Carolyn's Circles and Squares

 This quilt went home to Carolyn the other day. She called it Circles and Squares...for obvious reasons.

I had just gotten a new ruler from Jamie Wallen at Quilter's Apothecary and with Carolyn's permission, did a little playing with her border.  The ruler is called the Mystical Arch and does individual scallops. I have another ruler that is similar, but it requires taking the quilt off the frame and turning it to complete the side borders. If you have a longarm, you know not only what a challenge that can be, but also the extra time involved. With this ruler, you go across the top and down the sides as you go. The only prep required is marking the middle of the border.

This shows the simple design in the border using those rulers. Note the center scallop is a different shape--that's the one in the middle. Unless you're extremely lucky (something I'm not), the center one will always be a bit wonky. However, since it is in the center, its a "design element," not a mistake!!

                        

When I first began quilting, I knew some of the things I wanted to do, but not all.  For instance, I knew I wanted feathers in the green polka dots around the nine-patch and a double CC in the nine-patch. I left those floral, inner square shapes empty as I couldn't decide what to do. I decided on the feather motif originating from different angles, but I knew that wouldn't really fill the space. So I opted for an outline of sorts to make the shape stand out.  Imagine my surprise when this, too, turned into a "design element," albeit an accidental one!!  This made those circles just pop!!! I love how they turned out.

And what post would be complete without a couple shots of the back??

Thanks for having a look!

Dory

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their day!!

Dory

60th Anniversary Quilt

Joyce made this beautiful signature block quilt for her parents to celebrate their 60 years of marriage.

During the celebration for their anniversary, everyone signed a block. Its a lovely keepsake for her parents and will remind them of this party for years to come. 

This will be a special block for them! Joyce asked that I not quilt in the signature bits, so I outlined the frames with "e's" and "l's" and did a little loopy CC in the triangles. 

This signature block didn't have a signature...it was just begging for a feather.

Wish I could have been there to see her parents' faces when they saw this quilt. I know they'll cherish it.

Dory

Gina's Table Runner

Karen, of Karen's Quilt Shop in Sequim, is such a great lady. She's always referring wonderful people to me that are new to quilting. Gina is one of those people.

She brought me this table runner that she made for a good friend.  I think she did a great job adding interest with some different fabrics. I tried to do the same, quilting a large water meander in the main body with the whales and some denser quilting in the separate design areas to make them stand out.

The back has blocks that represent land, water and sun. A neat addition that makes it double-sided!

It was a good first project for her and when I dropped it off, she sent me away with two quilts for her grandsons!

Dory

Claudia's Buggy Quilts

Nope, not buggy as in "horse and," but buggy as in "insects"!!

Claudia made two of these quilts for her grandkids. They are boys and they love bugs and fish.

These quilts are especially long so that the top "bugs in the jar" bit can go over the pillows. Plus, she's expecting, based on their parents, these guys to really grow!  I quilted the top portion to try to give some movement to the bugs.

If you look closely, you can see little "flight" paths for the insects!

I kept the body of the quilt more simple. A water meander with the fish and crosshatching for the sashing. 

Hope the boys enjoy them! Grandma did a great job.

Dory

The Mystery is Solved!

As some of you may remember, I've been working on the Cabin Fever Quilters Mystery Quilt for 2014. The Mystery has been solved!

Now the dilemma is which border? First choice (2 options here -- busy fabric or black?):

Second choice (smaller black inner and bigger busy outer):

Third choice (Just black, but perhaps smaller?):

Or....a piping of one or the other with the opposite for the border???

I'm stumped.

HELP!!!!!

Dory

A Perfect Quilty Gift

We all know its coming and it doesn't matter how much we try to pretend it isn't. Yep, its Christmas. Right around the corner, as a matter of fact. Time to start thinking about presents. Or maybe its not Christmas that has you worried, its the new baby in your family.

Wouldn't it be perfect if you could make them a quilt? Who doesn't love a handmade gift???

If you'd love to give a quilt for a gift or just have one for yourself, I have the perfect solution! Kathey Bates, a fellow Cabin Fever Quilter, has started a business: Kathey's Custom Quilts & Embroidery. And she does such beautiful work!! You and she will corroborate on fabrics and pattern, then she'll put it together, quilt it and in just a couple of weeks, you will have a finished quilt. Click HERE to view a sample of the quilts she's made.

Give her website a look and place your order!!

Dory

Quilts are Flying out of the Studio

Well, not flying, exactly, but I have been doing several less densely quilted quilts and boy does that make a difference time wise!!

This first quilt belongs to Margie. She wanted an allover and I thought it could use some movement and texture. (I just love batik fabrics--don't you??)

