December 31, 2020

Colleen's Santa Panel Quilt

By    5:24 AM // No comments

Though I have a few more customer quilts completed to show you, this will be the last post of 2020.  Considering how difficult these past 9+ months has been overall for everyone, I just want to end this year on a sweet note. 
 
My customer Colleen made this sweet Santa panel quilt for herself and asked me to add the finishing touch to it for her.
 
The vintage scene reminds me of many of the images of Santa that I remember from my childhood. She also added a couple of simple borders on the panel to make it a nice lap size. This is the "before" photo. 
 
Here it is in process on the frame.  You can see the difference the quilting makes. Glide thread in Military Gold suited the colors in then panel and border fabrics perfectly.
Colleen chose the Mittens and Ice Skates panto for this one.  Here you can see the ice skates part of the design well.
In this area you can see the mittens and the funky stars that are also part of the stitch pattern.
This is a close up of the effect of the stitching.  It truly brings this panel quilt to life.
I love, love love the cute skiing reindeer print she brought for the back. White thread was used in the bobbin instead of Red to show a bit and not just blend in.
The quilting gives the back nice texture while at the same time not taking anything away from the cute motif.
I'm glad that Colleen finally made a quilt to keep for herself.  It turned out very sweet.
I know that she's working on something new to quilt and I can't wait to see what it is.  Stay tuned.

 

December 30, 2020

Colleen's Vintage Truck Panel Quilt

By    7:23 AM // 1 comment


Between shopping, decorating, preparing for the holidays and celebrating the birthdays of both of my kids, the month of December is always extra crazy for me so now that the largest extent of the tasks are over, I can catch up with the last of the customer orders that I've quilted recently.

This is Colleen's vintage truck panel quilt.  Vintage trucks seems to be a popular theme this year.  I've seen lots of new holiday decorations with the motif.
I don't remember who she was gifting it to, but I'm sure the person is going to love it.
Before quilting.  Colleen added 2 simple borders on the panel to make it bigger.
The panel itself includes so many adorable holiday images, like the snowman and the puppy in the truck bed, helping to deliver the gifts.
Here's the on the frame, in process pic.  Isn't the little bunny so cute?  Glide thread in Candy Apple was her choice for the top thread.
Colleen chose the Snow Winds panto which showcases pretty snowflakes and point swirls.
The backing fabric is the same print as the outer border on the front.  In this photo, you can see how nicely the stitching shows on the back.  Glide thread in White was used in the bobbin.
It's great that the fabric companies are producing really wonderful panels that make it so easy for a piecer to stitch up a beautiful quilt to gift to a friend.
I just might have to search around the web to see if there are any panels that catch my eye.
 

December 16, 2020

Colleen's Blue Boxed Diamonds Quilt

By    6:20 AM // 1 comment

 This is Colleen's Blue quilt for the other nephew that I mentioned in the previous post but she used a totally different pattern. I can't say which I like better.  They're both great. 

In process. The top thread is Omni Teal and although that sounds like it would look very Green-ish, it's actually a really pretty shade of Blue which worked perfectly for this one.

I truly love how the stitching takes a pretty quilt top.....

.....and transforms it into something fabulous. Whether the stitching is simpler edge to edge designs or intense custom work, once a top is quilted, it really shines.  The panto is Calder.
     
You'll chuckle at this.....I know for a fact that I took outside final pictures of this quilt because I did it at the same time as I took the pics for the other Blue quilt...but for the life of me I can't find where I saved those pics on my desktop.  So I can't share with you the "glamour" shots.
Oh well, I'll find them eventually.  When Colleen picked up the 2 Blue quilts, she brought me 2 more tops to stitch so I'll be sharing those with you next.




December 11, 2020

Colleen's Blue Quilt

By    8:00 AM // 4 comments
To say that I've got a lot going on these days is a huge understatement. Between shopping for gifts, decorating the house (the tree's not done but everything else is), both kids' birthdays this month, my own quilt projects with deadlines, a few customer quilts and Girl Scouts....there's a lot on my plate. This morning I'm taking a few minutes before I get back into it to share another beauty recently completed for a customer.
 
Colleen brought me this pretty blue quilt to stitch up for her.  It's a gift for one of her nephews.  
I don't know what pattern she used (I might just have to ask her) but I like the way it turned out.  It has plenty of visual interest and the bits of dark tan give it the right amount of pop.
Here it is in process.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a "before" photo. She chose a pretty Glide Tar Heel thread for the front that shows just enough.  Glide in Mocha was used for the back.
Colleen chose the Modernish panto and we were both really happy with the way it helped soften the straight lines just a bit while also being a little masculine feeling.
For the backing she brought a nice subtle blue and black print that coordinated nicely with the front and was just "solid" enough that the quilting showed up somewhat.
I'm sure her nephew will love this quilt and will treasure it because she made it just for him.
Colleen brought me another quilt for another nephew to stitch so stay tuned for that reveal.
 

