Works in Progress

Finally, I have had a week with no snow days and mostly all kids at school.  This is just a sneak peek of a large applique quilt I am working on.  Actually, it is nearly finished - will be done sometime tomorrow.  There are 20 of these HUGE blocks.  They span 20" so I am really lucky I have a 24" machine.  The quilt has a complete ton of ditch stitching around every applique block - Over seven hours of SID!  The rest is quilted in shimmery Glide thread to accentuate the delicate feeling of the quilt.  This one will be lovely to see off the frame, for sure!   I'll have lots of pictures of these blocks because the flowers are all different and are beautiful.

A lovely quilt and Paducah!!

Yes you read that correctly.

PADUCAH!  I got the news today that not one, but two of my quilts were accepted into Paducah.  I can make a big deal of this, because I did not get in last year, and was not too happy about it.  I have been seeing the happy Facebook posts for 2 days from people who got their acceptances, as I waited cautiously optimistic that mine might be in the mail too.  Now, I wasn't confident I was going to get in, so I didn't dare make plans to go to Kentucky for the show.  I'm feeling pretty bummed, but that is life.  I will be at MQX the week of April 10th, then my kids are on vacation the next week.  Going to Paducah the following week would just take mom gymnastics and $1500 to pull off.  That seems more daunting that getting into the show right now.  So, those of you that might be going, of the 402 show quilts, my quilt Intertwined and Zen Garden will be there.  Lots of happy dances :-)

On to the quilty show...

This is a client quilt.  It's a Judy Niemeyer  60" Feathered Star, made from batiks.  She did a pretty good job with the piecing.  All those Y-seams can be a bear, as I know.  Blocking the quilt should completely knock this thing into nice flatness too.  She hopes to show the quilt, so it is custom quilted.  Seriously, do I really do anything but custom quilts?? (not really - but the next one up for the weekend is a stippled job. - Yea for simple!).

 I think you can dbl-click this image to see more.

I make no qualms about not loving the Niemeyer patterns, and this one is no exception.  They are wonderful, and detailed, and for many quilters just too hard.  This one is done well.   My general dislike of the pattern stems from the fact that there just is not much space for a quilter to develop a quilting design.  I have the pale green background, and the rather busy, pieced outer border.  But the other backgrounds are relatively tiny spaces...great for microquilting and using too much thread :-)

The entire quilt is stitched in Glide (many colors) or Superior Magnifico (just the rust thread).  Oops, I almost lied.  I forgot about the peach Master Quilter that I used on the center star's background.  How the heck could I forget what a complete pain this stuff was?!  I have used the Wonderfil MasterQuilter many times before and LOVED it, but this time it sucked eggs royally.  The bobbin backlashed at least 20 times (causing about 2-3 extra hours of stopping, picking and restarting).

 I hope you can see the circles and dots I worked into the quilting design.  There are small ones and larger ones.

 This quilt has the added Tuscany wool batt to give more loft to the stitching.  Batiks have a way of being a flatter quilt because they are tighter fabrics, so the extra batting was a really good idea.  The outer pieced green border is actually stitched with turquoise thread.  I wanted it to show a little (and it barely does except for the texture).  This little 4-5" border took me about 5-6 hours to stitch!  I kept second guessing it as I was quilting, but off the frame, it comes to life.

 So, we are at another weekend.  Happily, it is now March, and there is not a snowstorm on the horizon.  We got about 60" of snow last month.  I need it to feel like spring soon.  Time for me to work through several quilts next week.  My motto for March is Motivation.  The last 3 weeks have had too many school vacation or half days, or snow days for me to get squat accomplished.  Now it's catch-up time!

Have a great weekend :-)

Quilts of Valor and a scrap giveaway

This past weekend has seen little regular quilting, but many 12" blocks have been made as a part of a donation to Quilts of Valor.  The red, white and blue blocks will be brought to the New England Quilt Festival (formerly MQX) banquet by each of the attendees.  Some of us may make quite a few :-)

Though I had made some prior to this weekend, most were done yesterday and today.  My mom and I had a piecing day, making over 50 yesterday.  Another 25 or so were made today.  They are asking for two specific patterns to be brought to the banquet...the star shown below, and the square on point.  Although they have stated that these can be either red, white and blue OR brightly colored, I am doing all patriotic.

