Quilt 156 - Music, Music, Music (part 1 of 3)

Finally!  Got one finished! 

 

The center of this quilt is a clever panel that I found - and the outer borders are a print of "sheet music" (I couldn't believe I was so lucky to find that fabric!).  I bought 3 panels and am pretty much doing the same thing on each one. 

 

72" (H) x 56" (W) - bamboo batting - quilted on the longarm

 Here's a closeup of the sheet music fabric:

 

Quilt 153: Zoo Babies (part 2)

 "Wait!" you say. "Am I seeing double?  You posted this last week!"

Well... yeah...

I made 2 of these.  They're identical.

Quilt 152: Zoo Babies (part 1)

Another panel quilt - and again I had a ball with this.  Panel quilts are great fun and come together in a flash.  I've got 2 of these... Here's the first one - a simple panel quilt, but it's sooo cute!

 

 

38" x 51" - bamboo batting - quilted on the longarm

I had an absolute ball putting this together.  The center is a printed panel to which I added the green, blue, and gold borders, with all the fabric coming from scraps from other quilts (I'm determined to get my huge stash of scraps used up - there's so much in my quilting room that the scraps are taking over!). The quilting pattern is a simple "stippling" design, one that suits a very wide variety of quilt tops.

 

And here's the backing fabric, chosen (again) from my stash of scraps.

 

This one, and most of the others I'm working on, is destined for Inspirational Quilts, my favorite quilt charity. 

Stay tuned - more to come!

Quilt 151: Baby Turtles

Get ready... here they come!  I've been busy.  Finished 3 quilts, a 4th ready for binding and three more in various stages.

Here's the first one - a simple panel quilt.  All I had to do here was slap on the green border on the edges.  The rest of this is the panel itself, which is fairly large.

44" x 51" - bamboo batting, quilted on the longarm

The green border is scrap fabric from quilt 11!  Yes.... I've got quite a stash of scraps that go all the way back to 2011!

The backing is a soft fleece - feels lovely and the colours
are perfect for the top

Stay tuned... there's more coming!

Quilt 148: Jelly Roll Race with Aboriginal-Inspired Prints

I do love doing Jelly Roll Race quilts.  My favorite quilt shop had a roll of Aboriginal-inspired prints and I just couldn't resist it:

Have a look at some of the prints.  These are of native birds:

And the gorgeous dots an stylized animals:

So I made the quilt and quilted it on the longarm, using a gum-leaf pattern:

And here's the finished quilt:

48" x 64" - quilted on the longarm

Quilt 137: Red/Black/Gold Oriental Layer Cake - DONE!

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about a quilt I made using the teal/blue/green squares from a layer cake collection I bought in the US a little over a year ago.  I pulled out the cool colours from the pack for that quilt - and for this one, I pulled out the reds, blacks and golds.  Here's the finished quilt:

(doubleclick any photos on this page to see a larger image)

56" x 65" - quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic (bamboo stitch pattern), bamboo batting

It's a very simple quilt, nothing much done other than stitching the squares together, but oh my...  ...it's stunning.

Here is a closeup of some of the panels:

 And here's another:

The lovely oriental designs are highlighted with flecks of metallic gold here and there.  It really gleams in the sunshine.

The previous quilt (the teal one) had patterned fabric for the backing, so the stitch pattern doesn't show up especially well.  On this one, however, I opted for solid magenta homespun for the back and binding - and the quilting (done with  gold-tone thread) really pops!

And here's the stitch pattern from the quilt software:

It's "Bamboo" from Urban Elementz.




I've got enough leftover layer cake squares to make one more quilt, but haven't decided yet if I'll do another simple one like this or go a little further afield with my choice of blocks...

Quilt 134: Monkeys and Elephants (my ugly duckling) - DONE!

I was ready to try another strip quilt design, and decided to go with blocks made of 6 strips sewn together -pretty basic stuff.  Here's the jelly roll I chose to use for it (one I picked up on sale):

I was surprised that the manufacturer didn't give this collection a name.  "Rainbows" is the same name on all (or most) of their jelly rolls. 

No matter - I decided to call it "Monkeys and Elephants" because of the prints:

Like I said: pretty basic stuff.  I have to admit that after I'd pieced the top (and before putting the final border of green around it), I looked at and just thought "...this is the ugliest quilt!"  I got a little discouraged and pushed it aside, didn't finish it for a while.  Eventually I dug it out and decided to go ahead and finish it.  Once I got the border on it and quilted it... I changed my mind.  It's actually pretty cute!

50" x 50" - quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic - bamboo batting

Here's the stitch pattern I used for quilting (below).

"Animal Crackers" from Urban Elementz

I used solid green for the backing - and the animal design really pops!  The thread is a light cream, which fades into the prints on the top, so I'm really happy I used a solid for the back.

So there you are.  My ugly duckling quilt turned out to be a cute little swan!

Quilt 133: Teal and Gold Bamboo - DONE!

I was in Florida in late 2017, and visited my favourite American quilt shop "The Quilt Place".  I always stock up big-time when I'm there, and this trip was no different.  They had gorgeous layer cakes (10" precut squares) with metallic oriental prints.  I bought 3 of them!

I finally decided to start using them.  Most of the squares seem to be red, gold and black, but there were quite a few teal/turquoise ones, too.  I pulled out 42 of those to make a simple block quilt.  It came together in a flash, of course - and here's the finished quilt:

56" x 65" - quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic (bamboo stitch pattern), bamboo batting

Here's a closeup of one of the blocks, with birds and bamboo:

The quilt stitch pattern is "Bamboo" from Urban Elementz:

I used medium-grey thread for the quilting, so the stitching more or less fades into the quilt.  I prefer that on this quilt because I didn't want anything to interfere with the prints.  In the photo below you can see some of the quilting in the lower part where the light is casting a shadow.  Very subtle.

