We Love Color

I was thrilled to receive a copy of the recently released book We Love Color compiled by Susanne Woods.  We Love Color is a collaborative quilt book with contributions from 16 designers using Kona Solids.  I was given my book by my sister Rita from Red Pepper Quilts whose quilt Lady of the Lake features in the book.

Rita made the traditional Lady of the Lake quilt with a very modern twist.  She chose a green/blue palette for the larger half-square triangles and surrounded the blocks with array of colorful triangles.  I love the way the colors sparkle against the white background.

While Rita usually quilts her own quilts, on this occasion I was asked to quilt for her.  Rita's quilting usually involves straight lines or cross-hatching and she wanted the quilting on this quilt to be within keeping of her RPQ style.  We decided on diagonal lines through the larger blocks and simple continuous curves on the surrounding smaller triangles.

For more information on the other wonderful quilts  in We Love Color as well as some great give-aways, take a look at the We Love Color Blog Tour which is currently running through Robert Kaufman Fabrics.  We Love Color is available now through Amazon.

Vale Pat - 1924 - 2012

Today I went to the funeral of a fellow quilter and friend, Pat McArthur.  At 87 years of age, Pat was one of my dearest and kindest customers - over the last few years I quilted a number of quilts for Pat and I loved picking up and dropping off quilts at her house.  Pat certainly loved a chat and a quilt drop off would invariably last at least an hour.

I found Pat to be an inspirational woman and while I only knew her as a quilter, the church today was filled with mourners which is testament to the many areas of interest in her life.  Pat left instructions for her funeral including the request for no eulogy and no photos of her.  As a result, I won't eulogise too much here other than to say that I will miss catching up with Pat and hold dear the times I was able to spend with her.

I will leave you with a photo of a quilt Pat made which now hangs in her beloved St James Anglican Church in Thornbury - this quilt was completely hand pieced and quilted by Pat.  Pat also made the wonderful Pies and Tarts quilt I have previously blogged.

Nominated! Vote at Blogger's Quilt Festival

I was thrilled to receive an email from Amy today to say that my customer Linda's Red Cross Quilt had been nominated for voting in 2 categories - Favorite 2 Colour Quilt and Favorite Professionaly Machine Quilted. 

Voting is open now and anyone can vote - so, head on over to Amy's Creative Side.  There are a number of categories to vote on with a wonderful selection of quilts.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Red Cross Quilt

I am once again participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival organised by Amy of Amy's Creative Side from May 18 to June 1, 2012.  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 am sharing another of Linda's quilts.  Linda is from Quilts in the Barn and, after visiting the Infinite Variety Exhibition of red and white quilts in New York City last year, she has developed a love of red and white quilts.  Linda's quilt is the traditional Red Cross Quilt which was pieced to perfection.

Linda loves feathers, so feathers I quilted ...

As a contrast to the feathers, the red crosses and the red sashing have been quilted with simple continuous curves and cross-hatching.

This quilt will be exhibited as part of the Quilts in the Barn Exhibition

(a fundraiser for Breastcancer Research)  as follows:-

Quilts In The Barn 2012

Infinite Variety Revisited

An Exhibition of Red And White Quilts

5th, 6th, 7th October 2012

Also featuring Red And White Antique Quilts

by Mary Koval

Check Linda's Blog for further details

I hope you have enjoyed Linda's quilt - remember to head on over to see many of the other wonderful quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival - enjoy!

Liberty Circles Quilt

Today's featured quilt is a hand pieced quilt made by my customer Penny.  Penny completed this quilt during classes at Patchwork on Central Park.  It is Penny's version of the amazing Liberty Circles Quilt designed by Angie of Patchwork on Central Park.  As the name suggest, the quilt includes an array of Liberty fabrics.

We decided to keep the quilting fairly simple with radiating lines being quilted from each of the circles.  The circles have been quilted with 1/4 inch outlines and continuous curves.  The stars in the sashing have received some continuous curves and the borders have been quilted with piano keys.



Following are some close-ups of a few of the blocks which certainly demonstrate the intricate piecing involved in this quilt.

Some more photos of this incredible quilt can be found on my flickr account.

Thanks Penny for yet again allowing me to quilt one of your wonderful quilts - enjoy!

Garden Fence Quilt

I have recently quilted Penny's very pretty Garden Fence Quilt.  The quilt has been made using the instructions on Hyacinth Quilt Designs which shows a beautiful version in golds, greys, yellows and white.  Penny's quilt has been made using an array of pretty pinks, greens, white and the occasional splash of orange.

Penny's quilt has been quilted with one of my favourite all-over designs called Daisies Galore.

I love the way the quilted daisies stand out on the plain fabrics and tie in with the many floral fabrics in the quilt - a perfect match really!



Penny's quilt is being raffled to raise funds for her children's school - good luck Penny - the quilt is bound to  do really well.  I am sure the eventual winner will be thrilled to win such a gorgeous quilt. 

Shadow Trapunto Samples

Inspired by the incredibly talented award winning Longarm Quilter,  Karen McTavish I have been trying my hand at some trapunto.  I have been studying the wonderful designs by Karen McTavish in her books including "The Secrets of Elemental Quilting" and "Custom Curves".

Trapunto is a technique where quilt motifs are marked onto a quilt top and then quilted onto a layer of wadding with soluble thread.  The wadding is then carefully trimmed away around the motifs, leaving an extra layer of wadding behind the motifs.  The quilt is then layered with wadding and backing as usual and quilted.  Once the quilting is finished, the quilt is dunked in water to remove the water soluble pen markings and water soluble trapunto thread.

Shadow trapunto is similar to basic trapunto but uses different components.  The top layer of the quilt needs to be a sheer fabric, such as a batiste.  A bright piece of fabric is then layered behind the batiste which gives the effect of dyed batting in the background.

I have been experimenting with different fabrics for the top layer and the bright layer of fabric as well as the wadding.  My first sample used a design element called Rapture from Karen McTavish's book "Custom Curves".

The quilting design has been surrounded by my favourite background quilting design - pebbles.  Whilst I was happy with the result, I decided that the top fabric was not sheer enough as the bright red fabric which is layered behind the top fabric barely shows through. 

I managed to find some batiste fabric wide enough to eventually make a wholecloth quilt.  My second sample has been made using this as the top fabric.  Lisa from Dyed and Gone to Heaven has dyed a bright red wide cotton sateen fabric for me which has been used as the second layer in the following sample.  The feather in the sample was inspired by the Victorian Feathers in Karen McTavish's book "The Secrets of Elemental Quilting".

I was quite pleased with the results of the second sample - I like the subtle pink background colour which has been achieved and the contrast of the white feather motifs. 

I think I am ready to transfer these elements onto a larger shadow trapunto quilt.  I have really enjoyed making these sample pieces - I even enjoyed the quiet rhythm of hours of snipping the wadding away and managed to do so without snipping the top fabric.  Hopefully my eventual wholecloth quilt will be made with the same results - wish me luck!