2nd wedding quilt

 The top photo is a "before" I started the quilt trying to give myself some ideas of how to quilt it.

 Started with echoing lines in the parallelograms (as word I haven't used since 6th grade geometry), but wasn't happy with that.  Think more on that idea, but keep quilting.

And finished.  Yummy!

Pat and I had agreed that feathered wreaths in the setting blocks were the way to go.  So large, med and small feathered wreaths.  Then really tightened up the diagonal stitching in the parallelograms.  Much better.

Three different types of borders.

 Feathers that radiate out in the stars.

 And some shots that show how it all works together.

Wedding quilt in blue by Pat

It must be wedding season in Pat's family.  Here is the first of 2 wedding quilts to finish for her.  This one is done with an edge to edge design of paisley.

Grandmother's Flower Garden broughtby Donna

 Here is the completed quilt from Donna and her husband.  I'll have to have them remind me of who exactly, but I know that it was pieced by relatives from earlier generations.  Probably started in the 1930's or so, and the piecing was probably finished in the 1980's or so based on the pattern that they had in the box with the quilt top and backing.

This will be a wedding quilt for Sara and Tyler.  I made the label into an envelope in the hope that the history of the quilt will be written down and stored in the envelope so that it's always kept together.

I have made many quilts using this technique of English Paper Piecing.  I have only ever done it by hand, as shown above.

I know that this quilt was pieced by at least a couple of  women, and someone did portions of it by machine as shown here.

Quilters usually use 1/4" seam allowances, but the green sashing pieces here have quite a bit more than 1/4" at times.

Quilted in an all over pattern of vines and leaves.  I am so very glad that Donna and her husband liked this pattern.  When I got into the quilt, I found that it had some piecing "Issues", and these were much more easily dealt with by doing an edge to edge design.

Here is the quilt on my machine.  There is a bit of extra fullness in the first flower at the top.

And a bit more fullness there.

And here.

And also here.

In these last two photos, the top one with the quilt still on my machine, you can see where I've worked in some of the fullness.  There are some serious wrinkles in the quilt top simply because all of that extra fabric has to go somewhere.  However, I am pleased with how it turned out, and I hope that the newlyweds will treasure this very special gift.

"Newport" quilt by April

This is the 2nd of two quilts that April brought to me, and the one where you really don't realize how cool the quilt is until you get it hung up for the photo. 
Quilted with the same King Tut Thread as the Baby Quilt, but in a wave design to go with the water and animal theme among the fabrics.  Well done April.

"Baby Quilt" by April.

The baby is on his way soon, so we need to get this one done too.  I love quilts like the two that April brought where you think it's a neat quilt, and then when it's quilted, and you see the whole top, you realize that it's a really cool design!

Quilted with the Modern Squares panto.

"Kitty" quilt by Judy

 Judy is a new to me customer who needed to have her quilt done soon.  She wants to present this to a friend who helped her through a difficult time, so obviously, she had to get in soon.  Love the kitty prints, and then she chose the "Flat Cat" panto for quilting.  It's perfect.  Or dare I say "Purr-fect"

See the upside down Kitty in the purple?  The the kitty tail below?

"Hydrangea" mystery by me.

 I'm very sorry to say that I don't recall the name of the Barbara Graham mystery that this quilt came from.  I've called in the "Hydrangea" mystery because that's the name of the pantograph that I used on the quilt. 

I have no idea who gave me the floral fabric in the borders and blocks, but there was a lot of it.  I thought it would be easy to find fabrics to go with it, but I was mistaken.  Pink, blue, and a deep purple (that reads as black in the photos)  I thought that I would have enough of the floral fabric to use for the backing, but no such luck.  So, now I've got a good chunk left over to put into another quilt.  Maybe I'll find the right green to go into the next one.

I'll have to go "police stalking" on Friday and hopefully find someone to give this too.

