Quilts and What's Happening in My World

Finally, the weather is beginning to cool down.  The hot summer days pushing us out of the house and into local air conditioned establishments are beginning to fade.  School starts next week, football and cheer leading are back in season.  The Husband's last softball game of the year was last night.  It's just about FALL!

I love fall so very much.  Not only the cool weather but the beautiful foliage we are treated to every September through November in north east Ohio.  I can already see orange and yellow tinges starting to take hold on the leaves.  I'm so ready for the show mother nature puts on every year.

I always have quilts to share, but I do love to share some of the other fun things happening in my world too.  Our semi-annual Disney trip is just around the corner.  I haven't made nearly the number of costumes for this trip as I have in the past, but I did make a dress!  I made the dress known among Disney bounders and Cosplay enthusiasts as the "mouse made dress" for my 5 year old.  I think it turned out so beautiful!  Even if garment sewing isn't my strong suit!

Here is a little collage I made to share the dress and my daughter twirling herself silly in it.  I just cannot wait to see her wearing this in front of Cinderella's castle!

Other projects for our trip are in the works, but I did also manage to find time to squeeze in these mouse ears for the girls.  This one is Ariel themed - my amazing friend made us these "dinglehopper" hair clips to wear and they worked perfectly with their mouse ears!

Tonight I'm hoping to finish up some ears for the baby and Elsa/Frozen themed ears my 5 year old has requested.  I almost didn't make anything this time and my almost 11 year old was devastated - she tells me "mom!  Half of the fun is dressing up!"  I'll make crafters out of these girls yet!

Other big happenings - I broke down and bought my dream camera!!!  This was a big purchase for me.  The biggest I have ever made on something entirely for myself outside of my Juki.  While quilting and sewing are my absolute life's passions (outside of my family of course) - photography is sort of instant gratification for me.  It's a nice break from quilts that can often take months or years to complete, and of course it allows me to document my beautiful babes!  I've had it a total of six days now and I've put it to good use!  Here are a few of my favorite shots:

I am finding I really love black and white!  I ordered a few 8x10 prints that are scheduled to be delivered today, and I cannot wait to see how they turned out.  Photography is visual like quilting and art so I feel like it's a totally great fit for me.  Of course, a new camera means new and more detailed images of QUILTS!

So here (finally!) are a few of the quilts I have been working on this past month.  I will have to break it up because I've already gotten quite photo heavy in this post

First is Lisa's Jungle Abstractions Lion Quilt (pattern by Violet Craft).  I have seen this top created in a number of color ways but this one in particular is really my favorite.  Those aqua's with gray are just so striking.

I really tried to replicate fur but in a quilty way!  I didn't want to be really literal, it's a fantasy "abstract" quilt so I think (hope!) this design did the trick.  Because it is a very geometric quilt I didn't want to lose the angular feeling with feathers and swirls - so in the facial structure of the lion I tried to maintain that feeling.

For the eyes I left some areas of white ditched and not quilted to give him some dimension.  Paired with pebbling I think it is very effective.

 

Lisa's lion quilt was in the 65" range - I don't have her paperwork in front of me or I'd give better measurements!  We used Glide thread in Auqamarine in both the top and bobbin, and Lisa sent along her own cotton batting lower loft batting.  For this one in particular I don't think a second layer of batting would have really added a lot.  Certainly I like to see a lot of dimension, but this quilt has SO much happening that I think it looks just as beautiful with a single layer of batting.

Another couple of quilts finished up this week are this pair of baby quilts I worked on for Darlene.  She is going to add applique over top the already quilted pieces - she chose the pantograph Monkey Jungle by Melonie Caldwell for Urban Elementz.

I worked on a few more quilts but being my next post will likely be a little more fall themed I'll save them!  I hope everyone is quilting up a storm in blog land!

- Valerie

A Few Client Quilts

So many things are happening in my world I don't even know where to start!  First, I have another article coming out very soon in Machine Quilting Unlimited.  This time I wrote about using pantographs, focusing quite a bit on ways for those of us hand guided quilters to use them more efficiently.  Some day I completely want a computer for my machine, possibly a second machine too - but for the time being I'm quilting those babies out as carefully and neatly as I possibly can by hand...with good results I might add that folks often cannot tell is hand guided!  That's definitely the goal for me.  :)

Here's one panto quilt I just finished up for my client Jane...the pattern is Scenic Bypass by Antler Quilt Designs.  It measures approxmiately 86" x 66" and we used Deja Vu by Patricia E. Ritter and myself for the quilting, Glide thread in Light Olive, and one layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Originally Jane had requested a deep purple shade of thread.  I have a handful of purple thread on hand but none looked quite right so instead I suggested this pretty deep green to pull from the green in her fabrics, and also the green leaves on her backing fabric.  I think it turned out so great, now I cannot imagine if we had used another color!  I really like the blending look of the green in the lighter fabric, the only other shade I think would have looked equally as nice would have been a golden/honey color.

