Quilts 71, 72, 73: Mystic Purple Garden - DONE!

A while back, when I was still working on Quilt 67, some friends got a look at it.  They just went wild for it, 3 of them wanting me to make more of these so they could each have one.  How could I say "no"?

I needed to adjust the design, however, as for at least 2 of them the quilt needed to be just a tad longer.  So I pulled out my quilt design software and made a copy of the original design:

Original Design - 51 x 62"

And "tweeked" it a bit.  In the design above, the center rectangle is the floral panel.  In addition to the 2 shades of purple (solid) which frame it, I included a complimentary print which echo's the colours and themes of the central panel.

In the newer (and larger) version (below), I've represented the panel as a grapy-purple (solid) so that you can see the borders I'm adding with the complimentary print:

58" x 69"

Naturally, when I went to buy more of the solid purples, the store I usually shop at didn't have any more of the exact same shade - but they did have a couple of purples which look just as terrific, so I was in business!

Here's a closeup of the center panel:

(Click on the picture above to see a larger image)

When I did quilt 67, I wasn't sure if I had enough of the coordinating print (shown on the edge of the panel above) to bind the quilt with it.  But I ordered lots more and so had enough to use it for these three quilts.

Here's how the binding (with the coordinating print) looks:

REALLY NICE!

I won't show all 3 of the quilts - as they look exactly alike - but here's one:

100% cotton batting, quilted on the longarm with "Blustery Breeze" groovy boards.
The backing is solid light purple homespun.

So I've made 4 of these so far.  You'd think I'd be tired of making them, but I'm not.  I ordered more of the fabric so that I've got enough to make a few more, and fully expect that someone else will want one.

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!