2.28.2013

Scrappy Quilt

Marna pieced this gorgeous scrappy quilt as a wedding gift for one of her grandchildren.
She brought it to me for machine quilting, we decided on an all over floral pattern for the main body of the quilt and then I machine quilted some swirls and feathers in the borders. I think they gave the borders just the perfect touch. :)
Even though the machine quilting in the body of the quilt is quite dense it's actually still very soft. I really love how it turned out.
Thanks for letting me machine quilt your gorgeous quilt Marna! 

2.27.2013

Modern Mix - Generation Q Magazine

Have you seen the latest issue of Generation Q magazine? It's packed full of yummyness! (is that a word?)
In the back of the magazine is Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies new pattern, Modern Mix-Up. I love the solids and colors that Emily uses in this fabulous quilt, but mostly I'm kinda crushing on that quilting. ;) I machine quilted this fun quilt for Emily and I love how it turned out.

You can pick up a copy of the Spring 2013 issue of Generation Q magazine at Fat Quarter Shop.

2.26.2013

Machine Quilting Modern Chevrons

I think my favorite modern machine quilting pattern right now is the chevrons, ask me tomorrow and it may be something totally different. :)
Cat designed and pieced this cool modern quilt. She brought it to me for machine quilting and asked me to machine quilt the chevron pattern all over, she liked how this quilt and this quilt had turned out. 
I love the little bit of texture that the chevron machine quilting adds to the quilt.

Here is another one of Cat's beautiful quilts that I machine quilted last week.

2.25.2013

Modern Basics 2

A few weeks back I told you about Amy Ellis's new book Modern Basics 2. Amy's new book is full of inspiration and beautiful quilts. 
Sunrise, by Amy Ellis, from Modern Basics 2, machine quilted by Natalia Bonner.

Today Amy is hosting a fun blog tour and giving away a few copies of her book and a chance to win some goodies from her stash!

To enter to win simply take a few minutes and hop around to some other creative blogs (full list below) to learn about favorite tools and tips. When you're all done fill out this form, if you get all of the answers right you'll be entered to win a copy of Modern Basics 2.

Here is a list of all the creative blogs you'll want to visit today!
Emily Herrick    http://crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com/
Amy Newbold    http://sukiedontyaknow.com/
Dana Bolyard    http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/
Amy Webb    http://www.amylouwhosews.com/
Martingale    http://blog.shopmartingale.com/
Victoria Findlay Wolfe    http://www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/
Katie Blakesley    Www.swimbikequilt.com
Chelsey K    www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com
Terri Harlan    http://sew-fantastic.blogspot.com/
Mary Kolb    http://maryonlakepulaski.blogspot.com/
Pat Sloan    http://blog.patsloan.com
Natalia Bonner    http://www.pieceandquilt.com/ (you're here)
Candy Glendening    http://www.candiedfabrics.com/
Vicki Christensen    http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/

My favorite tip/tool is simple binding, yes, I don't actually sew any of my own bindings on, my kind mother, Kathleen, takes care of that for me, but I do prepare a lot of bindings, here is a tutorial how I prepare bindings, I cut them all 2.25" and do NOT press them in half before attaching them to the quilt. :)

2.22.2013

Bed of Tulips - Fons & Porter Magazine

Have you had a chance to pick up the latest issue of Fons & Porter, Love of Quilting magazine? 
I'm so excited to share that my mom, Kathleen's quilt, Bed of Tulips is featured in the March/April issue.
If you've been following along for a while now you'll probably remember when she designed this quilt
It's such a beautiful quilt and I'm glad that she let me machine quilt it for her.... ;)

You can pick up a copy of this magazine on news stands now or at Fat Quarter Shop.

2.21.2013

Christmas Row Quilt

My friend Cat designed and pieced this GORGEOUS Christmas row quilt.
She brought it to me for some machine quilting, she wanted custom machine quilting to really make each row pop! So, I just had my way with her quilt and did a lot of custom quilting.
I had so much fun. Row quilts are always fun to work with.
Every row is machine quilted different. I had to take a lot of pictures because I love how it turned out, so here is a little eye candy for you. :)
Thanks Cat for letting me machine quilt your beautiful quilt.

You can see more of Cat's beautiful works on her Twitter or Instagram

Ashley made the same quilt from Cat's pattern a year or so ago, I also machine quilted that quilt. Here are some pictures of it, it's so cool to see how different, 2 quilts can be from the same pattern.

2.20.2013

Scrappy Trip Along #scrappytripalong

I wish I could tell you that in my spare time I had joined in all the online fun and made my own Scrappy Trip Along Quilt, but I didn't. My friend Rita pieced this darling Scrappy Trip along, and I love it! These quilts that are popping up all over the online community are so cool and an awesome use of scraps!
I machine quilted this one for Rita, she wanted to to stay soft and be a great quilt to cuddle with, so I machine quilted bishops fans all over and used Quilters Dream Wool batting. It turned out so pretty!
Thanks for letting me quilt your quilt Rita!

You can check out more of Rita's darling works over on her blog Mochi Studios.

2.19.2013

The Stockings Were Hung... A Christmas Quilt

Stephanie pieced this super duper cute Christmas quilt. She's ahead of schedule for next year. :)
She brought it to me for machine quilting, she liked the way I had quilted my Skittles quilt so she wanted something similar in the black background.
You can't tell much from this picture but this quilt is the perfect example, in my opinion, of when you should use black batting. I used Quilters Midnight Dream batting, it quilted beautifully and I love the result that it helped to create in Stephanie's quilt.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your darling Christmas quilt Stephanie!