I "dwirled" this quilt. Yep, that is a real word and a design. I stumbled across the design on Pajama Quilter DVD and thought I'd give it a go. I like how it turned out. What do you think??

The back...

This one is a hospice quilt that I did for Jo Ellen. A simple "heatwave" pattern was all it needed to add a little interest. I used King Tut variegated thread and think the color turned out perfect.

Nope--your eyes aren't going fuzzy...the picture is--sorry!

The final one I did for a lady undergoing chemo treatments. She'd pieced a bunch of tops, so another longarmer and I did one each for her. She chose the quilts and we got to do what we wanted--or that's what I did anyway.

Block design:

Border--feathers without a stem, who knew???

And two shots of the back. I used gray thread top and back and I like the gray on the yellow.

A last one of the back. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dory

Cabin Fever Quilters Raffle Quilt 2015

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I was given the honor of quilting the raffle quilt for the Cabin Fever Quilters last year. It was an absolutely gorgeous quilt with stunning blocks on black.  Click HERE to be reminded of that quilt.

When the committee for this year's raffle quilt chose the pattern for their quilt, I was excited to participate and made a block. The top got put together and shown at a guild meeting...and taken home; and I was so disappointed--until I got home and read the e-mail asking me whether I was interested in quilting it.  "Interested in quilting it"??  Really???  I was THRILLED to be asked to quilt it!!!

I just love this quilt. I love all sorts of quilts, but more traditional ones like this just make me smile! (Its really fun for me to look at a picture of the whole quilt after its done. Although the blocks were identical, I can really how pretty it is)

These are the two blocks. Exactly the same, but with different fabric placement. Amazing how much a different placement can make such a huge change.

I tried to keep the quilting fairly simple; I didn't think the quilt called for a lot of fancy stuff. Here's a closer look at a larger section:

When it was given to me to quilt, I was told that they intentionally didn't run the applique around the border as they wanted to leave the corners open for me to quilt. I did them last, as I just couldn't decide what to do. Generally, I do three repeating designs in a quilt for continuity. Finally I decided to quilt a feather in the corner. There are no feathers anywhere else on the quilt, but it just seemed to fit. What do you think?

And I couldn't sign off without a couple shots of the back!

I hope this quilt raises lots of money for the guild!!

Dory

Guess Why I'm Making All This Stuff!

Your first clue:

Isn't it cute? I used a flannel print with these goofy animals (who can resist a horse with buck teeth??) and one of the BQ patterns...BQ4, I think.

This is the back. I wish blogs were textile--it is minke and boy is it soft!!  It gives the quilt such a nice feel.

Your second clue:

This cute little elephant wall hanging.

Look closely...the side has little lines that measure inches.  Are you figuring it out???

And the last clue:

A fabric book with nursery (big clue) rhymes!!

So???  Can you guess what I'm going to be????

Dory

What is Going On???

I feel like I've just been quilting and quilting, yet I sure haven't been posting much.  Hmmmm....  Not sure what's happening.  I feel like I'm juggling time, like this guy:

Yet, when I look at my list of posts, I feel like this cat!!!!

Not sure what's going on....

Dory....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Deb's Bali Wedding Star

Two years ago at the Empty Spools Retreat at Asilomar, I was in Judy Niemeyer's class. Deb, sitting in front of me, was working on her Bali Wedding Star. She has an amazing color sense and when I saw how pretty her quilt was, I knew I wanted to quilt one. She overheard me telling that to my friend and said she'd send me hers. Flash-forward two years and guess what I got in the mail???

Isn't her color sense amazing??  I just love these quilts.  Feathers in two directions in the middle of the arcs and continuous curves -- except for where the star points come in.

If you look closely (or click on the photo to make it larger), you can almost see the purple variegated thread I used in the black/blue star points and the diamond shape in the center four-patch.

Or if you look below where I lightened the pic, that stitching shows up a little better.

I was very honored to be trusted with this quilt. Prior to quilting these two quilts for Deb, I'd never done anything for her. Talk about taking a huge risk!!  

Dory

Fabien's Scrappy Quilt

This quilt is from one of the ladies at my guild in Port Townsend. They are the Cabin Fever Quilters and are a lovely group of ladies. Everyone there is just so friendly.

If you look closely, you can see that the piecing in this scrappy quilt is actually made to resemble a diagonal pattern. Fabien wasn't happy with her fabric choices when it was done and hoped that I could do something to highlight the angles.

I quilted this with feathers on the diagonal, going up one row and down the next. When you stand close, you can actually see it <wink>

Short post...thanks for having a look!!

Dory