PLAYING "CATCH-UP"

I just realized that one-twelfth of 2014 is gone! I'm looking at my "quilt book" where I write down all the quilts that are waiting for me, and I see so many quilts that I finished in 2013....and I haven't posted pics of them on the blog!

Well it's time to do some catching up. I guess I was just pushing so hard to get so many quilts finished before Christmas that I just forgot about posting pics. So this post won't be about just one quilt. Let's just say that you'll see quite a smorgasborg here.

Machine embroidered fans done by my mom.

Close-up of quilting in the fan blocks.

Paper-pieced zinnias created by Dorothy.

Close-ups of concentric circles and petals within the zinnia.

Drunkard's Path Variation with an Oriental flair created by Elaine.

Love the batiks!

Jane's Star Quilt

Each star was quilted differently.

The center block

Beautiful batiks...hand applique and hand embroidery....from the third Wanda!  Isn't is amazing that I know three quilters named Wanda?

Close-up of border

Beautiful hand-work!

A wonderful Oriental-style quilt created by Dorothy!

Hope you have enjoyed the "eye-candy" in this post!

Loving the Barns!

The Barns quilt was hand embroidered by my talented mother. I struggled a bit with deciding how much quilting was needed inside the barn blocks. For the most part, I decided that less was more. I didn't want too much quilting to take away from the workmanship of the embroidery.

I filled the red sashing strips with stones...much like a stone wall. The tan blocks between the strips were perfect for wood-grain quilting....like barn-wood.

A Batik Beauty

Well, my mom has done it again! She created a fabulous batik top with hand-appliqued blocks set in the "Circle of Nine" pattern. This design gave me the opportunity to try some new quilting designs (at least new for me).

I had been looking at curved crosshatching, reading how-to guides, and watching videos. But like so many other things we learn, I just had to dive in and quilt it only to find out that it's not as hard as it looks.

I also had been wanting to do some overlapping arches with rulers. I was able to echo the shape of the petals in the flowers with the arches in the borders of this quilt.

Martha's Vineyard....A Beauty

When my new friend Donna first emailed me about quilting her Martha's Vineyard quilt, I was a bit apprehensive about dealing with the yo-yo's on the quilt top. I talked to fellow long-arm quilters to get advice and information about their experiences with yo-yo's. I was really surprised that no one I spoke with had any experience with a quilt such as this.  Did this stop me? Of course not....I love the challenge!

This quilt was extremely well constructed (which made it easier to quilt). Donna spent three years working on it because it contains over one thousand yo-yo's. Each one was machine appliqued with invisible thread as were all the stems and leaves. She did a wonderful job.

I quilted the empty blocks with lots of feathers and filled around the grapes, stems, and leaves with a McTavishing type fill. I really hate to give this one back!!