Once Upon a Time

My, oh my, does the time fly! It has been a busy year and I realized that I haven’t posted to my blog for a LONG while! So, today is the day!

I do a TON of stuff – videos, patterns, online classes, in-person classes, etc. – which is all quilting related and I do quilt on real quilts from time to time! The past few months I have been working on some AMAZING quilts and now I want to show you some of them.

This first quilt I am going to highlight is a quilt I made for my Granddaughter Maddie Tong. As with each quilt, there is a story!

This quilt was made from a kit that I found (on a great sale) while visiting with my sister in Illinois. We went “shop hopping” in her area and I found the kit.

Click on any image for a larger view.

I did a little research and this was offered in 2018 by Moda. I purchased the kit in late 2019, pieced it 2021 and finally quilted it earlier this year, 2022.

The quilt is WAY too cute, WAY too much fun to piece and WAY, WAY too much fun to quilt!

Here is the finished quilt! It is a larger twin size.

Here are some of the quilting details –

I quilted a feather cable in the outer borders and a combination of continuous curves, ribbon stipple, swirls and other fill in patterns to complete the quilting, The batting is Warm Company, Soft & Bright and I used an assortment of Signature 100% cotton, machine quilting threads.

For the center Castle block I did straight lines (free hand), wavy cross hatching, continuous curve, landscape stipple and swirls in the hearts.

Here is the back of the quilt and you can see a lot of the quilting detail even though the backing fabric is a fairly busy print

And of course, here is one HAPPY Granddaughter!!

I know she will use and enjoy this quilt for many, many years!

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New Year, New Quilts for 2022!

Oh my goodness! It has been a while since I last posted on my blog!!! Life has been busy and I finally have some time to catch up on things, including blog posts!

I actually have been working on some customer quilts and here are some photos of my most recent quilt.

This quilt was made by Cynthia H for her granddaughter. She did a great job with the piecing and we decided on free hand feathers and swirls for the quilting.

The quilt is 51 x 62 inches, it has Soft & Bright batting and I used Signature, Golden Harvest variegated cotton thread for the quilting. The backing is a very plush Minkee!

Click on the photos for a slideshow and a larger view.

Thank you Cynthia for letting me work on your quilt. I know your grand daughter will love it!

PS – I will be adding more quilt photos soon!

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New Year, New Quilts!

My oh my!! I don’t believe it has been six months since I have posted to my blog! Where does the time go? These last few months HAVE been busy. Even though I have been somewhat housebound – thank you Mr. Covid – there is still a LOT of quilting to do, patterns to create, instructions to be written, samples to be made, etc., etc.

On New Year’s Day 2021, I hosted my annual Mystery Quilt Along class on the Longarm Classroom website. This year, the quilt was “Winter Stars” For more details on this quilt and online class Click Here 

Click on the photos for a larger view.

The quilting, which was done with contrasting thread, was fairly simple feathers, but when they feathers “came together” they formed some secondary patterns. 

       

When the dust settled from the Mystery Quilt Along, I began working on some customer quilts. 

This quilt, Prairie Points and Pinwheels, 37 x 44 inches, was impeccably pieced by Connie M, and it is FUN to quilt! 

I quilted a feather border and had the feathers dip in between the Prairie Points. The body of the quilt is quilted with an all over, free hand feathers and swirls pattern. Click on the photos for a larger view. 

   

And today, I finished this quilt, 56 x 73 inches, for Shirley R. Again, an impeccably pieced quilt! This is the Boomerang Quilt pattern. You can view the pattern details by Clicking Here Click on the photos for a closer view

     

The quilting is all free hand with the matchstick quilting in the main part of the blocks and a diamond “spiral” in the smaller part of the blocks. The quilting was going along smoothly with no problems. Then, when I was finished and turned the quilt over, Oh NO!!!! I had the dreaded “big loops” on the back of the quilt. This has not happened to me for a LONG time!!! It started from when I put the last bobbin in the quilt. The quilting goddess is keeping me VERY humble! 

So I took the quilt off the machine, took out all the bad stitching, put the quilt back on the machine and re-quilted the area. All the time checking the back for the big loops. Thankfully, the big loops disappeared and the back now looks wonderful. Check out the photos below. 

Here are the dreaded big loops!

