A Nice Sampling

And a colorful quilt which I hope showcases many of my longarm quilting skills. As I mentioned a few days ago, a local shop needs/wants to see some of my work before they refer clients to me. I didn't just want to bring them a quilt I did with a pantograph back in the first couple weeks that I had the machine. I wanted to bring them a home run. As far as what I have done to date, the quilting on this sampler quilt is out of the park. Even I am amazed!
The blocks came from a swap (Quilt Block Exchange on flickr) - So I cannot take credit for ANY of the piecing except for adding sashings and borders. The ladies in this group did a fantastic job. There were even 4 blocks I did not use. I was going to make an altogether different quilt to take to the stores, and then donate it to Project Linus, but then I remembered that I had these blocks. It saved me a TON of work.

It's still on machine here, with all of it's blue markings. The texture is just yummy! I specifically did every block differently to show some of the things I can both quilt and design.

The back is pieced in 3 large pieces. Thanks to Joann's for not actually having enough of any 2 coordinating fabric! The quilting shows the best on this bright pink.

For not having done many feathered borders, I am quite pleased with how this turned out. I still need to experiment with different perturbations on the feathering, and plan to take a feathering online class next month, but this is a decent start. The white sashing design is one I pirated from a fabulous quilter. I am not so creative yet in sashing designs. Time and practice...

I wanted to give Mary's scrappy brick block some definition with the quilting. I always love that curved cross-hatching (whatever the heck is it's "real" name???) and wanted to toss it in on one block since I have plans for it on an upcoming quilt. I like how it is on point and the leaves and swirls help to ground it.

This star was a little challenging. Mary did another fantastic job (she's a prolific block maker in this group), as she does with all her paper-pieced blocks. I think the flower and swirls did pretty well.

Here's Alicia's HST's in a window frame, which I chose to pebble. I never imagined that the HST quilting might resemble little hangers! This block is cool in the back...be sure to scroll down a bit for a look.

I've lost track of who made this coin block - sorry. With an abundance of white, I tried a leafy variation.

And yet a 3rd block from Mary...I tried a feather variation with some swirls thrown in. It's much harder doing these along a diagonal!

I love this block from Wendy, especially the flowery center. I wanted to keep the flowery feel with the quilting.

A sampler wouldn't be complete without a little Mc Tavishing on Chelsea's heart block (or McMargaretting as I call it, so as not to bastardize what fabulous work Karen McTavish does!). Fun whirly-swirls fill the heart.

Another one from Alicia...FYI - I gathered pink and purple blocks in this swap for 2 or3 months last fall! And yet another "hanger" variation. I haven't shown close-ups of 3-4 of the blocks, but that might just be overkill. I assure you the blocks were wonderful and look awesome in this quilt. I suspect that this quilt will become something I am donating to my Project Linus coordinator to use as a raffle quilt to generate $$ for our chapter. I have not sewn anything for her since October, and am having a little bit of guilt. If I don't donate this, it will just become another one of my unpurchased Etsy Listings. I need to find a different place to retail the quilts I am trying to sell.

Have a great long weekend (I have to go cook dinner now!!)