I didn't have a ton of red and blue fabrics in my stash to begin with, but made it my goal to use what I had rather than purchase any fabrics.  I rarely use reds and blues too since they just are not my colors of choice.  I am kind of surprised how far my scraps have gone!  I am equally surprised how many scraps I am generating that are great scraps, just not large enough to use for another block.

So, here is my proposition to you.  Perhaps you like making scrappy quilts or crumb quilts, or need lots of colors for applique.  Well,  for each person that sends me a block to bring with this donation, I will put your name into a hat for a drawing to receive the scrap bag.  I assure you it is not small, and there are pieces upwards of 4"x4" of many, many fabrics.  If you send 10 blocks, your name will go in 10 times.  You may make all one block design, or both.  They need to be neat, measuring 12-1/2" unfinished, and in the red, white and blue palate.  If you are interested, message me or email :-)

Traditional Table Topper

I quilted this up a couple weeks ago.  It's only 48" square, so it comes together reasonably fast.  OK, like in about 5 hours (saying that makes me sound slow!).  The client is using it for a table topper.  The block centers were fussy cut from a vintage sheet.  To help the quilt lay flatter, I ditched all seams on the blocks with Monolon.  This is a little time consuming, but is really worth it in keeping the piecing looking crisp.  This is a step never to be neglected if you are having a quilt custom quilted.  It is truly the finishing touch.

I tried to keep the quilting somewhat simple and traditional, in keeping with the style of the quilt.  It just was not screaming for pebbles or dense fills.  The beadboard and egg-dart treatments are just right for traditional pieces.  And of course, so are the feathers, which she requested. 

 Although it does not show, everything but the feathers is stitched in a mustard colored Omni thread.  I like Omni because it runs well in my machine, and because it is a matte finish, and resembles cotton threads.  Personally, I hate to actually stitch with the cottons.  They break too easily and are way too linty.  But certain quilts just call for the soft, non-shiny look.

I have just worked since 6:30 this morning on just about everything I have going.  I finished a 104" Amazon Star.  Boy, am I glad to see that one off the frame.  It's been there about 9 days on account of school vacation and snow days.  You might wonder how I can be so productive (or not...)...I have deposited all 3 kids off with Nana for 2 days.  Got to go out to eat last night and not worry that they have burgers on the menu.  It's actually nice to have an adult conversation and not always watch what the kids are getting into (sugar packets, salt, vinegar, you name it!).  After finishing the Amazon Star, I played with my silk quilt for a couple hours.  I have run out of the interfacing, but am down to finishing the last corners.  Then just a little bit of applique.  I even made one QOV block to test the no-waste flying geese method before I pitch it to my mom.  She and I have a Saturday sewing date to make QOV blocks.  I have made a few already, and cut out 25 yesterday.  I'm trying to get rid of red and blue fabrics from my stash - they are by far my least favorite, and I don't miss them one bit!  Hope your week is as snow-free and productive.

Falling Stars

Here's a quilt that has already flown home to it's owner.  I'm calling it Falling Stars, but it is a modern assembly of free-pieced stars.  The background is a ivory Kona or Bella solid.  Sorry, I know ivory from white, and a solid from a print, but I'm not really sure who the maker is.  To accentuate the quilting, which would otherwise look relatively flat, I added a layer of poly on top of the usual Hobbs 80/20 batting I routinely use.  It's stitched with two threads - ivory Master Quilter from Wonderfil, and a rusty colored Superior (40wt, poly - sorry, the name escapes me).  Her backing, though a really pretty piece of fabric, was a bit of a fly in the ointment.  I believe it is a Kaffe shot cotton.  It has a wonderful fine hand, and is tightly woven like batiks.  It caused a ton of thread breaks and skips though like other quilters have described of batiks.  Fortunately, I have never had issues with batiks.  So...enough blabbing, and on with the show (they should be large enough to double click and see better also).  Here's most of the whole quilt...

Through the quilting texture, I have attempted to create flow and movement, as though these stars are really falling.  The client wanted me to limit the feathers, and use lots of bubbles.  You know I hate to have the plug pulled on feathering because it moves a quilt so nicely.  I tried...there are some large feathers with swirls.

