I’ve been doing a bit more quilting for clients recently, which I’ve really been enjoying. I love quilting on my longarm, and it is a fun to see other people’s work.
I met Susan through a mutual friend. She does a lot of stamping and card making, but this was her first quilt. She did such a great job with it – it is so pretty, and it was really very flat and square.
I had been wanting to add a swirl pattern to my computerized quilting library and recently purchased this pattern. We chose a darker yellow thread to go with the fall-like colors of the quilt, and I got to work.
Here she is all loaded up:
The first row of swirls:
adding more and more swirls. I love how they interlock together:
all finished, off the frame and trimmed up a bit:
This is the back. I think the yellow thread looks awesome:
Susan finished up the binding with the darker fabric from the back and sent me a few photos:
and you know I love the photos with a dog or cat photobomb. She got 2 pups into this photo!
I’m so happy she’s happy with how it turned out. She even brought me these great cards as a thank you – they are so pretty!
I have to admit I never got into stamping or card making. I really kind of thought it was a slippery slope – so many stamps! so many ink colors! so many cool things to make! Susan makes some really neat things – you can follow her over at SusanLegits.com.
Thanks Susan for letting me quilt your first quilt!
This past spring a friend of mine turned me on to the Summer Sampler quit-a-long. They release 1 block pattern a week through the summer – and into the fall really – and then setting and placement instructions at the end. The pattern can be purchased from Freshly Pieced at her shop here. They also partnered with Sewtopia to offer quilt kits for the sampler in three options – warm, cool and rainbow. One of my goals this year was to do more designing and make my own quilts, and a quilt-a-long didn’t really fit with those plans. But I really liked the pattern, have always wanted to do a gradated rainbow quilt, and honestly have been working so much that just following along and sewing something for fun seemed like a great thing to do. I signed up for the weekly patterns and bought a kit.
Block 1 – Water Well
The quilt kit from Sewtopia was interesting. There are Kona solids for the setting blocks and a full set of Cotton + Steel Pigment Basics, which are dyed in a color gradation from dark to light across the width of the fabric. I really like the saturated side of the fabric better than the lighter side, but the gradation across the fabric really does give a wider range of colors to choose from.
Block 2 – Shenzhen
The block themes are terrific. They are all inspired by travel destinations that the designers have visited. I’ve enjoyed seeing the blocks paired with a photo of the location that inspired the design.
Block 3 – Southwest Highway
I didn’t get started with the blocks on time. Honestly I was a bit nervous about cutting into the kit pieces. By the time I got started they were already on block 6 or 7.
Block 4 – GizaBlock 5 – Points – This one is my favorite!
I wound up having a few days that I could set aside for catching up and I got to work on a bunch of blocks at the same time.
Block 6 – Versailles
Block 7 – Half Timbered
The patterns have been very good with a mix of traditional construction and paper piecing. Some are intricate and do take time to complete. I’ve gotten ahead of myself a few times and really mad a mess. I think I took Block 7 apart about 4 times before finally finishing it. Honestly though that had more to do with me not reading carefully than any problem with the pattern.
Block 8 – CastilloBlock 9 – PagodaBlock 10 – VaticanBlock 11 – Under the Eiffel Tower
And with that I’m all caught up – until Monday comes.
I have to admit I’m following along pretty closely with the color placement originally suggested in the rainbow version of the quilt. I’m happy with how it is turning out and it is giving me a good project to just go execute and use for stress relief! I have been really impressed by some of the other versions I’ve seen on Instagram. The use of fabrics and colors are really amazing. These from khquilts are so awesome – the navy background! – this Points block from zaraquilts is great, and these prints from crlhansen are really interesting.
Here are all of mine together so far – 11 of the total 18 blocks:
Blocks through 11
..and an outtake with a photobomb from my cat Saffy. She likes to help.
I’m looking forward to finishing all the blocks up and getting this guy together.
New quarter, new goals! (actually some not so new goals, but I’ll get them done!
Dog Gone Cute Bee Quilt – these are the blocks from my Bee group in 2017. During Q1’18 I added 2 more blocks to fill it out and during Q2’18 I finished all the sashing to complete the top. Just need to quilt it now.
Bjorn the Bear – I finished this quilt top during my June group quilt retreat. I need to put glasses on one of the bears and get it quilted up.
Hawaiian batiks – Another quilt top that I got finished during my June quilt retreat – ready to be quilted.
Study from my Bill Kerr Workshop – this was really such a great workshop. It was really thought provoking and helpful to further design ideas. The top is all done – just need to quilt it (and name it!)
Angela Walters Challenge #3 Quilt – I bought the kit for this guy because I really loved the polka dots. I really enjoyed the Challenge #1 as it gave me a great opportunity to really practice my quilting. I look forward to the same with this quilt!
Summer Sampler 2018 – Honestly I was kind of stressed out at work and really needed some pretty fabric and a pattern to follow, so I bought all of it! I have a few blocks done, but this is unlikely to get done this quarter.
Some good goals for the quarter – I look forward to getting these done
