Shape Shifter

Sharon Blackmore of Loveshack Quilts posted that she was doing a 1 day mystery quilt in October, which happened to be while my guild was on retreat.  5 of us decided to make the quilt, and we had a lot of fun. 

I tried to pull from my stash, but the fabric directions were to have lights and darks, and my lights kept becoming mediums.  So, I went shopping and found these two fabrics at Addie's.  Grunge Ruby Red and Kona Espresso (a dark dark brown).   By this time I had the initial cutting directions, so I thought I might have those large solid rectangles to have fun with the quilting. 

We are are in progress, lined up in the hotel hallway.   It was ridiculous how much it felt like a race, to get each step done before the next step was released.

And here are our 5 tops completed.   I added a small border to mine after, to fully enclose all the espresso fabric.

And then the real fun began.  I channeled my inner Jodi Robinson, and used designs from her Modern Simplicity book.  It has been my number one modern quilting resource for a long long time, and then about 18 months ago I got to take classes with her!   Great fun.

 Each size of rectangle got it's own design.  The are all freehand, organic designs, but a few of them needed a few registration lines to help with the spacing.

 Once I had decided to buy fabric, I had toyed with the idea of making it a true mystery, and asking a friend to buy fabric for me....to which my DH said "I'll text her and tell her to buy ugly fabric".  I said "you watch out, that will be your quilt"

 And so it is....not the ugly fabric part, but it is his quilt (and I did the fabric shopping) It is our 25th anniversary, and this is my gift to him.  His current couch quilt is I think the 3rd quilt I ever made.  I love the fabrics and pattern still, but it's well worn, very thin, and the quilting is lacking from a different place in my quilting journey--a simple outline of the patches, with dark thread on a very light backing, all sorts of starts and stops and thread snarls. 

Then I added ribbon candy in the red, I tried using the brown thread but wasn't happy, so I changed threads.

 And some hoop-y shapes in the outer borders. 

 a lovely minkee backing shows the quilting beautifully, and will be nice and warm and cozy for my husband to use in front of the TV. 

Eloise

This is Eloise.    She is an Elephant Abstractions by Violet Craft that Vicki made and added borders to make it queen sized.

 my own Elephant Abstractions, Uncle, kept watch while I quilted Eloise.   I had so much fun with her--I hope you've got time to sit back and enjoy some photos. 

 Vicki's son told her about a year before the wedding that they thought a quilt would be an excellent wedding gift, and that they'd like an elephant.  The bride's favourite color is pink.

 The largest Ribbon Candy I've ever quilted, and I tried a new to me border design by Angela Walters--I really like how it turned out on this quilt--feels a little African to me.

Eloise was introduced to the world at the wedding reception--the first time the bride and groom had seen her.


Here is a pre-quilting flimsy photo. 

Looking Glass

Katherine made this tiles quilt, from an Edyta Sitar pattern Looking Glass, which is based on an 1870 antique quilt.

 Katherine wanted a traditional baptist fan on this quilt, and the only way to get that to line up correctly is to use templates (or rulers).    It made me happy that the block was 15 1/2" on point and my largest arc was 15 1/2" finished.  Nice symmetry. 

Did you know you can mark registration lines on your templates with sharpie and it will later come off with rubbing alcohol?   I needed a line that didn't exist on the template, so was able to mark it in.

 Katherine used the left over bits from piecing in the back, and pieced her label right in. 

 

Wool batting really helps the texture show. 

 I love quilting for Katherine, because of the fabrics she uses.  I'd have a hard time believing that they go together and yet they do, beautifully.   I also love the patterns she uses, she has inspired me more than once.

 

When seams are pressed open it's almost as pretty on the back :) 

Houses for Neil

This is a very special quilt Nancy put together for her friend Neil, who has recently returned to Canada from years of being prevented from returning home (it is a very long story).  She asked for blocks, and received house blocks and special blocks from around the world.  Pieced, painted, crossstitched, appliqued, drawn, written messages.  

 We decided to just add a large meander, to let the blocks shine through, as those messages of love and support are the real reason for the quilt.