Blue Stars Quilt

My customer Peney makes the most exquisite quilts with wonderful piecing, fabric selections and colour choices.  This Blue Stars Quilt she has made is no exception.  The quilt is made up of blocks made by various piecers from Peney's quilting group which Peney has sewn together.  Many of the blocks have the name of the maker embroidered on them.  I love the golden highlights throughout the quilt:  in the corner blocks in the outer border; the corner blocks of the body of the quilt, as well as some of the carefully placed corner stones.  You really get the impact of the golden highlights when looking at the whole quilt.

I have quilted the Blue Stars Quilt with feathers in the white setting triangles of many of the blocks, continuous curves in the blue sections of the blocks, a tiny scroll through the  narrow sashing and semi-circles with feathers and piano keys in the borders.  Here are some close ups of the individual blocks.

The following is a close-up of the quilting in the border -

More photos of this quilt can be viewed on my flickr page here.

I hope you have enjoyed Peney's Blue Stars Quilt - it has been a pleasure to work on and I am thrilled with the end result.

Pick-Pocket Nurses (now Quilter's) Tool Belt

I have spent some considerable time over the last week in the emergency department of our local hospital.  My husband was the patient and he is now on the way to recovering.  While there, however, I had plenty of time to notice that many of the nursing staff were wearing a small tool belt around their waist for their scissors, tape, pens, keys etc.

As a longarm machine quilter, I am always putting down my scissors and then having to figure out exactly where I have left them, to the point of frustration.  I often find myself walking all the way around to the other side of the quilting machine to pick up my scissors.  I had considered a tool belt before but had not found anything small enough that wasn't going to get in the way while quilting, until last week.

I found the Pick-Pocket Nurses Tool Belt online at Multipoint Technologies and at $15AUD including postage thought it a bargain.  My Nurses Quilter's Tool Belt arrived in the mail today - I will now hopefully be able to put my hands on my scissors and other small tools at all times.

Modern Sampler Quilt

Kate from One Flew Over has once again made a stunning quilt which I have had the pleasure to quilt.  Kate has made a Modern Sampler Quilt, using simple blocks made with gorgeous fabrics set with a cotton-linen blend sashing in a grey colour.

Kate's only quilting instructions to me were that she did not want feathers.  Inspired by the quilting on this Sampler Quilt we decided to quilt Kate's quilt with Baptist Fans and I think the result is rather striking in its simplicity.

The quilting design has added a lovely movement and texture to the quilt.  Here are some closer shots.

My favourite block:-

Kate has used a plain white fabric on the back with a wide strip of a beautiful Liberty fabric.  The back shows the quilting beautifully.

I hope you enjoy your quilt Kate - as usual, it has been a delight to work on and has resulted in a fabulous quilt.

Georgia's Birthday Quilt

My sister Rita from Red Pepper Quilts and I decided to make a quilt together for our niece's 6th birthday which is coming up soon. Rita agreed to make the top and I would do the machine quilting.

Rita is a designer and maker of the most exquisite modern quilts. Georgia's quilt is an original design by Rita and you can see the making of this quilt on Rita's blog here.

Georgia's quilt has been quilted with an all-over design called Daisies Galore from Timeless Quilting Designs. Here are some close-ups of the individual blocks.

As usual, Rita has pieced together an amazing back. The daisies show up beautifully on the plain pink fabric.

Rita has released the pattern for Georgia's Quilt which is available through her patterns page on her website or from her Etsy Shop. This is the second pattern released by Red Pepper Quilts - her other pattern "Bricks and Stones" is a beautiful quilt also.

Rita and I can't wait to see Georgia's reaction to her quilt on her birthday.

Wonderland Quilt

My customer Bridie has just made a beautiful quilt using fabrics from the Wonderland range by MoMo for Moda.  Bridie has used this range of fabrics to make some wonderful log cabin blocks which have been set with a chocolate coloured sashing in a cotton-linen blend.

I have quilted Bridie's quilt using one of my favourite patterns called Splash by Jodi Beamish of Willow Leaf Studio.  I have used this pattern quite a few times as it tends to look great on modern quilts.  I do particularly like the way the quilting stands out in the plain fabric - it has added a lovely texture and great movement to the quilt.

Bridie has made this quilt for her daughter - I hope she will love and use this quilt for many years to come.

Loch Quilt Hanging 2010

When I found out that the 10th Loch Quilt Hanging was to be the last one, I knew I had to go.  So, at the last minute it was decided to make the trip to Loch with a quilting friend.  I have been to quite a few Loch Quilt Hangings  over the years and have some great memories - I have previously taken my Mother, my Mother-in-Law and my husband and children.  We have always enjoyed the day and today was no exception.

My friend and I had a lovely time, catching up on quilting news, having a wonderful morning tea in Loch, wandering around amongst the lovely quilts, enjoying a great lunch and then the return drive to Melbourne all on a glorious summer day.  As a sign of this electronic age, I bumped into an on-line friend Cathy from Cabbage Quilts and we caught up with several quilting customers.

Loch Village was established in South Gippsland in 1876 and is a small township with a rural charm. The original buildings and colourful cottage gardens add interest to a leisurely village stroll and are a fitting backdrop to the antique and craft shops, bric-a-brac stores and galleries.  The charming buildings certainly make a great backdrop for the quilts which were on display today.

The makers of these two quilts were Maureen Mackie and Clare Brown.

The quilt on the left was made by Gail Watts.  Unfortunately, I don't know the maker of the small quilt on the right.

These quilts were by Deirdre Mifsud, Amanda Davis and Fay Beverley.

Again, I don't know the maker of the quilt on the left.  The maker of the quilt on the right is Maureen Mackie.

While the public display of quilts was great, I particularly enjoyed the collection of quilts by Yoko Okamoto from Japan.  Yoko's hand piecing, applique and hand quilting were just amazing.   My two favourite quilts from her collection were the following:-

Loch Quilt Hanging 2010 was a wonderful day out with a great array of glorious quilts on display.  It is with some sadness that this will be the last one - thank you to Julie Wallace and the organisers from Quilters Barn for 10 great years of Quilt Hangings.

First Quilt for 2010

Finally - I have finished my first quilt for 2010!

The quilt I am sharing today is my customer Anne's quilt who has made a traditional sampler quilt.  I love the traditions of quilting and the fact that many quilters start on their quilting journey with a sampler quilt.  This is Anne's first quilt and she had done a great job hand piecing it.

I think it took me a while to get started with quilting this year as this first quilt was a custom quilt and quite a challenge on the brain with each block being different.  As you can see, I went with lots of feathers, some continuous curves and line-dancing.  Here are some of the blocks:-

The border has been quilted with swags with feathers in them.  The pink sashing has a swirl design while the white and green sashing have yet more feathers.

There are several more photos of different blocks on my Flickr page for anyone interested.

I hope Anne will be pleased with her quilt and that this is the start of a great quilting journey for her.  I am off to do a quilt with an all-over design now..