Shirley’s Double Irish Chain

ShirleyB1Our friend Shirley moved into her new house earlier this year and decided it was time to invest in herself and make a new quilt for her bedroom. She made this beautiful 93″ x 114″ red, green and cream double Irish chain. She gave me the freedom to quilt it anyway I wanted, so this is what I came up with. I used tidewater, cream and ruby thread from Glide.

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Urban Windows

This is a quilt that I made and then donated to The Little Nose that Knows to use as a give-away at their April 27-28, Sporting Detection Dog Association (SDDA) trial.  It is 60×77″ and fully custom quilted so that each “window” is unique.  I think the quilting adds a lot of interest and texture.  I hope whoever wins it, loves it as much as I do.

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Charity Quilt for Edmonton Quilt Guild

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I was asked by the Edmonton and District Quilt Guild to do the free motion quilting on one of their charity quilts.  Instead of using an edge to edge design I decided to do a little custom quilting: feathers in the border and each block quilted uniquely.

Here is the back showing some of the FMQ.

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Big Surprise

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For the first time, Klondike Days (our annual summer exhibition) featured a Makers Exhibition to showcase and celebrate local makers, creators, artists and producers.  On a whim, I decided to enter my Bridges of Madison County quilt into the Longarm Quilting category.  Unfortunately I was so busy that I completely forgot to go and see the exhibit before it closed.  I went this week to pick up my quilt and was shocked to see that it had a first place ribbon on it.  The judges comments were “Superb.  Small pucker on backing but otherwise excellent”.

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2015 BOM Bridges of Madison County

 

This is one of my own quilts.  It started with these twelve 10.5 inch blocks that I made as part of the 2015 BOM program at QuiltEssential Co Inc.  Each year the owner, Ingrid Machtemes, picks 3 different colour schemes and comes up with 12 unique designs for the blocks.

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Then the fun happens…..coming up with a creative design to incorporate these 12 blocks into a finished top.  Months before we had even finished piecing all the blocks, I already had this design idea floating around in my head.   I wanted to have lots of negative space for quilting.  I knew I wanted to quilt a detailed centre medallion but other than that,  I had no idea how I was going to quilt it until I got it on the longarm and starting playing.

Here is the finished quilt:

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My inspiration for the quilting came from some of the designs in the 12 blocks.  I wish I had kept track of how long it took me to do the longarm work because it was substantial.  I am really happy with the finished product.

Close up of the centre medallion and some of the long arm work:

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I like using pieced backings on my quilts.  I think it makes for a more attractive back that gives you the option to flip it over so you have two quilts in one.

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More Work for Quilts of Valour

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I had a little fun in the solid black squares on this quilt .  I love when I get a charity quilt with some quiet background space.  Instead of doing a pantograph I get to use my imagination and do some custom quilting.  Its a win/win for me and the charity.

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This quilt top was a little too busy for custom quilting so I opted for a pantograph called Maple Grove.

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