There are several quilt groups that meet in our city, these quilts are a result of one of the groups doing a mystery quilt project .
Both of these quilts were fun to add my touch to. This first one with its trains and the steam coming from the engine on the backing made me think of swirls…bear with my imagination…
Also adding a curvy or swirly quilting design over angular piecing is pleasing to the eye.
I love how this backing adds a fun touch to this quilt esp with the purple in the steam coordinating with the quilt top.
The same quilt, different colours…so soft looking.
The backing is a winter scene, I chose the pantograph Star Swirl playing on the idea of winter night with swirling snow and a starry night…the curvy quilting with some points also works so nicely on angular piecing.
Both quilts were trimmed and ready for binding at pick up.
Many of my customers ask me to choose the quilting design for their quilts. More often than not as soon as I look at a quilt top I know how I want to quilt it.
My initial thought was wow, I love all of the colours in this quilt, how fun!! On closer inspection of the fabrics…all batiks had various shapes ranging from bubbles, dots, curls, swirls, flowers and leaves and more.
The pantograph Waterworld came to mind initially which surprised me to be honest as it’s one that I often use on baby or children’s quilts.
The more I thought about it, as I prepared the quilt for loading onto my Longarm, (which involves pressing the top and in this case piecing the backing) the backing colour confirmed my choice.
The next decision was thread colour, the fabric used in the border and sashing initially read black but it is actually a very dark blue with hints of a softer blue, choosing a baby blue thread worked perfectly.
The thread plays really well across all of the colours, there is some contrast on the border and sashing however it isn’t enough to jump out at you.
I began piercing my Postage Stamp quilt in January… personal piecing time is at a premium these days which is one of the reasons that I chose this project.
It does at times make a bit of a mess in my already at times messy looking studio but then creativity can be messy!
My piecing time is usually after I turn the Longarm off for the night… and allow myself an hour or so to play.
The project began by cutting strips of scraps 1 1/2” and sewing them together alternating with Kona White until I had 9 strips together and then cut those units into 1 1/2” strips. Playing with so many different fabrics was where the mess was mostly made… this was followed with evenings of putting together groups of 9 strips with the rule of no same fabrics in a block.
Once I had enough 9 strip units together I tucked away the strips etc into a tote…until the next time I needed to put the 9 strip units together.
I find it relaxing to have some simple sewing to do and this project fills that need right now. I haven’t decided how big to make this quilt or who might want it…or should it be made into smaller quilts…it will come to me at some point.
I counted the blocks the other day and I have 53 finished.
When Darlene brought me these two quilts made with her Mothers house dresses it very quickly brought to mind my Grandma who we lovingly referred as to Grandma on the farm (my other Grandma was in the city)
Anyways my Grandma and many Women of her generation wore house dresses and saved their “good clothes” for when company came or they were going out. Anyways this job brought happy memories.
There are two quilts in this picture. Darlene chose the pantograph Two of Hearts…(an often requested design) as these quilts were made as a gift for family.
Some of the fabrics were seersucker… more memories of childhood clothes!
The backing fabric is the softest flannel, so nice to work with!
Her quilts were trimmed and ready for binding when they were picked up.
I saw a reel on Instagram for the Holland Pouch by Center Street Quilts and liked it so much that I bought the pattern!
The pattern has three different sizes, it’s well written and is easy to follow.
I had fun playing with scraps and also quilting it with my Juki. The Zippers by the yard with fun pulls a fantastic to work with.
I love how this one turned out…
This led to making a smaller pouch to match…
And an even smaller one…
Not pictured is the fourth even smaller one.
The Holland Pouch was so much fun I made another one…
My little sewing buddy Kaija and I have been busy making pouches when she has been here this summer… we made a Holland Pouch first (not yet pictured) then this week a smaller pouch. She loves the idea of making smaller ones so that will be next week’s project!
A few weeks before our big trip I wanted to finish up a quilt for the Motorhome…I had one in mind that I had begun making in 2019 it started out as a kit from Craftsy back when they had their own fabric lines.
My customer quilts take priority for the most part over my personal projects especially the ones that I have pieced just for fun with no particular plan in mind for them.
The top had been completed as per the kit however it wasn’t big enough, thankfully I had collected some of the fabrics and had some scraps in my stash.
It was a generous twin size to begin with so it needed more blocks, I had almost enough of the background fabric and in the end I added in some solid white in a few of the blocks.
I also used the fabric that I had planned for backing for the borders.
