Rope Border

So excited. Today I did my first border with a rope pattern. I used the widest rope choice on my Circle Lord Giant Template. The border fabric is a blue/grey colour and I used Signature thread in Wheat for the rope. You can also see in the picture some of the loop meander I'm doing on the rest of the quilt. I'll keep you guessing as to what the quilt pattern is and will post a full picture when it's done.

SewBatik and ... Part 1

Sometimes there is hesitation to consider a batik for a backing when your quilt top is not batiks. This post is the first in a series to show you how wonderful these high quality batiks look even with other styles.

Below is a very woodsy looking strip quilt (this is one of the prizes for our quilt show raffle, to be quilted next).

The SewBatik samples that I've put with it are (from Left to Right)

Spray: Cream Tan, Brunette, Juniper; Vine: Twilight Blue, Cream Pearl, Midnight Blue, Shady Glade, Auburn, Sahara Oasis; Sarong: Indigo

There is quite a selection to choose from, but I have the advantage of seeing them in real life, so my top 2 picks would be Vine: Auburn orVine Midnight Blue.

If you would like to see the samples in real life to view with your quilt top, give me a call and we'll set up an appointment.

Batik Gem

Here is a fabulous batik quilt. The quilter made it using a bali pop and a tonga treat. She said mixing the different brands of 2 1/2" strips made a little more work due to the slight differences in cutting widths. But she made the adjustments and made it work very well. She made it as a surprise gift for her sister and was pleased to have it finished, even to the point of sewing down the binding as she travelled.

The sashing strips are a dark navy. The batik strips run the full rainbow of colours.

We chose to quilt it with Signature thread in Sapphire. you can see in the detailed photograph that the thread chosen contrasts with most of the colours and shows up on the strips as well since it was just a slight bit lighter. It was not as stark as black would have been and allowed the texture of the quilt to be subtle and the boldness of the sashing strips play the leading role in the quilt. The pantograph pattern used was Fantasia by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting. This is a very pretty pantograph with some feather and swirl details. It is slightly suggestive of a shell.

What a beautiful gift to be able to give, my only disappoinment was that I forgot to take a picture of the back which the quilter made of medium blues using a Turning Twenty pattern. It would also look great with a SewBatik backing. I could definitely imagine it any of the SewBatik options pictured below.

Curvacious Vine: Deep Wisteria (left), Packed Daisy: Midnight Garden (top centre), Packed Daisy: Twilight Blue (bottom left), Jardin: Indigo (bottom right), Spray: Garden Storm (right)

If you would like to see SewBatik wide fabric options to finish your quilt, give me a call and we'll make a date.

Second Log Cabin

Here is the second log cabin that I've quilted. This is a very classic looking log cabin in a barn raising setting. The quilter made this one for a wedding gift. It is totally finished and the wedding is still 2 weeks away. She is thrilled to have the gift done this far ahead of time.

To compliment the classic navy, burgundy, and ecru, we chose to use Signature thread in Wheat. The quilter chose a pantograph by Linda Taylor called Simple Feather Meandering.

The detail picture shows how this pantograph added some movement and softened the geometric feel of the quilt without being too feminine.

What a striking looking log cabin!

Pretty Pinwheels

Here is a customer quilt finished earlier this week. It is so pretty! I believe the quilter said that she used pre-cuts for the pinwheel fabrics. We chose a quilting pattern (a pantograph) called "Flight of Fancy" by Hermione Agee. The butterflies and swirls give lots of movement, very appropriate with the pinwheels. The camel thread is delicate looking on these colours and suited this quilt very well.

Quilt of my own

I finally have a quilt on my bed again. This quilt is called "Moose Country Stars Strippie". I started it in 2003 when the store "Once in a Blue Moose" had a block program for the stars. I made extra stars and decided to have a bed size quilt using a strip setting. At that time I thought I would do it by quilting the strips and then joining them together. It was slow work since I was doing hand quilting and machine quilting. It got set aside for other projects but this year is a finishing up year. I'm going to decrease the number of WIP's (works in progress) that I have. It is not the way I would make a bed size quilt now, thanks to the longarm, but I am very pleased that I finished it up, wonky seams and all. It doesn't really suit my bedroom colours but I will keep it for now, til I finish the guest room and another quilt for myself.

It is really long because I like to make the bed with a pillow tuck. Plus, I never have to worry about cold feet when I'm pulling it up around my ears!

The detail shows the square

that I hand quilted in each of the star centres.