Feathers and Freehand Quilting

It seems that most times I am told, “ do what you want,” when asked to quilt for people. And that is what I love to hear because it gives me free reign to quilt as I choose.

This lovely quilt is one of those wonderful projects where I had no set parameters and no limitations. Claudia pieced this top at our local guild retreat, using a variety of fabrics including Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott.

She asked me to order a wool batt and for the top thread, I used a Superior Rainbows variegated thread I purchased at Road from Dr. Bob whose sage advice when I asked about it was, “Try it. You’ll like it.” I have to admit, I was hoping for a bit more info, but he was right, I do like it. I used a Glide thread in the bobbin, one of the spools the Gammill folk included in their goody bags for class participants.

I felt this quilt needed feathers as well as places for the eye to relax so I quilted feathers in the outside borders and triangles and did some freehand work in the blocks and inside border. My feathers are a work in progress and I seem to have found my style when I practice and then lose it again when the quilting gets serious..lol I am going to keep working at them because they are actually fun to quilt.

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.                                                                                                                 

A refreshing breath of spring air in a customer's quilt

It felt fitting to quilt this beautiful top as the snow fell and while I was wishing and hoping for spring to hurry up and arrive!

My friend, Maureen did a lovely job appliquéing and piecing the top for a customer and I was lucky enough to get to quilt it.

Originally we had discussed some pebbling or cross hatching in those flower centres but as I worked on it, I quickly realized it wasn’t required.

So I stayed with my meandering leaves and loops with bead board on the two outside borders.

I used an neutral shade of my favorite Glide thread for some added sheen. I am very happy with the result and more importantly, so is Maureen.

A comfort quilt

This is a lovely quilt, as well as a lovely gesture. A member of my quilt guild pieced the top with this myriad of plaids, all from clothing gathered from her former boss’s grandfather who had recently passed. She took all the shirts that had been saved, opened then up to get the fabric she needed and then pieced the top. I used an open quilting design to enhance the well worn softness of the cottons and brushed cottons. Wrapping up in the quilt is like getting a big soft hug.

And because I am so, so tired of snow, here are some photos I took at the Joshua Tree National Park on our recent trip to California..

Joshua Tree National Park

Now that is a sunset..

Mad About Teal - A Customer Quilt

This is another quilt I recently completed for a local quilter. This quilter is fairly new to the quilting scene and I know she will be creating more wonderful pieces as she continues. I was very impressed when she showed me her pieced back! I love when newbies step right into the quilting mayhem and ignore the quilting sheriffs out there..When I started quilting, I made my own rules and that same way of thinking has brought me much quilting joy over the years. I wish the same for her...

This is a small quilt called, “Mad About Teal” and I used her idea of swirling lines for the centre and continued with the same, adding perpendicular lines in the borders. It turned this lovely little quilt top into a cosy, comfy lap quilt for a very lucky girl!

The quilt may look like spring, but that’s where it ends...

Atlantic Canada is currently being bombed by what social media has dubbed, “White Juan 2”. The winds are strong and blowing up to 100 kms/hr, the snow is falling and blowing and visibility is almost nil. Our shores are being threatened with surges and many are without power. No one feels better knowing Cape Breton and Newfoundland will be getting this intense low pressure system much worse than we have...because they always get it worse than we do.

The weather reports tell us the sun will be shining here tomorrow morning and on Saturday the temperature should reach 10 degrees. Right.

Well, meanwhile indoors, I have been working on numerous projects, many of them customer quilts. This is one I recently completed and if it doesn’t remind one of spring, I don’t know what does.

I am linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.

Margaret’s Quilt Finished!

Another quilt completed! This one belongs to Margaret and she gave me free reign on whatever quilting design I wanted to stitch on her top. I felt her pattern warranted an overall design and since I really like stitching my cabbage roses, off I went! I used black thread on top and bottom and I think the design shows up equally well on both sides.

1 and 1/2 inch strips of goodness!

Any time I have to be creative these days seems to spent either in front of my longarm, or, with a pair of knitting needles in my hands. I am merely a competent knitter, leaving the really creative knitting to my sister, Joanne. I have a couple of standard sock and mitt patterns that I use repeatedly (my sock pattern is so worn, I have packing tape on one side to hold it all together and no, I can’t knit from memory..). 

I have completed quilting another quilt before my kids get home for a Christmas break. This top was made by another local quilting friend and she is actually the woman who gave me my first quilting classes. When we first moved to NB, I left behind a solid group of friends in our little community in Goose Bay, Labrador and I was anxious about keeping busy and making some new connections. My husband’s job took him away long hours (which was slightly ironic because we had moved here so we would have more time to spend together as a family..) and I was kind of house bound with two little ones only 17 months apart. So, I signed up for a quilting class through the local community college and a swimming class at the Y. The swimming was all I needed it to be, but the quilting class didn’t get enough participants for it to be a go. When I asked, the college wouldn’t give out the instructors contact info but they would have her call me (a strange privacy issue in a city of 130,000 where her name is synonymous with quilting).

Well, she did call me and for three glorious hours we chatted and made connections and I found a new friend. While we chatted, my two darling toddlers mopped the kitchen and hallway floors and helped themselves to a cheerio snack! Remember, twenty years ago phones were on cords and my range of motion was about 10 feet in any direction..I could see the chaos occurring but knew the mess would be worth the time it took to tidy up. As a result of that call, she decided to give a class at home and so began my foray into the world of quilting.

Her lovely top is the result of a challenge to use up an extensive collection of 1.5 inch strips given to her.

I used Lava, a variegated thread on the top, a navy thread on the back and stitched some evolving clamshells over the entire surface.

I really enjoy being on that side of my machine and watching the design as it grows.

I am not sure who will be receiving this lovely quilt, but I know they will enjoy the calm, yet scrappy feel this quilt has.

The Needle and Thread Network will be taking a short holiday break, so I am joining them today..

Ah, I just got word she loves it so much, she is keeping it!! Great news!

A Scrap Quilt for Christmas

This lovely scrap quilt is one I recently finished stitching for two of my quilting friends. The friends, sisters, recently moved their mom from her country home to a new-to-her apartment located nearer to them. After all the cleaning and purging of a lifetime spent raising a large family on the homestead, they realized their mom, also a quilter, hadn’t kept a quilt for her own bed! Some fast action ensued and they asked me to quilt this top in time for their Mom for Christmas.

They used a gentle tone on tone white for the backing, a soft cotton batting and I used an white Omni thread and some free wheeling stitching. I think it a fresh, feminine quilt that will certainly brighten up their Mom’s new digs.

Freehand quilting

This lovely little lap quilt (57 x 69) will keep some lucky person nice and toasty.

I can personally attest to its power to heat because I also sewed the binding on and while I hand sewed, the quilt lay across my lap and kept me plenty warm.

The backing is Fireside and is a breeze to quilt and allows for a lovely stitching pattern on the reverse.

I used thread colors to match the top and back and had fun with freehand quilting.

Tomorrow it will be delivered back to its talented piecer. 

This week I am linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.