What a difference a year makes!

machine quilting detail of Siobhan Toner's Ice-cream Parlour quilt

We met Shevvy at the 2013 Festival of Quilts. She'd been wanting a frame for a while but felt that she ought to put it on hold while she finished a degree course. Siobhan's part of the London Modern Quilt Guild.She loves the fresh, no fuss modern approach but she was ready to go beyond straight line quilting. We convinced her to go for the 'both and' option. So she used her new machine quilting frame to sweeten the hard work of the degree course. Sometimes a little bit of what makes your heart sing, goes a long way towards helping you do what you ought to.

Siobhan came to collect her 6 foot Art Quilter and got a free workshop

So Shevvy put a deposit on her 6 foot Art Quilter frame at the show. Then came to collect in in September and got a free workshop. We tried out some line designs on the frame, dismantled it and put it back together. We demonstrated how to lead a quilt on the frame and roll it on. We played with sewing machine tension and looked at lots and lots of quilts. We packed the frame easily in her car and Shevvy left happy, confident and ready to roll when she got back to her London flat.

  

Siobhan's Ice Cream Parlour on display at the 2014 Festival of Quilts

 This year at the Show this gorgeous quilt caught my eye at the London Modern Quilt Guild Exhibition. I looked more closely and it was Shevvy's!! WOW! I was so impressed!

I loved the colour wash effect with the monochromatic plain fabrics. Here's Shevvy's quilt on her 6 foot Art Quilter frame. She's just begun feathering the border.

doodling feathers on the Art Quilter frame

 But my favourite part was how Siobhan used the blocks to doodle different designs, almost like a free-motion machine quilting sampler.

Siobhan used the blocks as a machine quilting sampler

The texture is just fantastic! And I enjoyed the playful way she executed the designs. I was thrilled to see what Shevvy has accomplished in just one year! I wonder what she'll do next? Follow the link Shevvy's blog to find out about how Shevvy created this quilt.

like an easel

 Art quilts are so liberating! There is no precise template so I can do whatever I like. For this 'little ship' project I used my Art Quilter frame just like an easel.  I loaded the 4 foot frame with some left over fleece which serves as the wadding and backing and two shades of blue fabric joined horizontally to create sea and sky. This was my 'canvas'.

 First, I created some texture using this # 807 Seashell from the  Rainbows Range of Superior Threads. We call this one of the magic threads as it has so many uses.

Here it serves perfectly as both waves and clouds.

Then I glued the pieces of the little ship directly onto the textured canvas...

The raw edge appliqué technique makes this a simple 'cut and paste job.

 
 This Appliglue is ideal, it dries soft and clear and can be sewn over.

With the ship in place, I changed the thread to a red So Fine and stitched the details,

 ...adding window panes and bunting flags. I'll probably add some buttons later but I was pleased with how quick and fun this Dunkirk 'little ship' project came together.

Here it is unpinned from the leaders and laid across the frame. As soon as the frame tension was off the clouds puffed up nicely. My little ship was completed in much less time than it took to blog about!

Peacock Feathers

Source: patsythompsondesigns.com via Martha on Pinterest

I love how machine quilting designs morph between one person and the next.           I found this fab line design from Patsy Thompson on pinterest the other day. I just had to doodle it,  and when I did, the design turned out like this.

The kids decided that my version looked like

peacock feathers.

And it did!   The JUKI TL98-P sewing machine needle is the perfect 'pen' to draw the feathers. The 6 foot Art Quilter frame holds the 'paper' (black fabric quilt sandwich) steady and perfectly tensioned. This leaves me free to concentrate on drawing with gorgeous variegated thread....it's so fun drawing a line that changes colour!

Citrus Cooler Rainbows 

#836 from Superior Threads.

 I'm not sure how I'm going to use this new line design. But I'm looking for the opportunity and pinterest is certainly giving me lots of inspiration.

Source: Uploaded by user via Martha on Pinterest

Working Backwards

For this project, I've been working backwards. Most of the time we start with the piecing and then figure out a quilting pattern that will bring out the best of it. This time, I started with the quilting and tried to come up with a piecing pattern that would set it off.

I've been working on a Valentine's Day post card project. I wanted to use lots of different threads and stitches to create a quilted panel which would then be cut up and stitched to post cards. So the goal of the piecing was to create a good backdrop for the quilting patterns. Creating a little 'crazy quilt' to fit on my 4 foot Art Quilter frame which would then be cut up into the post cards was much quicker than doing the cards one by one at the sewing machine.

Once the 'crazy patchwork; panel was on the frame, I began quilting playing with lots of different threads and line designs. I was free to treat all the various sections of the top differently because I'm going to cut them up in the end for lots of different post cards. I'll show some of the completed post cards tomorrow. I'll also post a little tutorial for machine appliquéd hearts on the Art Quilter frame.