The last thing in the world I need to do is make another quilt be when I saw this Spiced Chai quilt-along posted on Instagram I just had to do it.  The pattern is from the book Vintage Quilt Revival by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich and Faith Jones.  I had just received a beautiful fat quarter stack of Jennifer Sampou’s new line called Shimmer On.  In the pattern the main bear paws are all different shades of grey and the big block is different colors. I wanted to use my pretty fall colors so I did colorful scrappy blocks with a mix of black fabrics in the center block.  I recently went on a digital design buying frenzy and this design called Swivel Circles was one I really wanted to use. I love everything about this quilt, the pattern, the fabrics and the quilting design! The backing is my go to Tula Pink Free Fall wideback fabric.  This was so fun to sew, especially for a challenged piecer like me, it finishes at about 60×60. I jumped the gun and finished mine before the qal even started but I have to do it when I can, so I did! I can’t wait to make another one. The book is great, however this is probably the only pattern that I will make just because many of the patterns are paper pieced.

The 2017 Nw Quilting Expo is here and what a great one it is! Dawn White sent me a text the other night to tell me that her “Where it’s at” quilt had received a 2nd place ribbon and it’s one that I quilted! It won in the Intermediate quilt category, that’s her posing with her quilt in the first picture.  Just look at that quilt isn’t it stunning?!

So today I went to the Expo to check it out. I was totally shocked to see another quilt I had quilted for Cathy Calvin with a 2nd place ribbon in the Modern quilt category. I was there in time for the award ceremony which was fun.  I sent Cathy a text to tell her that her quilt won a ribbon, she had no idea! And it’s her birthday today, what a great gift!  Funny thing is that for both quilts I quilted the same design called Modern Curves, it’s one of my favorites.  Next goal is to win an award for custom quilting, someday.

I never dreamed I would be so fortunate to quilt for the most talented people.

Liz is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. We had a great phone conversation where she described her quilt as the never ending Irish Chain quilt. It was very large 89×112!  She was interested in custom quilting to really make it spectacular.  When we met we discussed some design ideas and my mind just took off with what to do! I got in touch with a pattern designer that knew had some beautiful Irish Chain design sets, I bought over $90 in designs and ordered about $60 in different shades of purple thread. I worked for weeks drawing and planning.  It was going to be spectacular! When I finally started loading the quilt I realized there were a few challenges. The borders were a tad wavy, there would be puckers no matter what.  I also discovered that the white block that I had planned on stitching an elaborate feather design didn’t fit my throat space. I could have divided the design but it’s much cleaner to stitch it all together.  Lastly I felt that in the dark purple areas and borders you wouldn’t even see the quilting.  Liz was prepared to spend A LOT of money on custom quilting for her quilt and I just didn’t feel right about it. For custom quilting, you should be able to see all the beauty! I really felt like an allover design called Abundant Feathers would be perfect. I spoke to Liz and she was fine with that idea. As you can see it turned out absolutely beautiful! Liz was so happy which really confirmed my gut instinct to go with an edge to edge design.   I used a lavender thread that you can just barely see on the white blocks and shows on the darker fabrics.  I can’t wait to see what she makes next.

I quilted for Maryann a few months ago, it was a beautiful Map of the World quilt for her son’s 40th birthday.  This time her friend in Florida asked her to have me quilt this vintage quilt that I think was her grandmothers!  As you can see it was shall we say, fragile?  The fabric was paper thin and tattered.  How to quilt this was a big dilemma for me, do I use a large scale design to take in some of the bulky fabrics or do I do a dense design that will cover all the imperfections.  I consulted my Gammill Facebook group and got some good advice.  I was planning on using wool but changed my mind to Hobb’s 80/20, for one she lives in Florida and also because sometimes the loft of wool can pull the fabric and I was concerned with tearing.  Luckily I invested in the Gammill quick change feet set a few months ago and put my spoon foot to good use.  The spoon foot glides over the seams so that the hopping foot doesn’t catch on a seam and tear it.  When I have a challenge I really just want to get it done so here is what I did.  I started by basting the inner yellow fabric seam to make sure the border was at least straight.  Then I basted the top edge of the quilt.  I like to pre-baste all my quilts because it really helps keep the quilt square and alleviates any surprises at the bottom of the quilt like running out of backing or batting or finding a big wavy mess.  I proceeded to baste the inner border and then the outer border all the way to bottom of the quilt.  As you can see from the pictures there were a lot of challenges but I made the best of it.  The design I used was Abundant Feathers, I had planned to do a tulip design but I thought this one would quilt better and add to the antique look of the quilt.  It almost looks custom the way the feathers fill the irish chain blocks.  All in all I am glad this quilt is finished and I am so thrilled with how it turned out!

