By the Lake by Michael

I believe that this is the second "By the Lake" quilt that Michael has made.  

It's such a great design, and so versatile.  I love the heart in the center.  Perfect for a wedding gift.

String Theory

 Ah, strings.  Those pieces of fabric that are too small to save in your stash, but too big to throw away, so what do you do with them?  I guess that you save them in a bin in the basement for a long time, and then you get inspired.  I started this quilt as a "Beginner and Ender", meaning that before starting or stopping at each seam of a quilt, I would instead start with 2 strings, and end with two strings.  That way I don't have long thread tails when I begin or end my stitching.  It's a quilter thing. 

I started making these blocks, then squared them up to 6.5" each.  That was fun, so then I started to lay them out on my design wall, otherwise known as our guest room bed.  Hmm.  By turning them, you get a fun diamond pattern that just never ends.  Since they are all so random, you'll never be able to get all the different colors evenly spaced, so just put them where they end up.  This quilt ended up being a twin size, and was given to the Portland Police Sunshine Division.  If you look closely, you can even see that I used leftover fabric that had already been pressed together for the binding. All those little bits of fabric, and not even a dent in that bin of strings.  I've already started the next one, and the one after that too.

Water Bargello by Michael

Michael again is creating his own pattern.  He took several water fabrics and made a Bargello quilt out of them.  Quilted with a Pond Water Meander design, but then I played in the borders.

Adding leaves and using the seam between the two borders as a stem, and trying out a new border design in the outer border.  I really like that look.  Thanks for letting me play Michael.

David's Fish by Pat

My mom, Pat, wants to make quilts for all of her grandchildren, and this is the first one.  David has an interest in sea life, so mom chose a fish theme for his quilt.  The block pattern is called "Ocean Waves", and I think that was one of the reasons that she chose that block.  However, after making all those 1/2 square triangles, I'm sure she quickly regretted that particular block!  We chose to quilt it with an all over wave pattern.  I can hardly wait to start on the next one, but you'll have to wait and see it's theme.

Cheryl's Mom's Flying geese

Cheryl's mother had machine pieced this quilt, and started to hand quilt it, but was not able to complete it due to Alzheimer's.  The above photo shows the detail of her exquisite hand quilting, and the bottom photo shows the entire quilt.  I attempted to mimic what her mother had started.  Cheryl, this is a lovely tribute to your mother.

Glacier Star by Michael

I am not sure of the exact title of this quilt, but it was inspired by the quilts of Simon Beck.  http://imgur.com/gallery/KHUJT

Michael designed the pattern himself, something that blows my mind.  I'm pretty good at following directions, but the idea of creating something like this is more than I can fathom.  Oh well, we all have our talents.  Someday, I expect to see Michael's name on a quilt pattern line.

Betsey-Tacy #3

Another quilt from Colleen and the Betsey Taci series.  This one will go to New York for the woman who has been getting these books

published again.  

Coleen chose this great print of letters for borders around the blocks.  Betsey was a writer, and the recipient of the quilt works with books, so how appropriate are the letters?

 Here is a photo of the back of the quilt that shows the quilting, and the full quilt.

Jackie's t-shirts

David contacted me about making a quilt for his daughter Jackie who is a world class ski racer.  All of the shirts are from races that she has participated in, and one jacket from a team.  When do these kids sleep?

Look for her in the Olympics, I bet she makes the team!

Tattoo Quilt

 This is an unusual quilt.  Back in September, I was working a quilt show, and was approached by Susan and her husband about the possibility of quilting a quilt for them that would be a Christmas gift.  First off, kudos to them for planning ahead!  The quilt will be going to live in a tattoo parlor, Hawthorne Ink, in Portland.  The skull designs are copied from tattoos the owner has, the center is a t-shirt, and I don't know where she found the 4 side photos.  The flame fabric used for piecing is perfect for the quilt, and we quilted it with a flame design with multicolored thread. 
While I personally don't have any tattoos, I'd kind of like to go and visit the shop just to see the quilt in it's new home.  Way cool Susan!

Flannel quilt

Patricia made this quilt for her grandson and started to quilt it herself on her domestic sewing machine before becoming overwhelmed with the size of the project.  She contacted me, and we finished it as she had begun it.  We chose monopoly thread from Superior, and then stitched simple X shapes from one corner of the block to the other.  This will keep that grandson warm for many years to come.

Labryinth

This is such an amazing quilt!  Designed by Chris who works at EE Schenk here in town.  Published in a magazine, and then pieced by JuliAnne who works at Quilter's Corner in Oak Grove.  (Great quilt shop should you get a chance to visit.)

 

The quilt is made with several shades of batiks which gives it the 3 dimensional look.  It was quilted exclusively with 45 degree angles following the lines of piecing.  I used my 45 degree rulers from Linda Rech, and that made the process so much easier.  Still quite time consuming.  I believe that this quilt was on the frame for the 12 days right before Christmas.  Thankfully, I had my other Christmas sewing done by then.

Trip Around the World

Sharon made this one for a male relative, a son in law, I believer. Lucky guy to get such a great quilt.  Quilted with a pantograph called "Log Cabin", although the only design that I could get a good shot of was the bear.  Trust me, there are log cabins in the design too.

Starburst

Michael and his paper piecing just amazes me.  Someday I'll paper piece.  Dream on!

Quilted with an edge to edge design called Clematis with and So Fine! thread in pale blue

Medallion in purple

See?  When does he sleep?  This is about the 3rd of this style of paper pieced quilt that Michael has recently brought to me for quilting.  The tiny little pieces just blow my mind.  The purple setting triangles, in the photo of the left, are quilted with more of the Glitter Thread from Superior.  We are getting to be better friends, but I doubt that it will ever take the place that King Tut Thread holds in my heart.

Christmas Tree skirt

Michael, when do you sleep?  He paper pieced this amazing tree skirt for Christmas, and more coming!  The white background is quilted with a glitter thread from Superior Threads.  While this thread and I will never be best friends, it does look nice when you see it in person.