All finished…

February 17, 2016February 17, 20168 Comments

I am very happy to say that the “Friends of Baltimore” applique quilt

is all finished. And it is on its way home to South Carolina. When

it arrives, I will breathe a sigh of relief; I am sure that Darlene will too.

This is what it looked like on the floor of my studio. I have

included lots of photos for you to enjoy.

The braided handle looks like it is 3D. The two

layers of batting(wool on top and 80/20 Hobbs underneath) really

makes all the applique puff up, almost like a trapunto effect.

I really like the borders in each block. And did I mention that

the applique is phenomenal. I couldn’t even find the threads

that Darlene used to applique the pieces onto the quilt top.

Do you see the masking tape in the upper right hand corner?

I put this on so Darlene can see where there is an area that

needs a little repair.

It is funny how each quilt takes on a life of its own. On this

particular quilt, all the background fills wanted to be

in miniature.

Feathers and swirls are the background fills here. I saw this

sample on one of Sharon Schamber’s quilt, so I had to try it.

The border area. I decided to use 5 background fills that I

had used on 4 of the 16 blocks. These consisted of swirls,

pumpkin seeds, McTavishing, a circular design, and

some gridwork. Whenever I get bored with one, I switched

over to another fill. Yes, I am a little OCD.

One of the 6 different vases in the border area. I love feathers

so I had to put some of them onto the quilt top. It seemed like

they wanted to be miniature too.

In this block, I used an oval design that is echoed several times. It

does look stunning with the very posh bird.

Darlene’s “Friends of Baltimore”

The fruit in this basket is quite stunning. The pineapple

needed a little extra stitching but all the other fruit was

stitched around. I used a monofilament thread to stitch

around all the fruit. It saves alot of time not having to

switch out thread color constantly and the monofilament

thread seems to camouflauge itself with quilt blocks.

In this block, I used 2 different background fills. It does add

interest to the block.

Onto the back of the quilt. This looks so cool. It reminds

me of a wholecloth quilt.

You can actually guess what block is which when you look at

the backing. I packed the quilt in such a particular way so that

Darlene can see the back of the quilt first when she opens the box.

Hopefully, it will give her goosebumps.

Here is the posh bird but now he is colorless.

One of the baskets and the feathers that support it.

You can see the sashing received straight lines. It add more

texture to the quilt.

Another vase; this one is holding a book in it.

More shots of the background.

Love, love, love the texture of the backing.

The mighty eagles finally found his feathers. My son

actually drew in the lines for me. He is quite artistic

and helps me out whenever I need it.

The border area once more. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

I feel like I am coming back down to earth today. Working on a

quilt like this kind of pumps you up for the duration of the

quilting. One’s mind almost becomes obsessed with the

quilt; how much is done and what is left to be done.

It is all good and fun though.

Have a great week.

Almost there…

February 10, 20166 Comments

Isn’t this quilt gorgeous? To me, it is a work of art.

Although this quilt is not an exact replica of the one I have

on my frame, it is not far off. There are only 2 blocks that differ

between the two. This one was quilted last summer.

Darlene, has been patiently waiting for her quilt and I am

almost there. I finished all the background fills for the 16

blocks yesterday; today I worked on the border.

After 4 hours of quilting, I only had 1 border completed.

This block has 2 feathers quilted at the base of the vase. I filled

in the feathers using Judi Madsen’s style. Once again, the pebbles

around the outside of the block looks quite classy, to me.

A double teardrop was used in this background fill. They

are actually quite small. This quilt seemed to have a

mind of its own, in that all the motifs seemed to stitch

out on the small side.

Swirls were used in this block. I tried to use a different

background fill in each of the 16 blocks. It makes it more

challenging and fun for me.

I decided to try a different fill here. It is a half circle that is echoed

2-3 times. It is a more modern fill but I think that it looks ok.

What do you think?

The top of the same block. I know that some of the pictures

are a bit yellow. I have 2 different lights above my frame and

now I think that I have to get more Daylight LED lights. I have

some LED lights but they are the soft light. It does make a

difference when I stitch and take photos.

I decided to quilt in some circles here. A thin cream

polyester thread is used for the stitching because it doesn’t

create alot of thread build up, only texture. And I love

texture!!!

Cindy Needham has alot of background fills that I love, love,

love. This one is made up of scallops and then filled in with

small lines.

