Friday, September 27, 2013

BJ's Mystery Quilt

I believe this was our New Year's Eve Mystery from 2012.
It's quilted with a lime green thread and a freehand daisy and leaf design. BJ doesn't like quilting designs that look like patterns, she prefers the freehand open leafy sort of thing so that's what I do for her!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Monday, September 23, 2013

Handkerchief Finish

Janice's quilt is ready for her to collect when she returns from vacation.
 I found my camera so I took new photos and they depict the colors more accurately.
 Lots of cross hatching, I wish I had been able to use a template but I could not find a one inch size and the 1.5" was too large. I did locate a couple of one inch grid  templates online so I will be ordering that to have on hand.
 It was a big job so it feels good to have it completed, I know that Janice is anxious to see it.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Handkerchief Quilts

This book by Sharon Newman is the guide Janice used to construct a quilt using her mother's vintage hankies. Published in 1992,  it is "out of print" so I was rather shocked at some of the prices I found while looking online for a copy for myself- I think $300 is outrageous! Argh! I really wanted my own copy so  I let my fingers do the walking around the internet and found one on eBay from an Aussie vendor that cost me about $27 US. including shipping. A deal, right? Now I have no excuse not to make a quilt from my Mum's hankies.
Janice asked me to quilt her top and wanted it quilted the same as the design she used from the book,  in which all but two blocks are crosshatched.
First row, fairly straight forward..........
second row, 
one odd hankie here, a lacy silky fabric, not much use as a handkerchief, I would guess merely for decoration.
I am on the third row now.
This block did not get crosshatching, just a little outline around some of the flowers to anchor it so it won't "pouf" up! 

Here is another of the lacy ones, a souvenir  piece. I think I won't like off -white thread on this, it will show up too much so I plan to switch to a red thread. 
Two more rows and the bottom border, then the side borders. Because the borders are large and the quilting is a larger curving feather I plan to turn the quilt to do the other two borders. This is my week with The Boy, so not as much quilting gets done, but it should be a cinch to get this one finished by next week. 

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Finished Floorplan!

This one came off the longarm last night. 
 My new camera is "missing", haven't seen it since we returned from CO. and the phone isn't producing such nice photos, just can't get true color and can't see the quilting. The background of the quilt is a gingko leaf White On White.
 The quilting design is hard to see in this photo..........
 better in this close up............
 even better from the back view. A high quality premium muslin seemed suitable for the back.
 The batting is Quilter's Dream, it was whiter than the Hobbs Heirloom, and the thread is white also.
The Circle Lord "Swirls" turned out well and appropriate for this more modern quilt design.


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

BJ's Scrappy Squares Quilt

This was done yesterday........
I thought that the Swirls from Circle Lord would look really cool on this quilt but BJ wouldn't allow it, said it was "too modern a design" for her!
 She did allow me to freehand quilt the peacock feathers. I used a Valdani variegated thread and BJ brought me Warm And Natural batting.
 The backing is also pieced, of course! Tomorrow I am sewing with BJ at Jacki's so I will deliver it to her then, I hope she likes it.