Stellar Mosaic

This fabulous quilt was made by Cindy.  The pattern is called Stellar Mosaic by Cotton and Joy and the kit was curated for Cindy by Jennifer at Needle Crafts and Studio in Beausejour, Manitoba.  Sometimes when a quilt arrives in my studio it tells me that it would be extra special with some custom quilting.  This was one of those quilts.  Cindy told me to surprise her.  After thinking about things for a while I sent Cindy some doodles and she told me to go for it.

The first area that I came up with a plan for was the black background.  I used a handful of rulers to add the lotus shapes.  Some loops in the peach squares added a fun motif.

The focus fabric squares were filled with some simple curves.

And the most fun part was the floral motif that I quilted in the white stars.

Cindy provided this great pink Fireside backing and it shows off the quilting so well.  I love the designs that emerged on the back.

Thanks for trusting me to play on your quilt Cindy!

 

Around the Island - A Custom Adaptation

Reneta was commissioned to make this quilt after a friend of hers saw the "Around the Island" quilt that she made for herself last year.  Check that quilt out here - it is still one of my favorite quilts that I got to add quilting to!

The pattern is called "Around the Island" and is in the book called The Quilted Stash by Ralph Jarvis and Corey Follett featuring Newfoundland inspired projects.  Upon request Reneta replaced the island image in the centre of the quilt with the sailboat silhouette.  My understanding is that this quilt is destined to live on a sailboat!  The other special request was the quilting around the perimeter of the quilt, but more on that later.

Reneta let me run with the quilting plan for the body of the quilt.  I framed the sailboat section with some straight lines and filled the inner section with designs that mimic the wind and the waves.  I used a medium grey thread for this section.

The rest of the body of the quilt was filled with the Harbor Wave pantograph in a deep teal colour.

The prints on the front of the quilt as well as this fabulous wide backing are all prints from the Journey fabric line from Northcott.   The black is the Northcott Colorworks Solid in Ultra Black. A perfect for this quilt don't you think?

The request for the quilting around the perimeter was to include the lyrics to the chorus of a favorite song - Wave Over Wave.  With just a little preplanning, this worked out quite easily.  I did have to take the quilt off and turn is as I cannot write upside down or sideways with my longarm! I do however quite enjoy adding cursive handwriting to quilts.

Here are the lyrics that are included in the next few pictures. 

Where it's wave over wave sea over bow

I'm as happy a man as the sea will allow

There's no other life for a sailor like me

Than to sail the salt sea boys to sail the sea

There's no other life but to sail the salt sea

This was a fun project to work on.  Just enough challenge to keep me on my toes and a one of a kind quilt for a lucky guy.

 

Simple Hearts

This special quilt came through my studio recently.  It was made by a group of virtual quilting friends for one of their own who had experienced a loss.  They wanted to send their hugs from across the miles and worked together to create this special quilt.

The pattern is a freebie from Cluck Cluck Sew called Simple Hearts.  They each made a few hearts in the recipient's favorite colors and sent them on for assembly.

The Fanciful Fliers pantograph added a nice simple finish and went really went with the bee fabric that was part of the backing.

The pieced backing is really fun too.  It is always special for me to learn the back stories behind the quilts that I get to work on.  This was no exception.

 

Oak Breeze

Donna brought this lovely quilt that was pieced by her friend Anne who sadly passed away too soon. Donna and other friends have been working to get all of Anne's projects across the finish line and I have been lucky to see many of them. 

 When Donna contacted me she wasn't sure what type of quilting finish she required, but thought possibly custom because some of the blocks contained hand applique.

Normally I don't like to put a pantograph design over hand applique, but there are exceptions to every rule.  When looking at the overall quilt - the busier prints, the medium- low contrast in most of the fabrics, I didn't think custom quilting would add to the top.  It would cost a lot more, and quite frankly might have been more of a distraction. 

 Donna and I looked through pantograph and thread choices and decided that the Oak Breeze pantograph would be a good fit, and we found a lovely thread to blend across the quilt - So Fine #516 Gondola Gold.  I think the pantograph lets the interesting fabric choices and sampler blocks shine and the quilting be in the background.

 

Spin Cycle

This pretty quilt was brought to me by Heather.  The pattern is called Spin Cycle by Cluck Cluck Sew.  Heather told me she didn't originally set out to make a queen sized quilt, but she enjoyed playing with her fabrics and kept making more blocks and before she knew it - queen sized quilt.

There are lots of pretty prints to enjoy throughout this quilt.  Heather selected the Tickle Too pantograph.

When Heather came by she was just as excited about the backing for this quilt as she was for the front.  Heather had been saving this piece of Tula Pink Free Fall wide backing for just the right occasion.  Since she was planning on keeping this quilt for herself it seemed the perfect opportunity had come.

I think Heather may consider this a reversible quilt for sure!

 

Cutting Curves from Straight Pieces

Here is another batik beauty from Wendy.   The pattern comes from the book "Cutting Curves from Straight Pieces" by Debbie Bowles of Maple Island Quilts.  

Wendy chose the London Fog pantograph and beautiful Magnifico Thread in a color called Fig Tree #2081.  I always love the shiny thread on the waxy batiks.

And the quilting shows up beautifully on the cozy fireside backing.

 

Strickland Quilt

I recently had the pleasure of quilting this pattern test of the Strickland quilt for Marlene.  This one was lots of fun to be a part of because the pattern designer is Marlene's daughter Janice of Prairie and Ocean. 

The use of multiple sizes of Half Rectangle blocks is quite unique and makes for some really interesting shapes.  Marlene saw some geometric quilting on one of Janice's samples and wanted a different look for hers.  We took a cue from Marlene's favorite print in the quilt and went with the Sweet Pea pantograph.  

The curl in the pantograph design also paired well with the cozy flannel backing Marlene brought,

I had fun getting some pictures in front of one the murals here in the City of Selkirk.  This mural highlights endangered species of Manitoba.  The picture at top of the post featured the Burrowing Owl, and below are the Peregrine Falcon and next the White Lady Slipper. You can see more about this full mural here.