Saturday, May 16, 2015

A Cowboy Quilt

Howdy!

This one was really a fun quilt to work on. I definitely had to doodle a bit to figure out what to do for these hats and boots, but it finally clicked for me.

One note I would like to make on this one is that the rope in the border was put on prior to quilting - this is NOT the way to do this. It was very difficult to work with, and also caused the quilt itself to be distorted, especially in the corners. Any embellishments should always be added AFTER quilting. (In case you are wondering, she made the "rope" by braiding two colored rick-racks together.)




The hats were actually a bigger challenge for me to do than the boots, and after looking at many pictures of cowboy hats, I opted to simply decorate the band a bit, and add in what I hoped looked like natural creases. Since the hats also had an additional white space below, a complimentary boot/hat border added a little extra charm here.






Some creases were also added to the boots, as well as continuous curve in the square blocks of the boot top, and they definitely needed some spurs!

Since the hats and boots did not have a lot of quilting actually in them, the background area around them was stippled for some extra texture.








The black border/sashing areas were stitched with loops and stars. To work with the "rope", a simple wavy pattern was used to compliment, and for the red corner blocks, a simple continuous curve.









Well quilting pardners, that's all for now. Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4)

Monday, May 4, 2015

April Pantographs

Isn't it wonderful to see Spring has finally arrived, along with some much needed rain?!! I have been out doing some planting and tending to the needs of my perennial garden. It seems all my bulbs were in need of dividing, and fortunately, I have friends who need some! Well, onto those quilts.....

First, a couple of quilts with feather edge to edge patterns. The first one is a black floral pinwheel, that works really well with an overall feather design.
















Next is a log cabin variety, which always seems to look good with feathers.



























































Then an applique with an all over pattern stitched into it. I have not done this before, typically doing custom work for applique, but edge to edge seems to work on this one. I think it's because the applique patterns are fairly large. Since it has Hawaiian floral applique, a simple floral pattern was used.



















































This last one is also a type of log cabin, but with a musical theme, so a musical note pattern was chosen.

















































The back of the quilt was also pieced, and the notes stitched in may be better seen here.








That's it for now. I currently am working on a cowboy theme quilt, so I hope to let you see that one soon! Until then, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." (Psalm 119:18)