Dorothy's Celtic Applique

Dorothy brought me this quilt that she made as a wedding gift for a special couple in her life.  She followed a pattern for the Celtic applique, but the layout was her own creation.

I quilted a topographic all over design in the body of the quilt.  I used my favorite gold thread - Magnifico 2063 - Clover Honey as most of the fabrics have a metallic accent on them.

The background areas behind the applique were filled with pebbles.  For this job I used my favorite thin thread - Micro Quilter.

Dorothy purchased one of my wide backings in a deep brown that complimented the rest of the quilt perfectly.

Hudson Bay Point Blanket Quilt

This modern quilty take on a traditional Hudson Bay point blanket was made by Amy for a friend who loves all things Hudson Bay.  Amy used this tutorial From Miss Make.

  http://www.missmake.com/2012/02/hudson-bay-point-blanket-quilt-and-free.html

Originally when we talked about how to quilt this one, Amy and I discussed straight horizontal lines.  When she showed me the backing that she had chosen, I suggested a change in plan.  I love the Buffalo check backing, but the odds of parallel lines from the front being parallel to the print on the back were slim to none!   So instead of the quilt ending up looking like the quilter was drunk quilting, we decided to look at pantograph options.

I have all my pantograph pattern traced on clear plastic that I lay over the quilt top to help envision what the end result will be.  Sometimes the shapes in a pantograph suit the quilt, but the scale does not.   This set up photographs quite well, so if we can't be in the same place I will send my client a selection of different pantographs on their top so they can choose.  Amy and I thought "Maple Syrup" was this icing on this Canadian quilt cake.

Take 5

This rich quilt was made by Grace.  She used the Take 5 pattern by Teacher's Pet Designs.  This pattern uses only five fabrics and has one block with no matching seams.  

Grace is going to be moving shortly and this quilt was for her and her hubby Nelson, so the looked over my pantograph suggestions and decided that they liked the "Come Dance With Me" pantograph.  It is one of my favorites as it has nice even coverage and seems to look good on just about every quilt.

Here you can see the other part of the quilt backing as well.

Growing Up Odd

This quilt was made by Reneta, and it is yet another example how a pile of seemily worthless scraps can become something pretty amazing.

The quilt is called "Growing Up Odd" and you can find the free tutorial on the Wedding Dress Blues Blog here.

Reneta chose one of my newer pantographs called Curly Q. 

Quetico and Quilting

Last week was spent on our annual family canoe trip.  This time out we ventured a little farther afield to Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario.  We were hoping the longer drive and booking fees would be worth it, and it did not disappoint. 

We did a route starting in Beaverhouse Lake that took us 40 miles, and 7 portages.  We traveled through Beaverhouse, Unnamed,  Cirrus, Kasakokwog and Quetico Lakes.  We all agreed it was the easiest trip we did.  Good weather helped.  The only tricky part was the low water level in McAlpine Creek after the portage between Kasakokwog and Quetico, which resulted in an unexpected and tiring slog. 

Our humble abodes, and one of our campsites with an almost counter height "cooking rock."

So peaceful and relaxing!

Here is the Nova Craft canoe that Kyla and I paddle loaded with our gear.  We have room for more, but are thankful there isn't more when it comes time to portage.

And our second boat, the "Nolan Craft", hand made skin on frame made by my husband. (If you are curious there is more about this canoe here.)  We each have a personal pack and two barrels for the food and cooking/camp supplies.

One of the big treats on this route was the number of beaches we saw on Quetico lake.  We had this glorious beach all to ourselves!  Other days were spent swimming off slimy rocks to cool off and clean up, but this beach was not soon going to be matched!

I have also been trying to keep up with some quilting!  Here is yet another scrappy quilt of Reneta's.

We used the Flirtatious pantograph.  

Gail's Lug Nuts

This awesome version of Lug Nuts was made by Gail.  Gail was a student in a workshop I taught in January.   I loved the rich neutral fabrics that she had selected, and was very curious as to how her choice of one brick red fabric would look in the final product.   (Lug Nuts uses nine different fabrics and we normally suggest 3 lights, 3 mediums and 3 darks.)  I think end result is awesome!

  

Gail prefers a light touch with the quilting and chose one of my newer pantographs called "Expression".  Gail chose to do the optional pieced back to use up some of the leftover hexagon sections.

I just love how the landscape brick fabric look in the quilt!

Lug Nuts is a great stash buster if you have 1 m cuts lying around.  It is also a pattern that is much easier to construct than the final product would suggest.  No y-seams!   Pattern is available in the Highway 10 Designs Etsy Store, or ask your local quilt store about it.

Magic Tiles

Bonnie brought over this classic quilt top made from Kathleen Bissett's Magic Tile Pattern.  This pattern was extremely popular a decade or two ago, and really stands the test of time as it makes into a very striking quilt.  

It took my awhile to decide what quilting options to choose.  At first, I hesitated to sew across the thin black sashing as it was so crisp I didn't want to muddy it up.  I knew the two borders would allow some custom quilting to show, and wanted something dense enough in the center to balance that out.  I felt stitching in the ditch beside the black only would leave the center feeling a little flat, so I opted for a simple pantograph called "Raindrops"for the center.

You can see the quilting on the Stonehenge backing Bonnie selected from me.

I did a simple feather with a curl in the turquoise outer border, and a new to me twist on my regular curls in the black border.  I used a dark turquoise thread in the outer border and center and a charcoal grey on the black border.