Some Cheery Quilts on a Blah Day

Remember that rare December snow I mentioned a couple weeks ago?  It did it again this morning.  We woke to big chunks of snow falling, and the ground and roads covered.  My hubby took Sweet Sue the Subaru to work and had no trouble.  She is made for the snow!

Now it is just alternating between wintry mix and plain old rain.  Very gray.  Here are some cheerful quilts that I have done for customers to brighten the day.

I have finished two more of the die-cut quilts for Martha.  The first one is in the same fabric line as two that I did for her students Jean and Tammy back in October.  This time, Martha used a shape that is used to make stars or Dresden Plate type blocks, covered the petals with scalloped circles, and ended up with a quilt resembling a Grandmother's Flower Garden!

Again, the shapes are just basted onto the quilt top with glue stick.  They are narrowly overlapped at the sides.  I was somewhat fearful of my fingers as I zoomed around the shapes trying to catch both petals with the quilting to hold them together!

The raw edges will fray and become "shabby chic" if Martha chooses to wash the quilt.

Look how cute the backing fabric is.

Well, if that's not perky enough, here is a second quilt made from the new Stampin'-Up fabric collection by Martha's student, Susan Elise from Norfolk.  It is just like the one Martha made.

For this quilt, Susan wanted a cherry red thread.  No problem....except that the backing is a pale blue solid fabric in a high thread count.  And that red thread kept breaking.  It is hard to disguise any knots or blobs when the thread contrasts so highly with the fabric.  But- I "gotter done!"

Today, I have a special project:  four applique's in summery motifs!  These were the pieces that my friend Carolyn used to learn how to applique from Jean, the expert in our bee.  I need to take some of those private lessons- these turned out so cute!

The last one insists on changing its orientation to landscape...don't know why!



Seashell-Themed Quilting

If any of you longarm quilters need a steady stream of business, try to hook up with a Stampin'-Up demonstrator.  Martha Armstrong in Zebulon likes to teach classes on making these die-cut flower quilts with the Big Shot die cut machine.  Then she sends them to me to get the tops quilted.  I got three more yesterday, and I just finished this one yesterday.   Sue's quilt featured seashells in the border fabric, and is to be used in a cabin cruiser as they travel the Intercoastal Waterway.  So, I figured out how to quilt in some seashell designs among the wavy water.

I practiced drawing them first on a piece of paper, then added them in to the larger areas of space on the background fabric.

I actually did separate designs in the borders this time, just because I felt like it. 

My favorite shell to seek on the beach is the sand dollar.  So, I had to add a few of those.

I got tired of making starfish and clams, so I tried a few crabs.

Today I am heading back to the North Raleigh Hilton for the trade show at Art of the Carolinas.  It was not open on Thursday when I took my first class.  I hear there will be demos and good sales.  After my watercolor class, I found out I need a round palette and an assortment of Winsor and Newton paints.  And some Yes paste. 

Later this afternoon, it will be Zentangles and Watercolors with Suzanne McNeill.  Can't wait!

Perky and Pretty

For my last two customer quilts, I put the Beatles on the Ipod, put my brain in Sixties and Seventies mode, and had lots of fun with Flower Power!

Martha Armstrong is a Stampin' Up teacher and demonstrator, and has been teaching classes on making quilt tops from die-cut appliques.  Sometimes after a class, she brings her students over to me to do the quilting.  They make the tops in several hours, with the appliques clinging to the background fabric with glue stick.

This one was made by Jean from Mechanicsville, Virginia. 

                           

Instead of stacking the center shape in the middle, she chose to offset it for a different look.

I took my quilting design from the swirly background fabric.  The quilting is all swirls in a buttercup yellow thread.

 The backing fabric is this pretty teal floral print that coordinates with the Moda Bake Shop "Layer Cakes" she used for the appliques.

The second quilt is like deja-vu all over again...almost.  Tammy used the same Layer Cake fabric , but on a pale yellow background.

On this one, I decided to quilt in some flowers and leaves as well as swirls.

When I got to the very last row, I noticed that one of the flowers had lost its center applique.  Here is another reason for the four inches of extra fabric that longarmers like to have on each side.  I made a pattern from one of the centers and cut out a new one from a piece of the extra side fabric.  This is the first time one of those glued pieces has "unstuck" itself and gotten lost!

The backing of Tammy's quilt is the same as Jean's, but in a different colorway.  I used it to draw out some potential quilting motifs.  In that way, the quilting really becomes part of the design. 

In this case, I used a piece of Golden Threads tracing paper and drew freehand shapes.  You could also trace the shapes directly.  Caution:  use washable markers if you plan to keep the "style sheet" on the quilt top as a reference while you work.  Or, if the design is complicated, you can stitch right through the paper.  I have done that sometimes when quilting animals or other designs from Laura Lee Fritz' book, 250 Continuous Line Quilting Designs.  I prefer to just stitch freehand so I don't have to pick out all the little bits of paper!  Here is an example of a quilt that I stitched through the tracing paper.

Happy Quilting!



A Customer Quilt and a Charity Quilt

Here is a rather awkward photo of a quilt on my kitchen table, taken with me standing on a chair.

This is my latest finished customer quilt...yes, another die-cut flower quilt!  This one is in red and cream/white.  The quilt-maker is another student of Martha Armstrong of Zebulon, NC, who has brought me several of these types of quilts with appliques from the Big Shot die-cut machine.

I like the crisp color combination, which looks fresh and clean, although the prints are somewhat old-fashioned floral designs. 

These require 189 trips around the flower shapes to attach them to the quilt, as they are just basted on.  Sometimes the little petal edges flap up when you are progressing from circle to circle, so I quilt basically with my right arm while my left hand is smoothing the petals.

Good bicep exercise, but I am so ready to NOT do another one for awhile!  The backing was a red fabric with white swirls, and again, I felt like the lines of quilting competed somewhat with the lines on the fabric.

Last night my Cyberbee group met and had a wonderful time.  Five of us ate dinner before the meeting at Cafe Caturro in Cameron Village, Raleigh.  I liked the restaurant very much- nice fresh food and not too noisy.  I had a raspberry-walnut salad.

I thought you might like to see an easy group quilt that Martha Bragg showed us.  Each participant cut strips of varying widths.  They made squares with similar-colored fabrics and at least three strips.  Here is the one Martha made, to be donated to our Quilts on Wheels charity.

Sort of a rail fence, no?  Very cheerful!

It was quilted by someone who just got a long-arm, but unfortunately, I did not catch her name.   I still have about nine charity tops to quilt from last year, but got so busy with customer quilts that I fell behind.  That's okay, I think I did thirty charity quilts last year!

A New York Frame of Mind???

Here is the die-cut quilt I finished today for a customer.  Unlike the previous ones I've quilted which all had floral themes, this one is in neutrals with geometric fabrics.  The color scheme reminds me of every New York hotel room I have stayed in.

Since this one did not lend itself to my usual posies and leaves, I decided to add swirly feathers to the border, and follow the circles and ovals of the background print somewhat.

Problem is, I had to use a thread color that blends perfectly with the lines in the background fabric.  So, which tan lines did I already sew, and which are part of the fabric?   Hard to say!

When I was quilting this, it looked very busy.  Sometimes at a distance of eight inches or so, you can't see the forest for the trees.  When you see the whole thing at a more reasonable distance, it looks rather striking.  The black accents really make the fabrics pop.

Just don't spend too much time looking at the back!

Now why is Blogger making all my pictures left-aligned today?