Fall Quilt Festival

I worked very hard this week to complete my Shangri-La quilt so I could photograph it for the quilt festival. I wanted a vintage looking quilt for my living room and I thought the Garden Trellis quilt from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicki Lintott combined with this fabric line would be a perfect compliment to my living room.

I love how it turned out. I think Shangi-la is my all time favorite fabric line to date. It is a Moda fabric line designed by 3 Sisters and I am so sad that I have almost none left in my stash but happy too that I get to enjoy it in my living room everyday.

I longarm quilted this one using the Mimosa pantograph (which I purchased from Canadian Longarm Supplies) designed by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz.

I used Fireside Minkee in chocolate for the backing and used Artic Cotton Bamboo for batting which makes for a gorgeous drape and a nice finished weight too! The quilting design looks awesome from the back too but it's hard to see on the photo.

I wasn't sure about the red binding but once I started handstitching it I was liking it. I didn't want to purchase more fabric and this fabric was from another of 3 Sisters fabric lines. I was originally going to bind in brown but I thought that would make for a boring back view. With the red the inner brown border really stands out and makes a great resting spot for the eyes.

I love how it looks here in the afternoon sun under my grapevine by the picket fence my husband installed this summer. We live on a city lot but I'm a country girl at heart and the picket fence just makes me happy when I look at it.

I hope you've enjoyed this view of my Quilt Festival entry. Make sure to head on over using the button on my right side bar to view all the other fabulous quilts showcased in the festival.

Some Quilting and Some Crochet

It's been a long while since I posted here. Sometimes life gets in the way of quilting but I'm starting to catch up now. I've sure been missing my studio time.

Last night I did a bit of stash re-organization and I thought I'd show you my stash. This is about 1/2 of it I still have more set aside in my cabinet in my longarm room for planned projects.

I finally finished quilting a customers quilt. The quilt is pieced in soft florals and solids from Robyn Pandolph's "Sumptuous Living" fabric line. This quilt makes me feel calm when I look at it. I quilted it with Floral Meander, a pantograph design by Diff'rent Strokes.

Last Sunday my family and I just needed to get away from home so we went up to Whistler for the day so the boys could mountain bike. It was such a pleasantly warm fall day. My daughter and I did lots of walking but when we got tired we parked ourselves on a bench in the village and she read her book while I crocheted. I just love crocheting outdoors, especially in a gorgeous alpine setting. It was a first for me and it was truly wonderful.

This is the first time I have crocheted a granny square and it was so much fun. I used a wonderfully soft cashmerino yarn called Cash Vero made by Cascade Yarns. It is so incredibly soft I just want to smoosh my face in it - OK, OK - I know I need some serious help!

Here it is blocked and ready to finish!

I am going to sew this granny square onto some black wool felt and cover an 18 inch cushion form. This project is for our master bedroom, as I don't want it in the main part of the house where the kids and schnauzers will get to it.

Back to School with Eric Carle

Due to school starting this week, I thought I'd post about 2 quilts I quilted for Ruth this past Spring. They are 2 quilts using the Brown Bear, Brown Bear fabric line based on the children's book by Eric Carle. Ruth is so generous she has donated 1 of the quilts to the MCC Sale and Auction.

Click on the picture to see a bigger view of the quilting

done in a beautiful King Tut variegated yarn.
I quilted each using Large Inkblot pantograph

When Ruth, an elementary school teacher brought me these quilts I had never heard of Eric Carle and she was astounded. I have since read 2 of his books! I think the quilts she did and the books they are based on are pretty awesome.

Mod Samplers

Hope everyone in the US and Canada are having a great holiday weekend. It's been raining and overcast here but still been a nice weekend as I've made some extra dinners and done a lot of baking so the kids have food for school lunches. School starts tomorrow and I think I'm really going to miss having the kids home.

On to some quilty content, I managed to get my second Mod Sampler from the Oh, Fransson Mod Sampler Quilt Along sashed and ready for the LongArm. I was supposed to be catching up on all my own LongArm quilting for the summer but instead my To Be Quilted stack has grown larger than ever. What can I say, I've been obsessed by piecing; I think I'll have to call this summer the "Summer of My Piecing Frenzy"!

Back in March I participated in the Quilt Along put on by Elizabeth Hartman; her cutting instructions and designs are simply amazing. Here is the quilt I came up with.

My 17 year old son wanted to claim it but I thought it was a bit too feminine, so, I decided to take the rest of the FQ stack of Mambo and make a more masculine quilt sashed in chocolate brown Kona for him. Here is a photo of the back first quilt-along quilt I completed.

So, in June I started piecing this one and made all the blocks and then I became distracted with some other piecing projects. Last week my sister and I laid out all of the blocks and determined the layout and I worked all week sashing it. I finally finished the quilt top last night. Yay!

Here it is all ready for quilting!

Back to my next project, I have figured out a layout for my Crazy Mom Quilts Quilt Along nine patch which I posted about here and here. I've cut out all of the sashing and have begun to assemble. Hopefully, I can show you that quilt top by next Monday!

Reorg and Redecorate of Blog and a New Blog!

Hi Everyone

It occurred to me this past week that many of my readers may not be interested in seeing my card making projects as I have tried to keep my blog mainly quilting focused; so, I have decided to move and do future posts with card making or scrapbooking as the main focus to my new papercraft design blog Design INK.

I have also decided to redecorate my blog for Fall. I hope you like the new look.

I'll be back on Monday with an update of my quilts in progress.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Marianne