Monday, July 29, 2013

July Finishes

Six quilts!  Yes....5 of them were pure commissions and the 6th was a bonus gift.

An offer to quilt something for the family of a deceased loved one, Jonna, taken too early by cancer, turned into a request to make four quilts from clothing of their beloved wife and mother of three girls.

A tree had symbolic meaning to the family and was a permament memory, so I took that as my inspiration and drafted this design concept. Originally desired at about 60" square, they ended up 54" square based on fabric limitations.




From that, and the two bins of clothing that they gave me, most which was knit fabric and heavy jeans, I chose items that might have special memories to them because they had unique qualities (vs. white t-shirts with no writing, etc.) i.e. unique textures --fleece, corderoy, etc; pajamas; logo'd items.

Since there were four to be made, spreading out the unique items across all four, and grouping for individuals also was taken into consideration. i.e. the college shirts were from the couple's graduate school days but the high school shirts were more about the girls recent varsity experiences.

Warm & Natural batting was used on all four. The border fabric on each quilt was also used for the binding and backing on each respective quilt.

Here are the results.

For Monty:


For each daughter:
 


With the quilting, I tried to emphasize the bark of a tree on the trunk, extending out into the 'sky'(blue) blocks, flowers in the pink/red/lavender/purple blocks, water behind the tree, grass or rocks to the sides of the tree trunk at the bottom.

Bits of fabric from each of their individual border/backs are incorporated into the center of each quilt.

In each border, on the left and right, is written her favorite scripture. "I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my Savior." Hab. 3:18

I was given permission by the husband to create something for his mother-in-law. Inspired by a design by Ann Kelly (a fellow trip-mate to Ireland last year), I created this baby size quilt to give to Jonna's mother. I love how it turned out. Thank you Ann for the inspiration! I pieced together a set of plaid knit pajama bottoms for the backing and added the sashing and binding fabrics from my own stash. Jonna's mother explained that she always felt Jonna wanted everything white, and the daughter's would say that Jonna's favorite color was red. So, incorporated those two colors predominently with the jeans and enjoyed setting them to look like light is hitting the wall with lighter jeans to the upper left shading to the darkest jeans in the lower right. I've named this "God's My Foundation". White & warm batting and the Popcorn pantograph was used for the quilting.


In the midst of this, I had a commission due by July 3, for a 19th wedding anniversary. Due to getting sick, I didn't quite make the early  pickup requested on June 28, but he was sick too, and it was still well received. Always a fun process to work with people who are not quilters or design artists, but they still want to convey a message of love to their loved one. After finding the right line of fabric, I adapted the design provided by the fabric company to work for the client's desired outcome. The center portions will sit on top of the bed and the borders hang around the visible sides of the bed. Although photos in the blocks were originally requested, the client ultimately liked the idea of a collage of photos incorporated into the label. This quilt is 96"x121". Wool batting was used and it is quilted using the 'Wild at Heart' pantograph. I don't have a computerized machine, so I follow the panto with a laserlight.


So...that makes 6 finishes in July (all started in June!), and 13 finishes so far in 2013!






Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Mid-Month WIP

Completed so far this year: 13 (the most recent 6 finishes, yes they are done, will be posted at the end of the month)

I can finally show you a full shot of my QR logo'd code (Finish #5). I incorporated my KISSed Quilts logo into the QR code (you have to look very closely). Keeping the value of the burgundy and black were important in order to maintain the integrity of the QR code. Try it! Your phone w/a QR app should be able to read it.



Client quilt tops are getting quilted!

Here is one I'm working on this week:


Another Glacier Star, this one has extended borders. I've done one (without the extended borders) that was destined for a wall hanging, but this one is destined to be used on a bed, so they don't want the quilting to be too dense and we're using warm & natural batting, so there won't be a lot of 'puff'. In the busy fabric areas, you can't see the quilting very well. Tomorrow I hope to finish up by quilting in the cream background areas--you'll see the quilting there for sure!


A couple of fun things involving this particular job.

Got to try Aurifl's new tri-poly. Love the collapsible bottom that holds the thread! Really cool.








Also discovered that a few of my rulers really helped in doing the ditch work in the curved sections.

Thes Linda Mae's Rays from Gadget Girls and a couple of curved cross-hatching rulers from Lakeside Quilt Company. www.lovetoquilt.com




No Progress:
  • Christmas Friendship Star ...wanna at least get this top pieced
  • Lonestar - Aug. target
  • Storm at Sea - Aug. target
  • Fall Wallhanging - Sept. target
  • Alaska 2007 Shop Hop - Oct. target
  • Pam Bono - making more blocks target in Nov.
  • Oddie's Wild Nature - making more blocks target in Dec.

Ready to Quilt:
  • WWVQG 2006 Basket BOM (still considering quilting design ideas)
  • Colorwash Heart (pulling out a very early piecing job made into a duvet that I now believe my skills can deliver the desired quilting result and would make a lovely piece for our new guest room.)
New in the works for this year:
Small whole-cloth for the INMQ challenge to be displayed in October at the WSQ show.
A couple of commissions and maybe something for our new to us home too.
Need to develop a teaching schedule for the fall.

Enjoy other WIPs! and mid-month progress reports (2013 Finishes). See buttons on the right to click through to them.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Design Wall Monday - July Goals

June was an exciting month with the grand opening et al, but I also had my birthday and got sick....so it has been a slow start to July, but am feeling so much better!

On my design wall....the blue jean brick quilt.


Just added the borders (after this picture was taken) of the same white material as the 'mortar'.

Now to quilt it. Ideas welcome! :-)

Got the other 4 'tree' quilts pieced and now need to quilt them as well.

Created an oversized queen as a surprise anniversary gift for a well loved wife...her husband is due to pick it up today. Hoping to post photos next week after the delivery ;-)

With the long over due commissions almost out of the way, I can get back to quilting for client's who have been patiently awaiting their quilt tops to be quilted.

It has been fun meeting new people in town, now that the studio is open. Tourists are stopping in too!