Quilts as gifts

Can you think of anything that says "congratulations", "way to go", "thinking of you" or "just because you are so special" better than a quilt?  Here are a few quilts that I have had the opportunity to quilt this past month that were made with that special someone in mind . . .

Lucy's daughter graduated from Nursing this spring - "Congratulations"!  Lucy's Crazy Quilt is made from a selection of fabrics with sentimental value - what a great gift for a graduate!

Glide Thread; Freehand Feather Swirls

Lucy's Crazy Quilt - hangin' with Freeda

Lucy's Crazy Quilt - Close up

Lucy's Crazy Quilt - Close up

Lucy's Crazy Quilt - backing
 

Gwen hasn't met the recipients of these baby quilts yet . . . actually, no one has . . . but I'm sure the little ones will be wrapped up nice and cozy in Gwen's flannel quilts - simple panels make great gifts!

Glide Thread; Hearts and Daisies panto

Hearts and Daisies
 

Hearts and Daisies - backing
 

Glide Thread; Freehand 3s and Es; meander in centre block

From little to really, really big!  Diane's son and daughter-in-law to be will be the lucky recipients of this quilt - variation of a log cabin block. 

This is the largest quilt I have ever had on Freeda - and really, couldn't go any bigger - it measured 114 x 124 inches - now that's a big quilt!  Diane told me her DIL to be helped pick out the fabrics, and likes things simple and crisp.  I quilted a freehand feather/swirl design and stitch in the ditch around the stars.  Diane will likely hand quilt either hearts or the couples initials in some of the star blocks - so special!  The wedding is next week - we got this one done just in time!

I have a couple of more quilts in my que that are for weddings - I know they'll be cherished!

BTW - it's been great having Freeda at home - I have to admit, quilting in my PJs and bare feet has a certain appeal!  The other day I quilted for a few hours, planted my flower beds (finally!), watched a movie and quilted a little bit more . . . . it works for me!  I'm working on a custom job right now - another super-sized . . . here's a peek . . . I think it will be finished just in time to take a picture with the lilacs in full bloom . . . believe it or not, the lilacs have not bloomed  at Water Valley yet!

Until next time - Happy Summer from the Little House!

Facing your fears . . .

It's not a huge deal - but I admit it, I've been afraid of stitch-in-the-ditch (SID) with my longarm - after all, that's a lot of machine to move across in a perfectly straight line - with or without a ruler! 

Gail brought me her quilt top that was to be a gift for her husband.  The top had a very masculine feel to it - and the thought of curves or swirls just didn't make sense.  Originally, Gail and I decided (mostly because of my fear of SID) to do more straight line quilting in the boxy areas.  Once I got going with the quilting, I realized that no matter what, I would need to SID around those boxes to make them stand out.  I recall Judy Madsen (Green Fairy Quilts) talking about how she SID around everything - really???? everything? 

But now I see why - and I held on tight to my ruler and went for it.  Guess what??  It wasn't that frightening after all - and I love the result. 

Meandering around the motifs in the centre squares
 

This wasn't the only "fear" I faced in the past while - but the other one had to do with paragliding off a cliff 6000 ft. above the sea somewhere in the southwest corner of Turkey . . . . and, no, I didn't do it . . . just sayin'!

Here's one of my travel companions facing her fears . . . and looking like she loves it!

Until next time - feet firmly planted - at the Little House!

Another sister act . . .

Two more sisters - Charlene and Cheryl - brought quilts in for me last month.  Charlene is an avid quilter - and she's helping Cheryl to become the same. 

I think this is the first (or one of the first) quilts Cheryl ever made.  I really like the beautiful autumn colors she chose!  I quilted it using Glide Thread - medium brown, and Fallling Leaves panto by Dave Hudson; Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Cheryl's Quilt



Cheryl's quilt - close up

Charlene had two quilts done.  The first one is a pattern called "Framed Coins" - Charlene used black and whites in the centres, and purples for the frames.  It took on a totally different look once it was quilted with "Classic Weave" panto.  I had to reduce the size of the panto as it's pretty big - it was perfect!  Glide Thread - Wisteria; Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Framed Coins

 

 Char's next quilt was paper-pieced using a pattern called "Ziggy Stars" - it's so colorful - I love Blues and Yellows!.  Char did a fantastic job of piecing this quilt - she wanted a simple over all pattern, so I just meandered over the whole thing.  The thread color was perfect - Glide Bright Gold; Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Charlene's Ziggy Stars



Another sister quilt - my sister!  She goes big when she makes quilts . . . actually, this quilt was finished in December as a Christmas gift for her daughter . . .  Yellow Brick Road Pattern; El Passo panto; Glide thread.

Janice's Yello Brick Road - King Size

Janice's Yellow Brick road

Next post - "Facing my Fears - Stitch in the Ditch"!

Cheers - from the Little House . . .

Swoon and her sisters - Flower Girl and Round & Round . . . and bolts of batting!

Heather and Becky came to pick up their quilts this week - all Thimble Blossom patterns by Camille Roskelley. 

