Blue Deco, Quilted

The Blue Deco quilt is back from being quilted. I always let Chris decide how to quilt my quilts. She knows what to do. The Blue Deco will be used primarily as a tablecloth, so it needed to be durable, but it didn't need anything over the top. I love this regular swirl design.

As usual, Millie has to do her own QA check.

Sneaky Sneak Peek, Three

I am very excited about this quilt.

Happy Easter!

Sneaky Sneak Peek Two

Glittery gold metallic thread, multicolor rainbow colored thread... I am in love with this quilt.

Sneaky Sneak Peek

My Black Box quilt is quilted and now it is on its way back to me. This is a very small part of the magic Chris has done. I am beyond thrilled.

Sunshine! On His Shoulders!

My son came over for dinner tonight, and carried in the box containing his Sunshine Quilt. (I had sent it to Chris to quilt it.) It had been left in the hallway outside my door. I had been outside 20 minutes earlier, and the package wasn't there, so I didn't expect it.

All his talk about not wanting to see the quilt until it was completely finished went right out the window when I carried the box into the bedroom and spread the quilt out on the bed.

We brought it outside to take some pictures before the light faded.While we looked it over, I asked him, "Remember when I was buying fabrics? You didn't like the birds, and you thought the [Kaffe Fassett] fans had too much pink."

"And I hated the dragonflies," he added.

"You rolled your eyes when I picked those magnolias for the back."

"You didn't listen to me at all, did you?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied.

"Good thing."

Alphabet Sampler Quilt - Quilted

I have to add the binding (it will be the white of the edges) and a sleeve on the back for hanging, and a label, and then it will be really finished. Chris asked if I was going to wash it, and I think she was a bit startled when I said no. It will hang in my dining room.

I had always wanted this quilt to be reminiscent of an antique needlework sampler, and it incorporates many of the same elements: the upper and lower case letters, numbers, a house, some decorative stitching separating the elements, the maker's name and location as well as the year of completion. Many of these samplers also included the maker's age, an element I decided not to include.

The house is modeled after the house I live in. The letters and hearts are from Tonya of Lazy Gal Quilting, the little asterisk-flowers are from Sarah. The little wonky stars are from Belinda. The hand is my own hand, and I designed the butterflies. The quilt was quilted by the wonderful and talented Chris Ballard and photographed by Julie Sefton.

Aside from the hand, which is pieced in traditional patchwork, the quilt is entirely free-pieced, and made without templates, patterns or foundation paper piecing.

You can click the photo to enlarge.

Alphabet Quilt Fairy Godmothers

These are my quilt's Fairy Godmothers. On the left is Julie, the QuiltDivaJulie of the Flying Monkeys fame. Julie is holding Angel, who performed the Quality Assurance inspection of the magnificent quilting done by Chris (on the right) who, along with her trusty longarm machine, Iris, quilted my sampler quilt. Julie's husband Larry, a fabulous artist in wood, helped take photos.

You can see more of Chris' work here, at her Picasa album, and in a few days, you'll be able to see more pictures of Chris' quilting on the Alphabet Sampler. (I am still waiting for it to fly back home to me!)

It was Julie who recommended Chris to quilt my quilt. I am so happy she did. When I first talked to Chris on the telephone, I knew she was the one to quilt my quilt when she said, "The quilt will tell me how it wants to be quilted."

I think all my future quilts will take a side trip to Tennessee...

(you can should click the picture to enlarge)

Stay tuned.