Joyous Quilter's Gallery 2011 to 2012

April 2011 ~ “Be Kind To Yourself”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

May 2011 ~ “Happy Anniversary”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

May 2011 ~ “Holly Lane”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

August 2009 ~ July 2011 ~ “Carp-e Diem”
Finally I finished it! Yeah! Part of the motivation is as a fundraiser for our Guild, myself and my three quilting buddies (The Four Fat Quarters!!) held a class to teach the Stack & Whack technique, so I was determined to get mine finished as an example! About time as it's been nearly two years in the making!

I completely changed my mind about what I was going to do in the borders for this quilt....as you do! Originally I was planning to do undulating flying geese and, although I made the paper piecing templates, it just wasn't 'talking' to me!

I realised I approach quilting like cooking - I look at what I have available in the leftover pile after making the featured part of the quilt (like looking in the fridge to see which ingredients are there) and then get creative! I am better at this in quilting than cooking though so it's a good job my hubby does most of the cooking!

For this quilt the fabric is directional and I had one panel which was wide and one that was tall and slim. I thought about cutting both on the diagonal to make offset borders - not so easy on a piece that is 73" tall! My tip; mark the line to cut first! Then I was going to fill in around each piece with the black background fabric. Although the background fabric has little Koi carp in a charcoal color on the black, I felt that this would be an awful lot of black, so the idea of adding the Chinese characters came to mind....they say 'Courage', 'Grace', 'Love' and 'Happiness'. As a background for these sections I used a fish scale print that I discovered I had in various color ways (funny how that happens!) and auditioning them all, I found the dark gold to be the best. I was rather pleased with the result and at 84"W x 95" tall I have the perfect wall to hang it on the stairs wall.

July 2011 ~ “Happy Birthday Bruv!”
My brother's birthday is soon and I decided to embroider him a birthday card! He's always loved motorbikes and this was a nice embroidery I thought.

I also made one for my sister-in-law and two nephews but, unfortunately, I forgot to photograph them before sending them off!

August 2011 ~ “We Are 1”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

August 2011 ~ “Sashiko Wallhanging - 'Harmony' ”

Here is a wallhanging (12"w x 40"h) in which I used three of the Sashiko designs I have already made (see Projects in Progress below).

I needed to make a donation for the annual fundraiser for the local art group to which I belong www.aromashillsartisans.com. The Japanese character in the bottom right means 'Harmony".

I was experimenting with making this wallhanging; I am planning to make several different kinds of wallhangings as examples because I am hoping to teach this technique at a large quilt show next year and intend to offer patterns for purchase. I am also looking at developing my own Sashiko designs, so watch this space!

February to October 2011 ~ “Fair Ribbons”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

December 2011 ~ “A Hug From Mom”
Three commissioned quilts;
for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

December 2011 ~ “Christmas Napkins & Table Runners” - Two sets
Commissioned; for more information, see Commission Gallery 1

January 2012 ~ “Collaboration & Growth”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 2

January 2012 ~ “An Old Friend”
Commissioned quilt; for more information, see Commission Gallery 2

Since May 2010 ~ “Garden Delights”
Three sewing buddies and I have been working, bit by bit, on a Debbie Mumm design for the past year or so....we meet up and each sew a block or two a month amidst lots of laughter and great lunches!

It's a really fun project as it is well outside my 'usual' choice of quilts ~ so it's good to push the boundaries somewhat! We decided to try to use as much of our scrap stash as possible so the fabrics are a rather eclectic mix! We have also taken it in turns to supply one of the fabrics used in each block to each other, so that we each have a little of the others' fabric in our own quilt. For example, I had a great fabric that looked like a thatched roof which worked very well for the birdhouse roof and there was just enough for all of us. We also decided to embellish the heck out of it, so anything goes in terms of embroidery, buttons, ribbons and sparkles! Watch this space....!

Since April 2011 ~ "Shades of the Orient"
Our bedroom is decorated in Oriental style and I wanted to make four panels to match the decor and protect the rug from the sun.

I came across a wonderful book called "Quilting With Japanese Fabrics" by Kitty Pippen in which she has many beautiful Sashiko designs which have intrigued me for a while now. In another book called Easy Japanese Quilt Style there is a beatiful wallhanging that blends large print Asian fabrics into a scenic view. I am planning to do a blend of both into which I will incorporate a gorgeous panel of white Ibis amongst hanging wisteria, together with Koi carp swimming in a pond amongst the water lillies.

Across the top of each of the four panels I plan to place three Sashiko designs, but these will be no ordinary Sashiko! I have used the traditional designs as applique templates and used the gorgeous McKenna Ryan Silent Inspirations fabric range for the pieces which are then satin stitched with complimentary colors. On the left is a sneak preview of four of them, although I have a total of 12 which are almost done now....

Since October 2008 ~  "Log Cabin Twister"
This is a paper pieced project from a book called "Log Cabin with a Twist" which has lots of different shapes at the centre. I had some beautiful Asian fat quarters in shades of turquoise and beige; one of the fabrics had both colors which was perfect for the centre square of each block. I had to find and add more fabrics for a total of fifteen and then I cut as many strips as the fabric would allow, so the size of the quilt will depend on the fabric available. Some I only had fat quarters, but others I had some yardage so I shall wait until I have completed all the blocks before deciding on how to set the blocks and add borders.

Here is one of the blocks so that you can see the fabrics....I'm looking forward to having them all done so that I can start putting them together as there are two ways of laying the blocks out and I haven't yet decided which way I like best.

Since November 2009 ~ "Falling Glory"
This one was made at a weekend retreat organised by our Quilt Guild. I elected to do the mystery project rather than take UFOs (Un-Finished Objects!) and we could choose to have fabric bought for us or to take some we already had. When I looked through my stash a beautiful leaf fabric was calling my name and I had enough for the pattern, plus I had three complimentary fabrics available too! What was interesting, and pure luck, is that the green fabric had a light and dark banding across the diagonal of the width of fabric. The way the fabric was cut and sewn resulted in the appearance of sunbeams coming through the leaves....either that or an over-active imagination! I liked it anyway and once I finally get it quilted, I'm planning on making it the table cover during the Autumn.

Here it is unquilted as yet....I'm still thinking about how to quilt it, whether to use a pantograph or whether to do a custom design. In many ways I'd like the practice of custom work, particulalry as it's my own quilt for a change!

Coming soon:

• Dad's Dresden

• Leafy Glen

• Antique Bed Runner

More to come.....!