Piece N Quilt: September 2014

9.30.2014

Edge to Edge Machine Quilting - Baptist Fan

A week or so ago I machine quilted this super cute quilt for Jane. Jane asked me to machine quilt something simple all over the quilt.

So, I chose the Baptist Fan pattern. I love how this pattern quilts out, it adds just the perfect amount of curvature.

The quilt pattern is super cute too, what a great use of Jelly Rolls.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt this fun quilt Jane!

9.29.2014

Pinners Conference 2014!

I'm super duper excited to announce that Kathleen and I will be presenting at the 2014 Pinners Conference in Salt Lake City, UT, November 7-8, 2014.

"Modern Quilts with a Traditional Twist"

Saturday, November 8th, 3:30pm

Kathleen and I will be sharing the quilts from our books, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting & Modern One-Block Quilts, plus a few that have been published in magazines. :)

Make sure to use promo code "piecenquilt" when you register.

Click here to register.

Delight Quilt

Last week I machine quilted this fantastic Delight quilt of MaryAnn's. The quilt is super adorable, I love the fabric choices here.

MaryAnn loved the way that Angela had machine quilted Julie's original version of this quilt so she asked me to machine quilt hers similar, not the exact same, but something similar. I loved how Angela had quilted the original as well, so I was super excited to quilt this one.

Julie of Jaybird quilts designed this Delight pattern, it's a great quilt and there are no Y seams! YAY!

I had a lot of fun machine quilting this one, Thanks so much MaryAnn for letting me machine quilt another one of your adorable quilts!

9.24.2014

Double Snowball Quilt

Yesterday I finished up the machine quilting on this beautiful Double Snowball Quilt made by Paula. I love the bright fabrics with the touch of black. So crisp!

Paula sent me her quilt and asked me to custom machine quilt it for her, giving me the go-ahead to quilt it as I felt. I decided to really play up the rounded "snowball" look that the quilt has.

So I machine quilted a flower in the center the a couple of circles followed by a smaller border of circles and some echoing.

I machine quilted heavy straight lines in the black and then an orange peel pattern in the corner blocks. I really love how it turned out.

I did change and use a few different thread colors. I don't like my machine quilting to take away too much from the actual quilt top, so sometimes changing thread colors is the best option.

Paula had a solid black backing, and also black batting, great for this quilt, I love how the bright thread colors really pop on the backing.

And just for fun, here's a picture of the quilt top before I began machine quilting, it's always fun to see the transformation before and after the machine quilting.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt this fabulous quilt Paula!

9.23.2014

Gobble Chain --- the Christmas Version

I swear I've mentioned this several times before, but I'll do it again! One of the very most flattering parts of my job is when I have the opportunity to machine quilt quilts made from our patterns and tutorials! There is just something about that, that really makes me smile!

Ilene made this version of our Gobble Chain quilt using Christmas fabrics, because she used Christmas fabrics she changed the applique into a more wintery looking section. I love what she did!

I machine quilted an all over holly & berry pattern over all of the chain portion of the quilt, and then switched thread colors and custom machine quilted around the applique section, to really make that applique sing!

I love how it turned out, and I love the little birds she appliqued! So stinkin' cute!

Thanks so much for letting me machine quilt this adorable quilt Ilene!

We have a complete photo-by-photo tutorial available here! I can't believe we designed this quilt 5 years ago and it's still one of our very most popular tutorials!

9.22.2014

Round and Round Quilt

Ilene made this adorable version of our Round and Round quilt. I really love this quilt, for a lot of reasons, I love the pattern, Kathleen and I designed this pattern and it's available in my book; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting. I just love the colors that Ilene used in her version! I totally want to make a quilt in this color palate now!

After I machine quilted Donna's quilt I knew I had to quilt the waterdrops pattern on this quilt.

I used Quilters Dream Wool batting, I wanted the quilt to stay really soft but have a little bit more texture, I think Quilters Dream Wool is just perfect for creating texture yet staying really soft.

You can pick up a signed copy of Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting here.

