February Pantographs

Dear fast and furious quilters,

I know you have been hard at work during our cold and snowy winter, since I have so many quilts in my queue! February was primarily edge to edge work, so I thought I would show you what I have been busy with.

For this quilt, K wanted an all over pattern, but I did not want to mess up her beautiful embroidery, so I did a meander instead. (If you do not know what this is, basically, I decide on what motifs to use, how I will connect them, and then do an all over free motion quilting pattern.) This works really well when you have specific areas that you do not want any quilting to cover. It costs a bit more than edge to edge, but less than custom.

This one is a contemporary baby quilt. The large fabric area allows the quilting pattern to become part of the look of the quilt.


















This is a vintage Dresden plate quilt done by B's mom. When her mother passed away,
the family found several quilt tops and split them up among the family members. (It is my hope that someday my family will think my quilts are just as precious and B does.) Since B did not want to spend a lot of money on the quilting, she decided to do and overall pattern. I think what she selected for this quilt works very well, and allows the actual piecing details to really stand out. You see -  it is okay to have an edge to edge quilting on something of this vintage, and is certainly better than leaving the quilt top in the closet where it cannot be enjoyed!

before quilting

after quilting

B had two of her mother's quilts, and the blocks on this one were apparently done by members of her quilt group, as there were several signatures found on the quilt. Some of the blocks had some issues (see photo - before quilting), so a more dense quilting pattern was selected in order for the ripples and bulging  to be disguised. I'm sure B's mom had quite the time trying to fit varying block sizes together. Now we have ways to insure our 1/4 inch seams and piecing squares are more standard, but it is still sometimes difficult to fit together blocks done by many hands!

After quilting, the creases and ripples seem to have disappeared - oh the magic!

J's quilt is planned as a gift for her son (who is in the service - bless our military!) and his wife. This one is a sampler quilt, and looks great with an overall quilting design.


This last quilt is a simple block quilt, but the colors are wonderful. She picked an all over feather pattern, and it has some secondary patterns that show up throughout.









Well, that's it for now. The weather is showing signs of spring, and I can hardly wait to begin working in my garden!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy