A Quilted Summer

It's hard to believe two months have passed since my last blog post.  I guess time just slipped away from me, and I got too caught up in summer break, planning vacations, and quilting!  Whatever the reasons, I've been busy, busy, busy, and I have a bunch of quilts to show!

First, and I can't believe I've never written about this one previously, I quilted a vintage Hawaiian quilt top for a friend of mine.  It was such a great learning experience for me.  First, the blocks were humongous!  I mean, they were approximately 26-inches square... giant!  I have a 30-inch throat on my longarm, but that's not all stitchable space, so the blocks wouldn't fit completely.  Luckily, the applique fit... barely.  I opted to quilt the top with traditional Hawaiian-style quilting, echoing inside and outside of the applique.  I got to practice using the echo function of my Statler, which was quite the experience.  First, I outlined the applique and stitched that out.  Then, I did the echo inside of that outline.  Surprise!  I couldn't get it to work for more than one echo inside, and I couldn't do the outside echo at all since it wouldn't fit in my stitchable area.  So... I got a TON of practice with free motion quilting.  Ta da!

Overall photo of Hawaiian quilt.

Close up of four blocks and echoing work.

Another close up of the echo work.

Another quilt that I quilted for a friend, Becky Stephenson, is this Pioneer Braid Quilt that she purchased as a laser cut kit from Common Threads Quilting (no longer in business).  She wanted an all-over quilting design, and I figured something curvy would look good and give the quilt a lot of motion.  After getting approval from Becky, I ended up using Waves and pearls E2E simple from Nancy Haacke at Wasatch Quilting.  It turned out really nice!

Overall Pioneer Braid Quilt

Close-up of braid quilt.

Another quilt that I quilted for Becky, but that is actually being donated to my guild's auction next month.  This was yet another of Mom's UFOs that she gave to Becky to finish.  The blocks were all complete, and were from an exchange that Mom participated in many years ago.  I used the New Bountiful e2e pattern from Karen Farnsworth at Wildflower Quilting.  That gave some soft curves to all the straight lines of the quilt top.  I know Becky had fits getting these all put together and squared up.  The thing about exchanges... you don't get equal quality from every participant!  And, in this case, there was a lot of room for error with all of those stitched lines in every block.  Still... I think this turned out striking, and will hopefully bring in a decent amount for the guild.

Overall photo of block exchange quilt.

Close up of block exchange quilt.

I also quilted a community service quilt for Becky's sister, Jerrianne Evans.  It's another one that she made using the Mother Goose line of fabric that was designed by Mom.  So cute!  I'd been looking for ways to practice Joyce Lundrigan's Skill Builders sets, and this top was the perfect opportunity!  I used the instructions for the March 2019 set, which used concatenating E2E patterns.  Great practice and a great quilt!



Overall photo of community service quilt.

Closeup of community service quilt.

And now, a few of my very own quilts that I finished!  I posted a photo of the top for my mini Storm at Sea from Flynn Quilt Company back in February.  Well, here she is all quilted up and ready to hang up somewhere!  I just did some ditch work around the larger squares, and then stitched straight lines through the "waves."  Her name is A Little SAS-sea.  Hahaha!

Overall photo of the top of A Little SAS-sea.

Photo of the back of A Little SAS-sea.

Another mini, and another kit I picked up at Festival last year is this totally adorable mini pineapple quilt.  I bought the kit from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs.  The pattern and design are from Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine, and it is originally meant to be a holiday or winter quilt, with snowflakes embroidered in the corners.  I opted to un-seasonalize this little cutie and turn it into an Aggie quilt for my alma mater!  I was honestly amazed at those little blocks.  Each one is 2-inches square, but still has 45 pieces of fabric.  Wow!  I used the mitered feather border set from Nancy Haacke, which turned out really nice for this little guy.  Then, I used the Statler to stitch the words in the corners.  Gig 'em Aggies!

Itty Bitty Aggie Quilt

Last, but most certainly not least, I added that last border to my Antebellum Album quilt, the block-of-the-month for 2018 from Barbara Brackman.  And, I got her all quilted up!  Woohoo!  I used wool batting for the first time because I wanted to try out the puff that it gives, and really have my quilting pop.  It worked!  I used single irish chaine fleur 001 and 002 from Kimberlee Diamond at Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio for the blocks of the quilt.  For the border, I used Joyce Lundrigan's Feather Vein Scallop Border Corner Set.  I love this quilt!  My plan is to get her bound in the next week or two and ready to hang.  Love, love, love!

Still on the machine, loving how the quilting is turning out.

Close up of a corner all quilted up.

Overall of my Antebellum Album.

What else exciting is happening around here?  I'm glad you asked!  I'm heading out in a few short days for the 2019 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  If you haven't heard of it, it's the largest outdoor quilt show in the world, with over 1400 quilts hanging... outside!  It's kind of a bucket list thing for many quilters, so I'm getting it checked off of my own list this year.  I can't wait!!!

That's all I've got for now.  I'll take plenty of pictures in Sisters to share next month.  Keep cool and keep on quilting!
Jenny