Marleen made this quilt as a gift for her first great-granddaughter. I free-motion quilted a continuous flower design with loops. Although it is technically custom quilting, free motion allover designs don’t take much longer than pantographs, and once in a while it is really fun to just quilt without having to follow a commercial design.
I can barely believe it myself but I actually managed to get some sewing done. When I first started the longarm business, I made three small sample quilts that were exactly the same and then quilted them in different ways. I wanted to be able to show customers the difference between a meander, an edge-to-edge design and custom quilting. If you have never heard of the differences before it is much easier to just look at a sample instead of trying to understand a long explanation. I wasn’t overly concerned with the pattern of the sample quilts and just used scraps from my stash. I was a bit surprised when I took the sample quilts to shows and people started asking for the pattern. I promised to write one but of course could never find the time. And I decided the quilt needed to be a larger size, the original samples just had 16 blocks each and were fairly small. The pattern is almost written, just needs a few finishing touches, and I also finished the top. Now to find some time to actually quilt it…
This beautiful batik quilt was made by Karen (a different Karen this time) as a birthday gift for her son. We didn’t have to think about the quilting design very long, the fabrics feature bears, moose and deer which made “Deer in the Woods” perfect for this project.
Karen is making reversible strip quilts as gifts for her grandchildren. The fabrics feature some of their hobbies/passions. This one has music on the front and sports on the back for her grandson. The quilted music notes are a pantograph called “Music #2”.
This floral quilt was made by Loraine from a kit she bought a long time ago. We looked at floral patterns for quilting at first but then decided that there was already so much going on in the quilt that a neutral pattern would work better. With “Overlapping Crop Circles” we picked up the circular design of the background and backing fabrics, it creates beautiful texture. (Yes, there are circles in these fabrics even though it looks like the backing is just stripes… you might have to take a look at the full size picture 🙂 )
Ciska made this quilt using fabrics by Canadian designer Shania Sunga. (She also designed the Canadian Mystery Quilt and Homecoming, the most beautiful interpretation of the Canadian Flag. If you are not familiar with her work, be sure to check it out.) Ciska lived in Australia for a while and fell in love with the Koala quilt when she saw it. The quilting design is called “Diagonal Plaid Bias Cut”, the backing is cuddly Fireside.
Darlene used up scraps for this quilt, stitching lots and lots of squares together around the centre panel. When I saw the cozy flannel backing she chose, I knew right away that this project needed to be quilted with the “Deer in the Woods” pattern that has trees, deer, moose and bears.
“Sunnyside Up” is the third and last of Elaine’s three Christmas gift quilts for her granddaughters and also the name of the Moda fabric line she used for this project. The cheerful colours and floral fabrics asked for another flower pattern, and “Wandering Daisies” was my choice for this quilt.
This quilt is the second of the three Christmas gifts for Elaine’s granddaughters. The quilting design is called “Ginger Flower”, the floral fabrics called for something flowery. All three quilts have cuddly Fireside on the back.
Elaine got an early start on her Christmas gifts this year. This is the first of three quilts for her granddaughters that she dropped off for quilting back in July. “The Treehouse Club” is the name of the Moda fabric line she used for this project. The quilting design is called “Diagonal Plaid Bias Cut”, I purchased it a while ago, and it is quickly becoming one of my favourites.
