Friday, May 30, 2014

More progress...


I told you my queue was growing... ;-)  Catching up on my photos of work completed.   I like to share the eye candy with you so you can be inspired by fabric combinations, patterns and quilting designs!
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This was a gorgeous batik, meticulously pieced....I used the Diamonds are Forever panto.


A super cute quilt by an incredible quilter - such a generous teacher to others!  She took panels and cut them up,  appliquéd them into this neat design.   I quilted an overall 3's and e's loose, overall design.


By far, this next one is a favourite of mine.  So unlike me - totally girlie, pink and lavender.  But just one that I loved.   Very simple large squares sewn together, but such a beautiful choice of fabrics:



I quilted an edge to edge design I call 'Cabbage Rose'


3's and e's again!   One of my clients' favourite designs.  They like how I can make them tighter, more spiral and dense,  or enlarge and loosen them for a lighter quilting effect:



More 3's and e's....  This black, white and red quilt was a stunner.  I loved the choice of red thread on this quilt!

This is one of my first clients from last year, and she is still brings me quilts to work on.  She is the one who gave me that confidence when I was a newbie...she said something about everyone being a beginner at first.  That has stuck with me..


I'm feeling nostalgic lately.  Feeling really good and grateful about things.  It's been just over a year now since I got my long arm quilting machine.   I think I need to work on a post about that!  The good, the bad, the mistakes, the tragedies,  the triumphs, the aches and pains!

Progress..

My queue is growing....and I'm trying to keep up!
This is a new to me edge to edge freehand design, called Swirl feather...
It looked fantastic on this black and white quilt!

I've stalked...er... analyzed how to do it via Bev at Little House Creations - check out Bev's amazing work. 
Two table toppers, same pattern, completely different looks in fabrics!
I did continuous curves in the hearts, and an overall design in the background.

Love love love this Hawaiian quilt -  A King sized quilt for the cottage.  Lucky family!
I thought the Plumeria pantograph would look  perfect on this....
Plumeria Pantograph  - I enlarged it slightly (permission granted) and it turned out so beautiful!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Avignon Picnic gone wild...

Heritage Park Festival of Quilts....

First off...I forgot to show off my backing fabric!  Dots!

Heritage Park Festival of Quilts is held in May every year in Calgary.  Today we had glorious quilt viewing weather!
Quilts hanging from the railings, from the fence lines...
Quilts everywhere...
All over the place..
Look!! We found mine!!! And all the other Avignon Picnic offspring!  
I will never take a serious shot in front of one of my quilts - I will always have fun with it! My boys were up for it too!
This is what the Avignon Picnic grouping was all about....
(click on the photos to see more enlarged detail)

Our quilts were on display in the centre grassy area under the tents...

If only I could read this woman's thoughts on my heavy quilting....I'm pretty sure she would say something like 'those modern quilts have so much dense quilting!'  LOL

Here are photos of all the offspring produced by Avignon Picnic quilt pattern.  I did not take photos up close of the quilting, I was a little unsure if I was allowed to do that! 

Nancy Basserman left,   
Donna Leuw left,  
Joanne Middleton left,   Michelle Middleton right
Jane Goddard
Charmaine Walker
Joanne Middleton
Carol Weland
Lorraine Appleby left,   Colleen Hunter right
Colleen Hunter

Janet Madeyski
Joanne Glasswick
Nancy Basserman 
Bev Rinehart
Donna Leuw

Michelle Middleton

 Isn't it amazing how different colour placements, background changes - make the quilt so different!   I have a few favourites here.  I am so proud of how the group did!  






Friday, May 23, 2014

Quilting my way.

I finally got a chance to quilt my way. Freestyle.
So,  there was this group of colours that I really like because they are odd, unusual and not commonly  found on trend.   So I made a quilt with them way back .    And now again.   Because odd is cool. 

                                   I used my Avignon Picnic Quilt featured on Moda Bake Shop.  


I started by stabilizing all of the blocks and stitching in the ditch around all of the coloured strips.   That was fun.  NOT. 
Pure torture...and a good reflection how piecing and pressing are important parts to the whole quilting process.  ahem.
Did I mention that I was in a manic rush to get this done?
After SID everything,  I quilted wavy 'c'  patterns in the center whitespace of all rectangular blocks
Some of the darker photos are done in my studio with a side lamp to show the texture of the quilting. 
And then I started quilting.... which was basically the funnest doodling ever.
I did have a bit of a plan -  I wanted to make sure there was lots of motion to direct the idea in certain directions, to create flow.   
 
I may not be the best at this yet, but I sure enjoyed it, and it just looks ultra cool in some places. I've only been doing this for a year on my APQS machine(another post coming up) and I have a lot to learn still.   But darn, this is just so. much. fun.
I just love texture.    
Outdoors, the colours become alive and less muted.   



My Avignon Picnic quilt was enlarged somewhat - by adding one more row.  It measures 64 x 80.   
Thread:  Wonderfil Master Quilter and Decobob in white.
Wonderfil Invisifil in light blue (it's all I had and well..it's invisible)
Batting:  Hobbs 80/20

The coolest thing about this project?   My long arm quilting group in Calgary decided to use this pattern to showcase long arm quilting skills as a group entry at the Heritage Park Festival of Quilts this weekend.      
You don't know how beefy proud I am, but yet totally shy about it as well. 

 I mean, me?   

You cannot believe the ideas that people came up with.   I will take photos this weekend to show the different quilts.  All use Avignon Picnic pattern,  with different fabric combinations and quilting designs.   I am super super proud to see my design in so many new ways.     It's kind of one of those neat little milestones in life that make me feel so happy.   I'm not a grandstander....so for me, if I just play it down or shrug or look away,  know that deep in my heart it is so completely awesome for me, but I can't 'wear it on my sleeve'.   My reward is seeing it in so many variations...and people tweaking my pattern to make it even better!