 

And here is the back of the finished quilt. I LOVE the texture on the back! You can’t even tell where I took out the stitches! 

I am going to believe that my “big quilting mistake” of the year is now over and done with, and that all my quilting in the rest of the year will be problem free! 

Now, on to the next quilt! 

 

 

 

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Snowflakes and Feathers

It has been a wild last few weeks! It seems like the more I stay home, the busier I become! Of course, I’m not cleaning the house or anything like that. I have been sewing, quilting, knitting and creating many new things!

I just finished this quilt for a customer, and I can’t tell you how much fun I had quilting it!!

The pattern is Snowflake, by Modern Hand Crafts. (For details on the pattern Click Here) and it was perfectly pieced.

Click on any photo for a larger view

This quilt is 60 x 72 inches. I quilted swirls in the background with silver high sheen poly thread. The snowflake has a combination of feathered wreaths and feather.

Here is a close look of the snowflake.

And here is a closer view of the “middle” of the quilt.

We can’t forget the back of the quilt.

This is a spectacular quilt and I love the fabric that my customer used!

Here is one more quilt I recently finished. This is a quilt my sister pieced a while ago and she wanted to gift it to a friend. She sent it to me and I went a little crazy with feathers! Which was totally appropriate for this quilt. All the feathers are free hand and I did have to make some (many) registration lines for the outer feather borders.

Click on any photo for a larger view

I can’t remember the exact size of this quilt, but it was about a Queen Size. My sister did an excellent job with the piecing!

Here is a corner of the quilting. I used a cable feather in the outer borders, wavy lines in the inner borders and all over, free hand, feathes and swirls in the body of the quilt. I used Soft & Bright batting and Signature 100% cotton machine quilting thread in the color Linen.

Here is the other corner of this quilt. I LOVE the texture of the quilting!

And, of course, you got to see the back of the quilt!

My sister gave the quilt to her friend and her friend LOVED IT!!!!

Stay healthy, keep busy, keep quilting!!!

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An Amazing Log Cabin!

I can not tell you how much fun it was working on this quilt! This batik Log Cabin quilt was made by Karla S. and it was perfectly pieced!!! And, it was HUGE!!! 110 X 132 inches!! The blocks were 22 inches square! Did I mention (again) that this quilt was AH. MAZE. ING!!!!

Here is a photo of a small portion of it before it was quilted. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Here is the quilt on my quilting machine with a block partially quilted. I did a diagonal feather design so that the feathers framed the center block. I also changed the color of my thread for EACH section of the block!! That was a minimum of 4 different colors of thread in each block!

There was a light and a dark thread for the log cabin part of the block and then there were at least two color changes for the quilting in the block center! Yes, that was a lot of thread changes, but I feel it was worth it!

I used Madeira high sheen poly thread throughout the quilt. I love the look  of this thread and I used 9 different colors! Here are all the threads I used!

Here is a quilted block. The photo is in a “large format” and if you click on it, you can see all the detail of the quilting.

And finally, a view of only half the finished quilt. The quilt was so large that I had to fold it in half to get it onto the clothesline so I can take some photos!

I used Soft & Bright batting from the Warm Company. I love the little bit of loft in this batting which makes the feathers – and the other quilting – really stand out.

This quilt was an absolute JOY to work on. Thank you Karla for letting me quilt your AH. MAZE. ING quilt!

 

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Batik Log Cabin

My oh my! It has been a while since I have posted to my blog! I have been busy the last few months, I have been traveling, visiting family, designing quilts, making quilts and of course quilting quilts! (That is a lot of “Q” words!)

Here is my latest customer quilt. Karla did a wonderful job of piecing this Batik Log Cabin quilt. This quilt is HUGE! It is 110 x 132 inches and each block is 22 inches square!

It is so huge that I could only photograph half of the quilt as it is hanging on my backyard clothesline!

Click on any photo for a larger view

The colors of the fabrics are fabulous and I love the center of each block (which is 10 inches square!) I used NINE different colors of high sheen polyester thread. Yes, it does take time to change each color, but it is worth it!! Here are the threads!

Here is the quilting on the blocks –

The photo is in a large pixel format. Please enlarge the photo to see the quilting detail an the thread colors! I quilted feathers along the diagonal from the corners to the middle of the block, stopping the feathers at the edge of the center block. Where the colors of the fabric change in the corners, I changed the colors of the thread. I love the overall texture that the feathers give the quilt.

