Jen's quilt "Inverloch"

My friend Jen saw my "Squares of Sharon" quilt a while back and decided to give it a go.  I love her work - always interesting and beautiful. She agreed to let me share photos of it with you (thank you, Jen!).

This first one shows off the colours - really stunning.

49" x 64"

And this one shows her free-motion stitching.  She did this on her domestic sewing machine - boy am I even impressed!

 Jen named this quilt "Inverloch" because the colours remind her of the sea there, and because the friend she made it for has a holiday house at Inverloch. 

Quilt 70: Lecien Floral Collection - DONE!

Here's another "charm square" quickie quilt!

I have really been loving my simple charm-square quilts.  So quick, so easy and yet so lovely.

I made a baby quilt with the same fabrics back last year.  On that one I edged it with a green print.  For this one, I chose a pale peach flower print with solid pale green for the edges and backing.

And here it is - all done!

50" x 58" - 100% cotton batting - quilted on the longarm (free motion loop-d-loops)

This one goes to "Inspirational Quilts".

Quilt 69: Windows of Aussie Animals - DONE!

I wanted to do a quilt using Australian animals as the theme - a gift for a friend I'm going to be visiting soon.  I found a lovely print which has lots of different animals - echidnas, kangaroos, galahs, wombats, crocodiles, koalas, platypus, emus, possoms, and so on.  Just couldn't resist it.  But how to use it in a quilt? 

I decided "3-d windows" would work well, as long as I cut the fabric in a way that the windows would show different groupings of animals.  Doing that was a bit challenging, but I managed it. 

Here it is on the longarm (below).  It's the largest quilt I've done on the longarm to-date.

Here's a closeup of one of the windows, showing the animals.

Last year I got several meters of a gum-tree print - and used that as one of the borders.  Cutting along the selvage, I was able to get a single border strip without having any seams interrupting the flow of the branches:

Below is the backing, showing the "blustery breeze" stitch pattern.  And, as you can see from the photo above and below, I bound the quilt with the gum tree print.

I added some triangles to the corners for a little extra visual interest, and also to break between the bottom and side "gum tree" borders.

And here it is finished:

52" x 76" - polyester batting - quilted on the longarm ("blustery breeze" groovy board)

Hubby Stephen had to really stretch to hold this one up!

Quilt 68: "Grow" - DONE!

Well - this one happened in a blink. 

I was at my favorite quilt shop and wandered past the charm square table - finding the most ADORABLE sets there - just 2 packs of a charm square set called "Grow".  The cheery pastel rainbow colours grabbed me instantly (I'm a total sucker for pastel rainbows).  I just had to grab those 2 packs, knowing that they'd give me enough to make a decent sized throw.

I should have done so many things here - like getting a photo of the charm pack (as I try to do) - but I was just on fire for this project and whipped through it without thinking.

I have to laugh, too, because it was right after I finished this that I decided to make a trip back to the US and see family and friends in Ohio, Florida, and Colorado.  And in Ohio my beloved sister-friend Val has the most adorable grand-daughters.  I'm taking a stuffed kangaroo for little Claire - and the quilt you see below will be lovely for her new baby sister Lucy.

52" x 61" - a bit large for an infant, but when she's older I think she may like it.

I went back to the quilt shop earlier this week hoping to find more of those squares - but they don't seem to have them.  I'm so glad I grabbed those 2 remaining packs and didn't wait.  If' I'd waited, I'd have missed out.

Here's the backing - just plain solid green, but the cream quilt thread shows up delightfully:

Bright colours all around. 

I hope I can find more of these charm squares, as I'd like to make a couple of these for Inspirational Quilts.

And, you are thinking..."What about a quilt for Claire?"  Well - yes... that will probably happen at some point.  But Claire is only about 2 1/2 years old and she isn't going to be thrilled with a quilt at this age.  That stuffed kangaroo will be much more to her taste at this stage.