I had some left over blue backing from a quilt of my Moms that I had quilted for her and used that for both the containment border and binding.
Adding some fun I chose the pantograph Bubbles for the quilting design. The backing is a wide back full of friendship quotes.
I truly believed that I would have time to stitch the binding on our trip and I did work on it here and there and did finally finish it before we got home…
Spring in Thunder Bay has arrived and I always enjoy watching the greens evolve in our yard. We arrived home just in time.
We/ mostly Erik have been busy in the yard and I have been busy in my studio.
Jen brought me her first quilt, we chose the pantograph Forest Floor adding to its outdoorsy cabin look. (It is a gift meant to be used in her friend’s camp…( in Thunder Bay cottages and cabins are referred to as Camps)
Jen’s quilt was trimmed and ready for binding at pick up!
Now a little more about our recent adventure
St Augustine is known for being the oldest City in the US. We both drank from the fountain of youth!
We chose to stay in KOA campgrounds for the most part as it made planning the trip a little easier and also because for the most part you know what to expect.
Our next stop was in Bradenton Florida for a night. This KOA was on a farm and was so interesting to walk and cycle around.
Many of the campgrounds had cabins and covered wagons to rent for those without an RV.
The next morning we were headed to Bonita Springs where we had booked a one week stay at Bonita Terra. We have friends who spend the winter there and it was so nice to visit with them and to check out a 55plus resort.
We had the use of a golf cart!! I loved driving that around though I especially loved being able to walk my 10,000 steps in the morning on the shady sides of the canal roads.
The pool area and club house we are lot of fun!
We spent time exploring Fort Myers and Marco Island as well as Bonita Springs.
This Banyan Tree was amazing! I can picture children having a lot of fun playing around and climbing a tree like this.
I was sad to leave this area of Florida but also excited to experience and see our upcoming destinations.
On our way to our next Campground (Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park and Campground in south Miami) we drove through the Florida Everglades.
Our morning view is in Hinckley MN today. We arrived settled in, had supper and went to bed early with a full day planned ending with being home!
It’s been a little over six weeks that we have been on our adventure… it is so nice waking up to sunshine this morning after a full day of driving in the rain. I am not complaining as we had almost perfect weather on this trip.
I brought my travel machine and some little projects just in case however our days were full and the only sewing I did was to stitch the binding on our camper quilt…even that isn’t finished but it’s close and I will share more about this quilt soon.
This is the third scrappy quilt of Marilyn’s that I quilted before our big adventure!
It’s so much fun to see how she utilizes her stash and makes wonderful scrappy quilts…also so inspiring!
I used the pantograph Tickle Two to bring the three layers of her quilt together.
I especially love the way the design shows on the backing that reads as a solid along with the beautiful stitches.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post we have been on a bit of an adventure!
We left home in our Motorhome on March 20th and have put on 9140 kilometres so far…we are in Clear Lake Iowa this morning, after visiting the Surf Ballroom yesterday.
Today we head to Hinckley MN and then home on Friday. It’s been an amazing trip, which I will start blogging about once we are settled in again.
I will also be back to full time Longarm Quilting for all of my wonderful, encouraging and patient customers!
As a long time quilter and lover of quilting fabric I have acquired over the years a wonderful collection…one that continues to grow I might add…actually I have grown it a little this last month and will probably add a little more next week.
Watch for my upcoming posts as I share what I have been up to for the last month or so!!
Anyways, I noticed this morning that Tara Faughnan has released her Sunny pattern! This was such a fun month of the Color Collective that I took part in and the pattern has so many possibilities of fun with your stash and a great way to learn a different technique of paper piecing that doesn’t involve removing or wasting paper.
The collective was so much fun for someone like me…. Each month receiving a colour palette of Tara’s choosing and a pattern to play with…it felt a little like being a child back in my childhood and getting fresh new crayons with blank paper to create with!
Onto sharing some scrappy fun!
Marilyn has been inspiring me for many years with her use of her stash…I have two customers named Marilyn who are on a mission of playing with and using stash!! Which means so much fun to someone like me!
Some times simplicity of piecing is a great way to play and use scraps with a beautiful quilt as a result!
Adding some easy piecing that allows for some colour pops into the border really added more fun!
Marilyn told me that she ordered the backing online and that it was a sheet! It was perfect and so easy to work with and the result really made for a two sided quilt!
Using the design A Little Bit of This was another layer of fun adding a layer of soft density and visual pleasure to her quilt.
Of course it left trimmed and ready for binding then gifting.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 