A Few All-Overs

Generally, my quilting is more custom, but I can do all-overs.

This first one is from Carolyn. Its from our Quincy Crazy Quilters retreat last September. I've quilted one of these before and I have one of my own. Carolyn wanted an all-over pattern, so I did what I call Heatwave.

Below are a couple of closeups.  They show the texture on the front and back.

 

Then Gina sent these two for her nephews.  I loved the panel and wanted to do something that would be good for little boys. I ended up doing geometric squares that I've seen in Angela Walters' books.  I love how they turned out.

 A couple closeup to show texture on these.  Perfect for little boys!!

 The back.  They were both backed with flannel, so the quilting shows up nicely.

Happy stitching!!!

Dory

Home From Quilters Dream Weekend

I'm just home from the Quilters Dream Retreat held at Camp Arnold in April and October. I've been going to the April retreats since moving up here. My friend, Lisa, from Canada, found this retreat and got us in -- no easy feat since they are usually full.  Since then, we've met there annually. This was the first year that Lisa couldn't make it--still fun, but just not the same without her.

The first year we had no idea what we were getting into. However, we were fortunate enough to pick a place to sit that turned out to be the best place ever. We met Shirley and Donna from Linden, WA, and we've all be friends ever since. :0)

Here are pics of some of the things I worked on while I was there.  First, the ugliest!!  At the April retreat they have classes and do a challenge block. I've never participated in the challenge block; however, this year, Donna and Shirley shamed me into it.  I had no extra fabric, so this is what I managed to put together.  The only positive thing that can be said about it is that it is exactly 12 1/2" unfinished. Other than that--well, you be the judge. (I think its awful--however, it wasn't the most awful one there! Go figure!) Next year the theme is "Rootin, Tootin, Quiltin." That will be a fun one.  I see lots of cowboy boots and hats...

After working on the block, I put this top together for my neighbor. She's expecting her first baby, a boy, in June.

Then I spent several hours on this Buggy Barn Pattern. Its called "Poker Run" and will be for Millie when its completed. Below are the ponies before their barns were added. Notice the one on the bottom right? He totally disappears, so I won't be including him (I may put him on the back, though--haven't decided yet.) I received many suggestions of what to put in his place, but the funniest was the person who thought I should do a horse's butt!

 

And here they are in their barns

After that, it was work on a QOV that I was volunteered for and finally some work on the Cabin Fever Quilters Mystery. This is the fabric combo I'll be using for the mystery. My friend, Donna, helped me choose; she's got great taste! She also had me take a pic of the fabrics in black/white to make sure the contrast was there.  Who knew????

 Finally, don't you just love these two cases.  The pic distorts the size a bit. The top one is only about 10" square. Last year at the retreat, Mary's friend had a set of these that she used for her sewing stuff. I was admiring them and Mary said she never used hers so would bring them for me this year...and she did!!  They are gorgeous. They remind me of old fashioned train cases.

Thanks for reading!!

Dory

Jen's Sister's Applique

A few months back I received a desperate e-mail from Jen in Quincy. She was panicked that since I'd moved to Washington, I'd stopped quilting. Um...no.  She sent up this beautiful applique quilt that was partially constructed by her sister, who had passed away. She finished it and I had the honor of quilting it. Isn't it a beautiful quilt??

 

There are many different blocks in this design and I wanted to highlight them all individually, so I changed up the background quilting in all of them. I did keep the patchwork squares and triangles quilted similarly to tie it all together. The pic below shows the cc designs in the flying geese and the squares. Super simple to frame the more involved, dense quilting in the blocks.

 

And now its just a picture show. Lots of close-ups of the quilting. Echoing in this one.

 

Lots of lines very close together.

 

Pebbles, pebbles and more pebbles.

Simple cc and a feathered flower center.

Meander, cc, and lots of lines.

Pebbles and curved cross-hatching.

A couple shots of the back, although it was mostly too busy for much to show.

Thanks for hanging in there for the picture show!!

Dory

Alpine Wonder

I first saw this quilt in a Keepsake Quilting catalog. I really liked it, but what really drew me to it was all that negative space. I always hoped that one of my customers would make one and let me quilt it. Years went by until Marilyn, a new customer from Port Townsend's Cabin Fever Quilters Guild, gave me the opportunity!! 

 Marilyn plans to embellish it with crystals, so my first decision was how much quilting. When I looked online, I saw several of these that had been quilted and that had embellishments. What I noticed though, was that the ones with a bit denser quilting really made the crystals pop. So that's what I did.

 

I quilted snow (McTavishing and pebbles--snow drops???) below the tree for texture.

 And a more dense paisley in the background with arcs in the tree.

 

One last shot because I love it so much!!  Remember, if you click on the pic, you'll get a better view.

 

This quilt has been sitting in my studio for weeks now, waiting for the monthly guild meeting so it could go home. It found its way home yesterday, so today I can share!

Dory