French Braid-Chevron Quilt

Extra special fun here. This quilt top was made by my client, Marcia (in Ohio), as a gift for her daughter-in-law, Lindsey - who just happens to be one of my very best friends and former college roommate. I was so excited when Marcia said she was going to let me quilt this for her! I sewed a little extra love for my friend in every stitch.

Marcia wanted it to be on the cuddly side, so I applied larger-scaled, medium-dense quilting. But I added just a little bling for Linz by including ruler work (straight lines) and variety of stitching motifs. 

Fun sidenote: when I see this quilt from the front (and from a little distance), I see french braids because of the pattern of the piecing. When I see it from the back, I see chevrons because of the quilting. Do you see it, too? I always try to find ways for my quilting to add to the quilt top, never detract from it.

All stitching was free-motion, hand-guided on a longarm quilting machine. 

I used swirls, paisleys, and converging lines in alternating chevrons. Divided by parallel, straight lines.

Mexican Wedding quilt

I recently got the pleasure of meeting a new client, Kathy. She made this small quilt for her nice as a bridal gift. The whole family and friends (some 70-ish people!) are flying to Cancun to witness the wedding. This very vibrant and cheerful quilt will be sure to fit the theme!

All quilting was done free-motion, hand-guided on a longarm quilting machine.

I used straight, parallel lines to radiate outward from the sun's rays and create structure in the background around the applique dancers. 

Kathy requested swirls - so I put them in the white inner border. I went with McTavishing in the pieced outer border (left below), because it has so much movement to it. Reminds me of dancing waves and water. Appropriate for a Cancun wedding, I'd say!

Kathy was up against a deadline, so she hired me to do the binding, in addition to the quilting. I attached it to the back, wrapped it around to the front, and machine sewed it on the front side.

I love when people send me follow-up photos! Here's the bride, opening her gift. Looks like she likes it!

Sunburst and Cattails quilt

What a joy to work on this quilt for my client, Elenora. She spent all winter working on the piecing and appliqué. And I can tell you, I put a few hours into the quilting, myself!

So much open space - which is a quilter's dream! Also an intimidating challenge, though. I am not generally in love with marking before quilting, because I'm so impatient. I just wanna get quilting! But in this case it was unavoidable. I used air-soluble and water-soluble pens to map out shapes, like the squares with grids in the outer border.

All quilting was free-motion, hand-guided on a longarm quilting machine.

Russian Tiles #3

Yay, another Russian Tiles quilt for me to feast on! This pattern was a kit/class offered by Rumpled Quiltskins quilt shop in Okotoks, Alberta, in Fall 2015. The store owner, Linda, took a leap of faith in me (a BRAND-new longarm quilter at the time) and hired me to quilt the class sample. Since then this is the second quilt I've gotten to do for students of the Russian Tiles class. See the other one here.

It's so fun for me to work on a quilt top that has siblings in my repertoire. Each piecer adds her own distinct details, through fabric and thread selections, and I try to give each quilt it's own unique look through the quilting motifs I use - honoring the pattern of the piecing and embroidery, but changing it up each time.

Just as before, I marvel at the exquisite work in this piece. Look at all the thread that went into this embroidery! It is definitely a head-turner!

All quilting is free-motion, hand-guided on a longarm quilting machine.

No-Sew Baby Quilt

People often ask if they could hire me to make a quilt for them, from start to finish. But in truth, I'm just a sub-contractor. People hire me to do part of the quilting process. My clients sew together scraps of fabric to construct the quilt top, and then they hire me to quilt it together with the batting and backing. For more info on this, see my post, "What Exactly Do you DO?".

But this quilt was made without any piecing. I encourage anyone to consider this idea for a small quilt, for example a baby shower gift. Go to the fabric store, and pick out a fabric you like. Buy 2.5 yds of it, and I'll take care of everything else!

If you want to incorporate 2 different fabrics, buy 50" of the fabric you like more and 40" of the secondary fabric.

I will quilt it for you, using batting from my own stash, and and I will bind it, too. It will be ready to use when you get it back from me. If you're curious about this process or costs, please email me!

My neighbor, Kassie, found this cute fabric at Ikea! In keeping with the theme of the little woodland creatures on the fabric, I quilted a woodgrain motif. I think it's pretty adorable!

All quilting is free-motion, hand-guided on an APQS longarm quilting machine.