I did a relatively minimal treatment to the stars.  They are ditched and outlined again.  A few are outlined or partially outlined in the white to show them off.   I tried not to outline the entire star or all of the stars because that would be predictable.  This type of quilt is about being whimsical, in the moment, seemingly unplanned (if there is such a thing for me!).  There's a largish flow of bubbles down through the stars, and sections of swirls, curls, and "pods" as I call them.   I had to refer to my Sea Glass quilt a bunch of times for motivation and ideas.  It is much the same concept, and although I initially had trouble "letting go" of form & function and planning on Sea Glass, it all seemed to flow when I did.

Interspersed in the flow on the left side every so often are triangles.  I did the same thing on the other side, except I used 1" circles.  These are done with the template so they are all the same.

 I love how the thick bunches of pebbles show with the changes of texture.

 The back is one of those that sends fear into the longarmer...a solid contrasting color (knowing the bobbin thread would be white!) - not my favorite look, but it's modern and it's the client's choice.

This was a rush job.  It's going to hang in some show in TX in 2 weeks.  I suspect it's a modern quilt display for the Texas Quilt Show, but I'm not positive about that.  I will have to wait until the summer.  I believe that she will have it in a display of quilts that the Boston Modern Quilt Guild is displaying at a side venue to the Lowell Quilt Show.  I haven't yet heard from the owner of the quilt, but another member of the BMQG who saw it yesterday has already emailed me about quilting for her after seeing this.  That's success in my book!

Baby Quilts heading home

One of my many California clients will be receiving two of her baby quilts in a couple days.  I quilted these a week or more ago.  This one is a very cute applique pattern, with all sorts of fun baby items.  It will be a quilt the recipient will use so I didn't over quilt it to make it stiff.  She will be attaching a scalloped binding.

I love to do an interesting treatment to sashings to find that it gives the entire quilt a new look.  Egg & darts are simple, requiring just a little marking and a circle template.  I kept the quilting on the appliques very basic, just outlining the basic shapes, and only quilting on the appliques when really necessary.

Two simple fillers were alternated on all 12 blocks -- swirls and loose feathers.  It's a delicate look perfect for a baby girl.

There is another baby girl expected too...and she's getting an owl quilt.  I quilted this one for a different client back in the late spring.  Fortunate for me (since this was a rush job), I didn't have to design quilting for it.  More or less, I used the same layout I did previously, minus the pebbling which I thought might make a stiffer quilt.  This one is going to be used also, whereas the first one I did was a display.

The owl and applique are very cute -- just a little simple quilting to accentuate the wings and leaves.  The rest is just outlining.

I have an absolute ton of things going on right now, and a week of school vacation is only a week away.  Guess you know who's going to be ultra productive this week, huh?!

Thursday, already?

This week has been a blur.  And because we are expecting what forecasters are calling the "storm of the century", it's likely that kids will be home tomorrow, and quilting will have to wait until Monday.  Last weekend, was much slower paced.  I started on a client quilt, but had most of the days to putter on my own silk quilt.  I am nearing having the top finished (haven't in all honesty touched it since last Friday though!), so I started pondering how it might be quilted.  I like this part of the process.  It's creative.  There is no picking out of stitches, and I just cannot do wrong.  I think that this will be a fun quilt to quilt...lots of feathers.

I am taking my new quilt "Big Bertha" to a photo shoot next weekend.  Setting that date put the pressure on me to actually get it finished!  I have been hand appliquing a bias stripe around the quilt (yup, about 330" of bias) on the backside.  This has been going on for about 2 weeks.  Its nice to have an unexpected feature on the backside since many shows do hang them where the backs are visible.  Besides, it will eventually go on my bed, and it will be seen there.  Right now, the quilt is soaked and pinned to the blocking boards.  Except for drying and then stitching on that 99"wide sleeve, it is done.

