Tea Time in Bali # 7 or 8?

I think this is #6, I've lost track.


This is Patty's quilt and I took a cue from the border fabric and quilted it with a meander fern-feather edge to edge design.  It gave a really nice texture.

 I've quilted several of these, which is fun, because they each wind up so different.  It's a great little free pattern, which uses a whole jelly roll, and you don't add extra fabrics until borders.

This was the Brown Sugar jelly roll, and one of the great things about longarm quilting for customers is I can see how different the same quilt with the same fabrics can be with a difference in fabric placement, borders and even adding sashing....here's Marilyn's Brown Sugar Tea Time Quilt

 
and here's another, Ethels Tea Time done in Brown Sugar

 

Alternate Routes--Alternate Layouts

The pattern for Alternate Routes by Highway 10 designs comes with a lot of layouts pictured (Kathy and Lori say they first designed this pattern as a mystery quilt for their guilds).

So, my sister and I sewed blocks all day, and by evening the family was gathered around, looking at the different layouts.  Some of them were truly enjoying the process, my artistic neice in particular--she was flipping blocks and arranging.  Some of them just wanted us to pick one so we'd clear the area in front of the TV and they could watch a show, LOL. 

The pattern allows for making 64 blocks (an 8x8 layout) or 42 blocks (6x7 layout).  We had 42 blocks.  Some of the layouts would be better square. 

 I know from making quilts with multiple layouts in a class that fabric and value selection can have an impact on the decision of which layout is best, so if I make this pattern again, I might prefer a different layout.

Sometimes you had to get in there fast with the camera, before the layout changed again!  It was like a screensaver, in constant motion. 

 I've only shown about 8 layouts here--there are many more shown in the pattern itself.

 and here's the one we liked the best.  We had definitely decided we liked a center medallion, but then we had to decide which one of those even. 

 Hmmmm....now that I've shown some of the options we looked at, I hope our brother and SIL like the layout we chose best too.  Oh well, that's the one they got anyway.  I guess if they like a different one better, I can teach them to quilt :) 

Alternate Routes

This is the quilt my sister and I made for a wedding gift for our brother and new sister-in-law.  Hmm, just noticed the toes now...ooops.


The pattern is Alternate Routes by Highway 10 designs, and we chose this quilt to make because 1) the title is great for a marriage, 2) two fabrics sounded fun and 3) lots of layout choices--more on that in the next post.  I really enjoy the Highway 10 patterns.  I have one more of their patterns pieced and need to quilt.

 My sister lives in Ontario but she was in Alberta last summer for a few weeks, so we pieced the blocks then.  We set my sewing machine up on our Dad's front porch (screened in so we didn't worry about mosquitoes) she sewed, I cut and pressed, the kids helped with some pressing, and it was a whole family affair to pick out this layout.
 
And then this winter I started on my quilting--I picked a somewhat labour intensive design, and in the right light, it sure looks cool.  

So here I'm starting, and this is before I decided I had to SID (stitch in the ditch) around the light triangles (which basically meant around all the pieces).  I was hoping to get away without, and if there had been a quilting budget, it would have been fine without, but I thought it was needed.

 and here you can see why I chose to SID...it sure looks crisper.  I found a continuous path across the quilt, so that was a win.  Aside from the SID, the quilting all added curves, to soften all the angles in this quilt.

 When we were playing with layouts, we really liked the layouts that had a 'medallion' in the center, so I wanted to highlight that medallion with the quilting and make it the focus...and so I designed that first, and the rest, really, is just a repetition of what is happening in the center. I did change threads for the very center, again, to subtly help that stand out with a darker thread...and my SIL noticed! 

 

 I like how the design radiates around the top of the medallion area as well.

 and if the lights not right (as above) the quilting just fades away, but it shows nicely on the back.

Here's an unquilted photo for comparison

I definitely think I will make this pattern again...or maybe I'll just have a friend make it, because I sure have ideas about quilting.

Simplicity 3- Greenstone Fish hook

This is Colleen's Simplicity quilt that she made for her Dad.

She used the other 1/2 of the two jelly rolls she used to make this quilt, which I have labelled Simplicity 2. 

I like to give you the links,  because I like to see how different each quilt looks, even if it has the same fabrics and/or the same pattern.    These two quilts look quite different, even though they have the exact same fabrics in the centers. 

This is the first Simplicity quilt Colleen and I made, and it follows the layout given on the pattern.   Colleen changed layout for each of the next two she made.

The quilting design I chose for this quilt reminded me of New Zealand Greenstone Fish Hooks while I was quilting it... maybe it was partially the colors.  Here's the quilt with my NZ Greenstone, which isn't a fish hook...

above is an example of a greenstone fish hook from the shoepnzed site

 I have a new name for this quilting design now--

 Colleen brought a nice minkee backing for this quilt

She showed me a picture of her Dad with his new quilt, and I think he likes it!!

What is Black and White and Red all over?

when I was a kid, the answer to that riddle varied,  ....a newspaper, or something to do with zebras and blenders....


today it is Patti's quilt, which was a gift for her Sister in law, if I recall correctly.

I wanted to try some wavy lines, and they wound up making a wonky cross-hatch pattern.  Sometimes the quilting doesn't quite turn out like it is in my brain, and often it is better.

It seemed somewhat reminiscent of my mattress pad, so....add more stitching!

I added u-turns to every 3rd 'row' of shapes...

 These u-turns gave the quilt some more interest and a nicer definition, but didn't make it as stiff as every 2nd row would have done.

 This picture below you can tell the thread is red. 

Some paws on the back...

 and I found one more photo that showed the definition really well

Patty had some fabric left over, so she made her SIL a table runner...just like the one she made here, except this time she did it as a quilt as you go.  The center square is quite large, so I added some quilting to the center.

I thought the circle in the center gives a nice spot to put a vase.  Of course, I neglected to take a photo of the whole table runner, but if you want, you can look at the link above, and you can imagine what the whole runner would look like. 

Neglecting to take photos seemed to be a recurring theme this winter, I had to ask my brother to bring their quilt over, because I had neglected to take any finished photos of that either.  I'll post that quilt once I get the photos off the camera and on to the computer.

Purple Plumage

This is one of Ethel's quilts, made at the request of her daughter, for one of her daughter's friends.  Lucky friend.

Every once in a while, a quilt just wants a pantograph, and so this quilt got the pantograph Plumage.

 A bubble minkee in a lovely grey for the backing

 This last picture reads very blue, but the quilt is actually a lovely purple.  Funny how cameras work.