High School Reunion Quilt

 I was asked to help with a quilt for a raffle-type auction at my ten year high school reunion. The gal who pieced the quilt got it to me in May. Isn't it cute? I love the colors together.

I quilted an all-over, free hand floral design. I sewed the label onto the back of the quilt before I quilted it (stay tuned for a post on that later in the week!).

Here's the deets:
Piecer: class officer for the CHS Class of 2002
Quilter: me
Pattern: floral design, E2E, freehand
Thread: So Fine! Daffodil
Batting: Hobbs 80/20

Lone Star Quilt

I have a client who has these beautiful Lone Star quilts made whenever a member of her family gets married. This is the 4th one I've quilted for her.

During the whole quilting process I posted photos of my progress to Twitter. First there was the upper border, where I quilted a meandering feather to fill the 12+ inches.

Then there was the first third of the quilt, where I again used a meandering feather to fill the setting squares and triangles behind the lone star.

If you look closely (and if you click on the image to blow it up, I apologize for the quality....these pictures were all taken at night using my iPhone), you'll see that I did a cathedral window-style quilting in the diamonds.

And, due to popular demand, here's a quick shot of the quilting on the back side of the quilt. I love the contrast the light yellow thread has with the solid black fabric. You can see here that in the inner border I quilted a paisley echo design.













And here's a partial view of the quilt front. I wish I had more space to lay the quilt out so you can see the whole thing.

Here's the deets:
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Thread: So Fine! Daffodil
Quilting Pattern: free hand: meandering feather in outer border and background/setting squares/triangles; cathedral window in star diamonds; echoed paisley design in inner border.

Keeping it Real

I've taken the bulk of the week off from blogging. Normally I spend all day Monday writing my blog posts for the week and schedule them out so that they'll automatically post for me. This week, though, I took the entire day Monday to work on my books. I was sooo behind! I had to do books from March, April, and May. I say this every time, but I swear I am never going to get that far behind again! (until September hits and I'm doing three months worth of books again!)

So, in case you think that my whole life is sunshine, roses, and quilting (oh I wish!) here is a quick keeping it real post. Don't worry, I will post more detail and info about the quilt shown here next week, with a better (read: up close) photo.

First up, last Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion. I was approached back in January about donating some fabric for a quilt, and donating the quilting for it. I agreed, and in May the gal who made the quilt dropped it off to me. It's a really cute quilt, inspired by the Surprisingly Super Simple quilt pattern I was using to make a quilt for B when she came over for the initial quilt consultation in March. Early last week I got it finished and bound and sent off, just in time for the reunion.

My life has been pretty hectic with this little one around now. She definitely keeps me on my toes! There is no such thing as "stick her in her high chair and let her eat finger foods" because the finger foods inevitably end up scattered across my not-so-clean kitchen floor. Sadly my house is in desperate need of cleaning, but that is so far down my list of things to do that mopping the floor on my hands and knees will probably get done on the 12th of NeverBut she's such a cutie, isn't she? We just bought this fun play center for the shop, so she can play while I work. She loves it, except for the fact that she's so little that she can't reach the hanging toys. Other than that, she loves it. :)

She's also obsessed with plastic water bottles. We've been trying to be healthier at our house this summer, and one was is to drink a TON of water. We bought cases of water on sale at our local market and have slammed through them. She gets to play with the empty bottles, and it is definitely one of her favorite things.

To add a little stress to my life, my 5 1/2 year old has decided that he (finally) likes to color, just not on paper. I caught him the other day coloring on my husband's white XBOX controller with orange marker. Ugh! We had the "only color on paper" talk, and I was sure that would be the end of it for a while.

Of course, I was wrong! Two days later, I was sitting on my couch and I looked over at the stairs. There was a nice little smiley face smiling back at me. I smiled and turned away before doing a double-take. What the heck?! There was a smiley face looking at me! I walked up the stairs to find this -> colored in brown crayon on the wall above the stairs. He was so proud of himself, too, when I called him over to talk to him about it, that he took my free hand (I was carrying B) and dragged me down the hall to see what he had done to his door.

Yep, that's right. His door. He wrote his name, quite nicely, across the front of his door.

Then he pointed to his wall. By this time my husband and I were trying so hard not to burst out laughing. It was so funny. But the last thing we wanted to do was laugh at his naughty behavior. So instead, we laugh at his naughty behavior behind his back. :)

Anyway, back to his wall.... He drew a lovely picture of him and his sister. I mean, it really was sweet that he wanted to draw a picture of him and B, but not on the wall.  We had to explain, again, that we "only color on paper" and that since we are currently renting, we can't color on any of the walls. He looked sad for a moment, then said "Can I help you clean it up?" Yep folks, he was eager to clean up his wall art. I got out the Magic Eraser (thank goodness for Mr Clean!) and he scrubbed both walls and the door until the crayon came off.

Seriously, that child can be quite a handful, but then again, what boy isn't? But I love that kiddo so much. And he makes me laugh. So it's all worth it :) (Plus, he's pretty dang cute)

Surprisingly Super Simple

I just finished this quilt for my cousin's new baby girl. I used the Surprisingly Super Simple pattern and quilted it with a more modern design.

