Double Rainbow by Pam

Wow  Just wow at the amazing work done by Pam.  The original photo was taken by her brother and this depicts his property in the Colorado Rockies.  The entire area burned to the ground last summer in a wildfire.  The large white light on the left side of the top photos is my light, not a part of the quilt.  Trying to get the entire quilt to fit into the shot.

Pam
 reached out to me about quilting this quilt after her former quilter retired.  My only hope is that Pam is pleased with my work, and that this can become a long term relationship.

The rainbow is pieced, the lighter one in the distance is the same fabrics, but using the "wrong side" out.  Perfect for the fade of a 2nd rainbow.  The piecing curves, which means that the sky fabric also had to curve to fit it.  Many of the grassy meadows were also pieced, I'm guessing to add texture to the scene, as well as to potentially cut out some areas that weren't right for the area.

All of the trees are hand appliqued.  My job was to think of different ways to quilt grass.  Lots of similar, but different designs.

As is the truck and the building.  Can't begin to say how tiny those little red tailights were on the truck.

 

Bear Paws and Trees by Judee.

 Practically impossible to see the quilting on the front of this quilt since I used Monopoly thread.  I didn't want the thread to be the focus of the quilt, so this thread barely shows up.   The problem is that you can't see the pretty quilting!  Vines in the outer border and in the wood grain first border I outlined some of the "grain".  You'll see it below.

 Stitching in the ditch around the piecing, in the woodgrain,

and outlining the animals to give them a little texture.

This quilt will go to a silent auction for the CCA that Judee's husband and son are a part of.  Great job Judee!

McKenna Ryan, Bela Garden by Michelle

I love McKenna Ryan's work.  So detailed.  Michelle brought me this quilt that she had purchased with laser cut fabrics.  Great choice because then she didn't have to trace and cut all those little tiny flower petals out herself!

I wanted to add to the beautiful quilt, so only quilted some details on the petals and leaves, then an easy background fill.

 In the borders, there are "molar" feathers and leaves to tie in with the floral theme.

"Oregon" by Michael

 This is another one where he started with a souvenir tea towel for the center, and then added blocks around the edges.  Quilted with the "Log Cabin" panto, so there are trees, bears and of course a log cabin quilted into the quilt.

Not only does Michael have "Oregon" appropriate fabrics.  I think these are leftovers from a shop hop fabric from several years ago.  He also included Oregon appropriate blocks.  Log Cabin blocks in all four outer corners, and this great tree block!

As I was quilting this, and looking at it after quilting, I had to laugh at myself.  It seemed that everywhere I looked on this map of Oregon, I was reminded of places that I have biked with my brother, or places we either need to go, or have plans to ride there soon.  All up and down the Willamette Valley for organized rides, or to go and see his daughter at college.  Last year was up the gorge for Cycle Oregon, and this fall we'll head to eastern Oregon for Cycle Oregon.  Yes, I'll be looking for fabric stores on the way!

Oregon Trail by Nancy

Oh wow. To be half as creative as this.  Nancy brought me her family's history as shown by the dairy farm.  This is her husband's side of the family, and their trek across the US by wagon trail..  As before, if you lift up various elements, there is much more information hidden underneath.

For example, lift up the Teepee above, and you get to read the "book of remembrance" below.

Nancy has embroidered some of the state lines to indicate where the family was initially from, and then as they get closer to Oregon, she used orange thread to show their path.

All of the animals are cut from faux fur fabric and glued down.  They often have beads for eyes, or other types of fabric or embellishments to make them more lifelike.

Oh the details!  If you pull the canvas covering apart, there is a photograph of one of the ancestors "driving" the wagon.  Yes, the wheels all spin, and the rope and chains and bag of flour are all hanging from the side of the wagon.

Here's a lady peeking out of the cabin window.  Notice the broom and dustpan next to the door, and the quilt on the left side of the house.  There was a metal washtub on the right side of the house, but it came loose during the quilting.  Nancy will quickly get that reattached.

Because so many of our family histories or at the very least genealogy is written in the front of the Bible, that's what Nancy did as well. Below you'll see the names and dates of family members, and the colored dots indicate the embroidery thread color that indicates where their homes are on the quilt.

Von Bergen Dairy Farm Quilt by Nancy

Where do you even begin to describe this quilt?  I guess at the beginning. 

I received an e-mail from Nancy in February 2014 with the following in the e-mail."In working out my grief at losing my mother in June, I finished some family tree research which I knew would have pleased her immensely. The outflow of the research  caused me to undertake this quilt project, which depicts my great grandparent's dairy farm, and would have been such a source of delight to mom, as well as providing a durable family history for my kids and grandkids."  Nancy then attached some photos of the quilt top, and described what she had done.  Above is the full quilt after quilting.  Below are more detailed photos of specific parts of the quilt.

 Here is the house.  Nancy quilted the house before she sent it on to me.  Notice the small glass bead to represent the old glass doorknob on the front door.







Below, we have the family.  Nancy took a photo, and "dressed" the people in the photo in fabrics.  Underneath she has included the names of who is who.










The fruit trees on the farm are all dimensional.  Nancy took small pieces of fabric and stitched these to the background.

Here is "The Large Black Walnut Tree".  They don't show in the photo, but Nancy has made small French Knots on the ground to represent the walnuts that had already fallen to the ground.  Notice the quilt hanging on the clothesline to the left of the tree, and the vegetable garden to the right of the tree.  Again, all dimensional.

It's a dairy farm, so you have to have dairy cows.

My favorite is the barn.  The door actually slides back and forth on the metal rods that she has attached above and below.

The walkway up to the front door is surrounded by flowers.

Now for the best part.  Many of these dimensional buildings lift up to reveal something underneath.  Nancy has a photo of the original house, certificates to acknowledge that the family was an Early Settler to the territory, a drawing that Nancy's mother made of what she remembered of the farm, and a plotting by the city to show who owned what piece of property.

The circle shows where the Black Walnut tree was.

I don't know if this house still exists, but regardless, this is a wonderful testimony to the family that worked so hard for so many years to provide a home for their families.  The treasure that Nancy has created is just amazing, and I hope that it will be treasured for many, many generations to comes.

Barns by Grace

Like my late dad, I share a love of old barns and houses. I'd love to go poking around in old barns if it were okay with the owners. Wouldn't the barns in this quilt be fun to visit? This white one reminds me of the dairy barn owned by my great Aunt and Uncle. Theirs didn't have a quilt painted on the side, but it was white with a green roof in my memory.

I believe that this quilt will be a gift for Grace's sister, what a lucky recipient she is!

Barns by Grace

I tried to be consistent in the quilting density, but also creative in the different quilts. I mean who wants to look at the same quilting design in all the different quilts? The quilts on the fence have continuous curves, feathers, stars, and anything else that I could think of. The blocks across the top of the quilt received feathered wreaths.