Christmas applique by Sara

 First let me say that I really admire anyone who does applique.  Let's just say that my talents lie in other areas.  Not only did Sara applique every single block in this quilt, much of them are done by hand!  Wow!  She also told me that she didn't care for some of the designs, so came up with her own, or found others that she preferred and incorporated them into the quilt.   In addition, many of these designs have dimensional components.  The scarves have loose ends, the ski pole straps aren't stitched down.  So much fun! My challenge?  How to quilt this so it's not just the same thing in each block.  That's where the fun begins!

 If you are familiar with Portland I hope that you recognize the KOIN (local news channel) tower and the Fremont Bridge.  I was supposed to ask Sara which house was hers, but then I forgot as we talked about her lovely quilt.

A simply looping meander behind the carolers.  They are singing "Oh Holy Night."

 "Rudolph" has a figure 8 meander in his background.  8 tiny reindeer?

 Arrowhead meander behind the candlestick.  I thought it went well with the candle flame.

Peacock feather meander for the snowman.  Makes me think of swirly snowflakes coming down that he needs to sweep away.  You can almost see the candy cane stripes in the red border.

 Birds get music notes because they are singing!

 Saturn meander for the sleigh.  Please don't ask me why I chose that.

 Leaves for the wreath of holly.

 Three different snowflake blocks, this one just got a meander.  I wasn't thrilled with that, but  couldn't think of what else to do.

 This happy guy got a tight loopy meander to make his really stand out from the background.

 Flames behind the lamp post.

 I was trying to mimic the lines left on the ice after the skaters carve it up with their routines.

 They are supposed to be crocus flowers for mom to carry in her basket.

 Pine boughs behind the snow shoes.  Wouldn't you love to go tromping through the snow on fun shoes like these?

It's going to be hard to see, but the sledding snowmen are saying "Whee" as they glide down the mountain.

I kept thinking of the patterns in the snow that you'd see as you ride the chairlift up the mountain to take another run.    So these are the trails that the other skiers have left as they carved patterns in the snow.

I gave Sara back her quilt a few days ago, and got an email from her today.  Here's what she said.

Hi Beth, I am putting on the binding and wanted to let you know how happy I am with your quilting. I was going to give it away but now I have changed my mind. Selfish me. 

Block of the month by Carole

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I consider myself so lucky to be able to A) meet such lovely people like Carole, who by the way is an impeccable piecer as well.  Then she trusts me with her quilts!  When she dropped this beauty off, we pretty much decided that I would put feathered wreaths in the blocks, and something in the border.  Hmm.  Time to play!

 

 I did a feather that moves between the two seams in the cream border.  Rather than have it wrap around the quilt, it and the fern feather in the outer border both stop at seam lines.  Continuous curves in the half square triangle blocks.

 I'm kind of proud of this section.  The spine of the feathers goes around the center of the large cream square.  Then the feathers "grow" down the sides from the top, and up the sides from the bottom.  Plus little feathers in the squares.

 Each block has a slightly different feathered wreath in it.  So why didn't I take pictures of them all?   Feathers that curve out from the "honeycomb" piece above.

Hard to tell in the photos, but there are two colors of thread.  One is cream, and the other more of a pumpkin/ginger color to blend in with the batiks.  Nice job Carole!

Baby grand-daughter's quilt by Ren

The story of this quilt is lovely.  Much of the fabric is from an outfit of Ren's daughter when she was a child.  This daughter is now grown up with her own daughter.  She had asked her mom, Ren, to make her a quilt out of this outfit, so additional fabrics were purchased and combined, and now we've got a quilt for this new baby.

 

Quilted with a daisy chain meander in the outer border and sashing strips.  Loopy meander in the body of the quilt.

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The fabric in this circle is from the original outfit.  How sweet!

Pat's Monkeys

Oh what fun!  So subtle, but so cute.  The colors are grey, yellow and silver.  The Monkeys are in the outer border, but a few other animals in the quilt top as well.  Quilted with the "Funky Monkeys" panto, and a perfect choice!

Alphabet Baby quilt by Pat

I am starting to see the usefulness of panels more.  Not that I've made any panel quilts, but I've bought tow of them! 

