The Adirondack Quilt

Kathy brought me an Adirondack-themed quilt. She designed this quilt for a cabin in the Adirondacks. It’s for a bed made from whole logs!  The main part of the quilt has blocks with loons, bears, trees, fish and deer; the outer border of the quilt has star blocks. It’s going to look perfect on that log bed.  I really wanted the quilting to highlight the piecing and applique work.

Here are some of the individual blocks and stars:

I was still working on this loon block when I took this picture. I really wanted the applique to stand out, and the quilting to be subtle. I used Invisafil thread around the edge of the applique, to create the wing texture, and to create the water movement.

Loons are interesting; they almost look like they have curved cross-hatching on their backs in “real life”:

The real loon looks a little more busy than the appliqued loon!

Next, a tree block:

The applique has a satin stitch all the way around. Using Invisafil thread, which is very fine, I quilted at the very edge of the satin stitch.  Then, using a soft gold Invisafil thread, I added the tree shapes in the background (they’re actually much straighter than in this picture, which is a little distorted).

Star blocks:

I stitched in the ditch for each star, and added detail in the center square. Each block is different. Again, I used Invisafil in colors that matched.

Lots of fun with this quilt, and it’s going to look great in that cabin!

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A Little Historical Quilting

My daughter and I went to Genesee Country Village and Museum today. It’s a large living history museum, and the third-largest collection of historic buildings in the US. There are homes, barns, churches, school houses, stores and other building from the 1800s, arranged in a village setting, and filled with so many artifacts: furniture, clocks, cookware, floor coverings, and of course, quilts.

But wait, there’s more. There are people in the buildings, wearing clothing from the era of the building, while they demonstrate trades, crafts, cooking or agriculture. And there are quilts in almost all of the houses.

There was even a community quilting bee. Here I am doing some hand quilting on a whole-cloth quilt:

The homes from the late 1800s had sewing machines from the era:

This house did not have electricity. So the machine is set by the window.

My daughter took the pictures. Thanks, Andrea!

 

Scrap or stash?

When there’s leftover fabric, is it a scrap or part of the stash?

I have two nice cabinets that I store my stash in. And the scraps have all been crammed into a basket that’s kinda bigger than a breadbox. Then it got really full and I needed a good idea.

I found this post by Lori Holt over at Bee In My Bonnet, and just had to share. I love that she calls the resulting quilt a bonus quilt, rather than a scrap quilt. So, the next time I am straightening up the sewing room, I am going to try her method.

Another blue and white block

I’m really enjoying working on this blue and white “Metroscope” quilt. It reminds me of blue and white china…

 

And I guess you won’t quite see the similarity until I show you the entire quilt! That will be soon.

I’m using the quilting ruler that’s a companion to the Quick Curve ruler. The curved lines really work together:

WIP Wednesday

This is a blue and white quilt, doing some experimenting with this one:

I will post more pictures when it’s done.

Not A Quilt: Andrea’s Placemats

My daughter made these placemats and napkins as a wedding gift. I just love them. A little elegant, a little whimsical:

The lining is quite clever. She used some “blockout” fabric – the stuff that’s used as a drapery liner.  It’s got just enough body for this application.  She got everything at JoAnn’s.

Nancy’s Baby Quilt

Nancy brought me this sweet baby quilt for an all-over meander. I love how these soft colors flow!

 

I used Invisafil on the top, and Bottom Line on the bottom. Here’s a closeup of some of the blocks:

Kathy’s Tradewinds Quilt

Kathy made this Tradewinds quilt (pattern here) for her friend, who loves, loves, loves purple. And purple she is gonna get!

This is the first quilt I’ve done with Quilter’s Dream 70/30 batting. I really liked working with it. I did feathers all over the main part of the quilt, using an Invisafil thread:

She added a wide border at the bottom of the quilt; I quilted some swirling feathers there, using Glide thread:

And here’s the finished quilt, draped over the landing:

Amy’s lap quilt

Amy made this lap quilt from her stash of Civil War reproduction fabrics. I used 2 layers of an 80/20 batting, and Invisafil thread. I did feather wreaths:

And some fun stuff in the center squares (ignore those threads!):

Amy’s piecing is impeccable.

Ready to Quilt!

After 23 years of quilting on my Bernina 1030 (love that machine), I am moving up to an A-1 longarm.  I now have a studio in the basement (thanks, honey!) with a lovely lavender wall.

I like to piece quilts, but my true love is quilting. I am really looking forward to quilting for others!