Saturday, September 13, 2014

New Pantograph Designs

Here a few of Patricia Ritter and my pantograph designs for longarm machine quilting, available on urbanelementz.com.  They are each available in paper or digital format.  Hope you love them as much as we do!
 
Love the name of this one, and the happy happy design!  This is one design that I've quilted for awhile, and its fun to see it in a panto format so that others can do it as well!  I love the flow that Patricia gave the design, and the layering effect each row has.
 
This flower was a doodle that I sent Patricia, and she worked her magic!  Don't you just love the echoed petals, I do.  The swirls just make me happy!


This fun design was inspired by a border that I quilted on a baby quilt last spring, and I want to make it into a design ever since.  Love it, and excited to see some pictures of it stitched out!

- Villa -
Villa has been out for a couple months, but I hadn't blogged about it yet.  Villa, along with all of Patricia and my designs are on the right hand side bar as you scroll down.  Click on the picture and it should take you to the page of each design on the Urban Elementz website.  This happy leaf is fun as the vine is on a large stipple line.  I've loved quilting this on several of my clients quilts.  And, now its available for those of you who quilt!  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by, happy quilting!
~ leisha

Friday, September 12, 2014

Client Quilt Sharing Day!!

It certainly has been awhile since I've share some client quilts and talked about them.  I have quite a few to share with you today, hope you enjoy taking another look at these gorgeous quilts.
 
 - Joleene -
 Joleene, one of my dear friends and the creator of "Sew Red Glasses", made this gorgeous color wheel.  She made it just before this years Home Machine Quilting Show, which is in Salt Lake City Utah each year.  She had a booth and gave a couple of demonstrations each day on the main stage.  She used this color wheel to teach the values of color.  I am so proud of Joleene and all she has done to make her idea a reality and how well she is doing!  Her glasses have been in the top 50 notions for Moda's United Notions for awhile.  Way to go Joleene!
 Joleene gave me complete creative control for the quilting on this one.  I quilted right around the edges on each of the color spokes, then decided to keep the inside of the spokes pretty simple with a double line triangle.  I didn't want the quilting to distract the ability to look at the colors with the glasses and see the values.  It turned out pretty cool the dimension that it added. 
 To make the spokes pop and to give the background some personality, I decided on swirl pebble feather all over freehand design, similar to what I did on Denise's "Bloom".  Which made the colors and spoke's really stand out.  Plus it does look pretty cool to look at the background through the Sew Red Glasses.
 A few more views!  Really LOVE this one!


 Thanks, Joleene!  Always a joy to quilt for you~!

- Bridget -
 Bridget is one of the sweetest clients I have.  Always so great to see her and get to quilt for her.  This is a mini quilt or table topper, and was super fun to quilt.  I started with the center star lines, to enhance the log cabin star, and then it just kind of went from there.  Doing the four corner star blocks, just like I did on my Apple Pie in the Sky quilt.  Then I added the border quilting, and thought I was finished.  But, as I looked at it more I wanted something behind the center star to finish it off.  That's when I decided to try the diagonal lines...love how it turned out!  Hope you love it too, Bridget.
 One thing I try and do with quilts when I take pictures, is to capture them in natural light.  The colors of the fabrics show up the best, as well as the detail of the piecing and quilting.  The texture of the quilting just pops!!!!  And, of course creating texture on quilts through the quilting, is my favorite part of quilting.  It helps each quilt come to life.  I love what I do!!

- Jane -
 Jane is the Moda rep that comes to meet with my mom and aunt Kristin for their online fabric store, Sisters and Quilters.  I get to sit with them when she comes and see all the fun fabrics that are coming out in the coming months.  It has been fun getting to know Jane.  She's so busy traveling I don't know how she has time to sew.  She brought this with her one day, and we were all blown away~!  It is such a gorgeous quilt.  I had quilted for her once before this, and just like the last one she wanted a lot of detail.  It was an honor to quilt something so beautiful! 
 Because I wanted to make the circled star design the focus of the quilt, I did an all over swirl feather design in the background.  I love the textured it added, and how the light picks it up in these pictures.
 I doodled out this design on paper beforehand, just to see how it would flow together and I loved it.  Quilted out even better than my drawings on the quilt.  If you look closely, there is a double lined diamond like shape in the center of the star.  A feather with a swirl in each of the star points, and line bursts in the background behind the star.  Thanks, Jane!  Such a treat to quilt for you!

