Hawaiian Gnomes!

I just finished quilting this too stinkin’ cute, Hawaiian Gnome quilt for my customer. The pattern is based on the pattern, A Tale of Two Gnomes, by Cotton Street Commons. As you can see, my customer used Hawaiian prints for the Gnome hats and switched the pine trees from the original pattern to coconut trees to continue the island “vibe.”

Click on any photo for a larger view

The quilt is 59 x 70 inches. I used assorted high sheen poly threads and Warm & White batting.

My customer made this quilt for her nephew and his family who live in Hawaii. The quilt will be hand delivered when a friend of my customer visits Hawaii in a few weeks.

Here are some photos of the blocks. The blocks are a combination of piecing and hand applique.

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There was a fair amount of border area so I kept the quilting simple and did wavy lines to represent water. Where the block borders “overlapped” I also overlapped the horizontal and vertical wavy lines. These overlapping lines look like “fish nets” which, IMHO, enhances the island vibe!

My customer has picked up the quilt and LOVES it!!! She can’t wait for her nephew and his family to see it!

This quilt was WAY too much fun!!!

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Washington State Quilt

I have been working on some amazing quilts lately, and this is one of them! This was a Block of the Month Quilt from a few years ago, from a local quilt shop which has recently closed. The quilt highlights all that is wonderful in Washington State! The piecer did an amazing job!

Click on any photo for a larger view.

The quilt is 62 x 72 inches and the batting is Warm & Natural. I used a variety of high sheen polyester threads in the quilting. I kept the quilting fairly simple and just added details to the piecing. The piecer wanted something “special” in the sashings and requested small circles. Which I did using a 1 inch diameter circle template. (For details on this template Click Here)

Here are some close ups of some of the blocks.

Washington State panel with pine trees on the side.

Mariner’s Compass (Mariner’s Baseball) and apples.

Washington State Ferry and more pine trees.

Mountains and farm lands.

Umbrella, (which real Washintonians don’t use!), more trees, and of course, COFFEE!!!!

And here are some photos of the back of the quilt. The backing was a light yellow solid cotton fabric. You can REALLY see all the quilting!

Quilt back, towards the bottom of the quilt

This quilt was fun to work on, but it did take a lot of my time to do it! The piecer was thrilled with the finished quilt and is going to hang it in her front room!

 

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Last Minute Quilted Gifts

I am hoping that as we approach the Christmas holiday, that you are calm, relaxed, and everything is under control.

If you are anything like me, that is all a dream and I am in almost panic mode because there is still way too MANY things to do!!

Do you have some orphan quilt blocks or other quilted fabric laying around? If so, you are half way done with making the gifts I have listed below

Click on any photo for a larger view

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Practically Painless Pillows – Who doesn’t love pillows? And, if you have some orphan quilt blocks, half of your work is done! You don’t even have to quilt the blocks! I have figured out how to make perfect pillows, every time, including an easy way to put a zipper in the back of the pillow!

For Pillows Class details Click Here

 

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Table Runners are always a great gift! Above is one I made a few years ago for my sister. She LOVES it!! I quilted this one with free hand feathers, but you can quilt ANY design you want!

For instructions on how to make this table runner Click Here

For instructions on how to make the same table runner, but quilted with Feathered Hearts Click Here

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Cup Cozies are another great gift idea. If you have some already quilted fabric – maybe from some practice pieces – you can make these Cup Cozies in a snap!!

Also included is a recipe for home made Peppermint Mocha!

For details Click Here

 

 

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One last quick gift!

Mug Rugs are great gifts for the coffee or tea drinker! You can make a TON of these really quickly.

I used free hand feathered hearts, but you can do any kind of quilt design. Or, if you have quilted fabric – maybe left over from the cup cozies above – you can make these!

For an even quicker finish, use a pinking shear and cut around the edges of the mug rug instead of binding them!

For step by step instructions on how to make the Mug Rugs Click Here

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I hope these last minute gift ideas will help you in your last minute holiday preparations!

PS – I still have to put the binding on a couple of quilts!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family!

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9 Patch Plus

It has been a while since I have posted, but I have been keeping busy, busy, busy! It is hard to believe that November is right around the corner!!

I finished this quilt for Chris W and it is looking great! I went with a little different style of quilting, sort of modern-ish.

Here is the full view of the quilt – I love this pattern!!! Simple but yet so elegant!
click on any photo for a larger view.

It took me a while to figure out the quilting, but it was worth the wait. Here is a close up of the quilting –

The quilting was done all free hand! NO rulers were used!! The lines are about 1/4 inch -ish apart, using Madeira high sheen polyester thread. There is no quilting in the 9 patches and only a bit of quilting in the center of the Plus block. I used Warm Co, Soft & Bright batting.

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt. I love the texture and you can really see it. Some people call this style of quilting “match stick” quilting.

