Big and Bold Appliqued Quilt

This customer quilt (thank you JT) was a delight to machine quilt.  Lots of open spaces of solid fabrics for the quilting to show up, a customer who drew out motifs and designs to get me jump started on ideas, and beautiful workmanship to make my job easier.  PHOTO HEAVY POST  Scroll through for some eye candy, ideas for appliques, color combinations, and back photos.  The green in this picture is pretty close to the actual color.

So interesting how light affects many things.  It allows us to see the shadowing on the quilting, and at the same time, the colors change so much. iphone photos.

A bit of detail on the background motifs.  Her fussy cutting of the florals was so fun to see.

If you've got this far and would like to inquire about my quilting for your next project, please reach out via email or my IG account #grassrootsquilting.

Thanks for stopping by and, as always, keep stitching.

Sharon
 

Simply Scraps

This whole quilt has been made with left over blocks and scraps. Even the batting was cobbled together from leftover pieces. The fabric for the sashing and binding was cut from pieces in my fabric bin but one of them was the last remaining piece of wide backed fabric from my first bolt that I bought in 2005 when I got my longarm. The back was fabric I've had since about 2009 and the bolt was finished once I made this back.  And to be completely honest, the bobbin thread was lots of different cream/white last bits on bobbins that kick around a longarm quilters studio. 

Credit to ModaLissa as she posted a quilt on her IG that was my inspiration!

What I started with.  A bag of 1/2 sq triangles that were off cuts from quilts made from Bonnie Hunters Pineapple Blossom pattern that is free on her website.  I had hundreds of red and blue ones and all had been pressed and trimmed to 2 1/2"

Working out ideas on the design wall.  The 4 patches in the corners were from a stack of assorted cream 3 1/2" squares that are also used in the Pineapple quilt.  A 4 patch of them made for a perfect 6" corner.

Pondering ideas for the center of the blocks. Notice the pinwheel center didn't make the cut.

This pre quilted photo shows the border on both sides.  I didn't have enough 1/2 squares to make a top and bottom border and I was also trying to stretch it a bit wider.  After getting the sides on, I threw away a handful of 1/2 squares that were left over.  Yes, I truly USED up all that I had in the bag.

The binding was hand stitched while I was in my isewlation in BC.  I traveled there to see my family and literally packed up my sewing room and took it with me.  Trust me, 14 days isolation is a VERY long time when you are healthy and not recovering from anything.

I went to town with feathers on this one.  I haven't had a customer request for feathered wreaths in a long while, so I thought I'd keep my skills sharp and load up on this one.

 The end result makes me smile.  A true scrap quilt.  And do you see the mistake?  I did, but I certainly wasn't going to get out the seam ripper for that!  One more bag out of the closet and another quilt finished for a future trunk show.  Now to figure out what to do with the green and brown bags of these off cuts that are hanging out in my studio closet.  A tree styled block?

Are you getting any UFO's out of the closet and finishing them?  I hope so.  Get them finished and if you don't still 'love' them, they just might make a perfect donation quilt.  Winter is coming!

Keep stitching,

Sharon

Green Tea and Sweet Beans

I'm just going to let the photos tell this story. This is a customer quilt. Her version of Jen Kingwells Green Tea and Sweet Beans. KB wanted lots of quilting, stitch in the ditch and bubbles/swirls behind the applique. She gave me free reign to work on her beautiful quilt top.

I kept the narrow border pretty simple, and used a very light pink thread all over the top except behind the appliques.

The sun peeking in the window.  I couldn't resist finding a few places for feathers.

Back and forth stitching pushes up the center piecing on these twister blocks.  Hobbs wool helps with the relief.

Super simple flowers, and yet they work!

The other place that got a few feathers.  I think this block might have been paper pieced.  Oh those perfect circles that are hand appliqued!

Little hexi's got 1/4" outline stitching.  This was a small section of the quilt so the stop/start wasn't too much.  I certainly wouldn't want to do a whole quilt like this.

So many great fabrics were used in this top.  Oh to have a stash this bright.

Some simple squares scattered throughout make for a bit of easy piecing.

That's all, thanks for viewing.  I love sharing my customer work.  I would never ever make something like this.  I think I have a handful of fabrics that are in this range.  However, I LOVE working on quilts like this, and I certainly enjoy seeing all the mix up of bright prints and colors in other peoples quilts. 
Keep stitching,
Sharon

Variety is the Spice of Quilting

This is a mixed bag post. I love how my job as a longarm quilter allows me to constantly mix things up. That's because all my customers are unique and I get to work on their projects. First up shows the not quilted/quilted transformation. This really shows up well on solids. This sweet quilt will be flying across "the pond" next week where it will be delivered to its new home.

Just add thread!  I love how this turned out.  My customer is calling the quilting Billows, and has assured me she will be wanting it again on another piece. 

I love the neutrals she chose for this quilt.  Sage green, custard yellow, white and grey.  They all play so nicely together.

Glorious texture.

Next up is a free form, corner triangle top full of Kaffe and dots.  The organic zig zag called for wavy lines and fun feathers.  This piecer really likes lots of quilting and I tried to keep it whimsy.

Beautiful fabrics and colors...

I loved finishing this one for my friend, her choices of colors and prints give me confidence to be more adventurous with my fabric choices.

Winter has arrived and PN pulled together this super cute panel pattern. By taking out one strip of black, the snowman takes center stage.

All those snowmen and birds needed to shine, so a simple straight line quilt motif was perfect for those borders.  And I love this corner.  The pattern called for paper piecing the corner block for a perfect match on the strip pieced border.

The panel is super cute!  You can keep this one out until the daffodils start popping up in the spring!

And after getting all my customers Christmas quilts finished and delivered, we took off to Maui. Sunset in Kihei at The Cove.  This was our last night on the island and the sunset was absolute perfection!

 My view each night from Sugar Beach Resort.

The view each morning as the sun rises over Mt Haleakala.  The perfect time for a walk along the beach.

Every year I am amazed at the hedge of poinsettia at our friends place up country on Maui.

It gets cut back every year, and continues to flourish.  As hard as it is to feel the Christmas spirit while the weather is so nice, this view does not disappoint.

We had a full moon while on vacation and I got up early to snap this photo.  It's not the best shot, iphone camera's are only so good.  This was about 6:10 a.m.  The moon was so bright, I'm glad I got up just to see this!

Once home, I was itching to get stitching and I had this little piece of redwork all stitched up.  It was done last year while on vacation and to keep it easy and get it finished, I did a simple 1 inch cross hatch and bound it with a plaid cut on the bias.  Finished is good!

Since I was still feeling like I was on 808 time, (Maui time), I used up a small left over from my guys last years pillowcase!

We came home to a surgery appointment for my guy.  He's resting comfortably as I type this.  That's because he is still numb from a very intensive shoulder surgery.  We are looking at a rehab time of 12+ months.  They say this is one of the toughest to recover from so we will be staying very close to home for the next 4 -6 months.

Aloha to you all, and keep stitching.
Sharon