September Finishes

So it is that time...time to post some of the quilting work from the past couple of weeks.  This is a 20" wall hanging from a local quilter.  I realize that vertical seam looks bowed...yes, it is!  It will clearly need a good blocking to straighten it out.  I think that the green triangle must have been stretched when the pieced section was sewn on.  It wasn't something that I could "just quilt out"! But, the piece is sweet.  You don't have the benefit of seeing the pretty fabrics -- many of them have a gold leafing. The client requested that there were ginko leaves worked into the center filler, and to keep with an Asian theme.

I added a wool batt to the very thin W&N that she brought.  W&N just does not provide sufficient loft for an applique quilt.  The center has the ginkos stitched with a 40wt Glide two times, and the background is then stitched with 100wt invisifil.  Invisifil is not my favorite thread to sew with, but fortunately this was a small area. I'll tollerate 6 thread breaks, but no more!

There are 1" clamshells on the side border, some of which have a stitched detail.  The green just seemed to look thready with every idea I had, so I went with the simpler geometric design of sections of 1/4" lines.

 Here's a peek at the backside...

 The same client also left another wall hanging, but of a completely different style.   This is about 30x40 or so.  The cats are a panel.  The challenge of this piece is that it has dozens of flanges (all those grey-ish strips)!  These were a bit of a pain, and even when they aren't, they have a tendency to want to not lay flat when the quilting is finished.

 She asked me to copy some of the graphic designs from the cats into the quilting.  There were spiky shapes, swirls, and dots (pebbles).  The cats are also outline stitched in clear thread.  I stitched in several colors - trying to mostly coordinate the thread with the fabric.

 Here's a look at some of the fills chosen for these spaces...

 The next two quilts are from a semi-local (Mass) quilter.  She has specific ideas for how she wants her quilts finished, so I just follow her directions.  It more or less takes the challenge out of designing the quilting.  One benefit is that she does not like dense quilting, so they don't take too long to quilt.

 This one was a little unorthadox in that the floral panel in the center is flannel, and the rest of the quilt is not, but it seemed to quilt up just fine.  To keep it drapey, it has 2" clamshells in the heavier flannel section.

 I won't lie - it is hard for me to leave a quilt with such minimal quilting.  It just goes against my aesthetic.  This is just one client who I know wants them done that way.  Here is another quilt I also did for her.  It's basically almost the same type design.  I changed it up a little so they weren't identical.

 She tells me...put lines here, put swirls and feathers here, put leaves here...sometimes it seems a little disjointed, but the end result is to her liking, so all is good.

Here's last week's last quilt... It is a darling baby quilt for my Napa, CA client's daughter.  I need to get it to the post office first thing tomorrow.  It is much more modern than most of the quilts she sends me, so I went with the vibe.

 It's stitched in YLI polished poly and Glide threads.  Only the outer borders are ditch stitched.  For the chevrons, I chose to stitch parallel lines 1/4" from every seam for a change.  She has machine embroidered animal faces and appliqued them into the cars!

 I chose a different filler (in blue and green threads) for every white space.

 It was fun, and I think that the end result is adorable.

 Right now, I have a 72" custom of my own, just barely started.  It is in that hard phase...trying to get it ditched so I can then get to some of the fun work!  Stay tuned...