Quilting like a madwoman since somewhere around 1984!
This quilt was the result of seeing a pattern that resembled a dog we used to have, Dexter, at our local quilt show. The design is from Pacific Rim Quilt Company. It’s all machine appliqué and machine quilting. It measures approximately 24″ x 36″, and I finished it in September, 2023.
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This quilt was inspired by one in a book by Susan Cleveland, where alternate blades are camouflaged by matching the background and quilting right over them as though they don’t exist. The lavender blades of of my Dresdens are machine embroidered with floral motifs, and there are alternating purple wedges with corded piping edging to connect the ring.
The quilting is mostly free-motion with lots of feathers, as well as some ruler work. Two corners have partial faux Dresdens quilted into them, and there are also two feathered wreaths. There is double corded piping next to the binding.
The quilt measures 48″ x 36.5″ and was finished in July, 2023.
Blog posts: Dresden Plates, Dresden Plates progress, Miles and Miles, Camouflaged Dresdens
I made this quilt on a whim when I saw a pattern that I liked. The original design had each elephant standing separately from the others, each in its own background square. However, I know that most elephants are actually family units, so I made my elephants connect by intertwining their trunks and tails. The quilt was machine appliquéd and machine quilted, using both free motion and ruler work techniques, and it measures 36.5″ x 39.5″. I finished it in February, 2021.
I like tea, so when I saw the pattern for this quilt, I just couldn’t resist! This was done using the same technique as for the dogs. That is, the pots were fused and then machine satin stitched. However, instead of hand quilting, I machine quilted this piece. It was only the second time I’d done free-motion quilting on the machine, but the quilt won a blue ribbon in the 1998 county fair. What a lovely surprise! The quilt measures 34″ x 32″.
And here’s a detail of the center teapot:
This quilt is the result of the class with Sharon Schamber on machine appliqué; I took it in order to be able to make the Dragonflight quilt. I didn’t have enough fabric to make binding, so I experimented with making a facing instead, and I’m quite happy with the result. I began the quilt in July, 2008, and finished it in March, 2009. It is entirely machine appliquéed and machine quilted on my home machine, and it measures approximately 16″ x 29″.
Below are a couple of close-up shots of the quilting. I used lots of feathers and several different styles of stippling to make the feathers show easily.
There was a nationwide row-by-row challenge in 2015. I wasn’t going to get to a lot of shops around the country, but I did see this one from a local shop (The Christmas Goose) in Las Vegas. These little sewing machines were so cute, and they reminded me of the machine given me by my late mother-in-law, so I decided to make this row as a stand-alone quilt to hang above the closet in my sewing room. I prequilted the fabric with a cross-hatch pattern — unfortunately getting some puckers in the process, but that’s life. Once that was done, I used a blanket stitch to machine appliqué all of the major motifs, adding details with decorative machine stitches. I also scanned and printed a Featherweight logo onto fabric for one of the machines and used a “tweaked” version of the original birds given me by my friend Phyl. The quilt measures 35.5″ x 8.75″ and was finished in August, 2015.
I saw a gorgeous quilt at my local quilt shop and fell in love with it. Since I had a gift certificate I’d won, I decided to buy the kit for this quilt, even though I don’t often do kits. The pattern was by June Pease for Red Rooster Fabrics, and it went together quite easily.
I machine appliquéed the circular pieces in the four corners, but everything else was simple piecing. For the machine quilting, I did a lot of outlining of the major motifs in those corners and in the center panel, using gold metallic thread to echo the gold tracery in the fabrics. The same gold thread made scallops in the various squares and rectangles of the borders; but I used black thread in the top and bottom portions of the center panel, doing swirls in the top section and leaves in the bottom. This is a detail of the center panel:
There is also corded piping between the outer border and the binding. I pieced, appliquéed and quilted this by machine, finishing in September, 2012. The quilt measures approximately 60″ x 70″.
My quilt buddy, Phyl, came for a visit and to work on an adorable quilt together, each of us making our own version. Neither of us had ever planned to make a quilt using the technique of appliqué in the hoop, but then there was this set of designs …. We couldn’t resist, as both of us are dog lovers. There were ten different puppies to choose from, along with some “filler” blocks, but I was hoping to make this a very narrow quilt to fit a small wall in my sewing room. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way, and the quilt now measures 23″ x 27″, which is just a bit too wide for that wall. Oh well. 😉 The dogs and other motifs were done with appliqué on the embroidery machine, and the paw print border is all embroidered. I free-motion quilted it, trying for a bit of variety in the background motifs.This was finished in September, 2014.
In July, 2012, my husband and I took a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. While there, I found a beautiful batik fabric that is apparently only sold by a specific Hawaiian quilt shop, and I also fell in love with all of the lush flora there. After some experimenting at home, I found a photo online of the plumeria blossom and made it into templates for this quilt. I machine appliquéed the leaves and blossoms and machine quilted the finished piece, adding the piping that I like so much. The quilting has pebbles between the leaves to represent the earth where the plant grows, evolving into swirls further away to represent the water surrounding the islands. The border has a variation of those swirls.
Here is a detail of some of the quilting, and another of the flowers:
The quilt measures approximately 27″ square, and I finished it in April, 2013.
I’ve been intimidated by and interested in appliqué for a long time. I finally screwed up my courage and machine appliquéed this quilt in 1995. I used a pattern for most of the dogs, but I designed the Doberman myself and made other changes that would reflect the dogs I’ve known and loved. They are in an Attic Windows setting to give them their own spaces. The dogs are echo quilted by hand, and they have a supply of dog biscuits quilted in the borders. The pattern I used was called “Family Dogs,” created by Critter Pattern Works, and the quilt is roughly 45″ x 44″.
