Colleen's Green and Gray Star Quilt

 It's always fun to see what my customers bring to me to quilt for them.  Colleen's creations never disappoint.  This is her Gray and Green Star Quilt.  Isn't it beautiful?

 

I actually remembered this time to take a "before" picture. As I've mentioned before, her quilts are always a pleasure to work on because they are well constructed.

She picked a new-to-me panto called London Fog and once I started stitching it I definitely liked how it turning out. So Fine Silver was the thread of choice for the top.

This is the completed quilt fresh off the frame.

The panto design worked so well to provide great movement across the quilt without distracting from the piecing.

I think this new panto is going to become very popular with my customers.

I love, love, love the backing fabric she provided.  The print is so fun.  The only negative discovered after this was finished is that we both felt she should have picked a darker thread for the bobbin so the stitching would have shown a little more. This was So Fine Genoa Gray. Lesson learned.

Colleen was beyond thrilled with the final result.  This beauty is a gift for her daughter and I know that she'll love it.

Colleen also brought me the more gorgeous Navy and White Hunter's Star quilt to stitch next.  Wait until you see how it turned out. 

Charmaine's Tumbler Baby Quilts x 7

My customer Charmaine has been busy again, creating a mountain of baby quilt tops and of course I had the pleasure recently of quilting them for her.

They were all her usual I Spy Tumbler design and they include such a huge variety of prints.

Since the tops are so busy, we pick a panto design that's not too detailed.

For this stack of tops, we chose the Fascination panto. Quilters Dream 80/20 batting was used for all.

She always provides soft flannel backings that are so snugly.

The last quilt was actually for her grandson.  Evidently he complained to her that, while she's been making so many of these baby quilts, he didn't have one.  So of course she took care of that problem right away.

I stitched Shooting Stars on this one.

She provided a special backing which is really adorable.

These baby quilts stitch up so quickly and I'm glad I'm able to get them returned to her fast.

I'm sure Charmaine is working on the next stack of baby quilt tops and eventually I'll get the call to quilt those for her too.
 

Winter Frost Wall Hanging, Table Runner and Placemats

In December 2020 I participated as one of the Chefs for Moda's Countdown to Christmas Quilt Along.  This year's theme was Winter Frost and the fabrics chosen where a mix of prints and Moda Grunge in Ice Blue, Royal Blue, Aqua and White.

 

While designing blocks for these events, I've come to the decision that I don't want to end up with random blocks that get put away, never to be seen again.  I didn't have time to make the entire quilt so I chose to make a wall hanging with a limited number of blocks.

My contributions to the quilt along was this North Winds block which is a version of the Windblown Square block.

My other design is this Winter's Beauty block which is a version of the American Beauty block.

It was fun choosing which of the other block designs to use for the wall hanging and selecting just the right fabrics so that the resulting quilt has a wonderful cool and frosty vibe.  It's perfect displayed on my Vietnamese bamboo textile hanger above the desk which is along the wall between the eat-in area of the kitchen and the great room.  It finished at 36" square.

Originally I wasn't going to do any more than the wall hanging but I fell in love with the Mittens block so a pair was made and a cute table runner was the result.

I picked one of the other blocks to sandwich in the middle of the mittens blocks.  For the panto design, I used Bora Bora which certainly gives the feel of the winter winds blowing.

I just added a variety of rectangle strips to bring the runner to 18" x 42" which is a great size for our smaller kitchen table.  

I actually quilted all 3 pieces at the same time by loading the wall hanging to the left on the frame, the place mats in the middle, turned sideways, and the table rummer at the end.  This way, I was able to stitch a full length of the design and all 3 pieces were finished quickly.

During the quilt along, I made a few more blocks as possible additions to the wall hanging that I ended up turning into place mats, which I actually use as table toppers on the end tables in my great room instead of at the dining room table.

 

I don't know about your crew, but with my luck the minute these went on the table under plates of food would be the minute they ended up stained with pasta sauce.  Nope, not happening!  These aren't going anywhere near the dining table.

I added strips of White to show case the block and then added a print strip to either side to bring them up to 12" x 18".

Each one turned out unique but they also blend together nicely.

Everything was backed with this Blue and White print that I found locally.  It wasn't quite the shade I was looking for but it worked.

I'm really glad I found a way to actually use the blocks I created for the quilt along and now, as a bonus, I have 3 great new pieces to decorate my spaces with after Christmas.

It is odd to leave the holiday wall hanging up way past December and now I don't have to.  Next I guess I'll need to make a few more wall hangings for this spot so that I have quilts to display during other seasons throughout the year.