Taos Quilt by Nan

Years ago I quilted for Joe and Nan. Joe contacted me this past year and asked if I could quilt for him and his wife again. He caught me at the right time because I have been feeling like I needed a challenge again. I have been so busy with my own projects, that this was a nice break for me.  It may sound weird to be excited about a break from my own things, but quilting will always have a huge part of my creative heart. 

I will say, this isn't an announcement that I am taking client quilts again, but I will be adding a couple of Joe and Nan's quilts to my line up because we have a deal that I will work on their quilts when I get to them, in my own time with no pressure on my schedule and they have been clients from the beginning of my quilting career.  This quilt was on the frames for several months because I have been working on my own projects. 

This quilt design is called Taos by Whirligig Designs.  I think it is very striking. 

I used Glide 60wt thread for this quilt, the majority of it was a cream colored thread and for the darker fabrics I used a dark grey, both of those colors are included in my Glide collection. I used two layers of quilt batting for this one as well, I typically do that for my detailed quilting projects.  It doesn't matter the brand, just use what you would like, but in this case I used Hobbs batting. 

The main star with the dark fabric was the perfect area for me to just quilt simple designs. I was trying to make sure the balance of the quilting detail worked together, especially with the dense quilting in the cream fabrics.  If you don't know what to do when custom quilting, it is always a good idea to just do straight lines with simple fillers to emphasize the shape of the pieced sections. I also loved quilting the bubbles in between the straight lines on the single diamond blocks. In the center blue star, I choose to change things up a bit and make it unique from the other quilting designs. It was a good design choice I believe. 

The cream blocks that run in the large star of the quilt were really fun to quilt up. I love creating frames around blocks, it's like a picture within the quilt and because there were two different designs, I was able to create two different looks.  Well worth the effort to draw out this designs and stitch them out. The tools I used can be found here. 

This quilt has a beautiful geometric feel to it and that is perfect for me because I have found that I enjoy doing ruler work and a lot of my quilting designs show up in that way. The diamonds were really fun to quilt out. The cream in the diamond border really looks nice with the small ladder detail I used to create a frame within that border.  It goes throughout the entire quilt and I was able to bring in that same design in the star blocks in the center of the quilt. 

You can see the ladder detail in the above picture.  Also, the triangle block elements in the big star negative space were simple enough. I just created barriers, or straight lines around each element to help them stand out and then filled them with a tight filler that included some free motion swirls that create a nice softening element to the geometric feel of the quilt. 

Here's a better look at the center of the quilt.  The details are just so fun to look at. 

The top and bottom of the quilt had a larger border than the sides, so I had to figure out what to do in those areas. I wanted to make sure that it flowed with the small side borders, using my QuickMarkCurve ruler, I was able to come up with the above design for the border. It really comes down to dividing the space and filling it in. I really love how this turned out, especially with the 1/2" lines coming together in the corners of these different sized borders. 

This picture shows how beautiful the framing with the ladder stitches are as it comes together in the corner by the small star block, I just love how it looks. 

Keeping the quilting balanced is always a great idea, so I decided that in the 2" borders that I would just do a simple cross-hatch or "x" design. 

The back!  Always so fun to see the quilting on the back of a quilt. 

It is always so hard to narrow down which pictures to share, but I hope you take a moment to just look and enjoy the detail that goes into custom quilting. It is worth the effort. 

The diamonds in the cream area of the quilt are quilted just like the border ones, I feel like that was the icing on the cake for this quilt. I love bringing elements from borders into the blocks of the quilt. 

Well, that's a wrap!  Thank you for taking the time to read about this quilt.  I loved working on it. 

 

Butterfly Dance Quilt is Finished!

 

I will say, I am not getting things done as fast as I would like or as fast as I did when I was younger.  This stage of life is kicking me in the butt.  So many changes, and I may be in what some people call a mid-life crisis.  I am 45 - wow!  I still feel like I am 20 in my mind but my body is telling me different stories. 

 

So, a win is a win and when I finish a quilt and finally get to sharing it, I hope you appreciate what it takes to motivate me, lol.  

I'm kidding, I am kidding.... am I? 

 

I used to blog as soon as I finished a quilt, but now it takes me weeks.  I am so sorry about that! 

