Gifts

  Name: Gifts

Design:  Quarter Log Cabin by Liz Katsuro

Size:  96" by 96"

Fabric: Purple, red, a touch of dark blue and low volume stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, straight lines

Binding:   Kona Rich Red

Backing:  Story Wideback by Carrie Bloomston

Phew!  Finished this one just before school started this September.  I am entering it in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I made this large queen size quilts for a commissioned wedding gift.  It is HUGE!  Definitely at the size limit of what I can manage on my Janome Horizon, that is for sure.  This is a quarter log cabin design by Liz Katsuro and the block orientation gives a wonderful three dimensional effect.  The colour palette was by request and is supposed to invoke romance.  What do you think?  Rich purples, rich reds, a touch of dark blue against contrasting low volume fabrics.  

In order to make the colours work, I grouped the dominant colours in the blocks for each of the rings of blocks, radiating from the centre blocks.  

Quilted in straight lines, in Aurifil dove grey and backed with Carrie Bloomston's Story wideback, it is a finish!

Check out all the other quilts entered in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It never disappoints.

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Inspired Broken Diamonds Mini

 Name: Inpsired Broken Diamonds Mini

Design:  Inspired by Broken Diamonds by Kati from the Blue Chair

Size: 12" by 12"

Fabric:  Kona Scraps and Kona White scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white, 

Binding and Backing:  Kona Medium grey binding and backed with IKEA Britten numbers

I decided to enter this mini quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival mini quilt category.  I made it last spring as part of a swap between my quilt guild and the Maritime Modern Quilt Guild.  It is just little at 48" all around.  And it is a mini version of a big quilt that I made a few years ago.  It is right over here.    And both were inspired by a quilt made by Kati at the Blue Chair.  The link is up above.  

She did not have a pattern for the quilt at that time so I just went for it and came up with my own.  Kati has since published a pattern called Wonky Cabins and provides instructions on how to make the broken diamonds blocks in the pattern.    The little diamonds are make by foundation piecing string blocks.  You need 2 identical quarter string blocks for half of the diamond and another 2 identical but different quarter string blocks for the other half.  That way no two diamonds are the same.  Kind of cool.  The smallest diamond in this 12" by 12" mini is finished at 1.5" and the biggest finishes at 3.5".  Just a little fussy.  Let me just say that pulling the paper off such tiny blocks was not fun.  But it looks pretty awesome.  I used scraps of Kona solids, Kona white and used Kona Medium grey for the binding.  The quilting is dense straight line, 1/4" apart with Aurifil 50 wt in white.  Just snazzy.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival: My Scrappy Entry

    Name: Grape Juice

Design:  Quarter Log Cabin by Liz Katsuro

Size:  64" by 80"

Fabric: Purple, bright pink and low volume scraps 

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in Dove grey, straight lines

Binding:   Kona Eggplant

Backing:  an awesome vintage sheet in purple

Hello!  If you are popping over from the Blogger's Quilt Festival, welcome!  I decided to enter this quilt, Grape Juice, in the festival, scrappy category, this year.  Oh my.  I do love this quilt but there were times that I had to walk away. Even my husband told me to leave it alone and come back to it later. He reminded me that quilting is supposed to be fun.  And it wasn't fun at that moment, let me tell ya! I won't give the whole long story but if you want to read the whole story about how I realized after finishing the quilt completely.  Completely.  That several blocks in the bottom row had been placed incorrectly, throwing off the pattern.  Argh.  Anyway, it is all fixed and lovely in purple scrappy-ness.

If anyone is interested in the pattern, it is a free tutorial by Liz Katsuro.  I made the quilt with a huge variety of scraps all in a similar colour palette as well as a bunch of low volume scraps and bits and pieces.  To add to the scrappy vibe, I backed the quilt with a fabulous vintage sheet.  I am pretty sure that I picked this one up at a thrift shop a few years ago but it might have come from one of my aunts.  Wherever I got it, it was the perfect back and was a good heavy 100% cotton sheet. Nice! I  quilted this in Aurifil 50 wt in gray, with lots and lots of straight lines to give it texture.

So there it is.  Grape Juice.  Scrappy.  And with a story of frustration, persistence and satisfaction at making it right.  Entering this in the Scrappy Category of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Berries in the Fog

 Name:  Berries in the Fog

Design:  Improv under the influence... Chess on the Steps by Krista Hennebury

Size:  34"" by 32"

Fabric:Kona solids in greys, pinks, purples and a touch of white

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in grey and cerise in straight lines in 2 directions

I took this workshop with the lovely Krista about a month ago and finally finished it on the weekend.  A few things seemed to get in the way of the finish but I am so pleased with it!  First of all, Krista is an excellent teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed taking the class with her.  If you get a chance, jump on it!  The quilting took a little bit longer because I straight lined it in my awesome Aurifil in 2 directions.  All that starting and stopping took awhile!  I faced the quilt rather than binding in a traditional way and I think it looks fabulous!  Berries in the fog.  

Thinking that I will pop this into the Blogger's Spring Quilt Festival , small quilts category, because it just seems like a good idea!