 And, here's a glimpse of what I will be doing in just a moment...working on this modern quilt.  It's a client's quilt, and has challenged me to be creative with yards of open white space.  Tune in next week to see the rest of the quilt :-)

Accidental Cohesion

Today is a Friday that just doesn't feel like Friday at all.  My kids had a 1/2 day yesterday and no school today -- something I don't look forward to ever.  It's hard enough keeping up with the demands of a business when you work from home and they go to school 5 days a week.  Since Thanksgiving, however, I think there has only been one 5 day week.  They have had a couple half days for snow, a few holidays, and a couple of "teacher workdays".  Come on, teachers...do you really work on these??!  Yesterday after they got home, my boys took off unexpectedly with my mom for the night.  What mother doesn't welcome the loss of a couple wild boys for a day??!...Then my mom called this morning to see if might be alright to keep them until  tomorrow.  Oh seriously, are you kidding??!  Why would I give a second thought to that pair maybe wearing dirty underwear?!  Of course they can stay.  This happened all on the cusp of my husband (who took the day off too - he's got vacation days to burn...seems he stopped accruing them months ago and needs to burn down the balance.  What a fate!  That doesn't happen to a work-at-home mom!).  Anyhow, he was on his way out with my daughter, taking her skiing for the afternoon.  Joy...5 straight, uninterrupted hours of sewing.  I was getting a quilt UPS today that needs to be done next, so I didn't have another client quilt to do all day.  You know what that means.  Yup, sewing just for me.  My favorite.

I have been muddling right along with my silk top.  Until today, that is.  Go figure.  Whenever I have too much time to sew, I always find a way to mess that up.  I had it all together up to the dark brown octagon, and was starting to make the triangle pieces.  They were supposed to be a pieced/scrappy look from 3 tan and gold fabrics.  I stitched a bunch of these together to discover how very much I hated the scrappy look and the tan fabrics with the quilt.  Wouldn't you know!... So, initially I figured I'd be ordering/purchasing more green fabric to do the triangles in green (when all else fails, think green.  Green fixes everything!), but I couldn't remember which green I had.   Being frugal, I didn't want to order 2 shades of green to find out which one I had a half yard of!  Then I realized I had light blue, and it seemed like I even had enough of it.  When I staged the light blue next to the chartreuse smaller triangles, I was unsure that I liked it, but since I had the fabric, I was going with it anyways.  Turns out, I do need a quarter yard anyhow, but I did manage to get 6 of the 8 baby blue/chartreuse triangles made.  Lucky for me Lady Fingers sells quarter yards!  That's easier than trekking around town looking.

In the end, I think I may have stumbled upon a color combination that I like better than any I  have auditioned.  It's more cohesive.  I must admit, I am not a fan of blue and brown together, but the yellowy greens temper that feeling.  The other plus is that the quilting will be so pretty on the soft and light blue.  Quilting is always prettier and more evident on lighter colors.  Like I needed a reason to purchase a couple cones of light blue silk thread :-)

It is coming along, as you can see.  The jury is definitely out on whether or not to interface.  While the fabric still feels soft and silky, the joints are a tad thicker.  I had a few that I needed to really match well, and several others that I am covering with decorative diamonds (so I can cut away the bulk from behind).  The interfacing does not keep the pieces from stretching if they are bias because it is a knit interfacing. Once the blocks are made, though, it does help them to hold their shape.  The thing that the interfacing does that annoys me is this.  It makes it hard to press the seams without wanting to use too much iron heat.  The polyester doesn't want to press down like the silk does.  Small challenges. 

All in all, it is outside of my typically-chosen and preferred color palate, but it is growing on me.  I love green and gravitate towards it and purple.  I think the green will win me over, even though it has brown on it!

Silk!!

Remember these?

Well, I am happy to report that I got to spend a day on that euphoric high after completing Lynette's quilt.  I actually cut into the silk.  That said, I can also say that I must have found some design inspiration as well.  I won't bore you all with the many perturbations I went through to get to this point.  It has rotated a couple times, had some color switches.  In fact, the outer border isn't this shade of blue at all in my final rendition.  It  has the smokier shade of blue.

Aha...here it is.  I found it.  This is just a little bit softer than the one above.  I probably don't have enough of that lighter aqua (as Murphy always comes to visit me), so we'll see when I get closer to that point.

Despite all my efforts to make this be a little smaller, it would appear to be about 60" square.  I was challenged because I really want to include many of the gorgeous shades of the silk.  In person, they are so pettable and yummy.  The beauty of it, however, is that the piecing is larger, and will not take as long.  Unfortunately, it has a good bit of paper piecing, which I really don't love.  I'll get over that.  I am seriously vowing that this WILL NOT take 9 months to complete the top!  So far, I have the 28" central diamond done and stitched together.  The picture below is of it when it was still in pieces, but you can get the idea of how pretty the silk is. 

