Showing posts with label Hobbs Batting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hobbs Batting. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

A modern quilt for my bed


You know that saying -  the cobblers children have no shoes?   I'm the quilter who has no quilts.  I give them all away or work on others' quilts. Until now.  I finally made a quilt for my own bed.  A king sized quilt.  

  It is SO BIG!  
 I wanted something neutral,  simple and calm.   I chose a variety of neutral fabrics in taupes, and greys.  
 I chose someone else's pattern this time -  from Carolina Patchworks -  Sweet Garden  (Emily Cier) .   

I am not a happy pattern follower, and was grumbling a lot, but this pattern just seemed to suit what I wanted to do - and why reinvent the wheel?    But of course I had to add new treads to the wheel. LOL    I initially set out to adjust the pattern to be entirely a king.  Pieced it all together, laid it out on my bed and my heart sank - it was just too busy.  Too quilty.   Too much patchwork for the mood I wanted in my room.  
So I  *GASP*  hacked it up so it was a smaller bit of patchwork and added some calm, white fabric to the top and bottom.    And then I quilted it - and got a little carried away.   

I started with simple waving lines....
started to add swirls -  I just marked the 'c' shape of where I wanted the big swirl placements.  Then I started to fill in the shapes with fillers to show movement and flow.
This is how the top '1/3' of the quilt looks:
For the patchwork, I just did simple ribbon candy in the sashing. This gave the texture and allowed the squares to pop like little pillows.    For the squares or rectangles larger than 4'' I quilted a line or two in the space to keep the batting and fabric stable.  This is where I feel like a rule breaker.   I know it should be consistent amount of quilting throughout.   This is where I rebel and feel like I can't follow along.  I WANT this added interest.    
I mean, look at how the little pillows pop!  This is my bed anyways....I will report and edit this post in the future if I find out it is a useless experiment.   But I don't care.  I love this look.


 This was very free flowing quilting - all improvisation with me just knowing that I wanted it to look swirly, flowing and show moment -  an ode to the beach, waters, etc.     
My quilt has yet to be bound.   It is still 'commando' without a binding.  I will keep it plain white to keep the focus on the quilting and the colour palette.   
 I hope you like it!  It's pretty breath taking on my bed.   Now I'm too scared to use it.   I am so super thrilled with how it turned out.   

Pattern - Carolina Patchworks  Sweet Garden by Emily Cier
Fabrics -  assorted prints - too many !   Kona cotton in Snow
Thread -  Glide thread in White,  Wonderfil Decobob bobbin thread white
Battings - Hobbs heirloom 100% wool batting.  
Hand guided quilting on my APQS machine.



Friday, February 12, 2016

Farmer's Wife Quilt - modern custom quilting

Geraldine contacted me to work on this incredible Farmer's Wife quilt.   She had seen some of my work on Instagram and wanted to work with me.  I was so flattered and totally up for this one!  

The colours in this quilt are stunning and would be a welcome addition to my Great Room.  ha!
This quilt was meticulously pieced.  There are 111 unique blocks in this quilt.   
 Here are sampling of some of the blocks:
 I wanted to quilt them in a way that would showcase the piecing of the blocks - some areas quilted more heavily than others - allowing designs to pop.
  
 The black sashing was quilted with ribbon candy design, allowing the centre red squares to pop.


I know....a ton of eye candy right?  

I have to admit that about 3/4 of the way through the blocks my new mantra was 'Just Keep Swimming'  - Dory's song..  ha! 


                                       
The setting triangles are a simple triangle echo with figure 8 fill.    The outer border I wanted to keep simple and quilted a beadboard design to keep the focus on the blocks.    
  
 The backing showcased a lot of the quilting as well.... 



The details:
Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt
Pieced by Geraldine H.
Size  81" x 100" 
Batting:   Hobbs Heirloom 100% wool
Thread -  Superior Magnifico on top to match the piecing.   Wonderfil Decobob bobbin thread. 
Hand guided quilting on my APQS machine.

Thank you Geraldine for a spectacular piecing job, and giving me the opportunity to work on this quilt!  

Monday, March 23, 2015

Modern Custom Quilting...

 Stacey and her mom Lynn brought this beautifully pieced quilt to me.  (Carolina Patchworks - Sweet Garden Pattern)  I think I drooled a little...
 The colours were stunning,  so perfectly pieced,  and perfectly placed.  Every print that had a special direction, was placed in a uniform direction.   
 I did a figure 8/wishbone design in one direction of the sashing, and ribbon candy in the other.  
Some of the blocks I did swirls, pebbles, straight line details..
Each block was outlined with stitching for best definition:
 ...some of them I left on their own like these wee ones....they look like little pillows! 
 Some blocks I kept simple....
 ...and some blocks I used the print to dictate my quilting,..
 with outlines...
or following the detail in the print to give it texture...

The backing was just as beautiful -   the piecing, again,  perfect.  Here is a sample where it has been pieced: 

That's right -  where?!  

Hobbs 80/20 batting
Glide thread in white
Wonderfil Decobob grey thread for bobbins

Pattern:  Carolina Patchworks Sweet Garden

Quilted by me on my APQS machine


Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Do I have to give it back?

Ashley, from Yellowknife pieced this beautiful hexagon top.

When I received it, I laid it out on my design wall and had a good thinking session.  The photo below shows what a quilt looks like when I receive it -  it is flimsy...a flat sheet of fabric. 
There was a lot of negative space in here...and a lot of beautiful piecing to showcase as well.  
 I did continuous curves in the hand pieced hexagons ...
 I did some ribbon candy,  c's, and wishbone quilting.  I also stitched down all the seams of the little 2''squares.  You can see what a difference it makes in texture...the right side strip has been stitched in between each square. The left strip, not(this is an in progress photo)   Love the extra pouf personality you get with this!
In the large empty spaces,  I quilted....
swirls, pebbles, uturns,
hexagons of different sizes, 
hexagons with different fills.




This quilt measures 84'' x 88'' 
Batting  is Hobbs 80/20 
I used SoFine 50 in cream,  super bobs in the bobbin
Quilted on my APQS machine.  

How do I tell my client I don't want to give it back?   

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Urban 9 Patch quilt

This beauty was pieced by Shena of Apple Pie Patchwork  in Lethbridge.   Isn't it stunning?
Based on SewKindofWonderful's Quick Curve ruler and patterns.  I love how this one was done with an assortment of solids, framed in a dark navy blue. It's so pretty!




I lightened the photos a bit to show some of the quilting on the navy blue. 


 close up of some of the blocks as I was working on them - note some of the areas are not complete yet 

The backing is pretty too - I love how the quilting shows up.  


One thing that is always difficult is to pick a bobbin thread that will work for your top threads, especially when there are so many colours in your quilt.  This is especially true when you have a solid colour fabric backing....it will show every single thing! Because the backing was a green and navy solid,  I chose navy as my main bobbin colour.  Contrasting top and bottom threads are risky in that you may see evidence of them on either side of your quilt.   So,  I chose a navy bobbin thread for the majority of the quilt - except for the white top/white bobbin areas. 

I loved working on this quilt!

Quilted on my apqs machine
Hobbs 80/20 batting
Assortment of Glide and Superior Magnifico threads on top to match colours
Navy blue, white Decobob prewound bobbins from Wonderfil

I have some pretty amazing quilt tops in queue for the next while....stay tuned!