Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

Kathryn Zimmerman has been busy again creating this feathered star appliqued piece that she had custom quilted by me.  It is back in her hands again getting blinged up a little.  I look forward to seeing the completed project.       Do note that this piece did arrive with rouched trim and flowers, stuffed flower centers and some beading already on the top.   These embellishments to make it difficult to quilt.   Note the placement of the ruler over one stuffed center.  Very difficult to press hard enough on the ruler to get a flat edge anywhere on this top.  Pressing that hard with my shoulder injury creates  problems for me for the next 6 months when it gets aggravated and I have no breaks in my quilting schedule to heal.  Or the potential to hit the ruler with my needle breaking it and messing up my timing.   Shortly after this was quilted, a friend was at an applique class a...

 Once again, another amazing applique quilt from Sally.   Her vision for these appliques and fabric choices are so nice, there are lots of details in this quilt.   I have included a ton of photos, I apologize.  I haven't taken the time to really analyze, but the texture looked right so I put it in!    So much to see in this big quilt.   30 blocks if my memory serves me correct.    I used Quilters Dream wool and almost all quilting was done with Aurifil cotton thread.   Yummy!   Even though the quilting is on the dense level, this quilt is still oh so soft and cuddly.            This had a very distinctive border, I finally decided by doodling on it that I would mimic the spacing.   I placed an echoed wavy line between the 2 designs, a fat feather over the yellow and about a 1/4" grid on the outside.   My doodle also inclu...

I really enjoyed custom quilting Sally's "My Enchanted Garden" quilt.   Pattern by Grechen Gibbons.  Her wool and traditional applique was impeccable with lots of detailed embroidery embellishments.  She also had hand stitched her applique with a layer of batting underneath for a trapunto effect.   Sally requested 2 layers of batting, I  used  Hobbs 80/20 on the bottom and Quilters Dream wool on top.  Lots of dimension in this quilt.   Such fun blocks!  I wish I could make a quilt like this of my own someday.   I just love it.                                   sorry for photo overload!   Lots of photos on my phone, hard to tell the duplicates or if photos were too simi...

"I Think I Need A Spa Day" won a judges choice award!   I almost did not even enter this small quilt.   It's invisible machine applique and piecing but nothing like traditional applique quilts and has no variety of techniques (small circles, flowers, leaves, vines etc).  But, I think visually it is interesting and wanted to display it and finally decided to judge it as well.    We did not have a modern quilt category so this was against any beautiful Baltimore album type quilts or more traditional applique quilts.  Again I never expected a ribbon, just thought it interesting and would look nice in the show.    I was so surprised to be awarded a Judges Choice ribbon for Design!!!   The judging sheet has "Excellent" marked everywhere... visual impact, piecing, applique, workmanship... and the only ding on this review was my corners were not perfectly square 90 degrees.    If I remember correctly... this o...

I quilted this adorable quilt for Karen.  Lots of background fills, stitch in the ditch and quilting fun!   It is so cute, makes me wish for the patterns and similar fabrics myself.   I love the soft color scheme.   I have an overload of photos here and not a single one of the entire quilt finished.... Maybe Karen will send me one once she gets it on her wall!  Several places sell the pattern online, here's a link  to one (Peppermint Place).         You can't see clearly in the pictures, but I stitched in her grandchildren's initials in one set of stockings.       Lots of quilting fun!