November 29, 2020

Susan's Sailboats Quilt

By    8:32 AM // 3 comments
My friend Susan worked on this adorable sailboat quilt for quite a while. I'd hear about it when she brought me other tops to quilt for her. I was looking forward to seeing it when it finally came my way for it's finishing touch.
    
I was excited when she called to book it on my schedule.  This is the "before" quilting photo.
 
In process.
She made this quilt for the daughter and son-in-law who own a sailboat.  Isn't it fabulous!
The Waterworld panto was her design choice. It adds the perfect feel for the pieced blocks. The batting is Quilter's Dream 80/20 which I have available to purchase for my customers.   Thread was Glide Tar Heel on the front and Sky in the bobbin.
 
The backing she brought was a solid medium blue that shows off the stitching nicely. 
 
I'm sure that the daughter and son-in-law that received this quilt were thrilled and will remind them of warmer days and beautiful breezes on the water, especially while hunkering down during our cold, snowy winters.
 
There's no doubt that Susan is working on yet another fun quilt top that will come my way for stitching at some point in the future.  I can't wait to see what it will be.

November 23, 2020

A Pair of Mask Baskets for Erica

By    5:30 AM // 4 comments
This is the last round of mask baskets I made recently. They were for my friend Erica.

Her kids love rainbows and the striped fabric was the closest I could get. I chose a pale Sage print for the outside of the first basket.
And I used the striped fabric for the lining.
For the 2nd basket, I put the striped fabric on the outside.
The lining was this fun blue print with crabs, butterflies, sea shells, star fish and sea gulls.
I'm glad that they will help them organize their masks like they have for us.  We're going to be wearing masks for a while to come so we might as well have a place to keep them.
A few of my readers have asked where I got the pattern.  The one I've been using is the Cute Storage Pod that I found on the Fabric Editions blog.  It's easy and fast.

I've completed quilting a number of quilts for customers, have a bunch of my own holiday projects to hopefully get done in time and am one of the block designers for this year's Winter Frost Countdown to Christmas quilt along on the Moda Bake Shop so stay tuned to see what's happening next.
 

November 20, 2020

Ethan's I Spy Quilt

By    4:20 PM // 10 comments
My neighbor's two year old son Ethan was recently diagnosed with a serious but treatable kidney cancer and he's currently going through chemo treatments.  I wanted to make him a quilt to cuddle with while he's at the hospital so I whipped up a cute I Spy quilt.   
I delved into my cut brick scraps and used everything I could find that wasn't Pink and girly.  In my hurry to get it completed, I forgot to snap a "before" picture before I started quilting it but I did remember to take a pic when I finished piecing the top.
As has happened before, my initial stitching design idea didn't look as I thought it would so after some trial and error to find something better, I settled on the Sprung panto and used Glide thread in Tar Heel (a favorite shade of blue).
I know that he will enjoy searching for all the fun animals, patterns and other motifs included in the blocks while waiting for each treatment to be finished.
When the binding was done, I quickly snapped these photos, folded it into a bag and walked across the street to deliver it.  His mom was shocked, to say the least, but as I told her, that's what quilters do....we make something cozy to snuggle under that bring people comfort.
The only thing I didn't already have in my stash for this quilt was an appropriate backing fabric so after a little hunting online, I was able to find this really cute construction truck print.  I was thrilled when Ethan's mom told me he's obsessed with trucks. 
A nice Navy binding completed the look.   Jammer, who's now taller than me, got the honors of holding it up for me for this picture.
Little Ethan's treatment is going well and is expected to make a full recovery but in the meantime, I'm happy that I was able to provide him a little bit of snuggly goodness along the way.

 

November 6, 2020

Susan's Vintage Truck Hunter's Star Quilt

By    11:39 AM // 6 comments

My friend Susan also made herself a Hunter's Star quilt featuring adorable vintage trucks.

While the piecing is certainly great...

...it's the actual quilting that brings the whole thing to life.
This is what it looked like before I started.  It's a pretty top but it's flat and needs it's own type of bling, thread stitched in a fabulous design.
Here it is after the stitching was finished.  It definitely has a lot more character.
Whether it's an edge to edge design, custom quilting or hand quilting, every quilt top needs the stitching to add the much needed texture to the design.
Susan's panto choice for this was Holly Berries, which is a personal favorite of mine.
The backing she provided is a matching vintage truck flannel.
The stitching design added just the right amount of highlights to the backing so the adorable print can still shine.
With our cold Northeast winters, I know this quilt will be snuggled under for many hours to come. 
I always love to see what Susan brings me to stitch up for her.  I can't wait to see what's next.
 

 

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