More texture. I think that this background fill may be

my favorite of the whole quilt. Basically, I marked a diagonal

grid on the block. Stitched in lines around each edge and then

scribbled in the center so that the lines pop off the block.

Another pictures of the same block. Do you see how 3D the

rose bud looks, in the upper left hand corner? Gorgeous!!

All I can see in this photo is feathers. I threw in alot

of these, all over the quilt.

Again, this blocks looks similar to the one above but the

scribbling has not been added.

Do you see the 3D rosebuds? They are gorgeous and

are just popping off the block. I had to be careful going

around these because my foot kept getting caught on them.

MctAvishing was used for this background fill. I love the

texture it creates but it does take alot of time to quilt out.

The mighty eagle, he received a tight miniature stipple.

It really makes everything pop. I must add that I used

2 layers of batting for this quilt too.

The top batting was wool and the one beneath it was

80/20 Hobbs. Using 2 layers can be tricky but the

rewards are well worth it.

I hoped you enjoyed your tour of the 16 blocks. I can’t

wait until Darlene sees it. Pictures really don’t do

justice to the quilt.

Have a great week. Happy Valentine’s Day too.

Are you kidding me?

January 29, 2016January 29, 20164 Comments

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to follow my own

ideas and create my own quilts, or at least finish projects hanging around

from last year. I did start off the year well but it seems that I am adding

more projects onto my ever increasing list.

At Guild, this past week, Mary,my friend, mentioned a free online

challenge called “The 365 Challenge.” When I checked

out the site, this is what I saw.

“Are you kidding me?” was my response.

But Mary’s enthusiasm and encouragement prevailed. She mentioned

that it only took 5- 10 minutes to complete each 3″ block. How could

I resist? Do you ever find yourself in this boat?

Well, I started the challenge and to be quite honest, it is fun. And

it really does only take 5-10 minutes to complete each block. The

hardest part about the whole thing is picking out the fabric for each

block.

Here are my 29 blocks completed for this month. I am hoping to

have gradated colors going around the whole quilt. For the month

of January, I have picked dark blues. There are lots of color

combinations on their website, so you can pick what colors you

like. You should check it out.

This is a glimpse of just how small these blocks really are. It seems

that each day, the difficulty increases.

Again, the total number of blocks, at the end of the year will be

365. And the completed quilt will measure 90″ x 90″.

Darlene’s ” Friends Of Baltimore”

Darlene saw Kerry’s, “Friends of Baltimore” Quilt and decided that

she would like me to quilt hers as well. It arrived at my house a

few weeks ago, so I have been diligently working on the SID work

ever since.

Today, I finished the ditch work and am moving onto filling

in all the background areas. This is always an exciting part for me

as the fun can now begin. I love working on the background fills.

Darlene is quite the appliquer. I can’t even find the stitches that

are holding the applique pieces down. These quilts really are an honor

and privilege for me to work on. I am amazed that people actually

have that much patience to create one of these masterpieces.

Personally, I think that these quilts are not quilts but actually

works of art.

What do you think?

Switching gears, before Christmas, I was asked to create this cut

baby quilt. The print has monkeys all over it.

A swirl panto was chosen for the quilting design and this

shows up beautifully on the backing.

The backing

The backing is comprised of grey minky fabric.

I worked on a purple quilt before with purple minky on the

backing and the purple minky migrated to the front of the

quilt. It actually came up through the stitches. So, be careful

when you use this on the backing of your quilts.

A close up of the stitching. Also, be careful with how you load minky

onto your quilting frame. In one direction, the minky is really

stretchy. And in the other direction, it isn’t. Ask me how I know?

I made a baby quilt and the minky on the backing stretched horribly.

When I took it off the frame, it had bunched up in some areas. Needless

to say, I was not happy at all. And I ditched the quilt. Some lucky person

will now have the job of picking out all those stitches.

And lastly, this one of the last blocks that I completed

from the Oceans BOM from last year. I am trying hard

to keep on track but some days, I think to myself “Are

you kidding me?” Maybe,just maybe I have bit off more

than I can chew. At least, I am not bored.

Have a great week!

I’m back!!

September 9, 2015October 14, 20153 Comments

For those of you who have been following my blog regularly, you

know that I try to post weekly. Last week I missed because I was

away on a cruise to the Bahamas with my family. Yes, I have it

rough!!

