Finish partially hand quilted by Leigh

Leigh says that she started this quilt about 2010, hand appliqued, embroidery and some beading before she started to hand quilt it.  She was a little over halfway finished when the quilt was put away for whatever reason. 

I tried to emulate Leigh's hand work, but on my machine.  First, lengthen the stitches!  Had to put a sticky note on to remind me to do that in between sessions.  Outline of most of the applique shapes, just enough to hold the quilt together.

To quote my late friend Wendy "Finished is better than perfect" 

 

"Embroidered Stars" by Vickie

    Wow, the patience to hand embroidered all of these blocks, then stitch them together into a queen sized quilt.  Vickie says that this one went fairly quickly, but still...

 All of center stars are made with alternating blue and yellow thread, and then the outer knot has several colors.  Red, blue, orange etc.

"Buttons" by Leigh

 Surely I took more than these 2 photos, but these are all that I can find.  Argh.  Computers escape me sometimes. 
As usual with Leigh, stunning embroidery work, so my only job is to let that shine.  I did make 2" circles in the borders to mimic the "buttons" on the quilt.

Embroidered blocks by Vickie

This quilt has been sitting in my studio for a long time waiting for it's turn for quilting, and I hope that Vickie thinks it was worth the wait.  She hand embroidered the blocks.  That alone astounds me.  Quilted with an edge to edge design of star meander, with a little swoop in the "star blocks"

Leigh's most recent "Collage" and "Big Stitches with a print"

 As always, I have to wonder where Leigh finds the patience, and the creativity.   May she's shopping at a different store than I am.

 Lovely work, and such fun to find new ways to quilt these beauties as well.

Another collage by Leigh

 Shh!  Don't tell Leigh that this one is done!  I've got 2 others to work on for her, and she'll pick them all up at once.  Knowing Leigh, and the fact that we've all been social distancing, I'm sure that there are numerous quilts waiting for me.  Lucky me!

 I quilted a Maze pattern in the border and the backgrounds of most of the blocks.  Some got a little something different just for fun.

"Doodle Quilts 1&2" by Leigh

 I'm sorry to say that I don't know which is "Doodle quilt #1 and which is 2, so here they all are.

 Doodle quilts are just doodling stitching.  Right up Leigh's alley since she enjoys handwork so much.  Fun for me to play with in terms of quilting as well.

Cross Stiched quilt top

I believe that Peggy's grandmother started the embroidery on this quilt, and it was eventually finished by Peggy.  The above photo show about a 1" square area that didn't get embroidered.  Oh well, finished is better than perfect.

This quilt has been a journey for Peggy and grandmother.  When the top was originally shipped, they sent two of the same side of the quilt top.  So, either two rights, or two left panels, and that really won't work. I'm not sure who finally tracked down the missing panel, but it was found and the quilt finished.

 The cross stitch design was printed on the fabric top, and the same with the quilting designs.  Some were more faded than others, making it difficult to follow, but again, finished is better...

 This quilt was intended to be hand quilted, not machine, so lots of little bits that required stops and starts and moves to the next space.  I think I got most of the jump threads cut, but I'm sure there are more.

 The outer edge just needed a feather to wraparound it, and then the entire background of the quilt was cross hatched.  Just stunning.

Hand embroidered from Vickie

Oh my stars.  Vickie started this quilt many months ago, and then it got put away.  She had embroidered all of the blocks, and then started to hand quilt a good portion of it. 
I had to add some backing to make it fit the quilt top and my machine, then followed the marked quilting lines that had been stamped on the top.  Sadly, many of them were faded, but we did our best and got it done.

Cross stitched squares

This is just a preview of a quilt that's coming.  I wanted to take a "before" photo.  Still on my girl machine, Pearly, but we are having so much fun working on it!  I can't wait to show it to you.

"Camping Trailers" by Fay

 Another Fay quilt with these sweet little camping trailers placed throughout.  Add some delightful pieced blocks and embroidered blocks, and done!

"Urban Ecosystems" by Ann

Ann is the sister of my friend Xande.  She is an art teacher at West Sylvan school, and this quilt was created by 6-8th graders as a part of their curriculum.  This quilt now hangs in the display case at the school.

 All of the quilts are fusible applique, so lots of layers to quilt through.

 I'm not sure what the "rules" were for the project, but it's obvious that they were to create a scene of an urban ecosystem using fabric, and it seems that embroidery was also required as each block has a least a little bit of embroidery stitching.

All have the kid's names on the block, even though it may not show in the photo.  I did find this one, below, as I was quilting, and it made me smile.

 Each feather was cut out individually.

This is what Xande gave me for the backing.  Fits the theme, but gives me a bit of the willies.