Maia's Christmas Present - Octagonal Table Runner

For this coming Christmas, I give to my brother and his wife in our gift giving rotation. One of the things Maia said she wanted was a table runner like some of the other ones I have made, that doubles as a hot pad. However, they have a 36" octagonal table, so the space for the runner was limited to about 12" and I wanted to make those few inches count. Here's the front and back. I stitched in the ditch and quilted an 8-pointed star in the center octagon.

 

Fat Quarter Throw Quilt - Bingo Quilt #2

This charity quilt is made using the rest of the fat quarters I won at our guild's bingo night, and then adding black and a couple other fabrics to make a nice sized quilt. After cutting it out, I gave it to my mother to finish piecing.

 

I quilted it in Glide Military Gold thread in a few alternating designs, some freehand, some with rulers.

The back is scrappy and unique enough to make the quilt reversible.

Dane's Labyrinth Star Percussion Quilt

This quilt I made for the percussion teacher at our HS that had been there forever. He taught my brother and was teaching my son. For some reason, he decided to retire and I wanted to do something nice for him. I knew he would appreciate it because his wife is a quilter. I found a fabric that had drums and other percussion instruments and based the colors around that.

I chose a more simple pattern (I've seen it called Labyrinth and Labyrinth Star, maybe has some other names as well) so I could get it ready to quilt sooner than later. I then designed a pantograph that was based on the border percussion fabric, but when I tested it, it needed an overhaul. I debated spending another week on remaking the pantograph or spending that time on quilting it, so I opted for really time consuming (at least 52 hours) quilting.

It's a mixture of ruler and free-motion quilting. Lots of marking and going for it.

I can't even tell you how much I LOVE the way it turned out. I debated redoing the center star, but those I asked, said I should keep it.

It's a shame that the feather quilting on the border is not very visible, I was super proud of what I did.

All in all, I was very proud of the way this turned out. So glad I did custom work instead of a pantograph, even if the panto would have been percussion instruments.

Gayle's Charity/Refugee Quilt

This quilt top was made and donated by Gayle. 

I quilted it with pink Glide thread on the top and  Bottom Line It's a Girl thread on the bottom using the Urban Elementz Bourbon Street Baby pantograph.

 

Pat's T-Shirt Quilt

This t-shirt quilt I finished with a simple freehand loop design.

I used MonoPoly Smoke on the top and Glide 60 navy on the back.

Dorothy's Purple, Green, Orange Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-Square Quilt

Dorothy made this quilt for a nephew who wanted a purple quilt. 

I quilted it with Grape Glide thread on the top and purple MicroQuilter on the bottom. The pantograph I used is from Urban Elementz and called "Diamonds are Forever."

Dorothy always uses up the leftover fabric from the front by making a scrappy back for the quilt.

Dorothy Tool Quilt in Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Tan

Dorothy made this reversible quilt for one of her nephews. 

Tool on one side, construction trucks on the back.

Reversible quilts are very tricky on a longarm. You can center something side to side (or top to bottom depending on how you load it on the frame), but the for the other two ends all you can do is guess. I have measured carefully along the edges to make the front and back line up exactly and it never works. I've always been at least an inch or two off because the the way the quilting draws in the fabric. I warned her that it was the case, and she opted to have it centered side to side and not worry too much about top to bottom.

I used Light Tan Glide on the front and Mocha Glide 60 on the back. The pantograph used is "Spoke Greek Key" from Urban Elementz.

Refugee Vintage/Antique Wedding Ring Quilt Pink, Scrappy

This vintage/antique quilt top was found and given to me to quilt and donate to the refugees by Dana. Each little piece was cut out by hand (before rotary cutters) and hand sewn. This was a challenge because of inconsistencies in the piecing. There were a lit of gathered areas which were impossible to entirely disguise in the quilting. Heavier quilting does a good job of pulling in fuller areas, but there was too much and therefore, some tucks. 

I used Glide Pink Lemonade thread on the top and MicroQuilter Baby Pink on the back.

I made a scrappy back from leftovers from another project.

Scrappy 4-Square Charity Quilt

This quilt was made from lots of leftover squares from other projects. I pieced the 4-squares as leaders while doing other sewing, then cut the white squares and asked my mother to finish it. The quilting is a mix of freehand and ruler work. I used white Glide and Glide 60 thread. 

 

Dorothy's Space Quilt

This lovely quilt was made by Dorothy as a gift for a family member.

 

I used the Stellar Pantograph from Urban Elementz (who asked for permission to possibly use my photos on their website for a promotion), and Glide and Glide 60 Military Gold Thread.

As always, Dorothy uses the leftover fabrics to make a scrappy back.