A Beautiful Scrap Quilt

A scrap quilt truly shows how well fabrics "play" together and shows us that there are endless combinations that work, and that work well. I enjoy seeing the various colours and fabrics in a scrap quilt and as I progress with my stitching across the top, I study the fabrics and visualize future possible colour combinations.

I especially enjoyed seeing the variety of fabrics Nancy used in this wonderful quilt - she has placed Christmas prints near kiddie prints, stripes next to florals, novelty prints close to Christmas prints...a huge selection of fabric themes with simply festive results. Her solid red border pulls it all together and a thick poly batt helps create a soft, cuddly quilt ready to brighten up any room. 

I used a simple stitch pattern to create a secondary design within the main body of the quilt. I quilted the outer borders with what I call my "fake" feathers, a quick feathery stitch that carries your eye around the quilt.

All keyed up! A client quilt

Lately I have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. Life has been a delicate balancing act and sometimes sleep just doesn’t come easy with all the file folders in my head filled to capacity and spilling out into my REM time. This morning I was awake far too early and after struggling to stay comfortable and not disturb my husband, I gave in and got up. Did I want to be up and moving before 4 am? No, not really, but sleep was evasive and I knew it was futile to fight. So, with visions of our fridge full of fruits and veggies, I began chopping and sauteing and blending. 

Soon I had a lovely pot of leek soup simmering. 

There was a pasta salad that got pulled together as well, along with my favorite way to start the day, smoothies. There is no set recipe for blender drinks in our house, but today I had a juicy grapefruit that was perfect for the mix and added some zip to our yummy concoctions.

What had been occupying some of my thoughts? Earlier I had received this top from Marie:

Her quilt was the result of a challenge she participated in at one of her guilds. A fellow member brought in a selection of Fons and Porter magazines and challenged the members to complete a project found within the pages. Marie chose to make this wonderful little cuddle quilt for a niece who just happens to be a composer.

The perfect backing!

Marie brought me a 35% higher loft poly batting and using a neutral thread on the bottom and a black thread on top, I quilted a variety of designs to suit the quilt.

I created piano keys in the borders, quilted some stippling in the piano and background, did some straight stitching in the borders and on the red music notes and tried to create a simple design on the keyboard that would reflect a classic style.

I also stitched around the pre-printed keyboard with a monofilament thread to hi-light the individual keys.

There was a bit of discussion about the binding that Marie would add. As with many projects, we sometimes run out of the exact piece we might use because we have bought our fabric with no particular project in mind. Although her first instinct was to sew on a red binding, I think she may go with a solid black.

Baby Quilts

These are two baby quilts I recently completed quilting for a customer.

They are so pretty and fresh and soft..I quilted sheep on one and ducks on the other.

The backs are beautiful, soft flannel and I think they will be well received by a couple of very lucky babies!

I am linking with The Needle and Thread Network.                                                                                                                 

More Quilts from Road to California 2014

I have more eye candy to share..the more I look at these photos, the more I see..