Pop on over and see all the lovelies!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Nominated in the Viewer's Choice Category !!!!

Okay... seriously!  Squeal!  I received an email from Amy, of Amy's Creative Side and host of the Blogger's Quilt Festival saying that This Way and That is one of the nominees for Viewer's Choice in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Eek!

With around 550 quilts entered, I have to say it feels very special.  So... with that said, hop on over to the festival and if you like this small quilt, I would be just tickled if you sent your vote my way.

Here is the link to Viewer's Choice... there are some awesome quilts waiting for your votes!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: This Way and That

  Name:  This Way and That

Block:  Paper Pieced block from Amy's Creative side

Design:  Layout and setting triangles, mine

Size:  approx  26" by 26"

Fabric:  Kona Slate, Print from Comma and Sugar Pop, Kona Pomegranate, Anna Maria Horner and Art Gallery scraps

Binding: Kona Slate and Print from Sugar Pop line for Moda

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 40 wt in 5015, Aurifil 40 wt in 2605 and 2309

Here is my second entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  This time I am entering a small quilt that I made last spring.  This little one was made to hang at the Creative Stitches show last spring in Abbotsford, BC.  We had a display of quilts including Modern Mini Quilts.  I had a lot of fun with this and used a paper piecing block from Amy's blog.   And if you follow that link, you can make it too.  

Have you noticed how bright it is?  I used some very vivid prints and the background is from the Comma line for Moda.  Some people actually thought I had done some awesome free motion quilting in black but that is actually a print.  I thought it was a lot of fun to use the different coloured setting triangle and then I matched the binding to the triangles.  I felt extremely clever when that worked out almost perfectly! And I did a combination of straight line quilting and free motion quilting in several colours of lovely Aurifil all in 40 wt for texture.  This Way and That.  It now lives on a wall in our house and it makes me quite delighted when I see it hanging.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Scrappy Crossroads

 Name: Scrappy Crossroads

Design: Trellis Crossroads from the book Modern Bee by Lindsay Conner

Size: 69" by 77"

Fabric:  Print scraps and Kona White scraps

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in grey for three rows either side of the block seams

Binding and Backing:  Dark purple RJR fabric from the stash and backed with vintage sheet.

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago but decided to hang on and wait for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I thought it might be fun to have a post with a quilt that has not made an appearance on my blog.  So here it is!  This is another scrap quilt and is yet another attempt to bring my overflowing scrap boxes under control.  It is also a big quilt and I was just able to get it hung on the barn wall without it dragging on the ground.  Just!  And thanks for stopping by!

I used the block Trellis Crossroads from the book Modern Bee:  13 Quilts to Make With Friends by Lindsay Conner.  It is a great block to use with scraps and I was also able to use up a giant pile of Kona white scraps.  In fact, I ran out of big enough pieces of white about 70% of the way through and had to actually cut into some Kona white yardage.  Oh well.  I would say this quilt is controlled scrappy because I really did have a plan.  I used one particular scrap as a bouncing off point.  It had a sky blue background with orange, purple, green, dark pink and yellow bits and that became the scrap formula.  Controlling the scrappy-ness in this way added a cohesiveness to the quilt.  Don't get me wrong, I love scrappy scrappy but for this project, I played by some rules.  Don't you just love how that skinny white strip makes everything pop?

I quilted it with my favourite straight line quilting in Aurifil 50 wt in grey.  I did 6 rows with a break and then another 6 rows across the quilt.  The break in the quilting adds some interest.  

The quilt is backed with a vintage sheet with scattered bright pink flowers on a white background and bound in a favourite binding dark purple print from RJR fabrics. I think I have less than a metre of this purple left.  I started with about 9 metres which I purchased at a thrift store.  It was a total find and I am going to be very sad when it is all used up.  It has bound a lot of bright and colourful quilts.

I am entering this quilt in the scrap quilt category.  Thanks so much to Amy for hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival and if you stop by tomorrow, I am going to enter a small quilt too.  And I am off to look and be inspired!  

It's a Puzzle: Blogger's Quilt Festival

  Name: It's a Puzzle

Design: Twists and Turns, Quilty Magazine, Jan/Feb 2014  designed by Krista Robbins

Size: 64" by 80"

Fabric: Warp and Weft Challenge Bundle, including

Dots Blue Moon from Up, Up and Away by Skinny LaMinx for Cloud 9 Fabrics
Specimen Struck from Field Study by Anna Maria Horner for Westminster/Free Spirit Fabrics
King's Road  from Carnaby Street by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics
Ladylike from Carnaby Street by Pat Bravo  for Art Gallery Fabrics

and stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white in an allover grid pattern

Binding:  Dots Blue Moon from Up, Up and Away by Skinny La Minx for Cloud 9 Fabrics

I finished this quilt just a little bit ago and saved it for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It was a fabulously fun quilt to make because it really was a puzzle.  I used the block design and the basic idea from the pattern Quilty Jan/Feb 2014 but I did not use the same fabric as suggested in the pattern.  Instead, I built the quilt on my design wall and used our guild's Warp and Weft Challenge bundle as a focus.  I kept the colour palette soft, mellow and beachy and that meant setting aside a couple intensely coloured fat quarters for another project.

