Tutorials

Friday, September 28, 2018

Teresa's California Dreamin'



Teresa made this quilt called 'California Dreamin'. The pattern was in the Quilty magazine that featured my sister's quilt and my quilting on the cover. (March/April 2017) You can see it posted up in the left side banner.


Love the rich colors she used in this one! She wanted custom quilting, so I came up with a geometric design for the centers...


...And some strait line meandering in the frames.


It is hard to tell, but there are 2 different sizes of centers/backgrounds. I decided to quilt them the same.



The back.



Thanks Teresa! 

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Thea's Kitties


Peg and Sarah made this adorable Kitty quilt for Thea-my niece. Thea is a lover of animals, not only cats, but anything with 4 or 6 legs! Frogs, toads, walking sticks, hamsters, puppies- you name it, she's holding it!


Thea arranged the blocks herself- she did an amazing job! She's 9 years old btw.


I quilted a fun funky feather in the purple batik border, and some double circles in the inner turquoise border.


I added her name in there too. As her aunt, I can make those fun executive decisions ;)


As for the blocks, I just kind of quilted all kinds of things in there. Mostly paisley feathered swirls, but with lots of other things in there too like feathers, hearts, swirls, flowers, leaves...


...and one special kitty face! I picked a dark blue one so the quilting would show up well with my light gray thread.


This was a big quilt- 100 inches square! 







The back-mostly a light lavender solid- shows the quilting really well.


LOVED quilting this one! Thea will be enjoying this one for a loong while I'm sure.

Monday, September 24, 2018

Joe's T-shirt Quilt



Joe-a graduating high school senior- made this T-shirt quilt as a 4-H project.  Real men drive tractors AND sew quilts! lol.


I quilted all over paisleys and other designs here and there. I also put stars in the striped cornerstones to go along with the patriotic theme.


It's fun to add different designs in the open spaces. 


I can tell you that his quilt got considered for the Iowa State Fair! Great job Joe!

Actually-* Spoiler Alert*- I quilted 4 different T-shirt quilts for 4-H'ers at our county fair, and they ALL got considered for State! And one actually did get to go to the Iowa State Fair!  That was pretty awesome! 

Friday, September 21, 2018

dgs blocks, Fireside baby quilt


These are my do.Good Stitches blocks from a few months back. This Sawtooth Star block was for May. The instructions are here.


These looong Lollipop Blocks were for April.  I learned a new way to sew circles with this tutorial. Yes, it is by machine!  We each made 2 with solid white and a bright solid lollipop.


Cindy made this super soft and cuddly baby quilt with some fun flannels.


I kept it gender-neutral with lots of paisleys and a couple few stars mixed in.


The back is gray Fireside. It's a lot like minky, but with a bit shorter fuzz. Super soft and cozy! Quilted up like a dream :)
Thanks Cindy!

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Rose's Embroidered Farm Baby Quilt


Rose embroidered this adorable farm animal baby quilt and needed it quilted up for her new grandson.


I quilted all-over paisley swirls on it.


Thanks Rose!

Friday, September 14, 2018

4-Patch Baby Quilt


Connie made this simply sweet baby quilt with some large 4-patches.





Those 4-patches were just perfect for some custom quilting-no marking needed.


Simple meandering and some double circles filled in the blue sashings. 
Thanks Connie!

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

25 patch quilt



Jessica made this fun 25-patch quilt with 2.5 inch squares. 


I quilted all-over paisleys and a few stars in a circle since it was in the fabric.


I believe the fabric line is called 'varsity'.


Thanks Jessica!

Monday, September 10, 2018

Embroidered Hearts Quilt blocks


Carol and her husband made this needle art quilt. (He does the needlework to help with arthritis.) I am sure it is a Jack Dempsey Needle Art pattern, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on the web, so I can't tell you what it is called.




These embroidered blocks are so fun to quilt. I pretty much just outlined the design and added a heart/loop design to fill the spaces between.


Curls in the sashing and around the block edges.


The hardest part was figuring out the thread path with the least amount of stops and starts. But a few are inevitable to get the best look--inside the flower hearts.

Thanks Carol!

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Ice skating Penguin Panel


Linda had another panel wallhaging for me to quilt up, this time a winter penguin scene.


I outlined the outside and inside of the blocks.


Outlined the penguins and did a curly border design in the red.


I kept it super simple in the black and white snowflake border with some loops. 


The back. Thanks Linda!