All of the machine quilting techniques that are shown on this quilt are taught in my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting.

2.17.2013

Pinwheels & Circles

Teresa pieced this darling pinwheel and circle quilt a year or so ago, just recently she found out that she is going to be a grandma for the first time, YAY! So she decided that this quilt would be the perfect quilt for the new grand-baby, weather it's a boy or girl.
She brought her quilt to me for machine quilting, I machine quilted a fun all over meandering pattern, after it's washed those circles will wash up and be so soft and snugly!

2.14.2013

Charity Quilts

Each year our local quilt guild participates in some type of charity project. This year we are helping out our local high-school and the FFA chapter. They decided to make 27 twin size quilts and donate them to a Utah homeless shelter.
The majority of the quilts will be tied by the FFA kids and the prep work is done by the women in our local quilt guild.
Kathleen and I may have gotten a little bit of OCD here and decided to machine quilt and bind our charity quilts. :) I'm sure the high-school kids will appreciate not having to tie 2 of the quilts. :)

I'm glad that our quilt guild participates in charity projects. It's a good reminder that we need to participate in charity and give back to those in need.

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Quilts shown are made from Riley Blake fabrics.

2.13.2013

Gingham Quilt

My friend Darcy pieced this adorable gingham quilt. 
I love gingham so a whole gingham quilt, love it!
Darcy sent it to me for machine quilting, she liked how I had quilted my second Skittles quilt so I quilted her quilt the same.
I love the little detail that the quilting added.
I have to show a little picture of her backing fabric, how dang cute is that!
Backing fabric is Cruzin' Cream Bicycles by Barbara Jones of Quilt Soup for Henry Glass Fabrics, available here.

2.12.2013

Just the Ticket

Last fall I had the opportunity to machine quilt a darling quilt for Moda Fabrics. 
The quilt was designed by Julie Comstock and it's adorable. So is the fabric, I'm lusting over it right now!
The quilt is called Just the Ticket, and besides being so dang cute it's such a simple pattern.
The photographer did an awesome job showing of the quilt. 
I was so excited to see the quilt in the magazine but I was beyond flattered to turn to the last page of the pattern and see this awesome shout out that Quilts & More gave me and my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting. THANK YOU!
A few details:
Quilt pattern is called: Just the Ticket
Designed by: Julie Comstock
Machine Quilting by: Natalia Bonner
Pattern is avaialable: Quilts and More, Spring 2013 issue, available at Fat Quarter Shop

2.11.2013

Twister Quilt

June pieced this darling Twister quilt. I think this pattern is so cool, some day I want to make my own twister quilt. 
June brought it to me for some custom machine quilting, I had quilted a Twister Quilt for Sheila back in the fall and June loved how I quilted it, so I quilted hers the same.
I really love how it turned out, the machine quilting added some fun movement to the quilt.
Thanks for letting me have fun with your Twister Quilt June!

2.09.2013

Dream Big....

One of my ultimate goals/dreams in life has for several years been the goal of becoming a fabric designer. This year my husband and I have set some pretty hefty goals for ourselves and our family. We wrote them down and hung them on our bathroom wall, somewhere where we'd see them every day and and not lose sight of what we wanted to accomplish. 
One of my goals is to learn to design fabric on my computer. Right away I signed up for and started taking some design classes. I'm loving spending my free time creating in a way that I have never been able to before. :)
This week's assignment in my design class was to design a scarf. I don't wear scarves so for some reason this seemed totally out of my element. But, I had fun with it. 
I designed 2 different scarves. 

Don't judge me too harshly, I'm still learning. :)

2.08.2013

Snowman Quilt Blocks

This year my local quilt guild is having a fun block exchange. Each month we are assigned a block to make, we can make as many of that block as we'd like, after you make the block you turn it in and earn "owl bucks" at the end of the year the blocks will be grouped together and using "owl bucks" we will buy the blocks. It's all for fun. :)
Last month I was a slacker and didn't make the block, it was a paper-pieced nutcracker and freaked me out a little.
February the assignment was snowman, we were assigned to make a 12 1/2" snowman block, any technique, with a blue background.
Since I was feeling bad about last month I made pulled out the embroidery machine and made 4 embroidery applique snowmen.
I was sharing along on instagram as I was making them, the one above is the snowman on a diet, he's tall and skinny.
This one's a cute little guy. I messed up on him.... he's armless. :)
and then there was this guy.... he's a dead snowman. 

Have a great weekend!

2.07.2013

Dream On ~Quiltmaker Magazine March/April 2013

Jocelyn from It's Sew Emma designed this super cute Dream On Quilt. I love this quilt but the colors, I just love them! I'm thinking that's my current favorite color scheme.
This darling quilt is featured in the March/April issue of Quiltmaker Magazine.
I machine quilted this fun quilt for Jocelyn, it was fun add a little detail to. :)

Kits for this quilt are available at Fat Quarter Shop.

2.06.2013

Prairie Sweets Quilt

Michelle from Paisley Pear Quilts pieced this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G quilt. I just love the combination of pinwheels and circles!
She sent it to me for machine quilting and told me to do basically whatever I wanted, just make the circles and pinwheels pop!
I had so much fun machine quilting this quilt! I really love how it turned out! I think I was successful in making the circles pop. :)
Thanks for letting me quilt your darling quilt Michelle!

Check out more of Michelle's darling work on her etsy shop and her flickr page.