Thread Tales From A Scrappy Quilter

This is a client's quilt that I would LOVE to have hanging on my walls!  Quilt top pattern is "Northern Lights" by Jinny Beyer.  This one was so much fun to quilt with lots of SID, straight lines, swirls and circles.  I really, really love this quilt and it was so much fun watching her face as she explored the quilted top.  Looking forward to seeing this bound and finished!               Backside shows lots of dimension too.       

This has been a very busy month!  I believe it was 16 of us that got away for some piecing time  recently at one of the best set up retreats I have attended.   You never left the building to get from the dining area, complete with our own fridge for our foods and beverages separate from the kitchen supplies, the bedroom area or the quilting area.   Wonderful lighting, cutting stations set up, design walls all around the floor, 4 permanent ironing stations.  I'm ready to go again!  Info about the quilt retreat can be found here .   2 quilt shops within a 30 minute drive, the quilt museum, one group even organized a road trip to visit quilt shops and BBQ in the Austin area!  It was a fun and productive, Pjs and no makeup required kind of getaway and I look forward to going back to this location again.

I recently quilted 2 more Desert Sky quilts.  One custom and one all over design.  Both gorgeous!       And below is another one, quilted in a freehand all over design,  Curling Ribbon.   Budget friendly and does not detract from the beauty of the fabric and piecing.   This particular quilt pattern done in batiks is very pretty quilted in all over designs or pantographs.        My first bloom of the season on an old native variety plant called "confederate rose".   Gets 10-15' tall and loaded with blooms!  

Here are 2 very different quilts, both quilted with the same, hand guided, pantograph pattern, Clematis.  All over designs really look very nice on many quilts.   Some fabrics do all the talking in some quilts, other times an all over design is just a better choice for the budget.  I've seen applique quilts that have been quilted with all over designs and they were still gorgeous.   Some quilts beg to be custom quilted but many times an all over design is just what the quilt needs.       These were all fabrics that I could use a light lavender thread that showed on the white as well as all the med/dark fabrics used.   Often the biggest obstacle is choosing thread when you have a range of light, medium and dark fabrics and many colors.   Somewhere the thread is going to blend.   This particular quilt also needs careful consideration when choosing a design because you don't want the background fabric to show an odd line here and there.   You want to be able to see so

What an awesome event!    This is a fund raising event held every 3 years by The Woodlands Area Quilt Guild .  This was held at a beautiful facility called "The Grand Palace" and your $5 entry fee included  wine, cheese and desserts and door prizes!   We had 53 quilts in our live auction and I lost count on the number of amazing baskets and small quilts for the silent auction.  A listing of all the quilts in the auction can be seen here. I am so honored that I was asked to quilt a gorgeous group workshop quilt that placed 2nd highest bid in the show!  Also a client's quilt that I quilted and she DONATED to the cause took a hefty $600 bid too.   10% of all proceeds went to a mammogram and breast health care organization called "The Rose" and 100% of all proceeds from a quilt named "Bed of Roses" went to this model program that provides services for the uninsured as well as those with insurance.   The auctioneer was awesome, not only after the bidding