Sapphire thinks she has claimed the quilt! Stepping out of my comfort zone is the name of the game. Back when I used to travel all the time for work, I made it a point to visit local quilt stores in search of treasures (that is what I call every piece of fabric in my stash). Once, while working in Orlando, Florida, I found a quilt store on West Colonial Drive (it is no longer in business) which only sold Civil War fabrics. As I walked in, their vast selection of dark and muted colors … [Read more...] about Hand quilted lap quilt
quilting
Long awaited finish
On Friday I mailed the Christmas quilt I made for my son Michael and his wife Daniela. Since I only had about one hour and a half per day to work on the quilting, it took me one week to quilt and bind it. I chose to quilt each row with a different background motif after I outlined all the appliqued shapes (outline done using monofilament), and decided on each motif as I came to the rows (why plan, right?...). In my haste to mail it to California, I took pictures of parts of the quilt and have … [Read more...] about Long awaited finish
Japanese Quilting
Another precious book came in the mail this week: Japanese Quilting by Yoko Saito . I had seen Yoko's work in magazines, but this collection of projects is a gem. Her signature taupe fabrics and wonky blocks adds whimsy and charm to her designs. Yoko's fabric colors appeals to traditional quilters, while her modern bag designs redefine this old staple of every woman's accessory arsenal. I am glad she incorporated Sashiko into some of her offerings, as I have fallen in love with this … [Read more...] about Japanese Quilting
Hand quilted treasure
Right before Christmas our Wednesday quilt group finished hand quilting this beautiful project. Lee told the story on the video I mentioned on my blog in December (see post here). Lee's mother-in-law gave her this project right after she got married, about 56 years ago. Lee finally finished the applique 15 years ago, but put it away as she did not think she could hand quilt it by herself. When we needed another project to hand quilt back in October, she remembered this quilt... and we happily … [Read more...] about Hand quilted treasure
Hand Quilting with Stab Stitch
In 2010, a group of ladies from my quilt guild was hand quilting a project to be donated to, and auctioned by, the Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation (previously known as Deseret Foundation). One day, they asked me if I wanted to join them. Although I did not know the first thing about hand quilting, they told me I could learn. And so I did, from the pros! Since then we have quilted many projects together (including a beautiful queen-size quilt for my son and his wife Daniela - read … [Read more...] about Hand Quilting with Stab Stitch
Wednesday Quilt Group Video
I belong to a quilt guild called Piece of Heaven. A few of my friends from the guild (Sue, Rosemary, Lee, Diana, Connie, Sandi) and I have also been meeting weekly on Wednesdays to hand quilt projects to be donated, for someone's wedding gift, for our guild's auction, etc. A few weeks ago, Jeffrey, Rosemary's son-in-law, asked if he could interview us for a project - he is a communications major at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, and an intern at the Deseret News. Being the fun, … [Read more...] about Wednesday Quilt Group Video