Batiki Argyle #3

This is Ethel's Batiki Argyle, although perhaps we should just call it Argyle, as she didn't use batik fabrics.  She also chose not to add the pieced border.

 This quilt was begging me for feathers, so it got meandering magic hooked feathers. 

 I wasn't too excited about the quilting until I got it off the frame, and could see all the texture.   Then I was in love. I think the quilting is very elegant on this quilt...that's what I was going for, anyway.

 It was very hard to get the colors to read right on the camera...the photos above and below are pretty close.  Ethel used a charm pack, I think it was Moda, but I don't know for sure.  Some of the fabrics have little potatoes on them.

 It was hard to narrow down the photos to show here, I took so many, I just loved how this quilt turned out.    So, you may think this is a lot of photos, but I restrained myself.  No, really, I did.

 and the minkee backing was not this color...it was closer to the inner border seen above.  It's lovely and rich in person. 

Quilts for Calgary

In June of this year there was a huge flood in Calgary and other areas in the Province of Alberta.  And, of course, quilters responded. 

The first batch of quilts is being distributed this weekend...there are over 1300 quilts ready to go.  Quilts and tops to be quilted have arrived from all across Alberta, all across Canada and from the US.  I think there have even been quilts arrive from other continents!

I was able to quilt 3 tops for the cause in July.  I had committed to doing 3 lap quilts.  These were all bed sized quilts.   I have no clue who pieced them...

I used Hobbs 80/20 for all of them.  They each got a different quilting treatment.  This first one received a pantograph called Plumage.

 The fun bit about this quilt was that the backing was about 1" wider than the quilt, and that included selvedges.  But, I managed...

It was clearly a feminine quilt with all that pink, so it got a very feminine quilting pattern.

 I'm glad I remembered to take before pictures of these quilts.  So often I forget. 
This quilt got light custom quilting.  I wanted those stars to well...be the stars.  I was inspired by Kim Stotsenberg's Heavy Metal designs.

 I guess remembering to take a 'before' picture didn't last too long, as I forgot for this quilt.  This quilt got freehand swirls to offset all that straight line piecing.  It was big enough to fit quite nicely on our king sized bed. 

Tea Time in Bali #3

Wow, I haven't blogged since July.  Summer was busy.  Lots of family, lots of camping, lots of fun.  Only a little quilting, the week the kids were away at Camp.  And now they've been back in school for 7 days...I'm getting caught up (a little).

This is Sarah's Tea Time in Bali quilt from the workshop in April.

She took her 7 yr old daughter shopping when buying border fabrics, and they picked out some lovely borders, as well as a luscious minkee backing.  Sarah had extra of the backing fabric, and her daughter decided it would make a good cape...she was running around wrapped in the excess with it flowing/dragging behind her--maybe she was being 'SuperQuilter' :)  It sure looked like fun anyway.

 Sarah asked for Daisys...so that is what she got.  I used a purple thread, as she was leery of the quilt being 'too pink'. 

Hunter Star for Paula

I've finished and given to Paula her Hunter Star Quilt.

 My Aunt had commissioned this quilt last July, and I finished it in June, so a nice 12 month project. 

We went shopping together for the fabrics, and it was so much fun to select fabrics with a painter as I learned so much about colour theory from her and her friend who was with us that day.

Yummy fabrics.

And I signed up for the Hunter Star class at Along Came Quilting, taught by Kim Morrison.  My friend Colleen signed up too...you've seen her quilt here already.  We used the Rapid Fire Hunter Star ruler by Deb Tucker.

Before quilting...it's a large quilt, 93x109.  I wanted to make sure there was room for quilting loss (lost 2 " in the quilting) and washing shrinkage and for a deep mattress and a pillow tuck.

 Delicious texture.  I figured out a path across and back without any extra starts and stops.  I used my melon rulers by Kimmy Brunner for the arcs.  The figure 8's in the inside melons echoed the loops in the stars (and helped make it a continuous pattern), and feathers in the borders matched those in the blocks.  The motifs were simple, but very effective I think.

 A taupe so-fine thread blended on some fabrics and showed nicely on others.

 Yummy texture on the back too, which is actually a lovely green floral, but it didn't show in the photos well.

And...a neat surprise. 

The picture below isn't the greatest picture (kind of blurry), but shows the bonus secondary pattern in the quilting...a double wedding ring.

 I didn't see that double wedding ring until I had given the quilt to my Aunt and we were spreading it out in her living room, but now it's obvious to me.  Maybe I can cross making a double wedding ring off my list now ??

 The inner border is a deep green.

Love love love the texture in this quilt. 

Wool batting gives a lovely loft.

Sue's Trucks 9 Patch

Sue was looking for a simple pattern to make a bed quilt for her grandson, and we suggested a alternating 9-patch.  I sent Sue a drawing from EQ7, using only a few fabrics (and only for examples and for calculating fabric requirements--I wouldn't make one with these exact fabrics)..

.and she ran with that and created this wonderful quilt.  Sue's version is much nicer than my quick EQ7 sample, that's for sure!!

 The inner border had 'roads' meandering through it so we went with that for the quilting, using a bright green Magnifico thread to create meandering 'car tracks' on the quilt.  Sue likes loft, so we used a wool batt.

and a nice cozy flannel on the back of the quilt.

Mariners Compass

This pattern is the Split Ray Compass by Bearpaw Productions.  It's a nice wall hanging, at about 27x27, and the pattern is free.  Thanks Brenda.

This particular compass was made as an appreciation gift for the man who served as chair of the church board for the past 12 years, and for a period before that as well.  The compass was chosen as an appropriate pattern for a leader and guide.

Yellow Brick Road: Square Spiral

This is a Yellow Brick Road for the church.  I used the Square Spiral pantograph.

I love the fabrics in this one, and the Square Spiral gives such nice texture.  Cotton batting, YLI thread.

and this is how much thread I had left :)