Checkers, Anyone?

 

 

Checkers, Anyone? is a kit I got at Rumpled Quilt Skins last December.   As normally happens in that gorgeous store, I found a kit I couldn't resist, carried it around with me while I browsed the rest of the store, had internal and external conversations about not needing another project, what will I DO with the quilt (still don't know), but it's so lovely, don't need it, I know exactly how I'm going to quilt it etc etc,  until one of my friends ("the enabler") compared the price to a ski lift ticket (our husbands were probably skiing that December day), and then bought the kit.   I knew how I wanted to quilt it---that's what made it come home with me.   Pieced in early March, when I was so thankful for a simple, straight forward project, and quilted in August. 

I just love how they put fabrics together at Rumpled Quilt skins, from across many lines.    I added the dark inner border--it felt more finished to me that way.   Luckily there was enough fabric in the kit to do that--maybe it was supposed to be the binding??

I hadn't realized until I got home how music themed the border fabric was.  I guess cassette tapes are to my kids as 8-tracks were to me. 

 

Puddle Jumping

 

This quilt is Puddle Jumping, pattern by Camille Roskelly, feature fabric is Betty's Luncheonette by Violet Craft.    The navy background is a hand dyed Osnaberg.   If the fabrics look familiar, I've been using this de-constructed quilt kit for the past year--this is the 4th quilt I've shown you from these fabrics.  (Raffia Weave and Betty's Luncheonette)  I've added background to a few of the quilts, but this bundle just keeps going....

 

 

I quilted it with a Christina Cameli Pod design.   

                     

 

 

    

 

and I made a pillowcase with the remaining backing and some left over bits from the top.  This is my daughter's grad quilt, and here it is on her bed in residence.  It's bright and cheerful in her room. 

Elvira in Blues

 

This is my Elvira quilt--also pieced in March.   When everything else came to a screeching halt.  The story behind the quilt and Vicki's version of Elvira can be found on a previous post here.

The free motion quilting pattern is Enoki, from Christina Cameli.  I've been searching for the right quilt to put this on for a while and finally found it.   I gifted this quilt to a 10 year old, and we were discussing what the quilting design could look like---trees, aliens, mushrooms, lollipops....so much fun to imagine.    The young man loves his quilt--his Mom told me she wanted to put it aside while he ate dinner, and was told "Michelle told me to use the quilt and it's washable".  So, the quilt stayed during dinner.   The next day Mom reported it was in the wash!  
 

 

And here's a shot of the flimsy in front of a window, with the light shining through...I just love the range of blues in this quilt.   It was another quick, simple project when some simplicity was needed.  It was also fun to work on 'with' friends--texting photos back and forth and checking in on Gudrun's facebook page as progress was made. 

Argyle Affinity

 

 

 

This is my Argyle Affinity, that was a one day online mystery quilt run by Sharon Blackmore in March of 2020.  The Shape Shifter quilts featured in the last few posts were her October 2019 offering.  It's a fun way to spend a day quilting.   It was March--so I had to make due with the fabrics I had on hand, and thus made this 1/2 the pattern size.  It's approx 43x43.   Binding on but not yet stitched to the back in this photo.

It's hard to tell in the photo but the print on the yellow fabrics is purple/pink and turquoise.    I was still looking to try new designs from Christina Cameli's book, and this one reminded me of  the print in the yellow fabric. 

Shape Shifter 3

This is Vicki's Shape Shifter. (if you want the shape shifter story have a look at the previous post)

I love the blues in this quilt.   This quilt and I had quite the discussion.    It kept telling me it wanted E&3.  I kept telling it "this is my get out of the rut summer" and showing it designs from Christina's book....

we couldn't come to an agreement, so I phoned the referee  (Vicki) and she agreed with the quilt, so E&3 it was....a great choice.  The quilt and referee were right.   There is definitely a reason why it is my go to design. 

There are Zebra's on the back....if you've been reading along on the blog you will have noticed all these great upcycled fabric backings Vicki has been using--this was a tablecloth. 

Shape Shifter 2

This is Lori's Shape Shifter, it was a one day mystery quilt from Sharon Blackmore of  LoveShack Quilts, and was happening at the same time as guild retreat in October 2019, so 5 of us made this quilt at retreat.  We had a lot of fun with this.  

For the quilting I took inspiration from the Paris fabric, and thought this Christina Cameli Rapunzel design might look like some wrought iron on a balcony in Paris.  Again, this is a design I've been looking for the right place to use for some time now....this was it. 

Here are our 5 shape shifter flimsy's together---I've quilted the middle one you can see that here

Elvira

Way way back, at the beginning of this Covid-19 madness, when everyone first started staying home in March, Gudrun of GE Designs hosted a one day quilting class and pattern called Elvira.  I think something like 16,000 quilters from around the world participated (or at least downloaded the pattern). 

4 of my friends and I played along---we had fun sending photos back and forth, checking on our progress and so on.    This is Vicki's Elvira.  The pattern is designed as a fat quarter pattern, and I know Vicki used bits she had on hand--some may have been smaller than FQ sized. 

Quilted with Christina Cameli's Vestal design.   I've been sketching this one out for years, just hadn't found the right quilt for it yet. 

Bicycles, Watermelons and Stars

Lisa brought me her Bicycles, Watermelons and Stars quilt, and asked me to custom quilt it, not too heavy.   The pattern is by Jan Patek

 

I looked at this quilt for quite a while before deciding what to do....I knew I'd quilted a version of this once before, so first looked at that ---and it had received an edge to edge Clamshell

I decided on the watermelon rinds first, and started quilting, knowing the rest would come to be as I went.  Then I decided to add "slices" in the watermelon.    I loved the texture and movement in the background fabric on this block, so followed some of the lines with stitching. 

The stars remind me of the Hamilton the Musical logo.  Maybe because we had just watched it.  So glad they made it available on TV.

The bricks behind this bicycle might just be my favourite. 

I had to sneak in a Christina Cameli design--so this block got Flourish as background

I've discovered a great outdoor spot for photos--the feathers in the border show nicely on this photo---I kept in mind the instruction "not heavy" here, and used a very open feather design. 

The quilting showed really nicely on the back too--

Heather's Stars

Heather has been working (on and off) on this stars quilt for a long time.   She brought it to me for E&3 quilting, which adds a lovely rounded texture to offset all those pointy stars. 

I think her plan is for this quilt to go on their bed. 

My photos don't show it well, the background fabric is green. 

LInda's Nautical /Sampler

Linda asked for waves and an ocean feeling to this quilt....and, this being my summer of get out of a rut by channeling Christina Cameli, I turned to her Ocean Waves Mashup IGTV video and away I went. 

It was fun!

Passages

This is Noreen's Passages, a pattern by the Guilty Quilter 

She wanted some custom quilting to highlight the piecing. 

I chose the concentric spirals in the back background because of the backing fabric.

And here's a before photo--quilting defnitely added dimension to the project, and this one had a lot of dimension to begin with!  (meaning the illusions in the piecing, as it was very well pieced and I'm sure the quilt would have laid flat had I made more effort to lay it out properly).