- Jeanne -
 I have wanted to quilt a "Swoon" quilt, pattern by Camille Roskelley, for quite awhile and was thrilled when Jeanne brought this to me.  I must say I knew the blocks were big, but they are HUGE!  So big that I cant quilt one entire block at a time on my machine, as I can only quilt around 18", and these are 24" big.  I love the size of them though, totally worth having to roll the quilt more often.
 This is such a fun pattern to make!  I made a mini version back at the beginning of July...now I want to make the quilt.  haha!  Especially after quilting this one for Jeanne.  Jeanne made this for one of her granddaughters that just graduated this year.  She told me to add some detail and do whatever I'd like. 
 I have loved to use straight lines for the quilting to enhance all the pieces that go into a quilt.  Which also gives me the opportunity to add some detail without making it too detailed or stiff.  I started with the lines in the inside of the star, then added the wavy lines in the outside diamond shapes.  Got the idea from one of my awesome longarm quilting friends, Tiffany from Red Chair Quilts!  Which added some awesome texture throughout the quilt, thanks Tiffany!!!
 Love the light picking up all that texture...
 I added more lines back and forth behind the star, and then lines and curves in each of the surrounding angular pieces.  Finished off the background with some double arch's like a cathedral window quilt, and some ribbon candy quilting in the sashing.  Other than the center of the star and the lines in the outside pieces (green ones in this picture), everything else I did freehand.
 Jeanne picked a light polka dotted fabric, and I'm so glad she did...
The texture that shows up on the back of this quilt is divine!  I love every square inch.
Each piece of the quilt really pops!!!  Love love love it!

- Joleene -
 This is another quilt from Joleene.  Love the bright colors and textures of this Bullseye flower quilt!
Even though the quilting is super simple it really adds to the over all texture of the quilt.  Which now that Joleene has washed it and helped the raw edge rag and fray a little more, I'm sure that texture is even better.  We decided on a swirl quilted in the center of each flower and some stippling in the background.  I decided on the loops in the leaves, which was just enough to add a little something extra to the quilt.  I quilted the ribbon candy design in the inner border and a alternating leaf in the outer border to finish it off.  Love these scrappy flowers! 


 Love the angle of the picture below, shows the texture of the bullseye layers on each of the flowers.

- Julia and Penny -
Julia and Penny worked on this quilt of Julia's together to display at "My Girlfriends Quilt Shoppe" here in Logan, Utah.  I cant remember the pattern name or designer, but give them a call, I'm sure they could help you.  They used their Baby Lock sewing machine to machine applique around each of those intricate pieces.  These two ladies amaze me, and it is always so fun to quilt for them.   
 I wish you could each see this quilt in person...if you're local you can!  The flowers, pots, birds, bugs, gloves, rain boots, and even garden hose and tools complete the detail of this quilt.  Their fabric choices are beautiful and really enhance the pattern.  Beautiful job, ladies!
 Like this basket I tried to quilt enough, but not too much.  I little echo in the flowers, some lines in the basket base, and then of course the pebble swirl in the background of the whole quilt.  To enhance each section, I quilted the ribbon candy design in the blue borders and a simple cross hatch in the checkered red and white border.
 Love how the topiary balls turned out with some simple swirls.
 Its always fun to add some detail to flower pots, and this topiary pot turned out so cool.  I started with a pinstripe vertical line and then added the diagonal pinstripe lines, which created the diamond cross hatching look.

- Kim -
 Always so fun to see my friend Kim, get to visit, and then quilt for her.  She made this "Lucky" quilt, pattern by Camille Roskelley, out of a Modern Roses layer cake by Stephanie Ryan from Moda.
The colors of the fabrics are so soft and pretty, great choice Kim!
 I added some ribbon candy quilting to the border and some double arch's to the background.
 To add some depth to the stars I quilted a diamond shape with a line down the center in all of the white parts of the star, and then the wavy lines in the colored part of the stars to add some more texture.  Love the complete look of this quilt.
 
