Quilting like a madwoman since somewhere around 1984!
This was a quick project, chosen simply because I thought it was perfect for my sewing room. It is partially paper-pieced and partially traditionally pieced. I quilted it on my Bernina 790Pro, using feathers to contrast with the ruler work straight lines filled with large-ish pebbles.
The quilt measures approximately 31″ square and has multi-colored corded piping next to the binding. I finished it in February, 2024.
Blog posts: Sew Speedy, Texture, Got the Point?
I designed this little quilt in EQ8, following instructions posted a long time ago on an EQ group and referring to an online class I’d taken from Renae Merrill. My first attempt was a disaster, as the entire top was assembled when the seams began fraying; it was irreparable. Just slightly daunted, I began again, remaking the entire quilt top. I’d planned to quilt swirling feathers in the colored portions, but the bulk of those tiny seams and the changing thickness of the seam allowances made that impractical. I ditch quilted those seams instead and moved the planned feathers to the outer areas that square up the corners. Piano key quilting in the border was the final touch before adding the corded piping and binding.
The quilt measures 19.5″ x 17.5″, and each triangular block has 3″ sides and 19 pieces. I finished it in December, 2019.
Below are photos to show the quilting more closely, as well as the label.
And here is Swirly Whirly with its very pretty blue ribbon from our local quilt show in 2021! 🙂
I saw the pattern for this in the November, 2010, issue of American Quilter and was immediately intrigued by the very curvy effect of the straight-line piecing. The tree itself was paper pieced, though the background was added with traditional piecing. The pattern was designed by Renae Merrill. The finished piece measures 22.25″ x 19.5″, and I machine pieced and machine quilted it, finishing in October, 2010.
Using a variegated green thread, I put feathers into the light- and medium-green tree branches, with a swirl in the darker green. The background is done in straight lines of cream thread to suggest the light coming from the candle flames, and the area beneath the tree is done with a simple curlicue. Here are a couple of detail shots to show a bit of the quilting:
When I saw this design offered as a class at the Lake Havasu, AZ, retreat, I knew I had to do it — I so enjoy watching quail run along on the wall around our back garden! It’s a paper-pieced pattern by Linda Hibbert. The quilt measures only 12.75″ x 33″, but I love the design.
I had a small silk batting I’d been wanting to try out, so I used it here, along with some silk thread for some of the background free-motion quilting, which I wanted to make rather unobtrusive. The saguaro cactus, though, is done with Superior Magnifico thread to make it a little more obvious. The border curved motif was quilted with Isacord polyester for a bit of subtle sheen.
Carol Doak sponsored a BOM for her online group, beginning in September, 2007, and ending the following August. I made all of the blocks at 3″ square and then couldn’t decide how to set them together. As I was trying to solve the problem, the 4000th member joined the group, and Carol designed another block to celebrate. That block became the center of the little quilt with the BOM blocks.
All of the blocks are in shades of purple and lavender with yellow as an accent and black as the background. The quilt measures 15 1/4″ square and is machine pieced and machine quilted. I finished it in August, 2008.
Carol Doak published a mystery quilt for her online group in 2007; I made the top and set it aside. Then a baby was born to one of our nephews and his wife, so I decided to quilt this piece for their new little girl. The quilt measures about 30.5″ square and was finished in March, 2009.
It’s colorful enough that I think it will keep a baby’s interest — especially in the borders. I machine quilted sprays of feathers all over in pale pink, using a darker pink in the borders.
I was really in the mood for something spring-like, and I had this pattern hanging around…. 😉 I do love pansies, so it seemed a good idea to go ahead and make this little miniature. It’s only 15.75″ x 9.75″, and I paper-pieced it according to Carol Doak’s easy method, machine quilting the petals of each flower and adding leaves to their stems. Then I did a small version of McTavish-style quilting in the background and a series of quilted pansies in the outer border. Flower buttons and beaded pansy centers were added after the quilting. There’s also a narrow purple piping between the outer border and the binding. I finished this in April, 2006.
Our local guild has an annual challenge, and this year we were required to make something with two specific fabrics and then add beading. Beading isn’t something I love to do, but what’s a challenge without a bit of a stretch? At any rate, I found a paper-pieced log cabin variation online at Wilma Karel’s site, though I resized the blocs to 3″ square. The two required fabrics are the purple/green dot and the yellow/red dot. Since the pattern and fabrics are so busy, I quilted the blocks in the ditch and left well enough alone. <G>
The quilt is 15″ square, machine pieced and machine quilted. I finished it in August, 2009.
I took a class from Deb Karasik at Quilt Camp in 2008, and we made her paper-pieced pattern called Arizona Sunrise. I didn’t square off my corners, choosing to leave the quilt octagonal instead; for that I had to redesign the borders in EQ6.
Another machine quilting class from Sharon Schamber inspired the quilting on this piece, which measures about 45″ x 45″. I finished it in November, 2008, after several delays.
Here is a detail of the quilting in the large navy squares:
And here are some of the other quilted motifs:
Here is yet another of the patterns from Linda Hibbert’s CD-ROM. My twin and her DH had an adorable salt and pepper miniature schnauzer named Scarlett, and I decided that I should try to make a little quiltlet of her. The problem was that the pattern called for cropped ears, and Scarlett’s are floppy. So I edited the pieces a bit and came up with this:
This one measures approximately 10 7/8″ square and was machine pieced and quilted in May, 2004; it was a gift for Scarlett’s family.