It’s another sunny day in the quilting studio. In fact, The Netherlands is in the midst of a long heat wave, with highs everyday in the low 90’s F (low-mid 30’s C). I started tending a customer’s quilt before 8 o’clock this morning in my attic sewing room, with the goal of working as much as possible before it gets too hot up here. The longarm is humming as I type. Let’s have a look at some of the lovely quilts coming through my studio lately.

Monsoon Season by Lucy T.

Fresh off the machine today is a quilt sewn by Lucy T of Cotton City Studio. She’s used a pattern designed Nicole Calver and published in issue 86 of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine. The large scale patchwork makes quick work of a large bed quilt. Plus, the big shapes really show off these fun prints.

I hope I make all of my customers feel comfortable about sharing their quilting ideas for their quilts. I don’t mind at all when quilters have a clear idea of what they’d like to see happen. In fact, I can learn from them!

For example, Lucy chose the Plumage quilting pattern for this quilt and requested it quilted densely. I had always used Plumage for medium and large scale quilting, and had never imagined it small scale.

Well, I think the result looks great! At a small scale, the pattern feels like a curved version of Pineapple Skin, one of my favorite small-scale patterns. Thanks, Lucy, for the discovery!

Bargello by Andrea Kollath

Have you heard of bargello needlework? It’s a style of embroidery that originated in the 17th century and enjoyed a resurgence in the 1960’s. When Andrea Kollath @QuiltManufaktur sent me her bargello style quilt, I counted myself lucky to have my first in-person encounter with bargello quilting.

Take a look at this stunning quilt!

Wow! The patchwork is created by sewing strips of fabrics together, cutting them into different widths and then opening those widths at different points. It reminds me of how we sew trip around the world blocks, but on a whole-quilt scale. So cool!

Using the Dahlia quilting pattern was Andrea’s idea and it was spot-on. It’s amazing how many different ways there is to draw a flower, right? These flowers have a very 60’s feel, in my opinion. They also rotate up and down, suiting the zig-zag movement of the patchwork. I hope you love it, Andrea!

Spinning Rail Fence by Isis Pluut

Earlier I had the opportunity to custom quilt this project sewn by Isis Pluut. She followed the Spinning Rail Fence pattern from Shabby Fabrics and used Tula Pink fabrics. The happy rainbow colors were a bright spot for her during our 2020 spring pandemic confinement.

My goal with custom quilting is to emphasize and enhance the patchwork of the quilt without adding too much fuss. I search for patterns that will allow me to keep the cost of custom quilting to a minimum by reducing my labor. For example, with this quilt I found a motif that quilted the big blocks and black sashing all in one go. This way, I only had to properly place the quilting pattern over each large block, rather than go back after quilting the blocks to separately quilt the rows of sashing.

I particularly like the Teardrop border finish. It coordinates with the swooping style of the center quilting, while adding another, fun element!

Pretty Birds Quilt by Gaby S.

Love parrots or know someone who does? You’ll want to check out the Pretty Birds quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman. Gaby of @WelliPatchwork sent me this Pretty Birds rainbow quilt for longarm quilting. I hope it brings a smile!

These happy colors and the variety of birds types look like a pretty fun project, don’t you think?

Choosing a quilting motif was easy. With its big, loopy foliage, Leafy pattern puts these birds in their favorite habitat. I love how the quilting shows up in the background areas and adds texture to the birds themselves.

I so enjoy offering Longarm Quilting services and definitely feel lucky that I somehow found my way to this work. Thanks to all of you, who have entrusted me with your quilts.

Now that I live in the Netherlands, I only offer quilting for residents of the European Union (and the United Kingdom). I’m also open to quilting for other nearby countries, but we have to discuss the logistics of customs. If you live hereabouts, do be in touch! I’d love to help you finish your project with a lovely background texture or modern custom quilting.