Then I quilted the centers individually, following the lines of the printed design in the center block and filled in around the center with echo quilting and ribbon stipple.

Here is a photo of another block, in a large pixel format. I hope you can see the detail of the quilting.

It is amazing how a simple Log Cabin quilt can be changed / adapted to become a fabulous quilt!

 

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Ric Rac Rabbit

Oh my goodness, it has been a (long) while since I have written on my blog! A lot has been happening and I finally have a few moments to write.

It was a busy late Summer, Fall and early Winter! Where does the time go??? I have been teaching, traveling, quilting, knitting, designing and in all of that, I had the floors replaced is 75% of my house!

Here is a quilting update –

My latest finished project is a quilt for a customer, who is going to be a first time Grandma. She is so excited!! Her daughter in law picked the fabric, my customer pieced it and I quilted it.

The fabric is from a line called Ric Rac Rabbit from Andover Fabrics. The quilt is 35 x 42 inches and it is way too cute!! I used Soft & Bright batting and Signature 100% cotton machine quilting threads for the quilting.

Click on any photo for a larger view

Here is a close up of the center of the quilt. In the background I used a grid design that is based on diagonal half square triangles quilted with wavy lines. ( I LOVE wavy lines!!) Around the rabbit I did echo quilting and then quilted some detail on the star.

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt where you can see most of the quilting detail.

Flower Basket Quilt

Every New Year’s Day for the last 11 years I have done a New Year’s Day Mystery Quilt event, and this New Year’s Day was the Flower Basket Quilt.

Here is what I started with – pieced baskets, lots of background fabric and lots of borders. I know, it’s going to take a LOT of quilting to make it look good!

When it was finished, it looked like this! What a transformation!!! There is a TON of texture in the background, lots of feathers in the borders and the flowers and basket handles are appliqued with the longarm!!!! 

You have got to click on the photo to see all the detail!

Here is a closer view of one of the baskets. Notice that the background quilting in this block is the same as the Ric Rac Rabbit quilt above!

And here is a closer view of the feather border, which is done free hand!! In fact, ALL the quilting on this quilt is done free hand!

The Flower Basket quilt is an online class and is open for registration. You can get more details by Clicking Here

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2019 will be a fabulous year for you and your family!

 

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Catching Up!!

It HAS been a while since I have posted quilt photos!!! Even though I haven’t posted many photos, I really HAVE been busy. As always, I am working on several project at one time (I must be the Queen of multi-tasking), and sometimes when multi-tasking it takes more time to get things done! If anyone know of how to get an extra hour or two out of a day, please let me know.

I recently finished this way too cute Snowman Quilt. It is 38 x 51 inches and it was very nicely pieced. There were a lot of small-ish pieces and the stars were done with the folded triangle technique.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

The batting is Warm & Natural and I used several high sheen polyester (HSP) threads. The background fabric is a tree print, and I think the trees are birch trees (I am not a tree expert. Let me know if they are different). The main color of the trees are gray, so I used a silver HSP thread and just “followed” the direction of the trees with wavy lines of quilting. You may be able to see the quilting lines if you expand the photo below.

In the snowmen I quilted spirals. The backing photo below shows more of the quilting.

I love when the quilting on the front of the quilt almost “disappears” but REALLY shows up on the back! Which is exactly what happened with this next quilt.

This quilt, Color Splash quilt, is huge at 101 x 101 inches!!! It is so big, that I could get only half of the quilt over my clothesline to get photos! The photo below is only about one fourth of the quilt! I’m not sure if you can see the quilting from the front of the quilt. I used silver HSP thread and quilted free hand feathers and swirls as an all over design in the body of the quilt.

In the outer border I quilted my “straight edge” feathers and the inner border has my “more bang for the buck” feather! You can see the quilting a bit better in the dark border. (For an online class on how to quilt these feathers Click Here)The batting is Warm & Natural.

But the back looks spectacular! The backing fabric is a dark,  black on black print, but in the photo it is showing up as gray. Trust me, it is DARK black fabric! And since I use the same thread on the top and the bobbin, the silver HSP thread really sparkles on the back of the quilt.