 This is an alphabet quilt, so A is for apple, etc.  However, I need some help on "X" and "Z"  I haven't a clue as to what they are supposed to represent, so if you know, or have a suggestion, please add it to this.

We have two suggestions for what they stand for from Michael.  "X" could be for Exercise, and "Z" for Zzz's since they appear to be going to bed.  His other suggestion is that "Z may be for Zoloft".  Anyone else want to offer up an idea?  Serious or funny, all are taken.

Family Quilt by Pat

I think that this is the "family quilt" because it's got bits from lots of different themes.  There's some Batman, some military, just a little bit of everything.

 Quilted with the Clematis Panto

It's a Friendship star block inside of the larger stars.

Michael's Tree skirt

On my every growing list of things to do is to make a new tree skirt for our house for Christmas.  Probably won't happen this year, but at least I've got Michael's for inspiration.  I love the idea of sampler blocks so you never get bored making the same block over and over.  Then the 1/2 square triangles on the edges add the perfect finish.

Quilted with the "Tannenbaum" panto.

Two Nativity wall hangings by Michael

 Michael, you are amazing!  First, the amount of quilts that you produce is astounding.  Then you do exquisite paper piecing.  I can't believe how tiny some of these pieces are!  Then one isn't enough, so you make two at teh same time.  Wow.  Made my life easier though.  I loaded one backing fabric and batting, and then quilted the left one, then the right.  Advanced the quilt and changed thread, and back to the left, then the right.

Michael brought some "Halo" thread from Superior threads.  The company may "guarantee" that the thread will work, but I still have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love the way it looks, but it's rather finicky to work with.  Really loosen up the tension, and quilt really S-L-O-W.  I put loops and little stars in the skies with that, and added a "swirly design" in the outer border.

In the sand of the quilts, I used my favorite King Tut thread and quilted two different "sand" textures.  One horizontal, and the other on the diagonal.

Asian Squares by Michael

 This is another on of those quilts that you don't realize how cool it is until you hang it up to take a photo.  I hadn't noticed the darker sashing on the center squares until then.

Quilted with the "Oriental Clouds" panto and a gold variegated thread.  The backing is black and the gold thread in the bobbin really shows up.

Toby's napkin leftovers by me.

 If you have been following this blog, you may remember "Toby's napkin quilt."  Our dog Toby lvoes to wipe his mouth on the ottoman in our living room.  Can't throw that in the washer, but I can throw his quilt in.  When I made it, I messed up and had (as you can see) many pinwheel blocks leftover.  Threw those into a quilt top, set off with the same background fabric as in the blocks, and here's one for the police.

 I quilted this one essentially the same as the napkin, with continuous curves in the pinwheels.  The setting squares each got a phantom pinwheel, one that mimics the piecing, but aren't really pieced.  Then I added the background fills in the background.  Just something to play around with, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I also love the green thread that really shows up on the grey.

Baby quilt by Joy

 Small world.  Joy and I see the same hairdresser.  Warren at Mr. Oscars.  If you've got curly hair, you need to see Warren!
This lovely little quilt is for the new baby of Joy's nephew.  Lucky little girl!

 Yes, all the flowers are appliqued by hand.  Again these amazing people who do hand applique!

Double Pinwheel by Jan

Here's one that Jan made for her granddaughter.   Gotta love all those pretty pinwheels, and I'd like to point out how well those points all match!

 Quilted with hearts because Jan loves her granddaughter.

Also music notes because she's a champion fiddle player!  I was thinking of her recently when I got the be a part of Cycle Oregon 2015 and we rode through Weiser, ID.  Fiddle capital of the world!  We were even serenaded by a group of fiddlers.  We also visited the quilt shop!

Monkeys by Sara

 Drat, this one is out of focus, but you get the idea.

Aren't these cute little guys?

And a churn dash block to separate them.

"Minecraft" made by Priscilla

 Priscilla contacted me about quilting this quilt that her grandson designed and she made.  I wish I could figure out how to get the schematic that he drew up and she used as a pattern from my email to here, but not right now. 

Maybe we should keep our eyes out for Henry as a future quilt designer.  Who knows where he'll end up?

All of the white background is quilted with continuous curves, and then the sword is stitched in the ditch

 Straight lines in the outer borders.

The backing.