9.19.2014

Custom Machine Quilting by Natalia Bonner

So.....do you remember how earlier this week I mentioned that I had a lot of eye-candy quilts to share?!?! Well, I wasn't lying! Today I get to share this gorgeous quilt that belongs to Deb! This quilt is gorgeous and she did a fabulous job piecing it.

When I first saw this quilt that first thing that came to mind were feathers, it's so soft, and very traditional, that I just couldn't resist machine quilting a lot of feathers.

In the borders I machine quilted feathers with cables, and then in the center of each of the stars I machine quilted small feather medallions. I even quilted some curved cross-hatching in the pink border. That was actually my very first time machine quilting curved cross-hatching, and it was super fun! You can expect to see more of that from me!

I just love how it turned out! Thanks for letting me machine quilt this gorgeous quilt Deb!

Check out my book; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting for machine quilting how-to's.

9.18.2014

Hourglass Quilt

Earlier this week I machine quilted this fun Hourglass quilt for Donna. The pattern is adorable. Donna asked me to machine quilt an all over pattern, I thought it would be fun to add some curves. So I chose this adorable raindrops pantograph pattern.

I love the circles. I love them so much I want to machine quilt them on one of my own quilts!

Thanks for letting me machine quilt this adorable quilt Donna!

9.17.2014

Create Handmade Gifts for All & A Give-Away!

Hey there! Today I'm super excited to introduce you to my friend Candy, and her new e-book, Create Handmade Gifts for All.

This adorable new book features 18 projects including; Bags, Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Stockings, Organization Totes, Pillows & Sew much more! This is a must have book, and it's only $9.99, what a steal!

So.... Do you want to have a chance to win that adorable messenger bag, the one featured on the cover of the book? Here's your chance!

Each of the bloggers listed below will randomly select two names, one for the mag, one to give to Candy for the bag drawing – be sure to visit everyone for more chances to win!

Uhm.... aren't her stockings so dang cute! Seriously, how cute would those be in bright red and green to go with my "grinch" themed Christmas Tree!

To win : leave a comment on this post, telling me your project you've ever made. I will select a winner on September 22, 2014.

Monday, 9/8 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River

Tuesday, 9/9 – Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber

Wednesday, 9/10 – Deborah Boschert of Deborah’s Journal

Thursday, 9/11 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side

Monday, 9/15 – Sue Bleiweiss of Sue Bleiweiss

Tuesday, 9/16 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

Wednesday, 9/17 – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors

Thursday, 9/18 – Vicki Christensen of Sew Inspired

Friday, 9/19 – Candy of Candied Fabrics

9.16.2014

Custom Machine Quilting

Jane's daughter is getting married soon, so she made this adorable Jelly Roll quilt as a wedding gift. When Jane sent me this quilt she told me I could custom machine quilt it however I wanted, she just wanted something magical!

I wish I would have taken more pictures before I started the machine quilting. It's always so cool to see how with machine quilting you can really bring a quilt to life.

The picture below is a picture I shared on Instagram right after I had begun quilting. You can see a little bit of how I chose to create a sashing that wasn't really there.

By machine quilting different lines, and filling in with contrasting textures the quilt appears to have some angled piecing, when really it's all straight lines. I love that!

Of course, because I love it so much here is a picture overload!

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your awesome quilt Jane!

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

9.15.2014

Free-Motion Quilting

Last week I spent several days machine quilting some adorable quilts for my friend Karen of Nellie's Needle. I can't share pictures of the whole quilt's yet....but I thought the machine quilting on them turned out so cute I had to share a few little peeks!

Most of the machine quilting that I did on these quilts I teach how-to in my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting. I have signed copies available here.

This is the back of one of the little quilts, someone commented over on Facebook asking if this was done by a computer....nope, this was all me, free-motion quilting. :)

One last one! I love how these all turned out!

This week I am machine quilting several quilts that I can share! So I'll have lots of eye-candy to come!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

9.10.2014

Saturday Sampler

Kathy made this adorable Saturday Sampler quilt as a block of the month through American Quilting in Orem, UT.

Kathy is actually one of my long-arm quilter friends, so when she asked me to machine quilt her quilt for her I was not only very flattered, but also a little terrified!

I was however, super duper excited to machine quilt this fun quilt. There is so much detail and a lot of room for me to play around and add a few details.