 

This darling quilt, Butterfly Dance, is part of my second line Juju's Petals, fabric release. It's a little crazy that I don't have the fabric to make the quilt sample before the line comes out and I have to rely on digital images to sell the pattern. However, this is what I have to work with and when the quilt is finished, it's fun to share.  

 

Making a quilt using the fabric that I have designed is always fun, but at the same time, this pattern is a timeless one.  It can be used with any fabric line and is fat quarter friendly. I enjoyed piecing this quilt with all the different kinds of blocks, especially the butterfly blocks. 

 

When it comes to the quilting on this one, I just did a free motion feather swirl.  I do have this design as an edge to edge design, found here, but on this quilt it was just more fun for me to free motion the design. 

 

Recently I have been using a soft fabric for the backing on my quilts, especially the ones I plan on cuddling with, or to gift to others so they can cuddle as well.  The minky backing is my favorite and because the fabric is so thick, I only use one layer of batting.  The quilt is still very heavy, but over time with love and cuddles it is soft and pliable. 

 

The lilac color isn't an exact match, but the cuddle factor makes up for that. 

 

I think I just love every aspect of this quilt and the cute blocks, fabric, and the quilting.  It's just a fun quilt that makes me happy.  I hope you enjoy making your own version! 

 

Juju's Petals Quilt Finished

It's getting crazier for me juggling time in the studio and time in the office. Because I own Green Fairy Quilts with my husband, Clint - and it's a family run business, I spend a lot of time working in the office.  It's a good system for our family, but it does interrupt my creative time. I keep thinking that in life there are times and seasons, and this season is not meant for me to be in my studio as often as I would like.  

Because of that, I usually end up snapping pictures in split moments of free time.  Thankfully this morning the sun was shining and I was able to get my son to help me a bit. These pictures are not professional at all, I have never been able to master that part of my quilting business, but I think the rugged look shows a reality that is important to remember in a day of perfectionism, hmm - AI. I want to keep things real, even though it would be fun to have a professional set up.

When I started designing for Riley Blake, I needed to learn how to create quilt images with my fabric lines in advance of the fabric releasing. It has been fun to be able to see what a quilt will look like before I actually piece it. The above picture is my computerized image of my Juju's Petal Quilt.  This image shows how I used the fabrics from my second fabric collection, also called Juju's Petals.  I still have some yardage available at Green Fairy Quilts from this beautiful fabric line.

When I work on a quilt, I spend so much time on the quilted details that I feel just "done" when the quilt is finished. I forget that the overall design of the quilting is really what makes the quilt. This quilt was no different in the sense that it took longer than I planned, but that in the end, I loved it. It really comes down to a love/hate relationship for me. 

 I really wanted the quilt blocks to shine, cue in the sunlight, lol! When I am custom quilting I like the blocks to be shown off in a way that doesn't take away from the piecing design.  The best way to do that is to create barrier lines around the blocks.  In this case I did that with a spaced 1/4" line quilted all around the block. I keep the overall design of the block by using straight lines in a very distinct way.  Take a minute to look at all of the straight lines, each one of them are placed on purpose to emphasize the piecing.

 The checkerboard background is one of my favorite designs to incorporate into a quilt. It takes more time, but in the end, it's worth it. Also, because of the way the blocks are pieced in this design, the background quilting, came naturally for me. The on-point squares in the large borders worked out perfectly using my Quick Mark Ruler to draw it out. The 1" pieced squares also made for a fun "rail" design. 

I think the most beautiful part about this quilt is that it isn't perfect.  Looking now I can see my own learning mistakes in the piecing, but at the same time, it makes it human. I love it. We live in a world full of perfect expectations and I just don't think that is how it should be.  

What is a quilting post without showing off the backing? This quilt was well worth the time to custom quilt and I will treasure it.   

The pattern itself does not include the quilting instructions, but please take ideas from my own quilt shown in the pictures in this post. The thing I loved most about this quilt was the piecing was fun and challenging in the sense that I learned a new skill.  That is all explained in the pattern, so I do hope you will give it a try.  

 

Where the Wild Flowers Are

My newest fabric line, coming out in October of this year ~ 

It is getting close to last calls for this beautiful fabric line, Where the Wild Flowers Are. I think if I were to pick a favorite fabric line, this is the one.  I loved every part of designing this fabric.  It's gorgeous!  Preorder bundles and fabric on sale here.

I will be introducing the patterns that go with this line soon.  

All my best! 

Judi