in the Quilting Studio, no. 35

It’s a lovely day to be quilting!

Our visit to the United States is coming up soon. While I’m away, the longarm machine will sit idle, but I’ll be eager to get back to quilting as soon as I return. Feel free to order quilting services to reserve your spot. However, do not mall your project until June 10th, so that we will be present to receive your package.

And now, let’s enjoy some quilts I’ve been asked to longarm quilt this year.

I Heart You quilts by Marcy

Marcy @Bookish.crafter is a prolific quilter. She often sends me two quilts at a time, all the better to save on shipping costs! This time I received a lovely pair - two I Heart You quilts in totally different palettes. What fun!

Here is the first, which I think of as the bright, funky version. I love the bold Kona Enchanted background color and the bright mix of heart prints. Look, the black-background prints and the blue-background prints together form a big X! I only just noticed that. Cool.

For quilting we chose something light and playful to match the attitude of the patchwork itself. Triple Arc quilting always makes me smile.

Marcy composed this fun backing using up leftover heart print fabrics, a big check and an extra couple of I Heart You blocks.

Now for something totally different! This is the sweet version of I Heart You, also from Marcy. This time she used a collection of strawberry prints for the hearts. Super cute! The minty green background and pastel palette reminds me of Valentine’s day heart candies.

As you can see, we decided to totally embrace the sweet nature of this quilt! She’s finished with Echo Heart quilting, and in pale pink thread no less.

Heart!

Garden quilt by Yvonne

I was perfectly delighted to be asked to custom quilt this work of art by Yvonne @Paperwerkstatt - - -

Fans of the Penny Sampler quilt might recognize the layout of this modern style quilt sampler. Yvonne made a Penny Sampler once upon a time, and now she’s returned to the structure with a fresh crop of garden-themed sampler blocks. Fantastic!

Custom quilting a sampler quilt like this is SO much fun, especially when the maker gives me free rein to explore.

Yvonne simply asked for a mix of geometric and organic quilting designs, all the while keeping the quilting as soft and open as possible.

When I quilt a project like this, I don’t plan everything in advance. Instead, I gather a collection of possible quilting designs that fit the style of the quilt, as well as the quilting density desired. Then I feel my way through the project. I aim to use designs several times in order to create unity.

Inevitably, I repeat design choices that have worked well for me before, for example the climbing vine design on the narrow vertical sashing. At the same time I always explore new ideas and sometimes find new favorites. For example, I love the design I quilted on the yellow-green daisy block above. The design swirls out from the center of the daisy and adds cute little circles in the corners of the block, which echo circular motifs I used elsewhere.

The finished quilt is special indeed!

Snake Trail quilt by Lucy

Here’s another special quilt, but in a modern, somewhat minimalist style. Lucy of @CottonCityLou made this Snake Trail quilt using the pattern from Denyse Schmidt’s book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration. She did scale the pattern down slightly in order to fit more trails in a smaller quilt. I own that book but never thought of making this quilt, until now.

This pattern strikes me as a good choice for a baby blanket. It’s playful and you could use scrap fabrics or a curated bundle of fabrics, as Lucy did. I like that Lucy used multiple whites for her background. It gives the quilt a subtle depth. But, most of all, I love that red triangle in the upper left corner. Total genius!

For quilting we choose Continuous Eight.  It was an obvious choice, given the shape of the patchwork and also Denyse Schmidt’s heavy use of this quilting motif in her book.  Not so obvious was my suggestion for golden yellow thread.  With so much negative space in this quilt, it was fun to make the quilting a bit more prominent than usual.  I’m happy with how it turned out!  And, most importantly, so is miss Lucy.

I’d be happy to finish your projects with a modern quilting texture too. My services are available to those who live throughout the European region. Please be in touch if you have any questions or start the process off by placing your order. I can’t wait to see YOUR quilt!