I machine quilted feathers, clams, pebbles, flowers, arcs, swirls and a few more, all of which I teach how-to quilt in my book; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting.

I just love it! I love how it turned out!

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your adorable quilt Kathy!

For more information about this pattern, hop over to American Quilting.

9.08.2014

Penny Wool Quilt

Patti made this beautiful Penny Wool quilt. It's so beautiful, and it's always so much fun to see quilts made using wool.

To be completely honest though, quilts with wool still, after all of these years, intimidate me. Wool can be very tricky to work with on a Long-arm machine. It can be difficult to try to even move your machine around the wool, so rarely am I able to actually machine quilt on the wool. I'm not a wool expert, so I don't know if there are different weights but some seem to be thicker than others. The wool that Patti used on this quilt seemed to be a little bit thinner, so I was able to machine quilt on some of it. I really thought it was fun to see the texture that came with actually quilting on the wool.

I machine quilted a lot of feathers, pebbles and clams, really making that wool pop!

The photo below shows the wool border, the one with the feathers. I think it turned out pretty awesome.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your darling quilt Patti!

Make sure to check out my book; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting.

9.05.2014

Ruffle Quilt

Earlier this week I machine quilted this adorable ruffle baby quilt for Patti!

The quilt is just so dang cute!

Patti asked me to custom machine quilt this for her, so I machine quilted flowers in the borders and blocks and then clams in all of the white areas. I love how it turned out!

In my book; Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting I teach how-to quilt those fun clams. Signed copies of our books are available here.

9.03.2014

Airplane Quilt

Colleen made this adorable baby quilt for her new grand-son! He's going to be sharing a bedroom with his big sister so she made a quilt that wouldn't be too masculine, but would just coordinate with his sisters decor.

After Colleen made the quilt she brought it to me and asked me to add some airplane applique, I generally never piece or applique for customers, but Colleen is my S-I-L, so I made an exception to my rule.

I applique the three little airplanes and then machine quilted the quilt, hoping it would appear as if the airplanes were in the sky.

I think it turned out pretty dang cute, and with the Quilters Dream batting and the minky backing this quilt will be loved for years!

9.02.2014

National Sewing & Quilting Month - A Boxy Pouch

So....if you know me very well, you know that I love to sew and quilt. They are my sanity, my passion, my creative outlet. This sewing & quilting community has been so good to me and made me feel at home; here on the internet and as I've traveled around the United States. Thank you!

Did you know... September, along with being my birthday month is National Sewing & Quilting month, I think it's pretty fitting. ;)

My friends over at Fat Quarter Shop have decided to celebrate National Sewing & Quilting month all month long. They have issued a challenge to several bloggers, quilters and seamstresses, the challenge is to sew something out of your comfort zone. When I was issued the challenge I immediately wanted to make one of Kelly's Boxy Pouches. She's always making them and they're always so dang adorable.

Chesney has so many markers, crayons and little gadgets that I keep thinking the Boxy Pouch would be perfect to organize her "stuff." BUT. I do not sew much other than quilts. I think I'm pretty good at sewing and quilting quilts, but the thought of making something that is more than a quilt.....well it scares the crap right out of me! Even more so, the few times I have been adventurous my mom has been there to hold my hand, to walk me through it. This time, since moving, I'm om my own. SCARY!

So, I headed to one of my local quilt shops, Quilted Works, have I mentioned there are like 9 of them super close to me now, it's a quilters paradise here. While there I picked up some interfacing, a zipper and some fun Michael Miller fabrics.

Then I came home.....and cried, just kidding, I didn't cry, but I felt like I was going to, why is this so intimidating to me?

I pulled up Kelly's Boxy Pouch tutorial, and I did it. I made a Boxy Pouch, and I only had to unpick one time, on the first step. :)

I even lined it with an adorable pink and gold metallic fabric, love it!

Thank you so much Kelly for writing a fabulous tutorial, because of you I did it....by myself, and I'm still sane!

So..in honor of National Sewing & Quilting month the Fat Quarter Shop girls have created an adorable free Color My Heart Quilt Pattern, the pattern is available here.