Marie’s Beautiful Batik Quilt

Marie has a huge collection of batiks, many that I have never seen, and it was so much fun quilting this lovely top for her, all the while admiring the fabric designs!

I know that Marie likes stippling designs and pantographs, so for this quilt of hers, I decided to try a pantograph I had ordered and never used. Actually, I broke down and ordered 5 pantographs last winter and this is the first one to make it out of the wrapper. I decided it was time to give it a try!

A section of the back

The design is called Feather Breeze and is by Lisa Thiessen of Threadsongs. I chose to buy it because it is a lovely, flowing design and I chose it for Marie’s top because it would enhance the simple, striking pattern she had chosen to piece. I used a variegated thread on the top thread and a solid orange hue in the bobbin.

The quilt is for Marie’s sister and her sister chose the backing herself. I think Marie was a bit surprised by her choice of this bright, vibrant fabric, but we agreed it suits the quilt quite well!

I am inspired to start piecing some of the rather large stack of batiks I have on my shelves. The wonderful thing about a pattern such as this is the variety of prints you can use and still have lots left for other projects!

My Dumptruck Pantograph

A local fabric store was selling these cute little panels and I was asked by two quilters to quilt one for each of them. They were excited when I said I could quilt trucks on them, so with two to do, I invested the time to create a pantograph of dump trucks.

When I create my own pantographs, I use a very basic method. I draw my design element out, outline it in a fine black line with a Sharpie, then I print multiple photocopies of the image. I cut the excess white background away from around the edges of the image and then lay them out on paper I cut from a roll. Once I am happy with the layout, I tape the individual images down and add marker lines to create a continuous line of quilting.

This is a fairly antiquated way to create pantos, considering I could be creating digitized ones on my computer if I had the right software, but I actually enjoy this process. I am able to enlarge or reduce my designs and I can flip them and reverse them. And it allows me time to study how pantos are designed and how to best create a flow for the stitching line to follow. 

As well, I sometimes enlist the use of my opaque projector, or even my overhead projector when I want to enlarge a design and adjust it to the size I find best suits the quilt top I am working on. My opaque projector was one of the first tools I purchased when I started out in the sign business and even this many years later, I still find lots of uses for it.

Both clients provided me with Fireside for the backing and 80/20 cotton batting. 

Butterlies on the Yellow Brick Road

This is a client’s Yellow Brick Road quilt she pieced for her granddaughter.

Before quilting photo

She provided me with a cotton batting, pale yellow fireside for the back and requested a butterflies for the quilting pattern. I used a soft yellow toned neutral thread for top and bobbin.

My sister is a sewer, but essentially a non-quilter. At her request, I try to remember to include the before photo of a project in my posts, because as she says, she and many others cannot envision how stitching will alter the look of a pieced top as it transitions to a finished quilt. I like that even simple designs can accomplish this transition. So many times I think how great it would be to cover that top with intricate stitching designs, but the reality is, not every quilt needs this, nor does it contribute to the purpose of the quilt, and as well, not everyone wants to spend the extra money it would cost to pay for the additional time it would take.

After quilting photo

In this case a pantograph design worked really well for the purpose this quilt was meant and it is very pretty with its airy butterflies on the summery, fresh fabrics. It is currently being well used and loved by Sharon’s granddaughter.

I am linking with Monika and other Canadian stitchers at The Needle and Thread Network.

A quilt for Kate

This is the second of two quilts I pieced and quilted for friends of my daughter as thank you’s for kindness shown.

The new owner, Kate, chose greens and a simple layout for her top. I passed along some ideas for her to chose from and she liked the quilt she saw made from a quick sketch someone posted on pinterest with cutting dimensions and pressing instructions. The top sewed up quickly! Simone and I collected the selection of greens, I cut it all into 2.5 inch strips and then sewed randomly. Then I chopped these strips into the sizes of sections required and pieced 30 - 16 inch finished blocks. 

The before shot

The back is a lovely black cotton I picked up at Avonport Discount Fabrics last fall as we travelled back home from Yarmouth. It was our 28th wedding anniversary and remember being so grateful that my sweet and ever patient husband would wait while I fabric shopped and then not even ask about yet another bolt of fabric, let alone black fabric, that I was bundling into the hatchback!

I offered Kate something swirly or hearts as the stitch pattern and she chose hearts. Since I had just finished another quilt with hearts, it was an easy pattern to get back into it and I happily quilted away. I still have the binding to do which I will piece from the scraps left over and sew on next week.

I know Kate has just purchased her first home so I am hoping her new quilt will be a well loved addition.

A quilt from start to finish

I really enjoy quilting other people’s projects. I also love dyeing fabric, screen printing, carving stamps, painting fabric, designing. I even enjoy hand sewing bindings. But, there really is a certain satisfaction in completing a quilt from start to finish.

This quilt is for a friend of my daughter. The girls have spent the last two years, well, 26 months to be exact, studying at Dal University in their quest to become physiotherapists. They graduated with their MA’s this October and along with the rest of their class, have now joined the working world. My daughter asked me if I would consider making quilts for two of her best buddies from this class and this is the first quilt completed. The girls have offered to pay for the materials and I am offering my sewing and quilting skills as a thank you for all the times they have provided my daughter with a place to stay, the times they have given her drives, the times their parents have entertained, fed, helped my girl make connections.

This was not a difficult quilt to piece. I used fat quarters, cut 4.5 inch strips, sewed them together randomly, cut these new strips into 8.5 inch blocks and then sewed them together randomly.

The request was for a purple quilt and I think I have accomplished that. Simone helped me choose the fabrics - many which had to be purchased because I soon realized I didn’t actually own that many purples - and the new owner gave me an idea of the simplicity she wanted in her design. 

Once I finished piecing and quilting (I used a panto pattern for this), I used the left over bits from the fat quarters to piece together the binding, achieving a nice scrappy look.

Because it is Friday and because I actually finished a project of my own, I am joining M-R and all the others in at Quilt Matters for TGIFF.

Quilts for Charity

One of the charity groups that is associated with our guild received a large quantity of tops recently so I volunteered to quilt a few to help out. Due to family and work commitments, I haven’t been able to participate in any of these charitable activities for quite a while so I felt helping out was long overdue. 

The first top was a small size - under 65 inch each side - so it quilted up quickly. I used a lovely swirly pantograph I had used before and some “cornblue” colored thread. It is a fine example of a colorful utility quilt that hopefully will bring a lucky recipient some cosiness and comfort.

The second top was larger and had a very distinct autumn feel I chose an oak leaf pantograph with a taupe thread in the bobbin and a warm brown on the top. 

Both were great practice and I really enjoyed working on them. It felt great to get some tops on and off my machine.