Friends of Baltimore-Part 1

August 27, 2015October 14, 201510 Comments

This past week, I have been volunteering with the Barrie Fair; thus the reason

for this late entry.

All summer I have been working on this gorgeous quilt made by Kerry Burke,

over at Simple Bird Applique and designed by Sue Garman.

I finally finished it this past week. Kerry hasn’t seen it yet, as she is picking it

up today. Due to this fact, I will only show you several pictures that she

has seen and the backing.

There are 16 blocks in the entire quilt and 4 borders, all of which

has been hand appliqued. Being OCD, I decided to quilt a

different design and background fill in each block.

In this block, I tried my hand at cross hatching, in minature form.

I marked the lines with a pink air soluble pen and marked the lines

with a stencil.

In this block, I mashed down (yes, it is a technical term) the background

and stitched in some feathers around the leaf vine for some added interest.

Because this block has an anchor in it, I added rope around it for

added interest. A mariner’s compass (large version) was added

as well. I used McTavishing on the outside of the rope.

The vase looks pretty ornate so feathers were screaming at me plus

Kerry wanted them too, so it was an easy choice for this block.

Here you can see the outer appliqued border too. I pulled 3-4 different

motifs from various background fills and placed them strategically

all over the border-just kidding!!

My daughter asked me: “Mom, how do you know where to stitch

stuff?”

My answer: ” I stitch a design in an area, when I get bored with it,

I switch and stitch in something else.” I get bored alot.

How is that for being technical?

I love the sailboat. What is a boat without waves? The boat

received tons of waves, on the bottom and all around the border

and bottom of the block.

This basket is 3D. You’ll have to take my word for it until next

week. The outside edge of the basket is braided!! It is really neat. And

I was surprised that I could stitch right up to the edge of it.

Kerry is an amazing appliquer. All the intersections of fabric and turned

down corners were flat. No ridges at all. That is music to my ears

because the hopping foot on my longarm didn’t get caught on those

corners or bumps at all.

This bird has beautiful feathers and lives amidst a bunch of berrries. So I

quilted in a background fill that looks like seeds, in my mind anyways.

The block reminded me of Fall so that is why I chose seeds.

This is the outer border. Each border has 3 different vases in it. I’m

beginning to think that I am not the only one who is OCD here (sorry Kerry).

Did I mention that I also SID around all of the applique pieces?

I used 2 layers of batting: top layer-wool and the bottom-a blend

of cotton and polyester (80/20). It adds alot of loft and puff to the

applique pieces and the background fills.

I used a monofilament thread for all the SID because you don’t have to

keep changing thread colors and if you make a mistake ( and accidentally

quilt on the applique piece)you can’t really see it that much so you don’t

have to pick it out and fix that loose stitch on the back. Yeah!!

Win -win all way round.

Next week I won’t be posting but I will show you the colored

pictures after that. This quilt is a work of love and art.

Have a great week!

Summer is flying by…

August 12, 2015October 14, 20153 Comments

I’m not sure about you but summer is flying by quickly for me.

It seems like sewing and quilting take a back seat to all that is

happening around me; Not good for someone who needs a daily

dose of sewing and quilting.

In spite of the flurry of activity, I am managing to do a little bit

of stitching.

This patriotic quilt was made by a young lady and her mom. They have

never quilted before but did manage to design this top all by themselves.

I think that the quilting bug may have bitten them a little as well.

They are already talking about their second quilt.

They wanted something a patriotic design so maple

leaves seemed to fit the bill perfectly. We used a white

polyester thread for the top and backing.

The back of the quilt resembles the Canadian Flag. The recepient

of this quilt is coming back from being in service overseas. The young

lady was very excited to complete this quilt on time for him.

A close up of the stitching and the red fabric on the backing of the

quilt. I think that for a first quilt, these 2 ladies did a great job.

This is Dorothy’s quilt for her son. She wanted to keep the quilt

masculine looking and thus the reason for the grey and black colors.

She did use a hit of color in the middle of each block.

This is what the blocks look like in the quilt.

The backing of the quilt was a brown color. The thread color

was a light grey polyester thread for the front of the quilt and

a light brown polyester thread for the backing.

Although the backing looks cream in this picture, it is an

actually darker brown, as in the photo above.

We used a panto called “Happy Times” to finish off the

masculine look of the quilt. I am sure that her son will love

his quilt.

See you next week.

Modern Strawberries…

August 5, 2015September 20, 20155 Comments

Although strawberry season is over now, strawberries were on my mind

while quilting this quilt for Judy.

Judy designed this quilt with the idea that all the aqua petals would

represent leaves and the red petal would represent a strawberry. Even the

lime green outer border fits into the strawberry theme.

What a great modern idea for a quilt.

Any of you trying your hand at designing modern quilts?

Because the quilt was modern, Judy wanted modern quilting on it.

She chose”Raindrops” by Lisa Calle for the quilting. I used a white Glide

thread for the top and the backing. It has alot of sheen to it so it adds an

extra sparkle to the quilt top.

The backing was made up of a mottled fabric.

It blends nicely with the quilt top.

Judy also brought me this wall hanging.

This is the second one I have quilted. It is a popular wallhanging in

this area because we live near cottage country.

Judy wanted little stitching around each motif but wanted something more

in the black and colored sashing as well as in the outer border.

In the colored sashing, I stitched clouds, birds flying, and a sun

or moon, whichever you prefer. In the black sashing, I stitched

leaves due to the small space.

In the outer black border, I stitched pinecones and pine needles. I

thought they were appropriate and you can see trees in the area to

the left of the black border.

The white bits are pieces of tracing paper that I used to make symmetrical trees.

The white paper had to be picked off later. I have since discovered a new way

to stitch out these trees and not use tracing paper.

A lady told me to use Stretch and Seal. You can draw on it with a Frixion pen

and then it will stick to your quilt, no pins needed and it will not shift or move

while you quilt.

When you are done quilting, you can brush off the bits and pieces or iron it off.

I was told that it melts away. I have yet to give it a trial run but when I do, you

will be the first to know the results.

Don’t you just love it when you can use other non quilting items and gadgets and

use them for quilting?

Another shot of the wallhanging. The backing was black so I used a black

polyester thread for the backing. On the front of the quilt, I used a black

polyester thread as well as a variegated 40 weight for the colored sections.

I also want to mention that I used a black batting so if any bearding occurs,

you will not notice it at all. If I had used a white or cream batting, any

bearding will show through. Keep that in mind with black fabrics and

backings.

I have finally finished my Message In A Bottle Block for my Oceans

BOM, over at Quilt Art Designs. It was fun and I am totally addicted

to paper piecing now.

Have a great week.

Stitching Impressions

All aspects of longarm quilting

Month: August 2015

Friends of Baltimore-Part 1

Summer is flying by…

Modern Strawberries…