E's and 3's larger scale

I wanted to show this quilt, because it's the same quilting pattern as the Low Volume YBR I showed a few weeks ago, but on a larger scale.

This is a donation quilt that my guild has made.  

 I think it's very effective at this size too....that's what I love about this pattern so much, it can be miniscule or large or anything in between.

Here's a picture of the miniscule, from my Forever Quilt


And here's another version of the same quilt, with a simple meander and heart for the quilting.  I really enjoyed quilting these, as the fabrics were fun to look at.

Modern Maze #2

I had the chance to quilt up two of my own quilts in the past few months.  The first was made for someone special and given away.

The pattern is Fat Quarter Frolic, however I called mine Fat Quarter Frenzy, because I was in such a 'frenzy'  cutting the fabric before going to retreat last fall that I made errors, and had to add in new fabrics. 

 Most of the fabrics came from a FQ pack I bought when we were on a family vacation in Oregon a few summers ago.  And the rest came from my stash and scrap bin.

 The colors are so bright and cheery.  The recipient of the quilt is a teen, so I went with a very modern pantograph (plus, I wanted to use this pantograph).

 The minkee backing is so soft and plush, and shows the quilting so wonderfully.

You can see other variations on this same quilt Patty's here made with Ty Pennington fabrics and Marilyn's--I forget the name of the fabric collection she used.

And, since I've been teaching classes, I've discovered I don't have a quilt in my house that has been pantographed, to take along for show and tell, and I since I loved how this pantograph stitched up and looks, I used the same design on this next quilt, which I will keep, for now.

 This quilt was made from an Indigo Sushi-roll (which is a small jelly roll), and a turquoise batik.  It was very hard to match those indigos to anything, so I was quite pleased when I found this quilt pattern, which was a bali-pop tutorial at 2nd Avenue Studio.

 Nancy's version of this quilt can be seen here, she used an alternate block setting and changed up that wider rectangle.

 I used a navy minkee on this one. 

I recently saw Krista Wither's Modern Maze #1 stitched out as well, and its also yummy.  Not your Grandma's pantograph, that's for sure ;)

And now I have a sample for when I teach my next class, which is scheduled for June 7.  If you want in, give Lucie a call at Chinook Fabrics. 

Low Volume Yellow Brick Road

This Yellow Brick Road quilt is Gail's.  Gail normally quilts her own quilts, and does a very lovely job of them too, but this quilt was a little larger than she likes to tackle.  This might also have been right about when her machine decided it needed a few months vacation at the spa (aka repair shop) too.  I was pleased to quilt it for her.

 Cheryl Arkison is a quilter, designer and writer in Calgary.  I first learned  about low volume quilts from her, which, as I understand it, means that the fabrics all 'speak softly'.  Love the concept, and I love how Gail's quilt turned out.

Gail's daughter picked the fabrics, and she did a wonderful job.

I love the texture on this quilt.   Hobbs 80/20 batting.  Pearl Glide thread.  If I recall correctly, the quilt was 63x72, and so would have used 18 FQ of fabric.

Word of the Day: Antependium

Antependium was my new word in March....'to hang before' and most often used with a religious hanging.

You may have already seen this antependium on my facebook page www.facebook.com/mmm.quilts, but I thought I'd add a few more photos here, as I know not everyone uses facebook  (and I can see very good reasons not too...terrible time suck)

Here is the antependium on the frame (and you can maybe see the fabric roll on the left of the picture that I added this to the backing on the bottom of another quilt I was doing for the church, I've blogged about doing this before--efficiency and less fabric needed for the loading)

This antependium is attached to a music stand with velcro...and thus creates a beautiful place for the Ministers to place their notes/books/iPad, as opposed to the bare music stand.  The original plan had been to use magnets to attach the antependium, however, the music stands are non-magnetic, and, velcro is much friendlier to iPads, so it all worked out well in the end.

 I wanted it to look like rays of light coming from behind the cross, so left some unquilted channels and quilted densely around them with spirals.

In the cross itself I used a woodgrain meander and I quilted some clamshells along the bottom, to represent hills.

 The black panel at the top is where we attached the velcro, and it sits about 6" down on the music stand.  Sticky velcro on the music stand.

I love how it just seems to glow in the sunlight.

It's double batted, so the quilting really shows well, even from a distance.

The fabrics were all scraps from quilts made for members of the congregation, or the banners on the wall, so there's some continuity.  The piecing design is also the same as the wall banners, and very similar to the altar cloth.  I'll add some pictures of those too, so you can see the whole effect...there are 6 banners that hang on either side of the sanctuary.  First the left

 and the right.  I was very new to frame quilting, and quilted these on my 9" Husqvarna on a grace frame. 

 There are a ridiculous number of pieces in that 4" paper pieced cross..something like 28 I think.  I didn't piece that.    Actually, I didn't piece any of these hangings, only the quilting is mine.

I think I used the word antependium enough to have learned it well now :)  A successful vocabulary lesson.

Busy Busy

About 2 months ago, I was chatting with another longarm quilter, and she said she was about a year behind on her blogging.....at the time I was surprised, but here I am two months later....two months behind...

Today I'll tell you about  two of the very fun things that have been keeping me busy, in addition to family life and my main volunteer 'job' as treasurer of Symons Valley United Church, which is always very busy at the beginning of the year as year end books are done, and, of course, quilting.

The first is teaching Introduction to Longarm Quilting on an Innova at Chinook Fabrics in High River.

I've had a lot of fun teaching this class, if I'm remembering correctly, it's run 4 or 5 times since January, mind you, I've only remembered to take photos once.  It's a busy day :) 

Lucie has 3 machines set up...an 18"

 The 26" with Lightening Stitch

 and a 22" with lightening stitch

The stitching is looking good Ladies.

 and here's a photo of Lucie

Lucie says several of the ladies who have taken the class have been back in to rent machines already.   The staff at Chinook Fabrics are all so nice.  Be sure to stop in if you're in High River.
The next class is scheduled for June 7, if you're interested in learning the basics of using an Innova longarm.

The 2nd very fun thing I was lucky enough to do was attend a 2 day workshop with Judi Madsen  at Sparrow Studioz.  I have really admired Judi's work for a very long time, and hadn't been able to sign up for the first week of workshops, however, when Matt Sparrow was able to convince Judi to stay and run a 3rd workshop...the stars aligned and I was able to go.  I had fun with Bev and a whole bunch of quilters I didn't know before. 

These are all photos of Judi's samples/quilts she brought...

Lots of inspiration...and a fun time.