Merry Christmas!

As you may or may not know I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints often called Mormons. Christmas time is a special time of reflection about my faith. I feel great gratitude for Jesus Christ and the peace knowing about him gives me. If you would like to know more about my faith you can click here:

 My Mormon.org Profile

I wish you a wonderful Holiday Season, may peace be with us all.

Christmas Quilt Ideas for Nieces, Nephews and Grandbabies

Sally brought me this yummy Minky fabric and snugly satin for making baby quilts. 

I went with stars and loops for baby boys...

And hearts and loops for baby girls...

All the quilts got the beautiful brown satin backing.

After I quilted them, she took them home and bound them with a cute fabric binding. This is a simple and effective way to create a hands on gift - even on a short time budget.

Here they are ready for pick up. Happy babies and Happy Sally. Thank you for letting me help you with this project Sally! 

Amy's Christmas Quilt

Amy brought me this darling Christmas quilt

I quilted Christmas Trees and loops.

And holly and loops.

Here is the back

It was so fun quilting your Christmas quilt. Thanks Amy!

30's Block Quilt

Jeannie brought me her darling 1930's quilt top. She asked me to custom quilt it for her.

Here are some of the blocks:

It's really fun to quilt each block a little differently. 

I love the little leaf shapes on this blocks border.

Using an arc can really enhance a block and add movement. 

Some blocks just want to be stitched in the ditch.

Some blocks want you to ignore the pieced lines. 

I really like how the echo quilting looks on this bock. It makes the curved piecing pop!

I love how the cherries and red stitching pop on his one too!

Thanks Jeannie for letting me quilt your quilt!

A Great Christmas Present Idea From The Quilting Closet

A couple of years ago my sister, Cindy, re-created an old quilt top she inherited from our Great Grandmother Jennie. The quilt top had some problems so, she took the blocks apart and added sashing and borders to the blocks that were still good. This is the finished and beautiful but smaller quilt.

I am the lucky new owner of an heirloom quilt.

 You might be able to do something similar with what you have hiding in a closet. 

Thanks Cindy!

Wonky Quilt Solution - Trapunto!

I received this treasured unfinished vintage quilt top for custom quilting. The top is hand pieced but has a little problem; there are too many pieces in the circles and the quilt top does not lay flat. This condition made it unquiltable. So, the top has been sitting in a box. Sad!

Usually a box is all that ever happens with quilts with this problem. I have good news! Often it can be quilted! For this quilt the solution was a method called Trapunto. 

The basic idea for Trapunto is you put extra batting under the part you want to puff out more. 

Click here for a tutorial on Trapunto.

So Trapunto is what I did. Here is a picture of the quilt on my quilting machine.

Then because other parts were not square and accurate, I pinned and pushed things into place. Here is the quilt on my machine all pushed into place.

Some places have more problems than others: This will not turn out perfectly, there is just no way. However, it will look good, especially after washing, and it will be out of the box and be able to be loved and appreciated in the way it was originally created to do.