Pretty Pyramids

I am in love with this quilt!  It's bright rich colours and dimension just make it come alive.  It's actually more like a piece of art than a quilt.

The pattern is called Pretty Pyramid and is made using a graduated fabric.  Each piece cut out to make the pyramids create an optical illusion.

Here you can see the triangle pieced before it is quilted.  Hoary for my customer she did an amazing job piecing together all of those tricky Y seams.

For the quilting I stitched in the ditch around all of the black piecing and then the triangles themselves were quilted with three triangles inside each spaced one inch apart.  Each in a matching verigated thread. I love using Wonderfil Threads they are fabulous to work with and they have a great selection of verigated threads to choose from.

I made sure that the corners of the stitched triangles matched up with the seams of the pieced triangle to create an added and amazing 3D effect.

 

Then to finish it all off I stitched the border using a triangular pattern to accentuate the pattern of the quilt itself.

This is one of those jobs you feel extremely satisfied with when you are done and wished that the quilt was hanging up in your own studio :)

Bear Face

This quilt brings a smile to my face every time I see it.  My little granddaughter took quite a liking to it.  She just had to see it every time she came to visit and in toddler fashion she would stand there and roar at it.  Soooo adorable!

Bear Face as this quilt is called was made by one of my customers as a gift for her daughter to hang in their cabin over her bed.  Being in bear country I thought that was appropriate and I'm sure it looks stunning hanging up in the master bedroom.

When I am quilting I like to choose stitching that complements the feel of the quilt and what it is going to be used for.  I wanted to make the bear look real and come alive.  Sometimes I even like to do a little quilt drawing in my work.  Can you see the how I added some padding in the bears paw?

I choose to do a lot of hair angling it all in towards the center of the face.  When choosing thread it is important to think about the effect you want.  I wanted the definition of the quilting to stand out and not the thread so I choose threads that matched each of the fabrics.  This way the quilting adds to the character of the bear and doesn't take attention away from the majesty of the bear's face.

In keeping with a nature theme and to add some variety to the quilting I quilted pebbling in and around the bear.  Again switching thread colours to match the variety of fabrics.

As bears live in wild wooded areas a tree bark pattern just seemed to be the perfect choice to quilt in
the border.  Framing the quilt this way helps to give it more of an outdoorsy feel.  Bear Face was so fun to quilt.  I am so pleased at the way the quilting turned out and am very happy to say that my customer loved it!!!   In case you are looking for this pattern it is Bear Face by Janet Fogg. 

Horse Applique Quilt

First of all I have to say that I love this quilt and was so excited when my client brought it to me.  I can not imagine the time that it took to piece and applique but the very lucky grand daughter that received it must know how much she is loved.

I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt. Being that there are several different sections, some with traditional pieced blocks and others with applique, it lent itself well to different types of quilting.  So I was able to do some free motion quilting and use some computerized patterns.

I think that out of the whole quilt this section is my favourite, that is if you can really pick a favourite as it is all so beautiful.

 Here are some close ups so you can see the detail of the free motion quilting.

Now some shots of the free motion quilting around the appliqued horses.

Here are some pictures of the computerized quilting on the traditional blocks.  Computerized meaning that some of the quilting is done using a pattern, like the wagon wheel, cowboy boots, evergreen trees and such. Others like the stars and triangles I marked where I want the machine to stitch using a laser and the machine stitches it.  A very handy feature indeed.

Here is a shot of the border, it also is sewn free motion.