Mariner's Compass

Lorna brought me this really technical quilt top when I showed up at the Okotoks Quilt Stroll last Sunday. I was setting up my tent display, and Lorna (who had arrived for her shift as a volunteer for this wonderful outdoor quilt show) said, "Oh! I'm glad you're here. I have a mariner's compass quilt that I want you to quilt for me. I'll Don bring it to you, so that you can take it home with you. Can you get it done in time for the Open House in two Saturdays?"

Well, guess what... I did! In fact, I got it done in just four days! I ordinarily don't have a very long wait for my customers, compared to many of my colleagues. Right now, I'm at about a 3-week turn-around time. But I always try to accommodate rush requests. For instance, if I have quilts that AREN'T on a deadline, I'll leapfrog rush orders up earlier in my queue. I do this sparingly and only when I feel confident my clients won't mind. The hardest time of year is always pre-Christmas. But last year, I got all my clients' gift orders finished, with time to spare.

Quite a bit of dense quilting on this piece, accompanied by spaces with less dense quilting, so that they pop out. The compasses have sparse outlining (Stitch in the Ditch) and maybe some light filler in their backgrounds. Small meandering circles in the background space around the compasses. Some dot-to-dot ruler work in the setting triangles. Piano keys on the bias in the dark border. Serpentine and continuous curve in the half-square-triangles. Simple and clean... and out the door!

See this quilt in person on Saturday (Aug 26, 2017) at the Rumple Quilt Skins "Fall Open House"!

A Beautiful Bed Set - Part 2

Yesterday's post showed you the feature quilt that was brought to me by a new client. This one is the accent quilt made to go with it.

She wanted it to coordinate with the feature quilt for their bed, but I didn't think it was interesting enough to do a straight-forward edge-to-edge quilt. So I divided the expanse of this wholecloth quilt top into several un-even sections. In the feature quilt, I did a combo of swirls, leaves, and paisleys. So in this coordinating quilt, I filled each section with a pure version of each of those three motifs.

I think this set is so incredibly pretty and fresh and dainty and wonderful!

A Beautiful Bed Set - Part 1

This will be the first in a two-part post. This bed quilt was brought to me by a new client, and she brought me FOUR quilts on her first visit to my studio. Nothing like jumping in with both feet!

This quilt was pieced, using a layer of fabric as a foundation piece, to prevent stretching or warping. So in reality, the quilt top was actually TWO quilt tops. And then she used TWO layers of batting - bottom one silk and top one wool. And then of course, the bottom "backing" layer of fabric. So the point is, this is one HEAVY quilt. I mean heavy!

Every inch of this quilt top was perfect and precise. It was a joy to work my way through it, in an edge-to-edge mixture of swirls, leaves, and paisleys. So pretty!

Check back tomorrow for the "accent" quilt that was made to go on the foot of this bed.

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

All Geared Up

Here is this year's "featured quilt" from the Okotoks Quilt Stroll. It's called "All Geared Up", which I think is so appropriate since the outdoor quilt show is held in conjunction with a classic car show.

Linda, the designer of the pattern and owner of Rumpled Quilt Skins, requested steam-punk shapes and motifs in the quilting... to which I replied, "what the heck is 'steam punk'?". She printed off a few pictures, and I did a little internet research. Gears, cogs, shafts. A whole sub-culture exists! Fascinating photos can be found!

All I can say is, thank goodness for my nesting circle rulers from Quilters Rule. And thanks for another great year of Quilt Stroll, Linda and staff!

Celebrating Canada's 150th Bday

My quilty friend Linda made this quilt in honor of Canada's 150th birthday. Since we're in the Great, White North, I think it's only too appropriate that it is winter-themed. Lots of cute extra-special touches in the quilt. Shimmery metallic threads. Fuzzy fleece and flannel fabrics. Embroidered snowmen. Appliqued maple leaves. The whole thing is a feast for the eyes.

I just added a few touches of quilting to tack down the layers of quilt top, wool batting, and flannel backing fabric. I outlined each of the embroidered snowmen/snow creatures. I did some simple straight lines in the sashing strips. Swirls in the white border. Echoing and filler in the outer border.

Happy Brrrrrrrthday, Canada!!!!

Simply Eden Quilt

Heather pieced this pattern from Tula Pink, which is called Simply Eden. Isn't it fun and ultra-cool!?

There are a lot of sharp points in this piece. The half-square-triangles that make the perimeter of each color swatch create a jagged feel. So, I thought it would be good to soften those angles by applying a quilting motif with a lot of roundness and flowing movement. Heather liked the idea of doing really big circles/loops. I agree!

It can sometimes be most challenging to quilt a seemingly-perfect shape when it's big, rather than small. As I'm driving my quilting machine, it's easy to maintain control over my machine with small shapes. Smoothness and consistent spacing can be tricky, when I'm moving my machine in larger movements. So this was a nice little challenge for me - honing my skill set for larger quilting shapes. I like it!

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