A couple quilts from Karen

I met up with Karen at the AQS show a few weeks ago to hand off these two lovely quilts.

This pattern is called Synchronized Squares.  You can read Karen's post here.

Since the blocks have raw edges I quilted a flower in each block.  With loops in between. 

She even had a few extra blocks for the back.  I somehow managed to line up the blocks on the back with the ones on the front so the quilted flowers matched up.

And she made this throw with Christmas fabrics. And you can see Karen's post on this quilt here. 

Free-motion feathers!

Thanks for having me quilt your quilts once again Karen!

Quilt #27 & Thread Recommendations

This is quilt #27.  These Jumbo-sized blocks were made using old shirts.  I love the shadowed 3-D effect it has!

I quilted feathers in the border, a vine of leaves in the black border and over-all swirls in the center.  I used grey Aurifil thread on top and Connecting Threads Silver Essential Pro in the bobbin.  They seem to work well together for me-they are very similar in color and thickness.  I really like Aurifil thread, but it is much more expensive, which is why I used the Essential Pro in the bobbin. 

You can see in more detail from the back.  I did change thread color in the black border to match.  Anyone have any thread preferences out there?  What breaks more than others?  I'd love to hear about it!

Quilt #25

This little scrappy number was made by my MIL.

More feathers!  I'm really on a roll with these feathers-I just can't stop!

The back shows the quilting a bit better. 

Quilt #24- Scrappy 4-patch Stars Quilt

Waay back in February my Mom and sister and I were looking for a quilt to make on our next sewing weekend extravaganza.  I had just seen this quilt on Natalia's blog and thought it was one we could do.  It was scrappy, not super complicated to put together, but still looks pretty intricate.  It was a go!  Mom had all the measurements and dimensions figured out lickety-split. 

(There's one star center that the 4-patch is turned the wrong way.  Can you find it?)

More feathers!

It's amazing when how fast a quilt can come together when you have 4 or more people working on it!  Love this quilt!  It measures about 80" square. 

Sister-T Quilt

Here is another one of my sister's quilts.  T's!  It's hard to believe but these blocks are all the same! 

And this is how I quilted it- with Jenny's feather tutorial.  Jenny from Jenny's Doodling Needle does the Hooked feather-which I have done before, but she makes each hook super skinny so it looks like it's echoed.  I really like doing feathers this way, it's easier for me to make them look more consistent.  But not nearly as consistent as hers- she's got some amazing quilting on her blog. 

I pity the fool who doesn't love this quilt!   :)

Hope you love it Little Sista-Friend!

Another one bites the dust

 Quilt #4 featuring Hook feathers.

and the back.  

Moving on to quilt #5 which I've just barely started.  This time I am trying something a bit different and doing a half feather using the edge of the border as the spine. 

I actually helped make this one.  You take a light and a dark 5" square and make 2 HST (half square triangle) units which you then cut into quarters.  So you get the units you see in that little block in the corner: 2 small HST's and a light and a dark square.  You can arrange them in a bunch of different ways.  I'm probably not explaining it very well, but hopefully you get the idea.  Anyway, I am currently stumped on what to quilt in the pieced border...oh yeah, and the rest of the quilt.  :)  any suggestions?

Back to Quilting

Here is some quilting on a quilt back.  Some 5 petaled flowers and random swirls and leaves. 

And feathers!  I got a little funky and did a little something in each feather. 

Christmas projects got me off the quilting track for a while, and now there is lots of catching up to do.  So stay tuned for more quilting updates!  Signing off to go quilt!

Feathers in a Square

This quilt was made by a local lady who happens to be 97 years old!  It is for her very lucky granddaughter who graduated high school this year. 



She made a fancy-edging-flappy-deal around the inside of the squares with the dark green.  Im sure there is a technical term for it and that someone out there knows what it is.  Please let me know :)  I was searching for the right feathery pattern to do in the squares in Sally Terry's Hooked on Feathers book when i saw this one-It was perfect!  They were pretty fun to quilt too. 

High-loft batting really shows off the quilting on the back.  I la-la-loved this quilt!  I had a hard time giving it back to her. 

Funky Log Cabin

This quilt was created by my sister.  The log cabin blocks have strips of various widths and sizes for a wonky effect.  She is the Queen of Wonk and Scraps.  So, how the heck do you quilt this??  Well, I thought about the light verses dark areas and decided to highlight the contrast with different textures.  And I wanted to be able to quilt the whole row of dark areas and light areas in one complete pass- without having to stop, cut the thread, reposition the machine, do another section, stop, repeat a thousand times.  It takes me forever.  Me no likey.

I did loopy loops in the dark, and a more linear design in the light.  Can you see in the dark area how I squeaked through to the next section?  In the border I practiced my feathers.  I use the "Hooked on Feathers" technique by Sally Terry.  I really like her method and how there is very little backtracking.   I am lucky that my sister is not too particular and that she lets me use her quilts as guinea pigs for new designs.  And she makes quite a few of them!  Keep 'em comin!