Monday, July 26, 2021

Kathy's Pink and Black Flower Blocks Quilt

 When my customer Kathy brought me her adorable chickens quilt, she also brought this pretty Pink and Black Flowers Block quilt.

 

The combination of colors that she used is very vibrant and it just needed the finishing touch.

Unfortunately with the practically daily rain and/or overcast skies we've been having here, getting really good pictures of the finished quilts is nearly impossible but trust me when I tell you it turned out gorgeous.
Glide thread in Military Gold was the perfect choice for the top.
The panto Surf's Up was fitting and I really like the way it mimicked the edges of the flowers in the Black fabric.
A pretty gold print was supplied for the backing and Glide thread in Honey Gold was just right to have the stitching show, which Kathy prefers, without being too overwhelming.
Such a simple pattern resulted in a really beautiful quilt.
Kathy told me she has many more quilts in process so there will be more coming my way to finish.  I can't wait to see what she brings me next.



Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Charms for My Sister

 This is another recent finish and this one was for my younger sister Diane. 

Way back in Spring 2013, I signed up for my very first charm swap.  Little did I know the appeal of swapping charms at the time and I eventually ended up hosting a number of Kate Spain charm swaps in later years.  I had no plans for them at some point I added a Disappearing Nine Patch pattern printout to the baggie they were stored in and put them on my project shelf.

Fast forward to 7 years later, I decided to use these charms for the quilt for Diane. When I tried to make color groupings for the blocks, I didn't like the result so I went searching for an alternate idea.  I came across the Falling Charms pattern and once I laid out the squares I had, I knew I had a winner. I had just enough of the right color squares for each row, with just a few leftover.
This is a really easy pattern to stitch up and the blocks were done quickly with chain piecing.
Within a few days, I had a finished top. It is 57" x 76".
Here is the "before", loaded on the frame to get fancy-fied.
I was really liking the effect I saw once I stitched the first couple of rows.
All finished and ready to be bound.
The colors are actually a lot brighter than in the studio pic above.
 I chose the Lida pantograph for this quilt to give it some nice soft swirls.
You can see the wonderful texture the stitching added better in this photo.
 I used Denise Schmitt yardage I had for both the backing and the binding.
I had planned to gift this to Diane at our nieces wedding in early June but she wasn't able to attend so I shipped it to her in South Carolina instead, getting her sworn promise first to not say anything or share any pictures yet because the other 2 siblings hadn't received their quilts yet.

This is her Yorkie who was already trying to claim it for himself the day it arrived.
We were on the phone when she opened the box and needless to say, she loves it.  It makes my heart sing to know that she'll be snuggling with it for years to come.
I have 2 more sibling quilts to share so stay tuned.



Friday, July 9, 2021

Kathy's Adorable Chicken Quilt

 My customer Kathy brought me an applique quilt of adorable chickens to stitch up for her.

 

This quilt is for her daughter, who actually purchased the pattern and the fabric and asked her mom to make it for her. Although this would have been fun to add great details with some custom quilting, Kathy wanted only an edge to edge design.

This is what the top looked like before any stitching was added.
 
 Here a few of the cast of characters, both before and after.
 

I imagine Kathy had fun creating each of these blocks and her applique is fabulous.
I know the stitching is really hard to see.  Kathy wanted it to blend in the most against the block background fabric so as to not take away from the chicken wire print.
I know I wouldn't have the patience to complete something like this.

 

In this picture you can see the stitching a little better.  She chose the Expression pantograph.  I think it was perfect as the style of the loops mimics the comb on their heads and the wattles under their necks.
Glide thread in Warm Gray 6 was used on the top and Cool Gray 6 was used in the bobbin.
 The quilt now has a really nice overall texture that doesn't detract from the applique.
The backing fabric is a prairie theme gray print.
Again, it's tough to see the stitching in these pics but the amount of texture is just right.
Kathy's daughter is one lucky lady to have a mom who can create such an adorable quilt for her.