Brenda's Feathery Floral quilt

This lovely quilt from my quilt client, Brenda, will be a surprise for her sister. Brenda made it out of fabric from their mom's stash, which she discovered when cleaning out her mom's house. They are a lovely assortment of floral fabrics. Some of them have a wonderful silky feel to them. It will be a cuddly and meaningful gift!

Brenda requested edge-to-edge feathers. I love meandering feathers and how they spill out spontaneously all over a quilt. But they still manage to lend their classiness and sophistication to the piece.

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

Pair of donation quilts

I recently quilted these two quick-quilts for gal named Jacquie. She was donating them to a local cancer-support program. I was pleased to apply my edge-to-edge stippling to them. Quilters are often a very generous sort, and when I'm asked to quilt for those kind of projects, I'm happy to offer my "charity rate". For more information, go to my "Services and Pricing" page.

Ribbon Quilt Sample

Here's a little sample I did of the Award Ribbon Quilts that I have created on occasion. In a couple weeks' time, I'll be helping out my dear friend, Linde Sutherly of Linde's Livestock Photos, at the North American-International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky. Linde is the official beef cattle photographer of NAILE, and I'll be working as her "image manager" (office personnel) during all the beef cattle shows. She has a staff of DOZENS of photographers, ear-getters, and other personnel that work hard to document this great event - capturing backdrop shots of the winners and candid "ring shots" of the exhibitors in action.

Linde generously offered to let me hang this sample ribbon quilt in her display area. This little quilt  is about 30x30" and would be an awesome size for a small wall-hanging or table-topper.

We'll be on duty at NAILE from Saturday, November 11, through Thursday, November 16. If you're an exhibitor or spectator at NAILE, stop on in and say "hey"! If you're looking for more information about these keepsake Ribbon Quilts, feel free to ask me in person or you can click here for some more details and photos. Good luck, exhibitors!

'Tis The Season #4

This is the fourth version of "Tis The Season" that I've had the honor of enhancing. This one came from one of my favorite long-time clients, Linda Fritz. She was one of the first strangers that ever paid me to quilt for her, and I love each time I get to quilt for her again!

This pattern was taught as a class at Rumpled Quilt Skins in Okotoks, AB, and I love seeing each of the students' interpretations of it. Their fabric choices, thread colors, and layouts each create a slightly different result. And of course, there have been subtle differences in the quilting that have affected the outcomes, too! To see each of the previous iterations that I've gotten to work on. Click on the links below.

For the original class sample, click here.
For Peg's version (which she did WITHOUT taking the class, no less!), click here.
For Carol's version, click here.

I can't wait for Christmas!

Jamie's Diamond Affair

Here's a beautiful jewel-tone quilt from my new client, Jamie. The quilt top was composed almost entirely of diamond shapes - lots of lots and LOTS of bias seams. I don't know how she did it, but it was flat and straight - a real accomplishment! For you non-sewists reading, fabric on the bias (aka, diagonal) is very stretchy, so if you're not careful, it could easily get stretched or distorted as you're stitching or pressing, and then you'll get ripples or waves. This one had no problems with that. It was great!

Jamie asked for edge-to-edge paisleys in the interior of this quilt and special treatment in the borders. I went with an undulating oak leaf treatment in the two inner borders, to go with the leaves in several of the fabrics. And then I went with a diamond motif in the outer border, to play on the diamonds in the piecing. This kind of ruler-work is very time-consuming, but I think the effect is super striking.

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

Karen's Pretty Piece

Here's a lovely little quilt. Straight-forward and simple, it will be a pretty, cuddly quilt for Karen. In the coming months of cold, these happy colors will likely bring cheer to her household. This quilt top had a simple pattern, gorgeous prints, and well-executed piecing. And for quilting, Karen chose my good, ol' friend - edge-to-edge stippling. It's the first kind of free-motion quilting I ever attempted, and I will always enjoy it! Good one, Karen!

Laura's Math Quilt

Ack! I can't stand how much I love how this quilt turned out! This is the first time I've ever gotten the chance to do an edge-to-edge "orange peel" pattern. I use this motif a lot, in 9-patch blocks or various places in custom quilting projects. But never have I gotten to work on a quilt that lent itself so well to using orange peel (aka "continuous curve") as an all-over design.

This quilt pattern is called "Strip Plus", and it was created by GE Designs. It came to me from my client, Lisa, who brought me her "Owls Quilt" a few weeks ago. When she picked up that finished quilt, she brought her teenage daughter, Laura, with her, and they dropped off another quilt. This time, it was LAURA's quilt. She picked all the fabrics herself (a smart-cookie math enthusiast, she is!) and chose the placement of every one of the plus signs. As Lisa said, "Thank goodness for design walls!"

Of course, each plus sign in the quilt is just a simple 9-patch block. That means it's already perfect for putting an orange peel in. I typically do continuous curves free-hand. No stencils, no rulers, and no marking, if I can help it. In this piece, there were a few blocks in the each row that were just a large empty square, so I did have to add just a few registration marks throughout the quilt top. But for the most part, I was able to curve my way through, going from one corner to the next, connecting them with gentle curves.

This quilt was like meditation, I think. It was so methodical and calm and orderly and free-from-thought. I unplugged by brain and let it just flow out of me. And I think it turned out great! I love the play between the curves and the points. The roundedness of the curves - they almost look like interlocking circles - has a great juxtaposition against the straight lines of the squares throughout the piece.

Thanks for letting me work on your beloved quilt, Laura. It was a joy!

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

"Feathers In Many Forms" Class Sample

I recently taught the second of three sessions in a series of "Free-Motion Quilting" classes at Rumpled Quilt Skins in Okotoks, Alberta. This second class was focused mainly on traditional feathers - a very classic quilting technique, plus a few extra motifs.

For the first "beginner" class back in September, I had several quilts on hand that I could show-and-share to exhibit real-life examples. But I didn't really have many examples of feather motifs on-hand, so I decided to make a "class sample". I incorporated three different kinds of feathers, four kinds of spines, five kinds of fillers around the feathers, and two different blocked feather wreaths.

I just love feathers! And I loved sharing this class with the students who attended. There's one more session in my FMQ series at RQS. It will be "Intro To Custom Quilting" on November 25. Scroll to the bottom of this page for more information. If you're interested in the class but not available that afternoon, please do still call RQS and express your interest. If there's enough registrants, we may again split the students into two sections - a morning and an afternoon.