Christmas Applique

Remember the two quilts Nancy gave me to quilt for her the last time I was in Quincy? First it was this one; and then this one that her mom did.

This was her mom's first quilt and she really loved it...except she didn't love her choice of background fabric when it was done. The fabric was whimsical with gingerbread houses, snowmen, etc., and really didn't fit the theme of the quilt. Knowing that, I quilted the heck out of the background in an attempt to obliterate the design and just let the applique take center stage.

I stitched around the applique and then used pebbles and swirls to fill in.  Designs were stitched in the applique, itself, to make it pop from the quilt. I had a hard time deciding on which pictures to show and may have chosen too many, but have a look and let me know what you think.

And then we have shots of the back. I thought it was really fun, since the quilting really showed up. First a shot of the whole back...

This one shows the sashing and my favorite flower at the intersections.

A few of the blocks from the back.

Thanks for hanging in there; hope you liked them!!

Dory

A Quilt for Arizona

My customer, Paula, made this quilt at her son's request. As best I understand, his boss is moving to Arizona and he wanted his mom to make her a quilt. (Do you think he knows how warm it is in Arizona?)

Paula had this kit that she'd purchased at a Quincy Crazy Quilter's Retreat a few years back. She whipped it up and sent it up here to me for quilting. The colors of these batiks were so pretty that a simple all over pattern of hooky-swirly things seemed to be all it needed.

Have a look...

Of course,  I had to put a little flower in the small blocks!

Dory

Murder Mystery

The victim:

The suspect:

Irrefutable evidence:

You decide: Guilty or Innocent

I feel so privileged!

Remember I told you about Empty Spools and my class with Wendy Mathson in June? We made the Storm at Sea block using Wendy's Trimplates. Wendy had a couple of unquilted tops at the class that she'd brought along to show us what other things could be accomplished with her Trimplates.  She let me bring this one home to quilt; I was so honored!!

I wanted to keep the quilting simple, yet I had to do something fun in those big, open blue areas. So I played with the new flower I learned. This is what they looked like on the back.

To give the design some cohesiveness, I quilted a flower in the centers of the crossing blocks. 

I filled the border with a dense paisley-type pattern. My goal was to push it back so that the flowers and the orange are what caught your eye.

Wendy's class was so popular, she was asked back to teach next year. She'll be at Asilomar April 2-7th. If you've been waiting for the perfect class before going, this is it. Wendy is a great teacher and a really fun person. You won't be sorry!!

Dory

Quilting Negative Space

I had no idea what that even meant until I took an online class at Craftsy with Angela Walters.  Negative space equals space with nothing in it.  Makes sense now.  The class involved drawing and watching Angela quilt some awesome designs and share some really creative ideas.

As you've probably figured out by now, Marei tends to give me quilts that are a challenge. (I often think she lies in bed at night dreaming up patterns that push my quilting boundaries!) This one was no exception. She left some odd shaped "negative" space in the borders that she said was "just for me."

So...after Angela's class, I knew what to do. I "dwirled" the body. There was so much going on that all it needed was some texture. I have the most beautiful orange thread that worked great for this.

Then, ala Angela, I filled the negative spaces. I used her swirl fill and created a few blocks that imitated the blocks in the quilt. What do you think??

Without Angela's class, I never would have come up with this idea. Now I can't wait to try it even more!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dory