The backing is a creamy gold peony print with soft gold metallic highlights, and the binding is done in solid teal homespun:

I just love the colours - rich and vibrant.

I'm going to pull out some of the reds from that set next and will do another, similar quilt - but on that one, may use gold thread so the stitching stands out a bit more...  ...or... well... maybe red (so it fades...?).  The backing I have for the red is a solid homespun, and so the bamboo pattern will stand out more.  Hm... I'll have to think it over a while...

Quilts 128, 129, 130: Houses - DONE!

Sometimes quilting with panels becomes almost like "instant quilts".  That certainly felt like the case with these three.  I found the "houses" panels online and ordered three of them.  The colourful prints are quite large, and after adding a 3" yellow border, 3" green border, and 3" blue border, I ended up with pretty good sized quilts. 

52" x 59" - quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic with the "Row of houses" stitch pattern

 Here's the stitch pattern I used (below). 

On the first quilt (below) I kept the stitch pattern at the dimensions it comes in.  After doing it once that way, I decided it was a little too dense, so on the 2nd and 3rd quilts I expanded the pattern to just over twice it's original size.

 Each of the quilts has a different backing.  The first one is light turquoise (with dark green binding):

 The second one is yellow (with light green binding):

 The third one is deep tea (with lime green binding)l:

I've been VERY productive in recent weeks.  Now having the Q-Matic for quilting, I can quilt one project while I'm piecing the next one.  I can't believe how fast I'm powering through my stash of fabric!  I may start posting more often, as posting once a week has left me with quite a backlog of quilts to show.

Quilts 125 and 126 - Baby Bunnies - DONE!

Strip quilts go together quickly and can be really charming. 

I found this jelly roll "Bunny Trail" from Ella Blue on sale -

 Here are the prints in the set:

And there's enough in one jelly roll to make two baby quilts.

My good friend Nancy (from the charity "Inspirational Quilts") confided that she needed a lot more quilts for children - and so I got busy and whipped out two quilts like the one in the photo below:

46" x 46" - quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic - cotton batting

Here's a closeup of the prints - little bunnies, as you can see at the bottom of the photo below.  And the stitching pattern... isn't it just adorable?!?!?!    I found this bunny design online.

On the quilt above, I put the bunnies onlly on the top and bottom borders.  But on the other quilt (below) I made the bunnies a lot bigger and did edge-to-edge throughout the quilt.

Both quilts have the same vibrant pink backing - and here again, you can see the bunnies in the stitching.

These quilts took just no time to put together, and I really enjoyed making them.  They've been turned over to Nancy and hopefully by now have each found a home.

Quilt 121: Minnie Mouse 2 (baby size) - DONE!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about an adult-size "Minnie Mouse" quilt I made for a friend.  I had a second panel, and a little bit of the coordinating print, enough to make a baby-size quilt - and here it is!

48" x 55" - Quilted on the Bernina Q-Matic ("Panto_Stars" pattern) - cotton batting

I used the same backing:

When hubby Stephen held this one up for the photo to be taken, he remarked that the print on the backing fabric looks exactly like mouse droppings.

Oh, heavens... he's right....

Quilt 119: Minnie Mouse 1 - DONE!

A friend requested a "Minnie Mouse" themed quilt.  I found a great panel online - which is in the center of this quilt:

54" x 62" - quilted on the longarm (Q-Matic pattern "Panto_Stars") - cotton batting

The panel is in the center.  I added a narrow black border, a wider border using a coordinating print, and a 3rd border (black) on the outside.  The binding is done in red.

Here's the stitch pattern I selected.

And here's a closeup of the backing, binding and you can see how the stitch pattern fits into the quilt.  I used red thread, which pretty much fades into the background.

 This one is a fairly big quilt - but I have another Minne Mouse panel and will be doing a baby-sized one."

Quilt 118: Baby Australian Animals - DONE!

There was a sale at Patchwork With Gail B - and they had an adorable quilt kit marked down.  I couldn't resist.  Here's the top, after piecing.  There's a center planel with baby Australian animals shown, and the borders are an adorable coordinating print.  In the corners, the original design calls for some of the coordinating print to be cut out and applique'd - but I felt that was too busy.  Instead I decided to insert a fancy-stitch design of my own.

 I had a length of bright green that I wanted to use for the backing.  It's not an exact match to the greens on the top, however.

 But binding the quilt with this pink swirly leftover fabric would create enough separation between the back and front- and the pink goes great with both!

 I mentioned wanting to do a fancy design in the corners with stitching (instead of applique).  I found this image online - a cluster of gum leaves.  I used the Art-n-Stitch software that came with the Q-Matic to trace the leaves and make a stitching pattern I could execute on the longarm.

And here's my test of the design using scraps.  It turned out great!

The animals in the center panel are really cute.  I didn't want to do end-to-end quilting on this quilt, but opted instead to outline the animals and add a little bit of interest to the backgrounds inside the frames.

 And here you see on the finished quilt how that turned out!

The finished quilt!  Doubleclick the image below for a larger picture.  In this photo you can see the gumleaves in the corners (especially lower left)

44" x 52" - quilted on the longarm (freemotion, ruler work, Q-Matic gum leaves) cotton batting

My friend Sarah just became a grandmother for the first time recently.  She saw this quilt and fell in love with it - so it's going to be her gift to her granddaughter.