Once it was together, I stared at it for quite a few days and then decided to quilt it in an grid... just over an inch in fact.  That took a lot of bobbins, let me tell ya!  I used my favourite Aurifil 50wt in white and even though it took forever!  I love the look and I stayed more or less straight-ish... across the whole quilt.  

The binding is more of the Skinny LaMinx Dots Blue Moon.  I added a bunch of fabrics from the stash, including some grays to round out the fat quarter bundle. It looks pretty nice in the breeze, don't you think?

And I will be entering this one in the large quilt category.  Enjoy the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Thank you Amy for hosting!

Featured....

Amy, from Amy's Creative Side is featuring me on her blog today!  So exciting!  Amy is the host of the wonderful Blogger's Quilt Festival and has written so many books, including Modern Neutrals which I used for my Modern Metallic challenge in my last post.  If you are new to my blog and visiting, thanks for stopping by!

I am off to the Creative Stitches show in Abbotsford, BC for the next two days.  If you are in the area, stop by and say hi!  Our guild is featuring Modern Quilts!

Happy Dance!!!!!!!

I am dancing a happy dance!  I found out today that my quilt, It Looks Like My Garden won in the Blogger's Quilt Festival Bed Quilt Category!!!!!!

Oh my goodnes!  Thank you so much to Amy for hosting and for everyone that voted for my quilt.   Yippee!

Blogger's Quilt Festival... Proverbial Sunshine!

 Quilt stats

Name:  Proverbial Sunshine

Design:  Proverbial Quilt, Denise Schmidt

Size:  75" by 78"

Fabric:  Scrappy yellow and grey, with Wild Carrot in Straw, Madrona Road, Violet Craft for Michael Miller.  Bound with Haystack in Graphite from the same line.

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I started making this quilt last summer as part of a quilt along with Krista from Poppyprint making use of Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern.  I had to think of something to say on a quilt.  It didn't take me very long to figure it out as this has long been something I sing... just because.  I knew it had to be in yellows and greys.  That just made sense. I wanted the letters to be scrappy grey and the background to be a mixture of yellows.  I added in some special yellow prints like the Seed Catalogue fabric, some with clocks and there are even some yellow prints with fleur de lis. My husband is French Canadian, a farmer and has a special interest in the big ideas around time and this one is for him.  I knew that the Wild Carrot print in straw from Madrona Road would be perfect to add into the quilt and that the Haystack in graphite would be the perfect binding.  I just had to make all the words.  So I did.  I worked away at it one word or phrase at a time.  I sang a lot.  How could you not? Then I had a quilt top!   I love it.  I backed it with a vintage sheet with faded yellow daisies.  But when I took pictures of the quilt just the other day, I forgot to take a picture of the back so you are going to see one I took when I finished the quilt with some snow on the ground back in December.  

 The quilting was a bit of a puzzle because I could not decide what to do about the words.  I ended up leaving them alone.  I quilted the sashing in straight horizontal quilting, about an inch apart in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  I waited to do the rest until I opened my Christmas book wish, Angela Walter's book on free motion quilting.  I used the u-turn quilting leading up to words and between words.  The quilting is quite dense in these u-turns and adds a great texture to the quilt.  I will say that the u-turns are not perfect but I really like the look. 

and the back with snow from last December when I finished the quilt....

  I made it for my husband and it brings with it sunshine, love and song.  Proverbial Sunshine.  And a perfect choice for me to enter in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It feels good.  Did you sing along?  Linking up with Amy for the Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013.

Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Quilt stats:

Name:  Gemstones for a Friend

Block:  Gemstones from Rachel, Stitched in Color

Quilted by Me

Size:  70" x 84"
Best Category:  Favourite Bed Quilt, Favourite Home Machine Quilted Quilt, Favourite two colour quilt

I decided to enter Gemstones for a Friend in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love this quilt!  I finished it this past July and made it for a special friend.  She is kind, generous, warm, funny, special, loyal and most certainly colourful and so is this quilt.  That is what made it just right for her.  I had wanted to make her a quilt for awhile but had not settled on a design.  I think I always knew it would be with these colours.  I found this block on Rachel's blog, Stitched in Color and the rest just fell into place.  Rachel calls the block "gemstones."  And this is "Gemstones for a Friend."

I used a variety of fabrics.  Scraps and bits and pieces from my stash.  The solid purple used in the setting triangles is Kona Berry and the dots are from Stof.  The binding is a strip from the Prospect Park line that I had stashed just for bindings!  Perfect!  I quilted it densely in straight lines with Aurifil 50 wt.  I used a lot of thread!  I have to say that it was my husband who had the idea to use the 2 different fabrics for the setting triangles.  It totally works and is just the quirky touch it needed to make it just the right quilt for my buddy.

The backing is pieced with colourful fabric from my stash and can you see the label?  I free-motion quilted some handwriting.  It even looks like my handwriting!

I have to say the gift was a success.  And it is just the quilt I wanted to share for the festival.  I hope you like it too.