Gorgeous Applique

Working on this gorgeous quilt made by Madeline. The colors are so pretty and really pop against the black.

Affairs of the Heart

This quilt is expertly appliqued and with the added embroidery , it is a stunner!!

I will be changing from black thread to invisible and doing a little quilting in some of the squares that need it.

The client chose an easy , more open background fill and stitching in the ditch only where needed. This is to be a gift to some lucky person. (wish it was me!)
Freehand design, Omni Black and Whisper Touch Invisible thread. Hobbs 80/20 batt.

Fruit Applique Finale!

Ta Da !!!

Karen's beautiful fruit applique quilt is finished! This was so much  fun and lots to do! It has several background fills and outlining on and around the applique. The fills and outlining really bring dimension to the fruit and leaves. I did some  curved crosshatching on  the  pineapples to mimic their dimpled skin. In the blank border corners I quilted in a special  design . I redesigned a border and added in a pineapple  to make it fit this theme.

Then above the swirl border I did a straight line design called bead board and below I added freehand feathers and swirls and denser background fill. I hope you can see it as the dark fabric makes it hard to get it to show up in photos. I like how this two step border make a pretty, wavy  frame around the quilt.

 

Next, just off the frame, is a simpler but still stunning Flying Dutchman quilt.

 Pattern is Whirlpools by Laurie Thomas http://itsaquiltthing.com

I have used this quilting design before and am very pleased with how it stitches out! It really looks pretty here.  This quilter did a marvelous job as this was straight and square and laid flat on the frame.  Camel Permacore thread and Hobbs 80/20 batt.  A winning combo for a great looking quilt!

Trick or Treat !

Isn't this a delightful quilt? I love all the bears in their Halloween costumes. Reminds me of growing up and how my brothers, sister and I  would plan our costumes,(changing our minds daily), and our trick or treating attack plan for the neighborhood. You always had a favorite house to get to first where they had the best goodies! These bears are ready to go .  

There are spooky surprises quilted in the purple background. Witch on a broom, scary cats among the mice, ghosts and spider webs! Sort of a Halloween "I Spy".

We didn't want a heavy look to this quilt, so I quilted in motifs and light fills. With applique quilts, I think the "star" should be the applique . It's a lot of work and needs to shine. This quilt lent itself to all sorts of fun motifs and I had fun with  the quilting.

Purely Purple Omni thread , So Fine black and Hobbs 80/20 batt. As always Diana's applique was perfect . This is a BOM quilt from http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/. They have some great patterns ,so check them out.Watch out for spiders !

Judi's Cozy Cottage Gets a Ribbon !

Blue Ribbon Winner at the Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa Ca

This quilt, aptly named, "Cozy Cottages" was made by my client Judi Smith.  This is from an Arlene Stamper pattern and is often done as a workshop block swap. Judi made this one all herself and did a beautiful job. The fabrics all look great together and the houses have so much variety, but still look good with their neighbors!

What a fun quilt to do. So many areas to be creative and put in little surprises. Each house and yard are different and it keeps the quilter on her toes making them unique!

I remember when I first quilted the applique flower blocks and border. I just had outlined them and then added an echo. Looking at it compared to the rest of the quilt they seemed unquilted and not in balance.(Something judges always point out). After sending Judi a picture we decided to add in fill and it looked much better.

Congrats to Judi for a well deserved win. I am always so pleased when something I enhanced with quilting gets recognized !!

Wilderness Quilt

Working my way down this beautiful quilt! This  large applique quilt has all manner of trees, animals and birds. So that means all freehand design and many thread color changes.

A fun challenge! As I move from area to area, I change the quilting design along with the thread. I 'm finding that the green of the trees is different than the fields and grass. Since I have lots of thread, I may as well use them! When I'm changing thread often, I just do a one time thread charge fee. Keeps it simple and easy on the client.

I will keep on working as I am only about 1/3 way into this!

Another view

Time to roll the quilt and see what's next, plowed fields and a tree with three dimensional blossoms!

On the Frame Today

Gorgeous applique !! Finishing this up. Glide thread in center-Cloud. Lovely color, a nice soft blue. White swirl design is So Fine. All freehand. Warm & White batting.

January..it's here !

This seemed like the quilt to hang for this month! Here in Huntington Beach,Ca we never see snow, just some frost on roof tops. I guess I miss the snow! This is a group quilt . We had one  fabric (red) that had to be used in the block and the backgrounds had to be sky type.  These snowmen are really cute with little snap eyes and their carrot noses!

We also made extras and when our guild had it's auction we made 3 small quilts and they SOLD like hotcakes! We found that with different sashings and border, each quilt looked unique. (Sorry, no photos)

Looking for a fundraiser..this is an idea.

 Next up: new Layer Cake block is up tomorrow, have to do a Mug Rug for a quilt along, finish the quilt on the longarm and start the next which is a custom applique calender quilt. Pictures soon.

Viewer's Choice-Congrats to Linda Gray

This past weekend our guild (Orange Grove Quilters , Garden Grove,Ca) held our show. A bit smaller show , about 100 quilts, as we had a different venue. Know what? It was better !! More intimate, very friendly and we even had the Girl Scouts doing food. Win win!
 Linda Gray's basket quilt was chosen Viewers Favorite and well deserved. She did a great job on the piecing and applique and it was a joy to quilt.

The fabric choices were perfect to show off those flowers.  The applique was outlined with So Fine thread and the same was used in the block background. Light purple was used to outline the sashing and do the swirl design inside the sashing.  Outer border has a swag design in black to blend in .
All in all a quilt to be proud of, congratulations Linda!