As beautiful as this silk is (and trust me, it is more pretty when quilted), it's not the easiest fabric to work with.  Slippery, shifty, and sensitive to water spotting (so I am told) - so no starching it to hell and back to whip it into submission.  Before I cut into it, (months ago in fact), I emailed Jenny Lyon because I knew she'd worked with the silk Radiance a bit.   If you aren't familiar with Jenny's quilts, you should be.  She's a domestic quilter and does divine work.   Anyways, she told me about interfacing the silk with Pellon Bi-Stretch Lite interfacing.  It really does not alter the hand of the silk, so the fabric is still soft and thin-feeling.  Other light-weight interfacings can pucker the fabric, but this does not.  My primary feedback is that it is wicked expensive - $7.30 per yard and it is only 20" wide!  I have been lucky to get it at Joann's on a 50% off coupon, but still that makes it more expensive than the silk fabric (which was largely only about $5/yard!).    I predict that it will probably take 12-15 yards of this interfacing to do the entire quilt, assuming I use it on all the borders.  One other drawback is that it makes seams just a little thicker.  I have noticed that on this particular design where the acute points come together, there is more bulk than I really like (or can match to my liking).  I'm getting around this by appliqueing a diamond over the joint, and then cutting out the bulk.  It's just how my pea-brain thinks...I used to be such a meticulous piecer.  Or I should say "I used to be a very neat piecer".  Now with my limited time, I am a piecer who has to spend wasteful time thinking up coverup alternatives to my errors.  Whatever works.  In the end, this will.

Stay tuned...I have one baby quilt to do Monday & Tuesday, and I will work a little on the next 12 blocks this week.

The largest Custom I have ever done

When I thought that my Big Green Dresdens quilt (yes, it's about to get a more respectable name before the spring shows are here) was the largest custom I'd ever do, I was wrong.  I just finished quilting Marianne Elizabeth's Amaretto Cottage for Lynette, and this beastie is a whopping 20% larger!  It measured 112" square before I started quilting!   Because of it's massive size, the only place I have big enough for it is my longarm.  All pictures taken of it will chop off large sections since my hallway is only about 7' across.  You can look at the link for Lynette's blog to see other pictures of this quilt.

One thing I can rely on when I receive a quilt from Lynette is how impeccably it is pieced.  I did a Patriots & Petticoats quilt for her last year, so I am familiar with how meticulously she pieces her blocks.  Even the sections of blocks are so well pieced.  The quilt laid flatter than most quilts I make (and you know what a stickler I am for my piecing).  I knew that it was all in my hands to make the quilt look good, because Lynette had most definitely done her job already.  Talk about nerve wracking.

The quilt does not disappoint, in my humble opinion.  I set out to quilt this with a few simple goals.  For me, sampler-style quilts can be discontinuous and difficult to meld into a cohesive quilt.  They are made from many different fabrics.  Although the blocks are repeated 4 times in this quilt, they are of all different constructions - some are a 4-patch, some are a 5-patch, and some are things different still.  As a quilter, these differences make it hard to select a stencil that works for all blocks, or choose a design that works uniformly for all blocks.  I do not care for the look of quilting each block differently, just to say that you custom quilted each block.  I feel strongly that these different sampler blocks need to be melded into one quilt through the quilting.  You can see how I did this on her Patriots & Petticoats quilt with a feathered wreath.  This would have worked nicely here too, but I just wanted to do something different.  

 So I got sketching and here's what I came up with.  The shape reminds me of a Christmas ornament or bauble.  The feathering within them has so much movement.  I'm really pleased with the look.  It is different and effective.  It also allows me to do the curved cross-hatching that provides terrific texture against the multitude of feathers.  These fabrics are lovely, and frilly, and floral - just screaming for lots of feathers.

 You will notice that I don't shy away from quilting outside of the lines.  If you only fill the "blocks" of the quilt, then you are left with a rather mundane framework for your quilting.  That is not to imply that the quilt is mundane.  It is anything but that, but to quilt inside of a bunch of log cabin blocks would deprive me of all kinds of great options!  Despite the florally and feminime fabrics, the quilt is largely linear.  To offset this, I quilted the scalloped feathery swags between the sampler blocks.  I allowed the swags to flow down into the green border.  These should hang off the edge of the bed and look lovely.