This little beauty has been patiently waiting to get quilted while I worked through a big stack of edge to edge quilts and a vacation to Hawaii.  Custom quilts always lurk in the back of my mind, maybe more like haunt me!  Because I don’t do a lot of custom quilting every time I do one I feel like a beginner.  It’s a challenge to choose the right designs, the best way to travel without starting and stopping a bunch of times and choosing the right tools to use.  Dawn White’s quilts are always perfectly constructed which makes things easier. When we met to discuss what to do she suggested a crosshatch design for the white areas and a simple echo in the blue shapes.  I marked all the crosshatch areas with a water soluble pen and used rulers to stitch the lines and travel along the curves.  I really like the lines in the yellow.  I thought I was finished but something about the blue shapes I didn’t totally love, it needed something but I kept thinking about Dawn wanting an echo design, she does not like dense quilting and I didn’t want to insult her.  Thinking I was finished I sent Dawn a text with some pictures.  In her response she asked if I thought the blue areas needed more quilting.  I was so relieved that she suggested filling in that space.  Luckily I hadn’t trimmed it so reloading it on the frame was easy.  I couldn’t sleep all night trying to think about what to quilt in that space.  I bought several designs before I decided on a simple point to point arc and viola it’s perfect!  Now back to a huge stack of more edge to edge quilts before my next custom quilt which will be an epic challenge for me!

Sally finished this beautiful quilt while traveling all around Oregon and was hoping to get it quilted and entered in a show in Wyoming next week! It’s an original design and she used all Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Custom quilting in a couple of days is very challenging, luckily this quilt really spoke to me.  I did this all by computer, it took me a long time to find the perfect designs for the center and white blocks and I really love what I chose.  In the stars I used the point to point arc function, once you find the path to click around the points on the blocks you can stitch it out seamlessly.  The blue border compliments the arcs and star points.  The floral border was the biggest challenge.  I haven’t done a lot of borders using the computer.  Getting the corners and the border to fit and stitch along the top then move down to the bottom is tough, but then you take the quilt off the frame and turn it so you can do the sides.  Getting those to line up and stitch from the start and stop points is scary.  This one turned out perfectly, what a relief.  It’s on its way to Wyoming, I hope it is a show stopper!

To say Cathy is an avid quilter is an understatement!  She called me couple weeks ago saying that she has about 15 quilts that need quilting!  She usually quilts them herself on her domestic machine but a stack of unfinished quilts a mile high was getting to be a stress.  I have done a few so far but this one is one of my favorites!  I saw this pattern on Robert Kaufman’s site years ago and I really wanted to make it.  At least I got to quilt it!  Modern Curves is amazing on it!!  I have about 12 more to quilt!

Wanting to make a quilt for the guestroom my mom decided to make this Rewind quilt which is a pattern by Karla Alexander.  You can see many posts back that I quilted the same pattern for Dawn White which was also spectacular.  The pattern looks like it’s very improv and not that difficult, let me tell you, it’s so much harder than it appears.  My mom quickly regretted starting this but was also so happy she did it!  It’s so beautiful! the quilting design is called Modern Snails, it’s one of my new favorites, it totally brought this quilt to life!

Sally called me a few weeks in need of some super fast quilting!  Two of the quilts above would be for her grandkids that were coming any day!  The other quilt she brought to me a few days later which I immediately fell in love with!  The fabrics are all Amy Butler and I just love the pattern.  The quilting design was easy for me to decide on, Swan Song is elegant and modern and perfect for all that negative space!  Turns out she is entering all 3 in a quilt show in Montana next month.  I hope she wins!  I call her the traveling quilter because she literally travels all over the country with her husband and she sews on her Featherweight in the RV.  She’s takes quilting classes everywhere and she even knows Tula Pink’s mom!

Here is picture of my Summer Sampler blocks so far.  They have all been a challenge.  Paper piecing is very hard for me, they look great from a distance!  The one on the lower left is an extra one I made with last weeks block because it was so much fun to make.  I hope next weeks is easy.