Heather's first quilt is the Round & Round - Orange Peel Panto; Glide Thread; Hobbs 80/20 batting

Her second quilt is another Camille Roskelley pattern - Flower Girl . . . it's just so girly!  Roses and Ribbons panto; Glide thread (coral); Hobbs 80/20 batting.    Heather did a fantastic job piecing both these quilts . . .

Flower Girl hangin' with Freeda

Becky is Heather's sister-in-law . . . she put together an awesome Swoon quilt!  I had it finished and hanging for a couple of weeks - lots, and lots of customers saw it - and loved it!  Great job, Becky!
Glide Thread; Taro panto; Hobbs 80/20 batting



Becky's Swoon

Becky's Swoon



Swoon and Flower Girl - love those big block quilts!

 

.... and speaking of Swoons - mine is almost (what's with that word - almost?) finished and ready for quilting . . . I made two strips of scrappy pinwheels for the top and bottom of the quilt using the leftovers frim the half-square triangles . . .no wasting good fabric here!  It'll be done soon . . . almost there ;)



 Batting - there are so many types!  I keep a stock of Hobbs 80/20 - both 96" and 120" as well as Hobbs Tuscany Wool - 106" - I am really happy with the way the Hobbs products quilt up as they give that little extra loft so the quilting stands out a bit more.  Last week, I ran out of Hobbs 80/20 - 120" - yikes!!  I have a king sized quilt to do - and like it was meant to be - I got an e-mail from Twisted Willow Quilting & Design Ltd.  . . . They are located in Red Deer, Alberta and sell batting by the roll to Longarmers like me!  For me, taking a trip up to Red Deer is WAY less stressful than battling the traffic in Calgary, so yesterday I did a little road trip to pick up a roll of Hobbs 80/20 - 120" and a roll of Hobbs Heirloom wool.  If you're in the area, and looking for batting at a reasonable price - contact Conny or Frank at Twisted Willow - twistedwillow@shaw.ca - I'm sure you'll be pleased with their service - I sure am!  Maybe even a group of quilters can do a shop hop and make a  day of it - there are great quilt shops in the area!

Tomorrow I move Freeda to my home studio - I'm all ready for her arrival  -  now hopefully the snow will stop so we can have an easy move.  Yes, I'm serious, it's snowing - again . . . still!   Not sure how my goose is doing - all hunkered down I imagine keeping those eggs nice and warm. 

Yes, that is snow streaking across the screen . . . until next time - cheers from the Little House.

I need a glass of wine . . . .

Wild Flowers Applique Quilt

Nicole came to see me months ago to discuss quilting for her hand appliqued Wild Flowers quilt . . . she did a beautiful job of the applique!  The difference with this quilt was Nicole's choice of batting - she purchased wool batting from a woolen mill not far from here.  The batt was less processed than anything I have worked with - but hey - worth a try!  I asked Nicole to bring me a sample of the batting so I could quilt up a practice piece to see how it quilted up. 

OK . .. pretty poofy . . .
 

Nicole wanted "loft" with the quilting - so we talked about quilting designs and what the focus of the quilt should be.  Nicole of course wanted the flowers to be the focal point, but didn't want the flying geese to be lost in the quilting - after all, there is a lot of work in those flying geese!  She also wanted to maintain the loft of the batting, so we decided to use a less dense type filler design.  Here's a photo of the wool batting . . .

I had to McGyver a hammock to hold the batting as it tended to stretch and lose it's shape with any type of pulling - such as hanging from the bar - it worked!
 

Originally, I was going to outline each flower piece very close to the applique, then loosely fill the blocks with swirls right up to the flying geese pieces, but when I did that with the first block, I soon realized that to make those flying geese "pop" , I would need to stitch-in-the-ditch (SID) around each one.  So that's what I did - LOTS of SID!  It gave me an opportunity to try out different rulers that I have . . . and the winner for  doing that small size SID is  my Itty Bitty - it just seemed to have the right feel for this type of work.

Now, having said that, I also decided to SID around the inner border to make it lay better - and my choice of ruler for that type of work is the Mystical Mini from Quilter's Apothecary.  I particularly liked the way I could move it along the ditch as I went . . . maybe if I had the bigger version of this I would like it too, but I don't have that one - yet ;) -



 BTW - 288 Flying Geese; 80 squares = cramped hands!


and then there is the ruler work in the bead-board border - my choice there is Deloa Jones Castle - easy to maneuver, nice markings and just feels good in the hand.   . . . what I would give for Channel Locks (!)

 

 

So there you have it - three different rulers for three different uses - those are my choices for now anyway.

I also outlined each flower, leaf and berry in each of the squares and setting trianges . . .

Here is the finished product.  The photos don't really show it, but the flowers almost have a 3-D effect!  Nicole is going to do some hand stitching in the leaves of some of the blocks to give them a bit more definition.

 

 Nicole was very pleased with the end result . . . it is a beautiful quilt!  Thanks for looking!



Cheers - from the Little House . . .