Lynette sent a Hobbs Tuscany wool batt for this quilt.  That is partly why the feathery relief is so nice.  It shows the texture of the quilting so  much better than cotton.    I used three colors of Glide thread - most of the quilt is in a gold that coordinates with the fabrics.  There is also a little bit of pale green and light purple. 

 I was pretty glad today when I got down to just this center 18" purple square!  I had basted it off and left it since I knew it would not be stitched in the gold thread (which 90% of the quilt was stitched with).  In fact, I think I used over 2 miles of thread on this quilt!  I'm telling you, it is BIG.

 As you go from border to border, some are stitched in a semi-traditional manner where the stitching stays in the border, and some are just more avant garde.  I hope the creative approach is appreciated. It moves the eye all over the quilt.

I have a few shots of the back too, since they show the quilting superbly.  The backing is a soft lavender solid, despite appearing grayish in the photos.  This shows the scalloped border, and where the sampler blocks are.  But from the back, you are left wondering what the front might look like!

Here is one corner.  I LOVE this shot.  The texture is amazing.  Feathers are just a beautiful form, and bring this to life.

 Here's the center, rotated 45 degrees...  You can get a good look at the 1st border that quilts through the smaller sampler blocks - it has large egg & dart (semi-circles) filled with feathers, then a row of scallops & more feathers.  And then some curling feathers.  Hmmm...did I quilt too many feathers?  Na - no such thing!

This will be flying its way home to Lynette later this week.  I truly hope she loves it as much as I do.   I will treat myself to a day of playing with that tantalizing pile of silk Radiance I showed last week.  Believe it or not, I may have a plan.  Either way, I will take scissors to the fabric tomorrow!

Seeking inspiration

...but finding nothing.  My brain is taxed and empty.  I am finding little to no creativity no matter where I look.  And I find it frustrating.  I have all but finished up the 2 show quilts that need to be done by month's end.  I am puttering with the mosaic floor quilt started last summer.  But I have this luscious stack of Radiance half-yards that I am itching to work with.  There is something so gorgeous about how silk quilts, and I just want to be quilting these.  I want it NOW.  Therein lies the problem!

I did design (and start, sigh) a quilt using these.  I got so far as to make about 2 dozen quarter circles.  I just am not in love with the plan, and don't wish to continue.  I find myself drawn in too many directions with this fabric.  It is a little bit slippery and stretchy to work with.  The wise person in me thinks it smart not to overdesign complexity into the quilt.  I suspect it may be a bit harder to nicely align all the points, and if there are lots of straight lines, then they might be hard to maintain during the quilting.  

I have sketched several things.  Just last night, I drew out a companion to this quilt.  Scroll down for a full quilt shot.  I love the look of the interlocking lines.  That satisfies my innate need to make things that appear complex.  In the case of working with the silk, I fear it would be rather complex, and maybe would not come out as desired.  I have pondered going very simple, and allowing the quilting to take the front stage.  But that plan leaves my analytical side feeling underwhelmed.  Yes, sadly, I am one of those people that has strongly conflicting left and right brains.  I can be very artistic, as in the quilting, but I need a delicate balance of both to feel satisfied.  Plus, I want all the tones of the gorgeous fabric to be used, so how to do that "simply" mystifies me.

I have thought about doing a traditional design, but twisted.  I like the Birds in the Air and Orange Peel designs.  I'm not sure I am committed to doing the hand applique using the silk that the Orange Peel would require.  

When I see the fabrics, I think fall...as in Autumn.  Yet, I really don't know how to appropriately incorporate that into the piecing.

My latest whim for a design concept is a complete whim for me.  How about a strata quilt?  It would be easy to incorporate all the fabrics.  I could free piece this, and not have to worry about matching points and seams (within reason).  But then that concept has obvious concerns too...is it complex enough to enter into shows, and receive any respect?  How would I quilt it?  I would have to make sure that some of the pieces were large enough to enable a nice development of quilting designs.

I know that when the design is right, it will flow forth from my mind like warm molasses.  The Giverny quilt I showed initially (with the interlocking) was designed in only a couple weeks, and made in 1-2 months.  No messing around there.  So why is my brain overthinking this one so much?

