Omaha Quilter's Guild Show

This weekend was my local guild’s show and I thought I would share a few of my favorites.The quilt in the post headers is Patti Kennedy’s Farmers Wife quilt. A lovely block setting and a great little applique border.

Lime and Lavender, very aptly named, by Pat Sears, a block exchange with her small group. Probably my favorite in the show was Sandy Bernasek’s Scarlet Sunset. She started this quilt with a paper pieced pattern from Judy Neimeyer but then changed up the layout. I just loved the quilting on this quilt and how she incorporated crystals into the quilting design, this quilt just twinkled.

I also love the applique quilts, so I think the rest are applique quilts

Sandy Petsche’s Birds of a Feather, a pattern by Alma Allen and Barb Adams. Jonah’s Berries and Buds by Sharon Paladino. 796 grapes! This is a Kim Diehl pattern that was published in the December 2005 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. The Best of Show quilt was named Blooming Flower by Harriet Hagedorn. It was a pattern by Bee Creative. The lattice setting on this quilt is so pretty. A Quilter’s Garden by Patty Kennedy and Harriet Hagedorn. This is a raffle quilt for Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska. I am sooooo buying tickets! Floral Enchantment by Caroline Nish. This is a Jane Spolar pattern named Floral Meditation. I really like the smart background fabric Caroline choose and then quilted on the design in the fabric giving this great cobblestone appearing background filler. And finally, my Civil War Bride quilt.

This quilt continues to be a joy. It won a 2nd place ribbon for it’s categoryand then two special ribbons: Viewers Choice - voted on by quilt show attendees, and President’s Choice - voted on by past Omaha Quilt Guild presidents. The quilt received so much positived feedback, it is a wonderful pattern and I hope maybe some nonappliquers will be inspired to give it a try.

Happy Stitching all,

Cheri

Civil War Bride finished

With my Civil War Bride quilt completed the possibilities of a new hand applique quilt to start are a little overwhelming. There are so many great quilts out there. Until I worked on the bride I don't think I owned one piece of civil war reproduction fabric. Now I love them, can't get enough turkey reds and poison greens. So I am leaning towards a red and green quilt. Something will come up.

I have finished a couple more blocks on the McKenna Ryan quilt, Home Tweet Home.

There is a little bit of embellishing done on each of these blocks, a few beads, or hairy yarn for nesting material.

I also did a little machine quilting practice this week. I made up this little wonky flower using some of my Kaffe Fassett fabrics for a little practice piece. I quilted the CWBQ using a wool batting and had read somewhere that you can get a sort of "mock" trapunto look with applique by using a double thickness of wool batting and then machine quilting the background very densely. Well, I am not overly impressed with the mock trapunto look, I don't really think it looks any puffier than with just one layer of batting, but the background quilt doodling was fun.

Have a good weekend.

Cheri

and the quilting goes on and on and on

Are you sick of hearing about the quilting of the Civil War Bride Quilt? Well, I am too. I am, however, determined to finish it in the next week or so and it is basically the only thing I am allowing myself to work on (except for maybe a short blog post).

I am up to the borders, this straight line quilting with all the starts and stops is just a little TEDIOUS. It is also a huge thread waster.

But in the end I am very pleased with the results. I can not wait to get this quilt hanging on a wall in my home.

I have gotten a little gardening done around the house and splurged on this beautiful hanging basket for my front porch.

The tag says the plant is Super Bells, whatever, I just liked the little white flowers. Last night I had to bring it into the house due to a severe thunderstorm with hail that passed thru Omaha. This storm has cooled down our weather for the weekend, sort of grey and raining…stay in and quilt weather, so back to it I will go.

Happy Stitching all,
Cheri

Quilting the Civil War Bride

The quilting continues on the Civil War Bride. I have all of the applique in the ditch quilting completed and I am working on the back ground quilting. I am using YLI invisible thread on the front and aurifil thread in the bobbin, the invisible thread is a little shiny from the flash in some of the pictures. The batting is wool. I am up to the fun part of the quilting. I draw motifs on a thin tissue paper (with a pigma pen - not a pencil - the needle would drag the lead onto the quilt)
and then lay it on the quilt, quilt thru it

and tear the paper away. The flowers in applique lend themselves to all sorts of little natural add on creatures:

A little hummingbird,

a spiderweb,

dragonfly,

snail,

and my very favorite, a peacock feather (don't you just know the bird of paradise has been loosing feathers).

After I have added all of the motifs I want, I will stipple quilt around them and the remaining background of the applique blocks.

I have stressed a little bit about the background quilting. I know some think that stipple quilting is overused, but it is what I do well. I think interspersing the motifs gives it a little interest.

Other than the center top, I am not adding any motifs to the borders, and simply quilting diagonal lines. To stabilize the border I have already marked 45 degree lines with a herra marker

and quilted every two inches.

This is walking foot work, lots of starts and stops and bridging over appliques and then going back and trimming away the thread bridges. I will go back and fill in additional lines (about every 3/8 of an inch) after the center quilting is completed.

I wanted to get brave and add a little inking to my quilt, like you see in the classic album quilts. I sort of chickened out and did ink FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE, but then I put black thread in the machine and sort of quilted/embroidered over it. I also did my initials and the year in the header pictures of this post.

And now I should put the laptop computer away, turn off the sewing machine, and get outside in this beautiful spring day and help my DH with yard chores.


Happy Stitching All,

Cheri

Quilting, Quilting

Quilting,

Quilting,

Unquilting,

Quilted!

I have been focused on the quilting of my Civil War Bride Quilt. Mostly quilting in the ditch around the appliques, a few details in some of the larger appliques, bird wings, swirls in the sheep, etc. I am using a wool batt for the first time, it is wonderful!

I also finished the long arm quilting on the red and white quilt, and now that I have posted the picture of it I noticed that a couple of the blocks are turned, I still think it is pretty.

Happy Stitching,

Cheri

A Red & White Quilt Comes My Way

With all the interest in red and white quilts from the recent quilt show, Infinite Variety Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts, in New York City, I was happy to receive this quilt top to quilt. This is a group quilt done by members of the Omaha Quilt Guild, so there are lots of different reds in this quilt and it works very well. The quilt will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for a local church camp where our guild holds it's annual fall quilt retreat and as a thank you the guild always donates a quilt for it's annual fundraising auction. My small group put the blocks together and I am quilting it on my long arm machine.

I am using an all over feather pattern called Plumage by Willow Leaf Designs. I love this red and white stripe fabric on the back.

I am going back and forth today between the long arm machine and in my sewing room I am quilting the Civil War Bride Quilt.

I am working on outlining all the applique first. I try to add a little something to each block, like a flower in the bride's skirt.

A little feather flourish in the tablecloth.

And a stippled heart in the middle of a vase, first I outline around a freezer paper heart, then I will stipple inside.

So between the two quilts I will be doing a lot of quilting this next week.

I am happy stitching,

Cheri

finishes

It has been a week of finishes for me. YoYoville (pattern by Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs) is completed. YEA!I have also finished the applique on my Civil War Bride Quilt. YEA! YEA! I found a great fabric for the back and I think I am going to try this same backing fabric for a piped edge on the front. My binding is the same fabric as the background, would a thin line of line of green look odd on the edge?

The quilt has been layered and I have started the outline quilting. It is so full of applique there is not much room for much else than background filler around the applique in the center blocks. For now I have not marked anything and I am just going to start quilting around all the applique.

My DH is always so supportive of my quilting hobby, always willing to check out shops in areas we are traveling through. He is also my expert with a spoon, closing safety pins on the layered quilts. What a gem!!!

Happy Stitching,

Cheri