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!

Road to California-design class

I had a great time at this show. Went twice!  I took a class in Backgrounds from Linda Thielfoldt. It was on the longarm, all freehand designs. Lots of fun. She is a great teacher. Her quilts were inspirational and she encouraged us to give everything a try and see how to make our designs unique. I really needed this class. I love to freehand and have  a few designs that I use. I needed to expand  my portfolio and try something new. Get out of the box. I also had a big quilt that called for  lots of design and not just meander the whole thing!
Practice, practice ,practice and on to the quilt:

Pebbles, Crosshatch

Swirling Curls

Hosford/McTavish variation

Mary did  this gorgeous quilt! It is full of animals and fun touches! Way fun to quilt!