Jelly Roll Quilt - Makeover

This quilt started out looking quite different than it does now.  Reneta wanted to make a 1600 or jelly roll race quilt, but make it bigger than it comes out with one jelly roll, so she used two.  It turns out you end up with an extremely long and skinny quilt that way. ;(

 When we were attending a quilting retreat at Fabriculous last fall, Reneta let Kathy and I hack her quilt top up, shop for the additional fabric required and give her a new plan for this quilt.  You can see the results above.  With the leftovers from what Kathy and I came up with, Reneta made the lap quilt you see below that I quilted in the spring. (My original post about this quilt is here.)

 Reneta and I decided on the Tickle panto and a lovely purple Magnifico thread.  She provided a wide cuddle backing and I used Quilter's Dream Puff Batting.

Summer is coming to an end!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in 6 weeks!  I have been quilting, but also taking time to enjoy a wonderful summer.  Spending time on the computer has been at the bottom of my priority list, but I do want to share some of the lovely quilts I have had the pleasure of quilting!  (Only one more week before the kids are back in school and I will hopefully fall into a more normal routine.)

These two quilts were brought to me by Trudy.

First is this striking Log Cabin/Ohio Star combination.

The layout and combination of white, grey and blue fabrics is very effective.

Trudy chose the Fascination panto for this one, and it shows up nicely on the solid grey backing fabric.

This second cheerful quilt received the Popcorn panto and a nice purple Maginifco thread.

International Round Robin #1 QUILTED!

I am so happy with how this turned out I can hardly stand it!!  I love the back just as much as the front!  And the best part is - this one is mine!  It gets to live at my house!

This project was a Round Robin that traveled between Canada and Austrailia.  My contribution was the center square and the quilting. Here is the label I made that shows the progress and includes the names and locations of the other participants.   You can see more about the process here.  

I used Superior's Monopoly on all the colored fabrics.  I didn't want to distract from all the beautiful clear colors, nor did I want to change threads countless times.  It was the perfect solution.  I knew I wanted to do a little more than stitch in the ditch on the piano key border, and after some doodling and playing around with my templates I came up with these curves.  I used a 6" circle.

For all of the quilting on the white fabric I used Invisifil thread with Bottom Line in the bobbin. I used two layers of batting for this one as I wanted to make sure the quilting would pop.  Quilter's Dream Blend on the bottom and Quilter's Dream Puff on the top.  Why that combination? It's what I have on hand! The blend is firm and stable and the puff is very light and lofty.  It is great in this wall hanging but would be too heavy for my taste in a bed quilt.

I was very happy with the pebbles around the feather sprays and the motif in the triangles.

I knew I wanted simple quilting on the center star. ( I'm glad I left some breathing room there.)  I really struggled with what to do in the background spaces behind the star.   I decided to attempt some feather sprays in the style of Bethanne Nemesh.  I just got her book recently, and they seemed to be the perfect thing to tie the other elements of the quilt together.

 I think everyone should take a chance on a fun project like a Round Robin once in their quilting lives.  I have had great results and a lot of fun each time out. If you really want to stack the odds in your favour be sure to surround yourself with extraordinarily talented people!  Thank you Kathy, Desley and Bronwyn - this quilt would not exist without you!

Two for Patrice

Patrice sent these two cheerful quilts recently.  The first one is from a Fons and Porter magazine pattern called "Sassy Stripes".

This quilt was made for her grandson Sage whose favorite color is green.  How perfect is this quilt?

Patrice chose the "Hall of Mirrors" panto and I used the most neon green threads in my collection!

Patrice has scrap busting all figured out!  This second quilt has all sorts of interesting fabrics.

Patrice requested the "Quirky" panto and a turquiose thread for this one.

Stephanie's Stack 'n Whack

Unfortunately I didn't get the best photos of Stephanie's lovely Stack 'n Whack quilt as it was very hazy from the smoke in the air when I completed it.  

Because all of the fabrics Stephanie chose were quite patterned we decided that a panto would be the best choice to finish her queen size quilt. To me to top did not feel "naked" and in need of a lot of quilting, and I didn't want the quilting to compete with the stunning designs that the pinwheels created.  So, something nice and even to finish it off was the order of the day.

Stephanie chose the "A little bit this" panto and a green So Fine thread, and a caramel bottom line for the back with Quilter's Dream Blend Batting.

International Round Robin - Round Three

I am very excited to be able to share the results of the third round of the International Round Robin that I am participating in.  For this round we were once again to add blocks to the growing pile.

This time around I got to work on Browyn's blocks.  This is what arrived in the mail.

I decided to make 4 more nine inch blocks as I thought it would be a helpful addition when assembling the quilt top in the next round.  This block was a little more challenging than I normally take on, but I loved the little curve int he center, and how the corners fit in to what else has been made.

Here are the blocks for Browyn's quilt as they stand right now.

These are Desleys block at the end of  the last 

round. 

It was Kathy's turn to add to them this time.  Kathy mad two 6" blocks and two 12" blocks.

These ones are mine to put together as a top for Desley in the next round.  Better put my thinking cap on!

 These were Kathy's blocks at the end of the last round (so happy there is no snow on the ground now!)

Bronwyn added 9" blocks to the group.

These are all of the blocks for Kathy's quilt.

These are the blocks for my quilt at the end of the last round.  I smile every time I look at them!

Desley must have gone shopping for some batiks, as I know that is not really what her stash is made of over in Australia.  She made this lovely set of blocks.

  

And here is the whole pile.  I can't wait to see what the end product will be.  While they are all coming along really nicely - I love mine the most!

Rainbow Star Quilt

 

This spectacular quilt belongs to Dianna.  It is a modified version of the quilt called "Rainbow II" from the book "Quick Star Quilts and Beyond" by Jan Krentz.  Dianna added the smaller stars at the top to form the pillow tuck section to make it bed sized.

I knew that I wanted a mix a line work and feathers.  The samples in the book exculsively feathers in the quilting design, but I always prefer a mix.  I used Monopoly thread for all the ruler work in the colored star points and the small border.  I didn't want to detract from the lovely colors in the quilt, and I also didn't want to try to match 16 colors of fabric either!

I loved the idea of highlighting the center star with a circular frame and feathers.  The only problem I encountered was that all of my curved templates were too small to do the job,  The largest template that I own, or that I have seen in the market so far is one based on a 20" curve.  That size of curve would have taken up the majority of the square and left very little room for feathers.  My husband came to the rescue and cut a 32" curve out of a piece of Plexiglas so that I could accomplish what was in my mind's eye.  It isn't laser cut or etched with lines like a commercial template, but it certainly did the job.

I continued the same motifs the the background and star points on the outer ring.  

For the borders I knew I wanted to repeat the motifs used in the center of the quilt, so the narrow white border got curls, the colored squares got crosshatched, and the outer border got feathers with a few curls thrown in for fun.

 The pillow tuck section did have me scratching my head for awhile, but I very pleased with the results, once again repeating the motifs from the center of the quilt - straight lines in the stars, a row of feathers like the borders, and the melon and feathers in between.

I chose Quilter's Dream Puff batting for this quilt as it is the whitest batting I had on hand.  The front and back of the quilt are pure white, and I wanted to make sure they appeared crisp and clean.  The Dream Puff also provided a nice loft.  I used So Fine in Blizzard for the background quilting, and a Bottom Line on the back.