Made in America

I've been away from this blog for waaaaay tooooo long! But, let's see what I've been up to.

This is a Made in America embroidery designed by Claudia Dinnell. My customer spent a whole lot of time creating it. I think she used the term “nightmare.”

I've never been handed a piece like this and I was lost at how to start. It's all embroidery. So, after searching around, I found a couple of pictures of other copies of this design that gave me an idea of how to quilt it. It started with stitching on top of the major design lines with invisible thread. Here's a picture of Lady Liberty, before and after outlining.

Oh, and I have wanted to try quilting with two layers of batting and thought this piece would really benefit because of the open areas that would not get quilted. This is two layers of wool batt.

After the outlining, I switched to a matching color thread and worked on the border and then the background fill. I designed the border to match her fused stars and swirled a little wind around them. The fill is a free motion Baptist Fan. I switched thread color again to work in the sashing with a curl/echo/echo/curl design. Hope she likes it!

Strolling through the garden

This wonderful applique piece did not get finished before the maker died unexpectedly. So a couple of her friends finished it and asked me to quilt it for the family. I was honored to do so.

First of all, a big shout out to longarm quilter, Susan Lawson, whose idea I borrowed. I have collected a few photos of applique quilts that do not have sashing, as I find it difficult to plan quilting for this situation. Creating diamonds in the intersections of the blocks and adding feather borders was a perfect solution. Thanks, fellow longarmer!

Then I filled in the blanks with various background designs and densities.

I discovered as I started this piece, that she lightly stuffed each applique piece. This gives them great dimension. Her color and fabric choices are just lovely. Sit back and stroll along her garden.

Paradise in Blooms

I'm glad someone is willing to take on one of these fantastic Judy Niemeyer patterns. I'm sure that I could never piece one of these. I find it hard enough just to quilt them! I found several on google, although not too many pics that show the quilting. So, here are mine.

I may have gotten carried away with this one. I used eight different threads, including Aurifil invisible.

Texture! That's what you get on this one. Wool batting helps that a lot. You can leave triangle shapes open so that they fluff up wonderfully. Thanks also to dense fills.

Fun photo of the back shows the various thread colors. I did not want any thread to scream too loud on the front, so I chose to match thread colors as much as possible.

Whew! She's done and ready to go back to her owner.

Wooo Hooo!

It's been a long time coming. If you have followed this blog for any time, you have seen my Blue quilt in various stages of completion. Two and half years to design, piece and quilt this from my collection of blue and white fabrics. (When you quilt for customers for a living, there is precious time to work on your own things. So, I grabbed time where I could.)

It has paid off! I'm here with Tangled Up in Blue (thanks, Bob Dylan for that!) which is sporting Best In Show and Best Professional Quilting ribbons!

Best In Show – I never imagined that!

This is our regional show, the Rim Country Quilt Roundup. A show my husband and I started 11 years ago in central Arizona.

I could not be more proud...or giddy!

Ta Da Done!

Two and a half years after I started it, my blue and white medallion quilt is finally finished!

After discovering the Zentangle art form several years ago, I knew I wanted to use some of the designs as inspiration for quilting. And, that is what I have tried to do with my quilt. The next picture is of a tangle named Leaflet. It translated beautifully to continuous line quilting and looks, I think, quite smashing in the bright blue thread. (I used four colors of blue Glide thread over this quilt, in addition to Aurifil clear nylon for the stitch in the ditch.)

The odd shaped dark blue batik corner was a definite challenge. I sketched, stitched and ripped out designs for 2 whole days until I settled on this swash, inspired by the tangles Finery and FeatherFall. The actual FeatherFall also appears in the aqua triangle.

In the star's background fabric, I was inspired by the tangle Cockles and Mussels.

And, the center is based on a lotus mandala.

You do not know Zentangle? Google it or search for it on Pinterest. It is a relaxing way for anyone to draw beautiful designs, one stroke at a time!

Happy Doodling!