Windswept I

Thread Play

Quilting can be more then anchoring three layers of fabric together.
This hibiscus is a piece of another stunning wall hanging by LD. The quilting lines outline each flower (and in time each leaf) in hopes of making each flower pop. Then each petal is outlined. The flow and direction of the petals are emphasized with fuchsia thread free hand quilting.

Windswept III

Windswept I and II were done with only metallic thread quilting around the blue on blue leaves. Windswept III is a much smaller project (6"x7") and has no blue on blue leaves.

As an experiment I did all the echo quilting in the blue/silver metallic thread. Thank goodness this was a very small project. There was a lot of thread breakage (sometimes every 6 inches). So much stopping and starting. I won't try this again. Any metallic thread I would use for a project, I would try out first on a small accent piece.

Gardens in May

My gardens have always been an inspiration for my quilting.

These pictures were taken Mother's Day. The back yard has no color yet. It will be full of vegetables in raised beds. The left side perennial garden is full of blues, purples, whites.The front cottage perennial garden has past the daffodil days and now is waiting for June. The color theme is yellow, pink and white. Today I added more perennials - yellow lupines, kelways, pink dianthus, mixed coral belles with lime green foliage, lemon balm for scent. Also planted a front door basket of yellow African daises, yellow million bells with a a airy white and green foliage.

Growing leaves

There are so many things about this project that I love. It is an ideal warm weather project. Instead of my being draped in three layers of fabric on a warm day, each 8" square is hand appliqued. I am machine sewing strips together. It is portable. Each square of the batik has different colorings. When I want a mindless project, it's there.

The beige appliques are the center of the piece. Once the medium blue rows are complete, I make a decision about where to go next - repeat the beige or aqua? borders?

Windswept I

This is one of my all time favorite projects. This is another design by LD.
Silk panel 15" wide. Soft gray narrow cotton border. All gray, pink and yellow outlined in matching threads. Indigo flowers outlined with metallic/navy thread. The remainder is 1/4" echo quilting in navy. Border quilted with gray 1/4" concentric rectangles.
I found that silk thread on silk fabric is slippery work.
Windswept I is the largest of the series.

Beginning of Leaves

Most of my work is client quilting and repairs. This is a rare example of a start to finish quilt done by me. I hand quilted a beautiful Robbing Peter to pay Paul customer quilt this January. As I worked on it, I admired the applique construction instead of curved seams. Every time I went to my fabric stash I was thinking about st arting one with this applique technique. I came across this green/teal/beige leaf batik and thought of a friend I wanted to make a quilt for.



This is the center of the quilt. I will be working out from this center changing the applique piece colors.