Pansies # 2

This is Yvonne's Pansy quilt.  She and Ethel had bought their kits at the same time, both loving the quilt. 

Yvonne is a hand quilter, and had this quilt all layered and pinned.  And then decided she wanted to enjoy it now, not a few years from now, and brought it to me.

She decided on a meander quilting, which added lovely texture to the quilt.  The fabrics are quite busy, so it was a good choice. 

 I really love how these tri-recs (or spike and peakey) stars create these white pointy shapes (my vocabulary seems to be lacking tonight--I blame it on the dentists office causing lasting pain in my mouth)

One of the great things about quilting for others is getting to quilt the same top more than once--so I can see the effects of different quilting.  This quilt is lovely with the simple texture added by the quilting, and Ethel's quilt was also lovely, with custom quilting. 

Moral:  whatever your budget, or quilting desires, we can find a fit. 

Thanks Yvonne, for letting me play with your quilt.

Quilted Bags

Our quilting group at the church recently had a quilting workshop, and Colleen taught those who were interested how to make a quilted bag.  Other quilters worked on whatever project they wished.  It was a fabulous day of quilting and visiting.

The outsides of the bag were made with pieced strips, in a quilt as you go fashion.

Here's a progress shot of some of the work done that day, by the ladies participating.

 I was busy that day, assisting with other quilters and facilitating lunch (which was very very good--I just set the table, other quilters made the food), so didn't make a bag then. 

I made my bag later. I had the parts of 2 blocks left over from making Lug Nuts, the pattern suggests you can piece them into the backing, but I had a wide back and wasn't needing to piece it at all, so I still had the blocks, and thought to use them in this bag.   I finished piecing the blocks in a quilt as you go fashion, and framed them out to make the hexagons rectangular, again in a quilt as you go fashion.  Between the fusible fleece and the seams sewn, there was enough stitching to hold everything in place--but where's the fun in that for a quilter? and so I loaded the panels on my longarm and quilted them.

and then I assembled my bag.  It was a bit of a challenge (to myself) to use only scraps from my Lug Nuts quilt, and I used scraps from another project as my bag lining.  Consequently, the pockets are pieced, and the straps are pieced, but I succeeded in only using my own scraps. (Colleen had offered some of hers, but there was no challenge in using those :P )

  I think the sides turned out looking alright, because I had the matching fabric to the opposite hexagon to square off the hexies....I feel like that sentence doesn't make any sense, but hopefully you get my meaning.

Cats

This quilt belongs to Charlotte.

She made sure the cats were all facing the same way---so I hope I photographed it that way....if the cats are upside down it is my error, not hers.

 nope, I got the cats upside down.  oops.

Charlotte knew that she wanted E's and 3's for the quilting.  I love this design, so elegant.

I knew exactly which thread I wanted to use in this quilt, but had a hard time finding it when the time came....then remembered I had taken a selection of threads to show a class I was teaching, and sure enough, it was in the class bag (that I hadn't unpacked yet).  A grey Omni is what I used.

 Those poor cats are still standing on their heads.  I'm sure Charlotte has taken better care of them than I did.

Butterflies

This is another of those darling big block quilts that Crystal and Noreen make.  I don't even remember which of them made this quilt (sorry).  I should learn the name of the pattern too, I think it would be a good pattern to own.

 I stitched an open hook design to give the butterflies some flight paths.

 I love the pops of green in this quilt.

 And a cozy green flannel for the backing, nice and soft.  I really like working with this brand of wide backed flannel that Rumpled Quilt Skins carries in Okotoks.  I've made special trips down there just to buy some of it for myself. (plus, don't they just have the best name?)

Batik Sampler

Crystal made this batik sampler, and gifted it to her mother and husband for their wedding.  We decided on the baptist fan pantograph, as traditional quilting for a sampler.

 however, the blocks and the batik fabrics made me feel less traditional--and I chose a bold blue thread for this quilt.

 Mind you, maybe that is more traditional too.  I've heard that some antique quilts have black quilting thread, to make sure the quilting showed.

Although I haven't shown a photo of it here, Crystal embroidered names and the wedding date on this quilt.  What a special gift.

Stained Glass--Magic Tiles

This is a special quilt made by the Symons Valley United Church quilting ministry, for our former minister Sarah, to celebrate her time with the congregation.

 The pattern is Kathleen Bissett's Magic Tiles

 I love how these fabrics just glow, making this quilt look like stained glass.  These are Sarah's colours.  She is also a quilter, and the quilts she make usually have bright and beautiful fabrics in them. 

I chose this E's and 3's pattern because 1) the quilt only needed texture from the quilting and 2) it's the same pattern I used for her sons quilt, and I thought she might like the parallels there.

 The backing is very plain--we set the quilt out on two Sundays, along with some markers, and the congregation got to sign the back with their thoughts and best wishes.

Such a fun quilt!