifting, some were much higher than my 24" quilting ruler.

An average spot on the driveway was about this deep.

I can't see the grass any longer.  Thankfully we are shoveled and blown out.  I just need to wait for the city to plow out the cul-de-sac so I don't get stuck again!