Oldie, But Goodie!

My dear client, Carol, started this piece in 2011 and then put it away for a number of years. It wasn't until this summer that she finally pulled it back out of the closet and completed it. I'm so honored that she brought it to me to finish!

There was a lot of stabilizer (a backing adhered to the fabric to give it stability when embroidering) in various places on the quilt top, and I was worried about how my machine would interact with it, but there was no trouble at all.

I think this will make a beautiful bed adornment. Great job finally finishing, Carol!

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

This monster is 107x107". I didn't have anywhere in my house that was big enough to spread it out all at one time! 

Look at that lovely embroidery and metallic thread!

Carol used a really yummy blended fabric for the backing. It had a slippery sheen to it that I loved to run my hands over. 

Houses Quilt

Check out this ADORABLE quilt from my client, Lorna. She is a teacher at Rumpled Quilt Skins shop in Okotoks, AB, and she just completed this example for her Grade 4 Class. It is an appliqué class that teaches students to get the most out of their machines' decorative stitches. The pattern is called "Welcome Home in Spring". It was designed by Shabby Fabrics, and it is available as a pattern or also as a kit at Rumpled Quilt Skins.

The whole time I was quilting this piece, I felt like I was playing a game of "I-Spy". There were so many little bells and whistles and special effects. See if you can find them all! Including, but not limited to: clouds stuffed with cotton balls, button doorknobs, crinkly trees (using a product called "Texture Magic"), 3D bird wings, metallic (shiny) bird bath, wooly sheep with suede feet and head, and more!

And yep, that's SNOW on the ground under this quilt. Winter has come to Alberta - we got 6" of snow yesterday!

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

Brenda's Blue Tiles quilt

This quilt was the second from a new client, Brenda. I loved the ultra-cleanness of this design, and the stark contrast between the blue-on-blue fabrics and then the one white strip around the perimeter.

Brenda submitted flannel fabric for the back of this quilt, which gave it a really nice heaviness in the end. It will be great to cuddle under! For that reason, I didn't get super tight with the quilting. It will be plush and cozy. Just perfect for our winter - which just arrived in Alberta. I couldn't get enough sun to take outdoor photos of this quilt, for all the snow!

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

Brenda's Treat

I've said it before, but.... I love to quilt edge-to-edge designs! Many of my clients seem to like my custom quilting ideas, and I always enjoy those challenges, but it is such a nice TREAT to be able to plug into my schedule some simple edge-to-edge orders. I really enjoy the carefree-ness!

This quilt was for a lovely new client that I met at the Quilt Stroll in Okotoks this summer, where I had a booth space. Thanks for treating me to this dazzler, Brenda!

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

Jan's Star Sampler

This was a new client, Jan, but I felt like we were old friends. Her sister-in-law, Linda, has been a long-time client of mine, and when Jan came to drop off her quilt, we just chatted and visited about quilting and husbands and cooking with wild game - just like good pals.

This special quilt was a big project for Jan, and I was so honored that she entrusted it to me. She let me pretty much have my way with it. I gave her some initial thoughts about what I could see, quilting-wise, and she just smiled and agreed with everything I said. My kinda client! Ha!

As it ended up, the quilt kinda had its way with ME! There were 21 different star blocks on this quilt, and not one of them was the same, in both piecing and quilting, although I did incorporate mostly the same shapes (continuous curve, serpentine, etc.) in each star, to make them cohesive. There were also several areas of beautiful appliqué. I echoed around the appliqué and then densely filled around them. I gave the wide outer border a simple piano-key treatment, and then swirls and ribbon candy on the two narrower inner borders. Some secondary shapes in the setting triangles around the perimeter, and geometric dot-to-dot quilting in the large half-square-triangles throughout the quilt.

I had some moderately wide variation of quilting density on this piece. Areas with less quilting puff up more, and I used this in key places, to feature certain dominant shapes throughout the quilt. Areas that I thought needed to recede from the spotlight got more dense quilting.

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