People often ask me what to use for their backings.  My suggestion is generally a medium tone (unless your front is all very dark fabrics) that will look good with whatever color thread is going to be predominant on the front.  I tend to use the same or similar shade thread in the top and bobbin, so you want something that will compliment the thread used to blend with the front.  Many times folks like to send an all white or all dark colored backing - this is fine so long as there isn't going to be a lot of backtracking and you don't mind high contrast thread against it.  No matter how impeccable my backtracking or how thin the thread, a couple of passes in white against navy blue is just not going to look as nice as a lighter blue.  While the quality of the quilting is extremely important, I have really learned that color choice and quality of fabric matter just as much for the best possible outcome.

In the case of Jane's beautiful quilt, I think the green really worked beautifully with both the front and back of the quilt - she chose well!  :)

Another recent finish that I have been itching to share is my client Michele's Gravity quilt!  Michele is the cousin of my neighbor and I'm super excited about the quilts she is going to have me work on as she is a big fan of solids.  To me that means I get to have some SERIOUS fun! 

I had been just WAITING for someone to send me one of these! I'm not sure if just quilting it has satisfied my urge to make one or not...there never seems enough time to make all that I want to make, and because I really get my kicks from making and entering show quilts I'm not sure how soon I'll actually get to it. This certainly was fun to play on though!

We used one layer of Quilter's Dream Cotton Select for this one as this is Michele's batting of choice.  We opted for Bottom Line thread in the top and bobbin in a light gray shade.  Her backing was a black and gray print so much of the detail shows best on the front.

I just cannot get enough of those colors!  There were a lot stretchy bias edge triangles to the outer edge of the quilt with this one but they did not give me much issue.  Luckily much of the quilting allowed for me to pull and extra fabric in and (hopefully) we tucked it hidden pretty well.  No pleats or tucks but some creative quilting happened here.  :)

The Gravity quilt pattern (by Jaybird Quilts) measured approxmiately 96" x 95". 

One more show and tell piece...this is Wanda's quilt.  The center pattern is called a Stargello and she created it using a Stargello ruler tool - the borders were added by guild members to create one beautiful and awesome quilt!

This one was somewhere around 85" x 85".  We used two layers of batting - I believe she sent Quilter's Dream cotton and I used a layer of Hobbs 80/20 overtop.  This one I approached a little differently.  I stitched in the ditch the entire quilt first.  Then I went back and filled in.  I have been hesitant to do that with quilts that do not have a significant amount of piecing in the past but I really think it made for a neater, crisper finish.

My favorite part is the quilting in this open space around the star...

I also really enjoyed quiltnig in the snowball border!  The sort of curly cue design was something different but really effective I think.

The back is where I think stitching in the ditch prior to adding filler quilting really made a difference.  If you look carefully the ditched lines show little to no backtracking - not because there wasn't any backtracking but because it was very little.  Long continuous lines were done all at once in one long smooth motion - where as often when you ditch as you go, things don't always line up and look neat.  The difference is small - but overall it really adds to the polished look of the quilting.

I think there are always things you look at after and say, "oh, I could have done that better or differently".  I'm pretty pleased with this one!

I have been so fortunate to work on some very lovely quilts lately!  I have started a new show quilt and I'll get to that in an upcoming post, along with some of my thoughts on MQX.  I did not place this year but I'm happy to say I DID receive a teacher's ribbon from Angela Huffman!  How exciting!

More to come...happy quilting!

Darlene's Kaleidescope and A Feathery Floral in Progress

Getting a lot of finishes done lately - I'm getting kind of excited at the idea of having a whole month just to clean house, organize, and work on my own quilt.  Baby comes in about six weeks!

Here's a few shots of Darlene's Kaleidescope quilt...

I had a lot of fun quilting this little one.  I want to say it's only 40 x 40?  I was able to get it done in one work day which is rare unless I'm doing an E2E or pantograph!  :)  I used Glide thread which I love for things like all overs and also straight line quilting.

Her next quilt is a lovely floral appliqué that we decided to go a little more detailed with.  For this one I'm using all Bottom Line thread in both the top and the bobbin.

More photos to come as this one will likely take me a little longer...not only is it a large quilt but there will be lots of pebbling and detail work.  I'm looking forward to it though - it feels very very summery!  :)