Snowflake Wall Quilt

I quilted this 41" wall-hanging last week.  It is pieced from Fairy Frost materials, a mystery blue-black background and a black batik border.  Quilting on black is definitely not for the faint-sighted, as it takes a ton of concentration.

 I quilted the border on the black and part of the curved-crosshatching with a Wonderfil silver metallic thread.  It is my all time favorite for metallics.  It is smooth and never gives an issue with the machine.  But, quilting with a starkly contrasting color gives me hives, so I chose to limit it to just outlining the key motif.  The rest of the detail would have to show with the relief of the quilting.  This piece has wool and 80/20 batts to help with that job.

 I quilted wonderful swirling and undulating feathers into all four corners.  They are so much fun to stitch out.

As you can see, the client chose a black backing fabric (more hives).  I use a white bobbin with my silver and clear thread, and it shows most prominently.  It shows every good and bad stitch.   Not my favorite thing, but part of this job.

 This shows the piecing, and how it is really done with 4 or 5 different Fairy Frost materials.  There is an ever-so subtle change of color here.  And I stitched in the center with silver.

 There are several small fills stitched out in black Glide thread.  The dense fillers help to make the feathery details pop out.  Little swirls, flames, bananas, pebbles...maybe more.

The client told me to be careful with using the piecing as a reference because some of it was off a little bit.  I hope that the "overlay" style of quilting helps to hide this.  I like to make a design for the quilting that is different, yet one that enhances the piecing.

Though I spent 2-3 hours longer on this than I budgeted, it is just the kind of project I love.  It had a well and easily defined design.  I quickly got my head into the work, and couldn't care less that it was going long on the budget.  I knew that I was creating something I would love in the end.  That is what it is all about.   It's the kind of project that you can practically see the end right from the beginning.  Love that.

Right now, I am 3-1/2 days into the polar opposite quilt.  The one on my frame now is enormous.  It is equally as detailed in it's own and different way.  I am still wondering what day I will catch a glance at the bottom border, and I know that even when I do, I will still have a few more days finishing places here and there that I left empty.  Huge quilts are not for the faint at heart, or those like me that need instant gratification.  Harder than that, while this has been on the frame, eight new quilts have come in, and I have received numerous inquiries.  I need a clone of me to work at night when I sleep to make a feeble attempt at keeping up!  I'm not a fan of being behind, or feeling like I am behind...even when I am not really behind.  It's like my perfect world would be to get a new quilt the day one is picked up!  But the world doesn't work that way - as someone told me earlier, it sucks much worse to have no quilts in the cupboard than to have too many!

Sweet Flannel Baby Quilt

As many of you know, I don't get very many really simple quilts.  I seem to quilt one custom after another, which does get tiring.  It's a mental game.  Sometimes it really is nice to have a quilt that is just not calling for the "over the top" custom treatment.  Erin sent me this baby quilt.  It's (give or take) 45"x55", and is made from the nicest flannel fabrics.  She did a nice job on the appliques.  She asked for something a little simpler, as overquilting the flannel would have made it stiff.

I still wanted to make the quilt as cute as possible - childlike and sweet.  I have done several quilts like this one, with a scene at the top of a pieced section.  I knew that the spray of free-flowing feathers would look great -- kind of like the wind above the characters.  Dontcha just love the whim of the chick's wings (especially #3!)?!

The pup needed a little something else, so he got a collar with a heart.

 And each of the three puppies sitting (or sleeping) within the section of squares, got an alphabet block to perch on.  This treatment seemed fun and whimsical when I did it, and has brought me SO many comments from my facebook buddies about how great it looks.  I really love sleepy here...

 You can see the blocks a little better from the backside.  

 It's not exactly an edge-to-edge by a longshot, and it's not exactly simple.  But the design ideas flowed out of me like a faucet on this quilt so it just came together easier, simpler, faster.  Struggling on what to quilt takes time and energy, and I love it when that does not happen.  Hopefully the owner will like it as much as I do :-)

I took yesterday off to putter on my mosaic floor quilt.  I have a 112" custom staring me in the face, and I decided I needed a couple days to get it loaded and review my plans, rather than diving right into the quilting of it yesterday.  Go figure, the day you take off from quilting is the day you receive 2 more custom quilts to quilt!  Talk to you soon...