The story of this lovely Christmas quilt really makes me smile!
It was pieced by a longtime and expert quilter, which I could tell by her piecing. I have quilted other quilts of hers as well.
Sadly (and of course not why it makes me smile) she began developing dementia as this one was being completed and is no longer able to quilt.
The part that makes me smile is that her family has chosen to finish her quilts so that they will be used and enjoyed.
There was a lot of bulk in some of the areas where the corners met and I didn’t want to add any distraction to the piecing/design of the quilt with the quilting. I chose the pantograph Bayside for its soft flow…I also love how it plays so nicely with the candy cane backing!
This quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
I love summer and this year we had, at least in my opinion, lovely weather.
Unfortunately for the bears and for our community the weather we had did not produce a great crop of berries for the bears!
So what is a hungry bear to do, especially when it’s time to fatten up and get ready to hibernate…they do love apples and so we had a visitor. The city and area has had far more visiting bears than usual!
Neighbours up the road from us have had a Momma and her three cubs hanging around for a few weeks. I suspect this one is one of the cubs and spent the day returning to our tree despite our presence.
We usually wait until after the first frost to pick the apples but choose to pick them that day…so it’s back to making apple juice again.
On the quilting front this Bear in the Tree quilt recently left the studio. It was quilted using the design Star Swirl and I stopped around the appliqués in order to allow them to pop. (They were outlined and minimally quilted in order to keep the density similar to the background)
The quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up.
I often don’t have the name of the pattern used to piece the customer quilts that I work on and this is one of them.
My customer chose the quilting design Lovely for her quilt…hence the name. I agree, it’s a lovely quilt 😊
Sometimes and in this case I see a design used by another quilter and add it to my collection, and in this case it came from my quilting friend Louisa. https://louisaenright.com
Louisa has been inspiring me in many ways for several years now!
We both quilt and often share design ideas. She is also my friend who really inspired me to play with Tara Faughnan, who if you follow me know that I have a lot of fun playing with colour palettes and patterns from.
Back to this quilt, the design was chosen by my customer and was a perfect choice adding the softness of curves to strong angular piecing.
I chose the thread colour, and especially love that the design shows so beautifully on the back of the quilt.
Like most quilts that I work on her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up.
Green is a colour often associated with Ireland aka the Emerald Isle. So what better colour to use for an Irish Chain Quilt!
This one was lovingly pieced by my customer as a gift for her daughter. (who loves green!)
We chose the quilting design Nocturne Feathers, a fairly new addition to my collection and an additional design by Bethanne Nemesh.
My customer and I met at the local fabric store to find a backing for this quilt and we found a perfect brighter green for the backing ☘️
As a side note, if you are purchasing backing yardage it’s a good idea to have an idea of how much you will need for your quilt as sometimes staff at a fabric store perhaps aren’t quilters so aren’t aware of the calculations. Shops that specialize in quilting generally do know and are a great resource. I am also happy to help with the calculations so you end up with the right amount.
Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
If you have been reading this blog for sometime or following me elsewhere you may recall the tree runners that I quilted a couple of years ago…
Well this summer I had the opportunity to add my quilting to another of this customers work. This time for a more summery runner that will be displayed on her table in a cottage that is being built in Quebec.
Some quilting jobs I find the need to marinate ideas for a while and this was one was one of them. My ideas usually wake me in the middle of the night and then I know! This job was no exception.
I knew that my customer wanted my freehand quilting in the background. It is a fun way to quilt once you get past the beginning which can feel a little intimidating!
When discussing this type of quilting with others, I always say that it’s the whole picture that others see not just the early beginnings and small areas of your quilting, if that makes sense.
Playing with design ideas and doodling on a white board with a plan really helps. Sometimes I will even write a list of de-sign elements that I want to include in my quilting. Other than that I let myself play.
I do however start with a little practice piece on the side.
Before beginning this runner I added faux trapunto under the flowers…I loaded batting as a backing onto the longarm and then outlined the flowers with stitching…this is where water soluble thread could be used however not wanting to wet a customer project I used regular thread.