On the left edge and lower left corner, you can see the border feathers. ALL the feathers are done free hand – and I LOVE quilting free hand feathers!!!

I am planning on posting more quilt photos in the not too distant future.

 

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New Year’s Day 2018 Mystery Quilt

Every New Years Day, for the last 10 years, I have hosted a New Year’s Day Mystery Quilting Event and it is SO much fun!

The class project is titled Medallion Mania and (hint, hint) the quilting is mainly feathered wreaths! Generally, no hints about the quilting are given, but this time I made an exception.

This is how this Mystery Quilting Event works – when you sign up for the class you will receive the piecing instructions. Choose the class project size you want to make – this year there is a Wall quilt, Twin size quilt and Queen size quilt – piece the quilt top and have it on your quilting machine, ready for quilting on January 1, 2018. On that day, about 8 am Pacific time (usually a little earlier) the first “Part” of the QUILTING will be activated on the website. Then, about every 1-1/2 – 2 hours throughout the day, other Parts of the class will be activated. By the end of the day you will have all the Parts to the class and (maybe) have the quilting done on your own class project!

If you are busy on New Year’s Day, don’t worry, you have 60 days of 24/7 access to the online class AND at no additional charge, a DVD of the class and all printed material will be sent to you!

Here is a photo of the Wall size quilt, 60 x 60 inches, BEFORE quilting! Click on the photos for a larger view.

And here is the Queen size quilt, 96 x 96 inches, which is the quilt I am quilting in the class video.

As you can see, the piecing is super simple. But the quilting – for that you have to attend the class on New Year’s Day!

Note – the quilt blocks are 34 inches! That is a LOT of room for quilting!!!!

If you have a small throat quilting machine or you quilt with your home sewing machine, YOU can attend this class! I am showing several different ways to quilt the feathered wreaths, including using stencils and how to quilt on a smaller throat / sit down machine.

For more details on the Medallion Mania online class Click Here 

I hope to “see” you in class on New Year’s Day!!!

PS For more information about past New Year’s Day Quilting Events Click Here 

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A Log Cabin and a Sampler Quilt

I have two quilts to show to you today. A Log Cabin Quilt and a Sampler Quilt and both of them are gorgeous!

Log Cabin Quilt

This Log Cabin Quilt, 82 x 101 inches,  was pieced by Chris W and she does an amazing job with her piecing! The colors are very calming and look great together.

Here is a full-ish view of the quilt

I quilted my curved feathers in the light fabrics and wavy lines in the darker fabric. I LOVE the texture that these quilting designs make when used togehter.  Make sure you click on the photo for a larger, more detailed view.

Here is a closer view of the quilting in the body of the quilt. I have quilted several Log Cabin quilts this way and I have details of the quilting in a blog post from a few years ago which you can read by Clicking Here

The batting is Soft & Bright poly batting from The Warm Company and the thread is a combination of Signature 100% cotton thread and Madeira high sheen poly thread.

In the border, which was wide (I love wide borders) I quilted my Feathered Baptist Fan pattern. The “half” feathered wreath is the middle of the border and the other feathered wreaths “meet” at the middle wreath. (I quilted the Feathered Baptist Fan border using the Longarm University Feather Guides. For info about them Click Here) Sounding like a broken record, I LOVE the texture in this border design! The first inner border has a “football feather” design.

Sampler Quilt

This quilt was pieced by Trish S and she did a wonderful piecing job and I love how all the different fabrics work togehter! This is a GREAT quilt.

When quilting a Sampler Quilt, I like to quilt something different in each block, depending on how the block is pieced. In this quilt I used a LOT of different thread colors and matched the thread color to the fabric color.

This Sampler Quilt is huge at 91 x 108 inches. There is a LOT of quilting in this quilt, but it was worth it!

Here is an almost full view of the quilt. I have it hanging outside on my clothesline – Click on any photo for a larger view

Here is some more of the quilt

I quilted a partial “football feather” in the outer border, continuous curves and spikes in the 9 patch and another football feather in the inner border.

Here is the corner of the outer border

The batting is Warm & Natural cotton batting. Here are some of the individual blocks and I hope you can see the quilting in them.

Please click on the photos to see the detail in the quilting.

Both of these quilts were FUN to work on. When I have great quilts to work with, the quilting is (almost) easy!

 

 

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