Checkered Stars

This is a quilt I completed a few years back.  The top was completed in 2011.  I started quilting it in 2012, got around 80% of it done, and then had to take it off the machine to work on customer’s quilts.  It took another two years before it got loaded again so get the last bit done.

I quilted it heavily with a combination of straight and curved lines and of course feathers. 

I entered it into Showcase - which is the main show for my state of Victoria in 2015, and was thrilled that it won first in its category.

Pink and White Quilt

This gorgeous quilt was made by Sue.  This is the first quit that Sue had brought me, and she asked me to go to town with the quilting on the white borders.  I was very happy to oblige.

I quilted feathers, curved cross hatching and straight lines to break up the areas on the borders. 

A plain white fabric on the back was perfect for showing up all the quilting.

Feathers with Curved Cross Hatching

I was given this quilt by Anthea last year with instructions to quilt it heavily with traditional quilting.  

I had a lot of fun doing it, but boy did it take me a long time.

I was really happy with how the curved cross hatching and feathers look in the border.

Last year I did a great class with Carla Barrett at Feathered Fibers called Quilt Whispering, where you look at developing your quilting design skills.  One aspect of the class is that you can send pictures of a quilt to Carla and she will draw on it suggested quilting designs. 

I did this with Anthea’s quilt, and the design Carla suggested can be seen in her post here.

I liked what Carla did, but I had some different ideas. I had already planned to do curved cross hatching and feathers in the border, and pebbles as the background fill.

One thing I did take from Carla’s quilting design was to put a little flower in the border to create a point that the feathers could come from.

I am glad that Anthea chose a plain back as it shows the quilting beautifully.

I have linked to Esther’s Blog for her WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays.

In The Pink

This gorgeous quilt belongs to Jan.  It is Esther Aliu’s design - In The Pink.  You can view pictures of Esther’s version of the quilt here.

Jan used similar fabrics, and gave me artistic freedom with the quilting.  I wanted to quilt it heavily like Esther did with hers, but at the same time, I wanted it to be unique.

I wanted the quilting to be a feature on the floral fabric border because, to me, this border framed the centre appliqué.  So I decided to do a combination of curved cross hatching and feathers.  I think it looks really elegant.

The background quilting of combining pebbles, swirls and peacock feathers around the appliqué was inspired by Judi at Green Fairy Quilts on a quilt she posted in December last year.

 

I have linked to Esther’s Blog for her WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays.

'Ruled by Chocolate' - won Best In Show

Today is the first day of the Melbourne Quilt Show, and the award ceremony was at midday.

I still am floating on cloud nine.

My quilt ‘Ruled by Chocolate’ won –

First in the Machine Quilters Category

Best Use of Colour

Excellence in Long Arm Quilting

And the biggest shock of all

Best In Show

It hasn’t sunk in.

Besides a peek of the quilt with my nephew sitting on it, I haven’t shown the quilt on my blog – so here it is.

This photo was taken today with my wonderful supportive husband Paul who is so proud of me.

Funny name for a quilt you might say, but several of my quilts have the word chocolate in their name and I call them my Chocolate Series (by the way this is number 7 in the Chocolate Series). 

This quilt was called Ruled by Chocolate for three reasons.  Firstly the colour.  Secondly, there was a lot of ruler work in this quilt.  Finally, I consumed a rather large amount of chocolate whilst quilting this quilt (or more accurately, the chocolate was being consumed while I was unpicking the bits I didn’t like).

While the piecing on the quilt is simple, the quilting is very detailed.  There is a combination of ruler work, freehand and stencil on this quilt.

I chose a deep red for the back as I knew I was going to use three shades of brown thread, and I wanted the quilting to show, but not with too much contrast.

Curved Cross Hatching to create a Circular Effect

This exquisite quilt was made by Elaine.  Elaine does the most beautiful appliqué and embroidery, and it is always a pleasure to quilt for her.  To see Elaine’s butterfly quilt click here.

The quilting really evolved on this quilt while it was on the machine.  I always knew that I would do the curved cross hatching at the sides, but once the main lines were done, and the quilt stabilised, I then came up with the concept of how I wanted to do the feathers.

I love how the curved cross hatching has created a circular effect around the centre appliqué panel, and this was exactly the effect I was aiming for. 

Elaine chose a plain fabric on the back which is perfect for showing up the quilting beautifully.

Pop over to Esther's Blog to see what other people are working on with her WIP Wednesdays.

Abbeville County

This gorgeous quilt belongs to Beryl.  It is Michelle Yeo’s  ‘Abbeville Country’ pattern. 

Beryl asked me to quilt it with traditional quilting and she said that she liked feathers.  As the background fabric would show up the quilting the most, this is where I concentrated the most detailed quilting.

I used my curved cross hatching rulers to create the quilting at the corners of the blocks, which mirrored the shape of the piecing – these are very handy rulers, useful for more than just curved cross hatching.  I brought the feathers around the piecing to emphasise the design.

I have quilted a number of this design over the years - I wish I had taken more photos in the past.  I am much better at remembering to pull out the camera now that I am blogging.

Here are a couple of photos I found of Barb’s and Joan’s quilts.