Radiant Feathered Star

I took a class from Marsha McCloskey in April, 2005, when she came here as part of our local quilt show. I’d already made another small Feathered Star, but I really love this pattern (it’s based on the Lemoyne Star, after all!), so I took the class. We worked on the Radiant Feathered Star in class, learning how to draft our own patterns, too. After I finished my block at home, I decided to make three more, two in reversed colors; but the fabric is too old and isn’t available, so now I have another small wall hanging! 😉 This one was machine pieced and machine quilted and measures 21″ square.

Radiant Feathered Star Quilt

There are red machine-quilted feathered hearts in each of the two-color squares, and there are cream feathered sprays in the border. The star points are stitched in the ditch, and there is a LeMoyne Star quilted in the center. I inserted piping between the border and the binding and finished the little quilt in May, 2005. Here’s a photo of the back, where you can see the quilting more easily.

Radiant Feathered detail

Pawprints on My Heart

This is a memory quilt I made after the unexpected and premature death of Tuppence, our little cocker spaniel — almost certainly the dog who has meant the most to me of all the beloved ones I’ve ever had. She was almost six years old when the medication she took to control her seizures caused her liver to fail. She and our lab/chow mix were great buddies, so there are lots of photos of the two of them together; but she spent most of her time being my constant companion while I either puttered around the house or sat at my computer or my quilting.

Pawprints on My Heart Quilt

There are 24 photos of Tuppence in the quilt, not counting the one forming the points of the LeMoyne Star in the center. The name of the quilt is appropriate, since she definitely left pawprints all over my heart and since I quilted little pawprints inside hearts all through the background of the main part of the quilt. The borders are quilted with feathers; I love feathers, and Tuppence had beautiful ones on her legs and torso. Here is a close-up of some of the quilting around the center star:

Pawprints on My Heart detail

The quilt measures 34″ square. I began designing it in Quilt Pro in November, 2005, shortly after her death; and I finished the quilt in February, 2006.

Northwind

In October, 2007, I attended a workshop given by Sharyn Craig to learn her method of making Northwind blocks. The people in the class swapped fabrics to get a variety to use in our blocks, and later I used EQ6 to figure out what border I wanted to make. I quilted feathers — one of my favorite motifs — all over this quilt. It measures roughly 42″ x 57″ and was finished in April, 2008, in time to be a wedding gift for some friends.

Northwind Quilt

Here is a detail of some of the quilting.

Northwind detail

Moon in the Window

This Drunkard’s Path version is called Moon in the Window, designed by Elisa’s Backporch Designs. I began it in May, 2013, and finally finished it in February, 2015; it sat for quite a while as a finished top before I quilted it. The finished quilt measures about 54″ square.

Moon in the Window Quilt

It is free-motion quilted with feathers and curved cross hatching, as well as a dense background filler in the “L” shapes around the quarter circles. As usual, there is corded piping next to the binding. Here are some details of the quilting:

Moon in the Window detail 3

Moon in the Window detail 2 Moon in the Window detail 1

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Mini Trip Around the World

A good friend of mine showed me her miniature TATW, and I was very intrigued. Then she gave me the strips necessary for the center of this little piece — all in gorgeous batiks! I just love the colors. I machine quilted sprays of feathers in lavender variegated thread all over the top and added corded piping before attaching the binding. I finished it in October, 2009, and it measures about 21″ square.

Mini Trip Around the World Quilt

Here is a close-up of some of the quilting.

Mini Trip Around the World detail

Update: I entered this quilt into our local show in 2011, and it won second place in its category! Here’s a photo of it with its pretty ribbon:

Mini Trip Around the World & ribbon

La Vie Est Belle

I saw this quilt at the Houston show in 2017 and fell in love with it. I finished adding the crystals (the final step) in June, 2018. The quilt was designed by Jacqueline DeJonge and is paper pieced.

La Vie Est Belle Quilt

I quilted it with free-motion feathers and fillers, as well as some ruler work around the New York Beauty blocks and for the feather spines. The quilt measures 60″ x 60″.

La Vie Est Belle detail 2 La Vie Est Belle detail 1

 

In April, 2019, our local guild hosted its annual quilt show, and La Vie Est Belle earned an Honorable Mention!

La Vie Est Belle & ribbon

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Holi Ganesha

I saw this pattern, designed by Madisen Hastings, and fell in love with it. After all, elephants are majestic, intelligent, endangered, magnificent. The appliqué pieces were laser-cut from Tula Pink fabrics, and I chose a Grunge fabric to put them onto. I did a lot of free-motion ruler work and fills in that background to set off the elephant. I finished it in August, 2017, and it measures approximately 39″ x 32″. This was finished in August, 2017.

Holi Ganesha Quilt

And here’s a detail of some of the quilting:

Holi Ganesha detail

Update: I entered Holi Ganesha into our local show in March, 2018, and it won a second-place ribbon!

Holi Ganesha & ribbon

 

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Glorified Nine-Patch

In January, 2005, I took a class from Sharyn Craig on how to make the Glorified Nine-Patch with her techniques. It was such fun! I spent some time machine piecing some blocks and then drafting the setting triangles, and in a week I had the top finished. Then I waited for inspiration on how to quilt it. I finally decided to put feathers around each block, but I ended up waiting more, since I was contemplating buying a new sewing machine and didn’t want to begin quilting on one and finish on the other. 😉 After buying the new machine, I waited some more while I got acquainted with its new capabilities. So this is the first project I’ve quilted using my then-brand-new Bernina 440QE, which has a stitch regulator. I finished it in April, 2005, and it measures 37″ x 37″. I’ll use the quilt as a spring table topper in my little dining room.

Glorified Nine-Patch Quilt

Gabriella’s Nap Quilt

Our granddaughter was going to start preschool and needed a quilt for nap times, of course. I found a panel of a fairy and added borders before quilting it. Here’s the quilt:

Gabriella's Nap Quilt

I did a lot of free-motion quilting, outlining all of the motifs in the panel and adding some clouds and leaves in some empty spots. Then I quilted feathers all around the borders.

Gabriella's Nap Quilt detail 1 Gabriella's Nap Quilt detail 2

The quilt measures approximately 31.5″ x 50″, and I finished it in February, 2010.

Feathered Wholecloth

In January, 2008, I took a machine quilting class from Sue Nickels. It was wonderful! I’ve enjoyed all of the classes I’ve had on how to do feathers, and I’ve learned something new from each; this time I was finally successful in being able to draw feathers so as to be able to draft feathered motifs to fit a specific space. As part of the class, we all had to design a feathered quilt, and this is the one I designed:

Feathered Wholecloth

I finished it in February, 2008, and it will probably become a quilt for one of our dogs, since I messed up the back during the basting. 😉 It measures approximately 23″ x 23″ and was quilted with lavender thread. Here’s a detail of the quilting:

Feathered Wholecloth detail

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