June Quilts

Here are two of the custom quilts I finished this month. They will soon be flying their way back to California.

This cutie is such a unique baby quilt, in its pink and blue. This client does tons of applique, and you know how I love to work on fun applique quilts (especially when they are simpler than the Ladies of the Sea!) It was her Ladies of the Sea quilt done a few years that spawned the interest of at least 6 others to get theirs done.

The quilt has just a single layer of wool batting and is quilted with a variety of threads. Roofs were quilted to resemble thatching or shingles. I particularly like the puffy smoke exiting the chimneys.

Cats and dogs (and maybe other critters) adorn the houses and gardens.

So fun...

There's a variety of fills and designs to give the quilt lots of texture.

The second quilt I did for her is very different in style from the first as well as from most of her other quilts that I have done. This is applique & embroidery to the max, all done on this really wild newsprint fabric.

The newsprint is a super cool and textural looking background fabric, but it poses ALL sorts of issues for the quilter, namely...what do I do to make the quilting show??

My first line of attack was to double batt the wool with a layer of 80/20. Then I had to think carefully about what fills were placed beside of each other. The picture above shows the quilting, but it also has a location with really good side light.

Here's the backside, which has a slightly less printy fabric.

 The blocks received a variety of designs from crosshatching to stipple. I don't normally stipple, but seriously, it does not show at all whatever I use!

The 4 blocks were framed using my Quatrefoil template (see my website and look at the templates if you are interested in getting your own). Then each block was quilted in a way that suited the piecing or applique of the block.

I carried a small bit of x-hatching to the top of this one, as space allowed, but the rest is just stippled.

Another side view shows the pretty texture.

Have a nice 4th week-

California Bound

Not me, unfortunately! I'm due to go somewhere, but my summer adventures are not that adventurous. These client quilts are trekking their way back to their Napa owner, as I type this. She has been a client of mine for many years, and always sends beautifully made, creative work. It's a joy to quilt them. This post has several quilts shown, because you know I have been very negligent in posting. The list of excuses for why is exhaustive. And boring.

This first quilt gets the "most creative use for yo-yo's". These are Dresden plates, with yo-yo's appliqued around the center opening. The fabrics are mostly reproduction.

 I wanted to break up the background a bit, but still keep the quilting relative continuous to manage the cost. The fabric of the outer border has ribbons on it, so I chose a ribbon-meander fill to go closest to the plates. It's like a 2-line stipple (but not as unattractive as a basic stipple).

 The swirl fill that surrounds the scalloped frames which surround the plates is actually quilted in a sea-foam green SoFine thread. I wanted to give a subtle contrast to the background. Because it is 50 wt thread, it does not overwhelm the background.

 I love the paisley pattern placed in the pink narrower border. I saw something similar done on somebody else's blog, and sat down and and drafted half a dozen ideas of my own. It is freehand and unmarked, and fills quickly.

Here is another of her quilts...more repro fabrics. She mentioned she likes feathers and I had not feathered the previous quilt so this one got lots of them. To manage costs again, the squares were done with continuous curve, which can be quilted continuously and fast. The time was spent on the SID and the feathers.

 For visual interest, feathers alternate directions. This quilt is a bed quilt that should be nice and snugly, as it is not overquilted.

Somebody is going to ask about battings and thread...they always do. Both quilts are 80/20 batting only, but threads on the white...I think a 40wt Glide.

These next 2 quilts belong to the same client but they were completed a couple months ago and returned. I just failed to share them, so here goes. 

I told you she does pretty applique, and this one is no exception. I cannot remember the exact size, but somewhere near 45" square.

 Thread is anybody's guess now (code for "I forgot!"). I combined simple motifs that show on the print. One of my pet-peeves is when a busy pattern is quilted on top of a busy print so that neither is visible. The border print only needed simple lines.

Generally, I probably would not feather on a floral print, but these simple and larger molar feathers seemed to look OK. The shapes are framed out to set them off.

 The center medallion of applique is all SID, and also got some very basic top stitching on the larger patches.

 This is one of my favorite whimsical quilts. It is also another crazy use for yo-yo's if you didn't have one (or should i call them barnacles?).

 I just wanted to give the background an ocean-like feeling. I also wanted both areas to have distinctly different but connected quilting - so some gentle movement in the middle, and wavelike action and pebbles around the outside.

 The fish each got some air bubbles added at the very end in a turquoise thread. I marked these using a template, and freehand quilted them. The circles are stitched 2 or 3 times to deepen the line of stitching.

So, there you have it. There are some of the custom quilts that have come in and out of my door recently. I have been working on my personal quilt off and on as well the past 2 months. It's a painfully slow ordeal, but I think I am coming closer to having the quilting done. Today I did 2 E2Es (a markedly productive day for me considering how my days usually go), and tomorrow I have the start of another custom planned. As soon as I muster the patience to rip out some errant circles on my next show quilt, I will be ready for the final push on that one. It will debut in early 2020, but finishing it will involve a goodly amount of time even after I decide that the quilting is done (when I self-impose the "you are done" and cut off the excess that facilitates loading on the longarm!!).

My kids are out of school at the end of the week, and tomorrow starts 1/2 days and finals for my older two (otherwise meaning that my life is over for a while). Hopefully they all continue to sleep late, giving me my morning quilting window. Oy!