Julie's ABC embroidery- Round 2

Julie had me turn her beautifully embroidered ABC blocks into this adorable baby quilt for her newest grandson.

She had embroidered another one just like it earlier this year. 

And then there was Connie's too from 5 years ago.

But this one it pretty much identical to the last one, quilting and all.

Loops and stars, with plenty of space between to make it soft and cuddly.

Thanks Julie!

Precious - An altered Laura Heine design

Robin who owns the local Log Cabin Quilting Quilt Shop made this amazing quilt from a Laura Heine class she had taken.  Robin took Laura's "The Dress" pattern and altered it into a beautiful ballerina to make it all her own. When I brought it home, she had it rolled onto a pool noodle so it wouldn't get creased or lose any parts.

The quilt is made via raw-edged applique over a thin layer of interfacing that has the outline of the girl design on it. The flowers shown above are all fussy-cut and ironed onto a piece of background fabric.

I started off by quilting the gray background areas with my gray thread. I outlined each fabric piece, about 1/8th of an inch from the edge, and then backfilled using a different design in each fabric print.

I quilted the big ruffles in the skirt the same way in a cream thread in the lighter pieces, and pink in the darker ones.

I outlined her arms and bodice as well, but left her arms and face un-quilted to keep her youthful skin smooth. :)

She needed a little bit of quilting in the chest area, and after much deliberation, decided on adding a collar bone detail. It was either that or giver her cleavage! lol! umm, no. I didn't want to do that at all.

Quilting in the skirt ruffles and large pieces was no problem at all. It was those darn fussy-cut flowers that gave me all the trouble.

This is one quilt that will probably never get washed even though I outlined each and every piece, aside for the hundreds of flowers. It's strictly a hanger-upper and for display only.

Fancy-fancy!

The headdress was by far the most challenging part. I was quilting through at least 3 or 4 layers of fabric ironed into place with fusible web. Plus the interfacing, batting and backing fabric. It gummed up my needle pretty bad and shredded my thread and even made my needle snag up. I had to replace my needle a couple of times. 

The face made me nervous as well. I gave her a nose, eyelashes, and some extra tendrils in her hair with some thread play.

Overall, Precious was a fun but challenging project! Robin was very pleased with her and you can currently see her hanging up in her quilt shop Log Cabin Quilting in Elk Horn, Iowa.

Thanks Robin!

Sampler BOM version 2

Here is the other hand stitched block of the month from Pat. This one is similar in style, but with different blocks to represent each month. 

So, naturally, I quilted it similarly as well with loops and c2c sashings.

And light custom in the blocks.

This quilt was also stitched all completely by hand.

I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to quilt each block.

This shot of the back actually belongs to the other red, white and blue quilt with the bunny and heart blocks. Thanks Pat! I'm glad I can help finish someone's long-time UFO.

Hand Stitched Block of the Month

Pat brought me a couple of block of the month samplers that a deceased relative had made -ALL by hand! Every stitch of it.

The first one here is done in red, white and blues. I did a light custom job on it as she didn't want it quilted too densely, but wanted to showcase the detail and handwork done in each block.

Loops and c2c in the sashing, and outlining the applique and a simple loop filler.

Hmm, this was back before sock weather hit hard. ;) 

Thanks Pat!

Mary Jo's red xmas

Mary Jo made this beautiful red and white chubby stars quilt. 

I used red and white thread in their corresponding areas as requested. And some meandering holly leaves in the X's.

The red stars got custom loops in the points, and ribbon curls in the centers. 

More ribbon curls in the gray border. A bit tricky with the red points overlapping into it.

Thanks Mary Jo!

Kelsi's Purple quilt, DGS October block

Kelsi made this fun purple quilt. 

I thought this was a perfect opportunity to use my purple thread. Once in a while those bold color threads come in handy! 

I quilted an all-over swirls, curls, leaves, flowers, and half-feathers. 

Oh. And a butterfly or two.

Thanks Kelsi! 

It is my turn again for orchestrating the quilt for October's doGood Stitches Nurture circle. I chose a tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company called Disappearing Hourglass.  Click the link for the video, but in a nutshell, you take 2-10” squares and make 4 HST’s out of them, sew those into an

hourglass block, then cut that into 9 patches that are rearranged into this neat block. So quick and so much easier than it looks! And zero waste! Love that.

She doesn’t do/mention this in the video, but I squared up the 4 HST’s to 6.5” square before sewing them into the hourglass block. Then you can still follow her measurements when you cut them into 9-patches. I did 2 1/8th from the center seam and it came out perfect. Your completed blocks should measure about 11.5 inches square.

This is the yardage I have for the backing, so I'm having my circle sisters use green, orange, and teal for their blocks. And I figured since the blocks are a smidge less than 12.5 inches and so quick and simple to make, they can do 3 blocks. The bigger the quilt, the better! :) 

Did I mention that I visited MO Star Quilt Co?  We planned a girls trip in September with my family and drove down to Hannibal, MO. We had a great time and will probably go again next year!

Mitzi's Black Stars

Mitzi and her church group made this beautiful quilt to sell chances with.

I custom quilted a feathery border.

And filled in the pieced blocks area with an all-over paisley design.

The solid black backing shows the quilting so nicely in cream thread.

Thanks Mitzi!