This was a fun quilt to work on! It did take a little extra time due to the density of the quilting, but it was well worth the effort!

I have more photos of other quilts I have been working on and hope to post them in the next few days.

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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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Patriotic Stars Quilt Block

A few days ago I posted photos of my Patriotic Star quilt block and I have had several requests for the instructions on how to make this block. I have written out the instructions for both the Patriotic Star quilt block and the instructions on how to make the table runner.

You can view and save these instructions as a pdf file by clicking on the highlighted text Patriotic-Stars-Pattern

I have also put together a photo tutorial on how to construct this block. Note: These instructions are photo intensive and I have the photos at a small size so more can fit on the screen. Click on any photo for a larger view.

Fabrics

1 Fat Quarter or equivalent of the fabrics listed below will make 1 Patriotic Star block, plus a few more!

Blue Star fabric, Red Star fabric, Red and White striped fabric, OR solid red and solid white fabric to make your own striped fabric.
Background fabric – 1 Fat Quarter or equivalent

Refer to the PDF file (see above) for the cutting dimensions.

The piecing instructions for the Star Points are written (and illustrated below) so that you don’t have to use any special piecing rulers.

NOTE: For a great red / white wavy striped fabric, I recommend visiting the Quilted Dragon  website.  (www.quilteddragon.com) She is a quilting friend and has great fabric Click on the link to go directly to the fabric  Red & White Striped Fabric 

Tools

If you would prefer use special piecing rulers to make the elongated triangles that are used in the Patriotic Star Block, I recommend the following:

Peaky & Spike Templates by Marti Michelle
http://www.FromMarti.com

Tri-Recs Tool from EZ Quilting

These template sets should be available at your local quilt shop.

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Star Center – Pieced Strips

Take the 1 inch x 2-1/2 inch pieces of the Solid Red and Solid White fabrics and stitch them together along the long edges. Press to one side.

 

 

 

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Take the 1 inch x 4-1/2 inch pieces of the Solid Red and Solid White fabrics and stitch them together along the long edges. Press to one side.

 

 

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Take the 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch piece of the Blue Star fabric and the two (sewn) striped pieces and place them EXACTLY as shown.

Stitch these pieces together like a 4-Patch and press as desired.

 

 

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The completed Star Center block is shown. This piece should measure 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches square, including seam allowances.

Make 1 Star Center for each block you are making.

 

 

 

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Star Center – Striped Fabric

If you are using Red and White striped fabric, place the pieces a shown in the photo at the far left. Stitch together like a 4-Patch to form the Star Center. Press as desired.  This piece should measure 4-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches square, including seam allowances.

Make 1 Star Center for each block you are making.

 

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Star Points – Using Templates/Rulers

If you are using piecing templates/rulers, follow the directions to make the following 4-1/2 inch square Star Point blocks.

For EACH Patriotic Star Block you will need the following –

1 – Star Point with Blue fabric on the left and Red fabric on the right. (See upper left)

1 – Star Point with Red fabric on the left and Blue fabric on the right. (See upper right)

2 – Star Points with Red fabric on the left and Red fabric on the right. (See bottom left and right)

If you are NOT using piecing templates/rulers, go to the next section.

 

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Star Points – without rulers

On a padded surface, WRONG sides up, pin OPPOSITE corners of 2 – 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 inch Star Point fabric EXACTLY as shown in the photo.

Note: – I like to use a padded and gridded ironing pad or a folded terry towel on top of my ironing board. Yes, I know that my ironing mat is a little (??) grubby. I use it quite a lot with my piecing!

Start with the Red Star fabric to make the Star Points.

 

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Take the “flaps” that were to the inside, and fold them out as shown at the right. Make sure that the fold that is being created is along a long straight line. The RIGHT side of the fabric is on the top.

Press to make a crease line along the fold line. You now have right and left leaning long triangle pieces.

Your Star Points should look EXACTLY like the photos at the left.

 

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Remove the pins and re-position the (new) long triangles as shown at the right.

DO NOT TRIM YET!!

 

 

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Take a light 4-1/2 inch fabric square and position ONE Star Point as show at the right. Make sure that the lower (straight) corner of the triangle matches the same corner of the background square.

 

 

 

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Carefully open the Star Point and place a pin or two on the “under flap” of fabric.

Instead of pins, use fabric glue stick or similar product to hold in place

Stitch just inside of the fold line.

 

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Fold the Star Point back into position and make sure it is lined up properly. When satisfied with the placement of the triangle, trim the excess under flap and background fabric to 1/4 inch from the seam.

If desired, press the diagonal seam OPEN!

The “open” seam make quilting MUCH easier!

 

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Place the remaining Star Point on the 4-1/2 inch background square exactly as shown in the photo. Make sure that the lower (straight) corner of the triangle matches the same corner of the background square.

