Le Rouvray, Paris

I know my blog has been a little quiet and with good reason - I am currently travelling in Europe with my family.  Today, I was fortunate enough to visit the lovely Le Rouvray patchwork shop in Paris.  Le Rouvray is located in a typical Parisian little square near the Notre Dame Cathedral.

I was welcomed by a member of Le Rouvray staff who was more than happy to speak English and show me their beautiful selection of French fabrics and Provence fabrics.  There was also a beautiful display of quilts in the store including some divine vintage quilts.

Thank you, Le Rouvray - my visit rounded out a great day of visiting Paris monuments and gardens, drinking coffees and eating baguettes, croissants and crepes!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I am once again participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival being organised by Amy of Amy's Creative Side from May 21 - 25.  The Blogger's Quilt Festival is an online quilt festival where bloggers from around the world showcase a quilt - once you have had a look here, head on over and take some time viewing the other wonderful quilts.

This time I have chosen to show a quilt I have recently completed for my customer Caroline.  Caroline's applique and piecing is just beautiful and incredibly accurate - the detail in the appliqued flowers is just fabulous.

I quilted Caroline's quilt with a formal feather border up to the applique. I have surrounded the applique in the border with a combination of feathers and McTavishing whilst the large setting triangles have been quilted with orange peel.  The sashing has been quilted with a feather design.

In the appliqued blocks I have quilted McTavishing and swirls.

I hope you have enjoyed Caroline's quilt - I had a great time quilting it.  Remember to head on over to see many of the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Kaleidoscope String Quilt

My customer Tina has made a beautiful Kaleidoscope String Quilt using the tutorial by Film in the Fridge.  String quilts are a wonderful way to use up lots of small scraps.  While they are quite simple to make, I can vouch for the fact that they take quite a while to make - I have an unfinished String Quilt in my UFO pile.  I am sure you will agree that Tina has made a wonderful quilt with striking fabrics and colours.

I quilted Tina's quilt with an all-over design called Windy Meander which is a great swirly pattern.

Sometimes my customers have problems finding an appropriate backing for their quilt top.  Tina on the other hand succeeded in finding the perfect backing fabric for this String Quilt.  Both the colours and pattern tie in beautifully with the quilt top.  The fabric she used was Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party - Up All Night in Blue.

This was Tina's first quilt completed in 35 years - I hope this will be the first of many more quilts Tina.

Zig Zag Quilts

I love Zig Zag Quilts - the variations that can be achieved are endless and they are so simple to make - really just half-square triangles.  I have previously made a Zig Zag quilt myself and have recently quilted two for my customers Heather and Bridie.  I quilted both quilts with the same design - it is a Plume Fern which I adapted into a continuous fern from Quiltingismytherapy's Blog.  Thanks for the demonstration - it came at the perfect time!

Heather's quilt is a modern interpreation of the Zig Zag Quilt with great effect.  I love how the colours fade from bright red at the top through to orange and yellow at the bottom of the quilt.

The plume fern was also easily adapted for the large squares.  Thread colour was changed as I progressed down the quilt.

I love the pattern that the quilting has created on the plain back.

Bridie's quilt is a traditional version of the Zig Zag Design with the use of some striking fabrics and colours.

The quilting of the plume ferns in alternating directions take your eyes across the quilt.

And again, a stunning back.

Thanks Heather and Bridie for allowing me to share your stunning Zig Zag Quilts.

Hexagons Galore

I am always in awe of quilters who have the patience to hand piece.  I am particularly attracted to hexagon quilts and Jessie's Hexagon Quilt is no exception.  Jessie has made a large, scrappy looking, paper pieced hexagon quilt.

As this quilt has so many busy prints and the quilting would not really stand out, we decided to quilt it with an all-over swirly design called Waterworld.  The quilting has again added a lovely texture and movement to the quilt.

Jessie was thrilled when she picked up her quilt - I always love seeing my customer's reaction to their finished quilt.  I hope you are enjoying your quilt Jessie - it must be very satisfying to complete such a large hand-pieced quilt.

Fat Quarterly eZine - Windows and Frames Quilt

Fat Quarterly is a new e-magazine written by modern sewists for modern sewists - I can't wait to see the first issue which goes on sale tomorrow Tuesday April, 27th.

Kate from One Flew Over is one of the faces behind this new magazine and for the first issue she has contributed the 'Windows and Frames' Quilt.  Kate made 'Windows and Frames' by upcycling her husband's old business shirts. It is a simple and effective pattern of framed squares enhanced with a crisp white solid.  Kate asked me to quilt this quilt for her and I had a great time quilting it with spirals using the Quilt-EZ template.  Here is the final result:-

I love what the quilting has added to this quilt - the spirals on the squares seem to provide the perfect contrast for this quilt which is otherwise very geometric.  The quilting just kind of happened - initially I quilted spirals in the centre of all the squares.  Having quilted the entire quilt in this way I decided it wasn't quite enough and quilted a spiral on each point where the squares meet.

The quilting also looks great on Kate's pieced back.

I will be heading over to buy a copy of Fat Quarterly here - from what I have seen, it is bound to be a fabulous online magazine full of inspirational quilts.   I can't wait to see other versions of Kate's Windows and Frames Quilt.

Good luck with the magazine girls!

Girlfriends Galore Quilt

My customer Rebecca has recently made this beautiful Girlfriends Galore Quilt from the first Material Obsession Book by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke.  It is a fabulous book and this quilt is a great example of the wonderful quilts in this book. 

This quilt is not about the quilting, but rather about the fabulous design and beautiful fabric choices.

I particularly love the central medallion of this quilt.

Rebecca's quilt was quilted with a design called Gothic Vine which shows up beautifully on the plain white backing fabric and has added a lovely texture to the quilt.

I know from Rebecca's blog that she has been busy putting on her binding - I hope you are enjoying your new quilt Rebecca.