This is where I lived last week, along with my family.

And this is where I was staying for several days. How can

you not love the sunshine? The heat is a different matter though.

You have got to love AirMiles. I had enough saved up for my

whole family to stay overnight at an hotel before the Cruise began

as well as the Air Miles covering all of us getting onto the boat. A sweet deal

indeed.

If you have AirMIles, please check the expiry date, they now

come with an expiry date-crazy or what? My expiry date is coming up at the

end of Dec, 2015, so I didn’t want to waste or lose them. I urge you to check

out the expiry date of your Air Miles too.

Back to the important stuff. I did promise pictures of the front of

Kerry’s “Friends of Baltimore” Quilt. And Kerry (Simple Bird Studio)

loved her quilt, by the way. I am glad because I find it very stressful

when the owners come to pick up their prized possessions. I want

them to be happy with the finished product.

Once again, the front of the unquilted “Friends of Baltimore.”

Due to the large number of blocks(16 in total) I will show you

the first 2 rows with close ups.

Each block has a different background fill. Sees are the fill here because

the block felt like Autumn to me. So, I stitched in seeds in the outside

of the circular wreath.

Inside the wreath, I stitched in circles to mash down the background and

help the applique puff up a bit more. This is one of Cindy Needham’s

tricks of the trade.

You can see the seeds alot better here.

This block stumped me for the longest time in trying to design it.

In the end, I went with feathers around the base of the vase and dressed

them up a bit with some stitching inside each feather. Straight lines

were added as well as diagonal lines to look like an herringbone

pattern.

Kerry didn’t want any pebbling in the quilting but I had to throw in

some pebbles along the outside edge of the block. It does dress it up nicely.

I love the floral bouquet in this block. I wanted to dress it up so

I marked off a diagonal grid, stitched in swirls, and then filled in

the curved grid. I love the look of this block-very classy.

As you can see, I am constantly checking out what other longarmers

are doing, scanning Pinterest, and Quilt Shows to keep up with

trends in the Quilting Industry. It does take time but it is fun to

check it out and then try it for myself.

Ah, the anchor. What to do with this one? I thought of sailors

and what they used on the high sees. A compass came to mind and

thus the Mariner’s Compass in the block.

I also thought of rope and voila!! McTavishing was used outside the

rope border and circular stitching inside the block.

I love the leaves in this wreath!! It must have been very challenging to

applique though. I used another diagonal grid, marked it with an air

soluble pen and stitched out the straight lines in the grid first and then

filled in the grid. I have some stencils on hand so it makes marking the

blocks quick and accurate.

As you have noticed thus far, this applique quilt has alot of colors

in it. Instead of changing thread colors constantly, I chose both a clear

and monofilament thread and stitched around all the pieces of the

applique. It is a bit shiny but not that noticable when the whole

quilt is completed. It also keeps the back tidy and no colored

threads showing through to the backing.

In the center, I quilted in circular stitching and made some waves under the

boat. On the outside of the boat, I made circular swirls.

This boat is really going through quite a quilted storm. Glad that

the boat I was on didn’t experience that kind of turbulence. And no,

I didn’t get sea sick. After I got home though, I still felt the gentle

swaying of the boat for several days.

What a gorgeous block and vase!! I can not imagine the time that it

took Kerry to make this block alone. Again, I opted for a

diagonal grid pattern.

I marked the lines, stitched them in and then filled it with straight

lines. You will notice that even the sashing was SID and has stitching in

it as well. In the little blue triangles, I used a dark monofilament thread

because the blue polyester thread kept showing up on the back of the quilt.

After all that hard work, I couldn’t let that happen. The monofilament thread

seems magical in that it seems to transform and take on whatever color

it is stitched on.

Due to all the grid work, I wanted a different design in this block.

I took out my arc rulers and this is what happened. Yes, I know the

bird is upside down.

On the inside of the block, there is circular stitching and on the

outside I quilted feathers. You can’t go wrong with feathers.

Well, I hope the wait was worth it. I hope you enjoyed the

blocks. Which one was your favorite?

Next week, there will be 8 more to choose from.

Have a great week.

Stitching Impressions

All aspects of longarm quilting

Tag: Friends of BAltimore

All finished…

Almost there…

Are you kidding me?

I’m back!!