 

 

 

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Carefully open the Star Point and place a pin or two on the “under flap” of fabric.

Instead of pins, use fabric glue stick or similar product to hold in place

Stitch just inside of the fold line.

 

 

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Fold the Star Point back into position and make sure it is lined up properly. When satisfied with the placement of the triangle, trim the excess under flap and background fabric to 1/4 inch from the seam.

If desired, press the diagonal seam OPEN!

 

 

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The Red Star fabric Star Point Unit is now completed! When finished, the Star Point Unit should measure 4-1/2 inches square, which includes seam allowances.

Make a total of 2 Red Star fabric Star Point Units for each block.

 

 

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Then make –

1 – Star Point with Blue fabric on the left and Red fabric on the right.

1 – Star Point with Red fabric on the left and Blue fabric on the right.

 

 

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Putting the Patriotic Star Block Together

Place the Star Center, the 4-1/2 inch square Background Corner pieces and the Star Points EXACTLY as shown in the photo to form the Patriotic Star Block.

Stitch the block together and press as desired.

 

 

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The completed Patriotic Star Block should measure 12-1/2 inches square, including seam allowances.

Here are two blocks, the one at the left has the pieced stripes in the Star Center and the block on the right has the striped (printed) fabric in the Star Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I hope you enjoy making the Patriotic Star Quilt Block and use it in your projects.

Here is the link to the PDF file for the Patriotic Star Table Runner Patriotic-Stars-Pattern  which includes the instructions on how to piece the Star Points without templates or special rulers.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

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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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Mystery Quilt Revealed!!

Yesterday, January 1, 2016, was the Snowflake Serenade Mystery Quilting Event on the Longarm Classroom website. Now that the quilting has been revealed to the class members, I can reveal the quilting to you!

This is the quilt we started with  ( I love quilts with lots of “open” spaces!)

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Snowflake Serenade

During the course of the class, marked registration lines – a LOT of them – on the quilt top. When I do marking like this, on my own quilts or quilts that I can wash with warm water and detergent after quilting, I use fine point, Crayola Washable Markers.

This photo shows the completed quilt with the black, orange and green Crayola Washable Marker markings on it.

Note: The background fabric of this quilt is a white solid cotton fabric. In the photos below it looks like a light blue fabric.

Here is a close up of the quilting and the markers. I sprayed some water onto the markings to show that the marker may “melt” but it doesn’t disappear until the quilt is washed.

I know, it looks like a royal mess! But don’t worry, the marker WILL come out!

Here is the quilt, trimmed, bound and washed. What a difference!

ALL the marker is GONE!!! Here are some more photos of the completed (and washed) class project.

FYI – ALL the quilting is done FREE HAND! A ruler was used to mark the registration lines, but all the lines of the quilting are free hand. Even the snowflake quilting design is done free hand!

And here is a view of part of the back of the quilt. You can REALLY see the quilting.

The Snowflake Serenade Quilt Class is still open and you can join in the fun! For class details Click Here. 

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Pebbles and Feathers

I have been working on a couple of HUGE quilts lately and I finally have some time to post photos!

The first quilt is 106 x 106 inches and it is gorgeous!! It is the Labyrinth Quilt pattern by Debbie Maddy. My customer did a great job with the piecing.

Click on any photos for a closer view.

The photos don’t do justice to the color of the fabrics. In real live the colors are more vibrant.

I quilted the “fabric” and didn’t put any other pattern on it.

There were small circles or dots on the light teal fabric and I quilted pebbles on this fabric! It was slow going because the pebbles were fairly small and dense.  (click on the photo and expand the view to see the pebbles.)

Here is what a section of the pebbles looks like from the back.

It has been a long time since I quilted pebbles like that, and it may be a while before I do them again! But they do look wonderful on this quilt!

Here is a closer view of the center of the quilt.

And here is a view of the back of the center of the quilt. The backing fabric is actually a very rich dark chocolate brown.

The other quilt I have been working on is a Star Sampler quilt. This customer started making the star blocks and then built the quilt around the blocks. She had no specific quilt pattern when she started the piecing. This quilt is 94 x 116 inches!

I have the quilt hanging on my clothesline to take the photos, but I still couldn’t get the whole quilt photographed!

Click on any photo for a larger view.

I love the large borders and I quilted feathers in the outer border, but you can’t see them.

In the green border I quilted a 4 inch Double Cable and then feathers (some of which you can see) in the inner borders.

I kept the quilting fairly simple in the blocks. I also hope you can see the feathers in the light background behind the block.

Here is a small portion of the back of the quilt. Here you can see the quilting in the large outer border and the cables.

One more photo of the blocks and hopefully you can see the feather work in the light background areas.

I had WAY too much fun working on both of these quilts and both my customers were THRILLED with the quilting!

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