All of the batting was trimmed away from the flowers.
This along with minimal quilting on the flowers allowed them to pop a bit especially with the background fill around them.
I will share pictures when they arrive of this runner bound and photographed in its home. For now I share this video of where my work I left off.…
This is the second quilt from my customer who also made the Log Cabin quilt in my previous post. Her piecing is certainly inspiring and also encouraging as I too hope to be piecing well into my eighties!
We chose the quilting design Bayside. I have different sizes of this design and used the larger one for this quilt. It has a wave like appearance (playing on the storm at sea) with a lovely density for a quilt that will be snuggled under.
I absolutely fell in love with this quilt top and backing…I do love blue!
The binding was provided by the quilt maker and so her quilt was trimmed and binding attached ready for hand stitching at pick up!
It’s no secret to my family and friends that I love the colour blue and this blue and white log cabin really made my heart sing!
Not only was this quilt perfectly pieced, my customer proudly told me that she is 88 yrs old. Blue is also her favourite colour…she drove here in her beautiful blue Subaru…a very inspiring woman for sure!
I chose the quilting design Waterworld which added the density I prefer for a wall hanging … not only that it really adds fun visual appeal..
My customer provided the binding ready to attach so not only was her quilt trimmed but with the binding attached it was ready for some relaxing hand stitching to complete her project.
August felt like it passed in a blink of an eye…it really didn’t though and was a full and fantastic month of yes quilting but also family, friends, travel, fun, great weather and laughter!
This is one of the quilts that left the studio trimmed and ready for binding and in the busyness of August it wasn’t photographed fully. It was true eye candy so I am sorry to have missed its photo shoot as it’s always fun to share!
That said, it’s also a reflection of summer and allowing myself time to enjoy life!
Nothing shows more, how quickly time passes by than grandchildren! Those who follow me will remember Liam. Look at him now!
He is really going somewhere with his soccer…which is partly why I don’t see him as much. He has also just started high school.
Liam’s sister and our youngest grandchild celebrated her first birthday…
Liam joined us for our annual Wisconsin Dells trip. Two more families joined us this year making it a busier and fun filled week!…
After the Dells we had a solid week of grand-parenting!
Minka spent the last week of August with me…she is so creative so of course we had a lot of fun playing together!
That Friday evening was spent with Minka and her Sister Romee…after dinner we walked over to my Dad and brothers for a visit.
The next morning we were off to Lac De Mille Lac for a weekend at Erik’s oldest family camp. It was a fun and full weekend and great way to finish us a fantastic summer!
Grayson has been wanting his Pappa to come for a few years now to go fishing and finally this summer it happened! They caught fish and Grayson learnt to clean fish and I taught him how I cook it!
Now that the kids are back to school and this Grandma is rested up, I will start sharing more on the quilting side of life!
How was your summer? Our weather shifted this week from hot to needing the furnace on…
I love waking up very early and I especially love very early morning walks esp in the summer!
Just before I woke up this morning I had a very realistic dream that my daughter who lives in Texas was suddenly here, we had such a nice visit in my dream.
After, when I woke up I of course wished she was here and could join me for my walk…and just as it was putting on my shoes guess who called and joined me!!
Life can feel so busy and it’s so important to remember to take time for oneself.
I have been really busy with quilting for others which I am extremely thankful for, I love my job!
Quilting is also my beloved hobby and I wasn’t finding time for me…my friend Louisa suggested that I carve out an hour or so a day just for me and my quilting and guess what? Not only am I more productive with my own projects but also my customer quilts as well!
I am currently piecing Small World by Tara Faughnan along with my Postage Stamp quilt.
This Chrimson Christmas (pattern and kit by Krista Moser) was taught at a local quilt shop.
My customer chose the quilting design Bayside, it is what I call a non descript design meaning it’s a perfect background allowing the piecing design front stage! The poinsettias deserve front stage don’t they?
Side note…I love my ikea cabinets
Her quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 