A Japanese Tablerunner

Here's a tablerunner I made recently. The center piece of fabric is "Naomi Collection", from Yuzawaya, Japan.



The solid fabrics along the sides were from the Twin Cities Shop Hop, 2015. Each of the 9 shops gave out a free 10" square of solid fabric as a reward.



The backing fabric is Japanese sateen futon fabric. It is very affordable in Japan, and is used in sheets.





I custom quilted it with some of my favorite freemotion quilting designs--figure 8, feathers, curls, and straight lines.



Grace and peace to you!

Quilting a Quilts of Valor

With this being Memorial Day weekend, I'd like to post some photos of a Quilts of Valor that I quilted for my friend, Wendy. She started a Quilts of Valor group this year, called St. Paul Stitcher. They made this quilt top one Saturday:



I quilted it with an edge-to-edge design called Allegiance, stars and waving stripes.



Love the quilt design, with the stars tucked in the centers.



We honor those who have served our country through military service and have passed. Because of them, we have freedom.

Part of the remembrance on Memorial Day in Cottage Grove:



Grace and Peace to you.

Viewer's Choice Winners DCSQ 2016

These are the quilts that won Viewer's Choice at our recent Dakota County Star Quilters quilt show.

This quilt was made by Marylee and tied for 4th place. It's a beauty.



Next is a quilt made by Carol and also tied for 4th place. She made it for her son-in-law who is colored blind. These were colors he could see. I had the honor of quilting it for her.



The third place quilt was made by Arlette. Very Minnesota.



Second place was another quilt made by Marylee, with beautiful quilting done by Paige Johnson.



And first place, which took me by great surprise, was my quilt. I finished it just a couple days before the show. The pattern is by Gudrun Erla, who was our guest speaker, from the book, Strip Your Stash. I did custom quilting, following Angela Walter's lead from the book.



Grace and peace to you.

A Few Minis

Here are 3 miniature quilts I entered in our recent Dakota County Star Quilters quilt show.

This quilt was a "Challenge Quilt" entry. The challenge:  use fabrics that you bought in last year's quilt show "country store". This was part of a kit of 1 1/2" strips. I did not use the pattern that came with it. Instead, I made a quilt from Gudrun Erla's book, Stripology 2, which is made for 1 1/2" strips. Gudrun was our quilt show guest speaker this year.

I quilted it with the edge-to-edge design called "Slick".


This quilt was part of our "Crayon challenge" category--draw a crayon from the basket and make a quilt using tints and shades of that color. I drew a Cornflower crayon. Most of the fabrics I used were purchased in Japan. The pattern is "All Nighter" by Debbie Bowles of Maple Island Quilts, from her book Quilts For the Dorm. I made it 1/4 the original size.

I quilted it with freehand undulating lines.


This next quilt was part of the "Ugly Fabric Challenge". Everyone who put in an "ugly" fabric drew another one back out and made a quilt. I loved the fabric I picked, as did many of the participants. It is the green paisley fabric in the upper right hand block. The quilt is the "Swoon" pattern, also know as Dutch Rose.

I quilted it with the edge-to-edge design called "Feathered Curls" and two layers of batting.


Grace and peace to you.

Christmas Cactus

Just finished custom quilting this wallhanging for a client:



She spent winters in warmer climates for a number of years. While she's down south, she'll make 8 or more quilt tops, and this is one of them.



I quilted a lot of stitch in the ditch, plus four different sashings/borders.



She lives in a senior apartment now. Her neighbors call her hallway "Quilt Alley", for all the quilted wallhangings she has hanging there!





Beautiful quilt. Thanks for letting me quilt for you, Jan!!!

Grace and peace to you.

A Few Client T-Shirt Quilts

Here are just a few of the t-shirt quilts I've quilted for clients.

This woman runs spartan races:

This t-shirt quilt is all about baseball:

This quilt was a retirement gift for the principal of an elementary school:

Dance outfit/t-shirt quilt for a high school grad:

And another high school graduate's quilt. This was the first quilt her grandmother ever made!

Grace and peace to you.

This Is the Time of the Year For T-Shirt Quilts!!!

Spring graduation is a great time of the year to make a t-shirt quilt for a loved one! Here are four that I've made in recent years. The first one is for DD#2's high school graduation. There are approximately 50 t-shirts involved! Plus, I quilted every square with a different freehand quilting design!



I made this one for DS, just for the fun of it. I saw a similar one on pinterest and drew it up on graph paper. It's queen size.



I made this for my dear friend, Lori, who's husband had ALS, as a raffle quilt, in conjunction with the Sioux Falls Walk To Defeat ALS.



And another for Lori.



These are the t-shirt quilts I've made personally. There are many more that I've quilted for clients. I'll feature those in a future post.

Grace and peace to you.

Little Jewels Mystery Quilt Meet-Up

We had a gathering today of quilters who made the Little Jewels mystery quilt. There were 15 of us that completed the top, plus the leaders quilt. I'm 3rd from the left.







Here are the individual quilts. (Excuse the heads!)















Made from Thimbleberries fabrics:













The leader's quilt, made out of Christmas fabrics:



My friend, Wendy's quilt, which I quilted using an edge-to-edge design called "Slick":



A close-up of the quilting, an edge-to-edge called "Slick":



And my quilt, made out of traditional Japanese fabrics from Japan. I changed the borders on mine, to circle around the edges.



I quilted it with spirals, an edge-to-edge design called "Pincurls".
Another backing from IKEA--60" wide!



Grace and peace to you.