Cute Baby Quilt!

This is the latest customer quilt I finished.  Isn’t it cute?!?!

This is Thalia’s first quilt.  Well, she helped on a bunch of them with her mother-in-law on all the previous family quilts, but unfortunately, her mother in law has passed away, and now she’s expecting another grand child….THIS week!

If you zoom in on the picture you can see bicycles in the dark fabric.  She wanted to create a pathway for them so I quilted some close, wavy lines in that area, with wider wavy lines in the squares.

We chose Warm and Safe batting with King Tut Heather thread on the top, which matched perfectly.

I did the binding by machine because it’s going to get washed … a LOT!

Thalia was so thrilled to complete the quilt, and I was thrilled for her.  We’ll be sitting down, creating more of them together, soon!

Slide Show Quilt

This is a customer’s quilt that I recently completed called Slide Show by Atkinson Designs.  It was made for my customer’s son’s wedding.

Once I completed the quilting she had a week to spare to get the binding on before she was heading to the wedding.  I haven’t heard if that got completed before she left; you know how stressful and busy the week before a wedding can be!

If you’re old enough to remember actual film that was loaded into a camera then you’ll understand the reference for Slide Show’s design.  This is NOT a Microsoft PowerPoint reference!

For those who only vaguely remember, here’s a reminder:  the film was advanced on a roller that had pegs on either side.  The 2” squares located around the large square depict the holes at the edge of the film that went over those pegs.

I used a King Tut variegated thread in both the top an bobbin with this overall meander design.  The back was also all black so the variegated thread was a great choice there.

I think my customer did a great job.  The use of batiks against black is always stunning and I love the geometric design.

I Got My Paint Chips!

Are you going to do Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt?

The name of the mystery is called Grand Illusion.  Bonnie released the color palette information earlier this week and paint chips are flying off the shelf!  Bonnie started using the color chips last year to give people a better idea of the colors she’s using in her quilts, and I think it’s a great idea.

Don’t know what a mystery quilt is?  That’s when you make a quilt without knowing what the design is before you start.  Drives me crazy!  However, all of Bonnie’s quilts are amazing so it’s another way to challenge myself.  I’ve followed along with her mysteries for the past 4 years but never have completed one.  Maybe this will be the year!

The first clue to the mystery will be released on Friday, November 28th, 2014.  You don’t need to be a member of the Yahoo Group to follow the clues, but you will get an email notification that way and  it can be fun to see everyone’s progress.  Otherwise, just check the website every week.

Wandering Spiral Block

Last weekend was the Boise Basin Quilters annual quilt show.  I went on Saturday with a fellow Innova owner and long arm quilter, Linda V. and we had a great time.  I entered Odd Girl Out in the Exhibition Only category and had lots of compliments.  It was a super busy day and the quilts were great.  I even purchased a couple of tools I’d seen earlier this summer.  You’ll be hearing about those over the next few months as I get those projects started.

On Sunday I took the Wandering Spirals class from ReNae Merrill.  Of course, I had to get a photo in front of the class sample!  If you look closely you’ll see “shadow” blocks in the quilting.  That would be the outline of the quilt blocks on the other side.  Yep, it’s a reversible quilt!  Unfortunately I neglected to get a photo of the other side.

ReNae developed this block specifically for our guild and debuted the pattern at our show.  She specializes in a unique paper piecing technique.  I’ve done very little paper piecing but found it easy to follow and really enjoyed the class, learned a lot and made a new friend, Vicki.

Notice that in the photo my shoes don’t match.  That’s because I can’t sew with my shoe on so I was wearing the felted slipper that I made earlier this year.

Vicki and I didn’t finish our blocks during the class so we got together last night and worked on the block for about an hour.  After dinner I completed mine.

Nxt up: print the additional foundations and get them assembled (this block requires 4 foundation pieces), cut the fabric, and find time to piece the rest of the blocks!