I quilted the background with straight lines, and did a different design in each block. (Sorry this post is so photo heavy, but I wanted to show each block design).

I forgot to attach a quilt label to the back of the quilt before I started quilting, so I left the last block unquilted and turned it into the quilt label.

Here's a view of the quilt back. It looks really cool with the yellow minkee back.

I liked the way that the lines went around the blocks, setting them off.

Ballerina Baby Quilt

A few weeks ago I quilted this darling baby quilt for a client of mine. It had a large upper and lower border, so I split them into two different sections.

I quilted two straight lines, one inch apart, down the center of the large border and then filled the space with a string of circles. In the upper and lower sections I quilted a concentric paisley design.

In each of the appliqued circles I quilted a flower. I left the block background empty and quilted ribbons and flowers in the block sashing.

A Quilt for Valor

I have been signed up to be a longarm quilter for Quilts of Valor for a while now, but since there are more longarmers than piecers in Utah, I haven't had the opportunity to quilt one until recently.  A client of mine had finished this beautiful quilt for a Quilts of Valor project her quilt guild had been working on, and she brought it to me to quilt for her.

As a Quilts of Valor quilter I have a strict set of guidelines that I have to follow. One of them is to quilt the quilt in an appropriate design for the patriotic nature of the quilt. On this quilt I chose to highlight the stars in the blocks. I quilted a small star in the center of the block, and did a wavy back-and-forth design in the block background.

In the sashing I quilted a loops and stars design.  In the outer border I quilted Cathedral windows in the smaller triangles, and a feather pattern in the larger triangles.

I think the quilt turned out beautifully. I am so glad that I was able to give back to the men and women of our country who have given their lives and/or time in military service.

If you would like to learn more about the Quilts of Valor program, you can find that info here.  If you have a quilt for Quilts of Valor and would like to request a longarmer in your area, you can find that form here. If you live in the Utah County area and would like me to quilt your Quilt of Valor quilt, please contact me via email or my Facebook page for more information.  If you are interested in the requirements for making a quilt for Quilts of Valor, you can find the guidelines here.

Toolbox Thursday

There are a lot of different tools I use, but the most important (and one of my favorites) is my extra long cutting mat. Several years ago I purchased this mat from Jo-ann Fabrics. It was the perfect width and length for placing along the back table of my quilting machine (you can see a glimpse of it in the upper right corner of the picture).  It is 35 inches wide and 70 inches long when placed edge-to-edge. Now, my machine table is only about 25 inches wide, so I actually have the mat placed top to bottom instead of side to side, so it ends up being 24 inches by 105 inches. It is great for trimming quilts once they've been quilted and are ready to be bound, or for just cutting binding strips, quilt backs, etc.

You'll notice I haven't said anything about the scissors, rotary cutter, or rulers that are also in the picture. Well, you'll just have to stay tuned for the next Toolbox Thursday to see which tool I decide to feature next! :)

Red White and Blue

I absolutely love this red, white, and blue quilt that I client brought me to quilt for her! She loves feathers, so I decided to do an all-over meandering feather design. It turned out really great.  I love the way the quilting stands out on the quilt back, too!

The top is a simply pieced block, sashed, and the all-over design looks great with it, too.

Here's a picture of the full quilt. Don't you just love the pieced outer border? I sure do! 

Ups and Downs Quilt

So, do you remember my post last week about the Bliss quilt? Well I did another quilt for Tammy at Karamat Designs earlier this year. She made this gorgeous quilt using Sarah Fielke's pattern Ups and Downs (you can purchase the pattern here in Sarah's online shop). Isn't it so cute?

In the colored ups and downs sections I quilted an all-over paisley design.  In the beige background I did a larger cross-hatch, with a more modern feel. Instead of keeping the lines straight I squiggled them.

The quilt turned out looking really cool when it was finished.  Here's a close up of some of the quilting.

Large Log Cabin

A few months ago I quilted this large version of a log cabin quilt for my local quilt shop, Gracie Lou's.

I chose to do an all-over floral echo pattern.  I started with randomly placed flowers and then echoed the design out to the edges of the quilt.

Here's a closer view of the echoed flowers.

Isn't it such a cute quilt? The pattern is in two sizes: baby and twin. Head on over to Gracie Lou's and you can get your own cute large log cabin quilt started!

Bliss Quilt

Last fall I did this quilt for one of my Twitter friends. Isn't it gorgeous?! I've had the pleasure of knowing Tammy of Karamat Designs for a while, but in October I got to meet her in person. It's always fun to meet your online friends in real life. :)

For this quilt I did small flowers in the 4-patches, and larger flowers in the 16-patches. In the sashing around the 4-patch blocks and the setting triangles I quilted a continuous loop.

In the inner border I quilted leaves and flowers, and in the outer border I quilted a large fern design.

Here's a better view of the quilting in the blocks from the back. It looks pretty cool.

And a view of the borders from the back.