"Flags" for Jody's mom's birthday

Jody made this fun quilt for her mom for her birthday.  Jody shared with me that her mother was born in July.  Same month as me, so I asked the date.  Same date.  Uh oh, the year?  Yep, we were born on the same day. 

Hard to see the quilting design, but it's perfect.  Just a simple "S" curve that goes in rows of 2 across the quilt.  Representative of the flags blowing in the wind.

Marni's baby quilt by Josette

Lucky little Marni gets a quilt from her grandma Josette.   Quilted with the Modern Squares panto.  Great block design.  I think that's what I'll do for my next charity quilt.

I love the bumblebees in the border.

Cole's ski bibs made into a "t-shirt" quilt.

 Another new one for me.  Kim, Cole's mom, brought me 7 of his ski bibs from high school, one sweatshirt, and his letter from West Linn High School.  I'd never done bibs before, and the only concern was the narrowing at the shoulders and the neck.  I appliqued them to some white background, and it worked great!

Kim also told me that lower your bib number indicates a higher ranking in your league.  So, his first year, he was ranked 61st, but climbed up to #15.  Well done!

Finished "Wizard of Oz" by Michael

The completed quilt.

The outer edge.  Usually, I write pretty detailed instructions as to how to quilt a quilt.  Sometimes these are simple "Use this panto graph", "____ free hand design".  But the customer has (hopefully) a pretty good idea of what their quilt will look like when it's finished.   Here's what I wrote on Michael's check in sheet.  "Beth to play.  Glide threads throughout.  Angular designs in outer border."  Let me point out that Michael has been bringing me quilts for many years now, and I think that he's trusting of my skills.  I would NEVER do something like that for a new customer.  We've got to establish a relationship first.  I do love how the outer edge turned out though.  Not only is the it the place where you can really see the quilting, I just like how it looks.  I really wanted to use red thread in the bobbin for Ruby Slippers, but I also knew that any tension issues would show with that, so I went with neutral grey.

It's the Emerald City!  Just some stitching lines that sweep up towards the cneter.

 Dorothy's ruby slippers and her gingham dress above the Witches hat.  I love how the beginning of the yellow brick road surrounds the red poppy fields, and makes it look like eyes.

Here's the full yellow brick road.

I'm not sure what the grey parts represent, but I still love them and the center star.   I believe that Michael said that he is sending this one to Sister's for the quilt show, and I hope that they will display it low enough that people can see the piecing in this.  It's amazing!

Michael's explanation.

"It’s just my own interpretation of the story/movie, from the center out: it starts in sepia and then the clouds and storm rolls in, which leads to colorful flowers (Munchkinland where the color first appears in the movie), then the yellow brick road that goes all the way through the woods and the poppy fields to Emerald city, with Dorothy and the witch going round and round. The gray represents the witches castle, opposite of the Emerald City."

"Wizard of Oz" by Michael

 This quilt is in two postings because I took some "before" photos that I wanted to share.  Above, is the unquilted quilt from the front.  Pretty cool, I think.

And a close up of the center star.

 Michael does paper piecing, where you actually stitch the quilt fabric to a piece of paper.  Each piece of the pattern is marked with a number, and you piece it starting at #1 and going on.  I honestly think I see numbers 112 and up in this photo.  This is just one of the 6 "yellow brick road" blocks.  This doesn't include the other blocks in the quilt.

Baby quilt by Lisa

 Lisa is a new customer.  Her friend was married last year, and is expecting her first baby soon.  Lisa chose these fabrics which are the same colors as her friends wedding, then I quilted it with the Modern Squares panto.

"But I miss them too." for Randall, by me.

This quilt started after I showed my darling husband, Randall, Toby's quilt.  His comment when I told him that it would be going to the Humane Society?  "But I miss him too."  I changed this to missing "Them" too because I found several of our former pups in the fabrics used in this quilt.

This has to be Toby as a puppy

Marshall was a Corgi

Here's our Emma girl

A shot of the quilting.