- Kristin -
 My Aunt Kristin from Sisters and Quilters made this sweet "Hugs" quilt for one of my cousins that just had a baby girl in July.  Her nursery colors are navy and grey, and this quilt is perfect!  Such a classy sweet look.  I quilted a petal inside of each of the blocks with a dot chain in the sashing.  Because the inner navy border is thin and there was enough quilting surrounding it, I left it unquilted.  Finished it off with ribbon candy quilting design in the outside border.

 Love the texture pictured here.

- LaRee -
 The quilting on LaRee's rainbow chevron is simple, but the texture turned out super fun!
I did a line going from point to point on each of the chevron angles, then went back with another line above and below which helped create the alternating arrowhead look.  Then I quilted a vertical back and forth loop weaving up and down, in the back ground.  Finished it off with a ribbon candy design in the outside border.
 Close ups and views of the texture.

- Mary -
 Mary made this sweet quilt for her mom, for a surprise birthday party her dad threw for her.  He asked her and her sisters to make their mom's gift, and even suggested to Mary that she make a quilt.  A quilt is something her mom has never had of her own, and Mary made such a sweet one!  Each block is quite detailed, and Mary did such a great job!
 We initially talked about quilting something in the sashing around the blocks, but after I quilted the petal looking lines and flower petal centers, I asked her if we could leave them unquilted.  It made the blocks pop, and also allowed the line design to link from block to block.  I did quilt in the ditch around each block to help the sashing stand out even more.
 Close up below.
 Here is a view of the back, you can see the interlocking cool design...definitely one of my fav's! 

- Penny -
 Sweet Penny has been a friend of mine for a few years, and it is always exciting to hear that her family continues to grow as new grandbabies come into this world.  Her only daughter is having her first baby, and its a girl!  Penny is super excited, and I am for her.  She made this super sweet baby quilt, didn't want too much quilting because the back is minky.
 Inside each of the ric rac on point blocks, I quilted a simple flower.  Added my favorite border design, the ribbon candy, and then finished it off with the swirl in the border.  To add a little something to the swirl, I added a leaf on each one.  It turned out so soft and pretty!  Penny hope you enjoy snuggling that new bundle of joy in this quilt!

- Sherry -
 This bright fun quilt was made by Sherry!  She has made several other quilts for other people, and finally made this "Firework" quilt for herself.  Pattern is by Camille Roskelley.
 Love the texture I can create with the quilting in quilts like this!

 One thing I love to do is try and quilt blocks like this in one continuous motion, without having to stop or restart the thread.  And, it took me a few blocks, but I figured out how to do it on this one.  I used a great A1 quilting ruler that I got from Judi at Green Fairy Quilts, for all the straight lines except the ones in the background, those are done freehand by me.  I love the angles and lines that I was able to create and play with on this quilt.  Tried to stay with the firework theme of the quilt. 

- Susan -
 Susan made this beautiful quilt as a gift for someone...that someone is certainly very lucky!
Susan wanted some detail, but not over quilted.  I love how the simple quilting on each alternating block fits so well together and plays off the elegant design.  
 The colors and fabrics Susan chose, are so stunning.  She also does a beautiful job piecing each quilt I quilt for her.  Thanks, Susan!

- Tara -
 Tara from "Rad and Happy" saw some quilts I posted pictures of on my Instagram and emailed me to quilt for her.  This is the first quilt that she sent my way.  It is called "Rebel Quilt" and the pattern design is by "Libs Elliot".  Tara usually quilts all her throw size and smaller quilts on her regular sewing machine, amazing huh?!?!  This one was a little to big, and she was also about ready to have her handsome baby boy...so she entrusted me with quilting it.  Tara's quilting style, which I LOVE, is very simple.  So, I wanted to keep things simple.  I love how it turned out!   
 There really was no rhyme or reason to the quilting, except that I quilted the same design in the same blocks.  So, in all the large half square triangles I quilted the double lined diamonds, and alternated the direction depending on the angle of the triangles. 
 I repeated the same designs in each of the same blocks throughout.  I shipped this back to Tara in New Mexico, which was sad to not see her reaction.  She loved it and shared it several times on her Rad and Happy Instagram!  I sure love what I do, and the gift of social media that lets me broaden my quilting audience.  Thanks so much, Tara!!

Hope you enjoyed another view of these stunning quilts!  Which one is your favorite?
On each quilt I used 8020 winline cotton/poly blend batting, unless batting was provided from my client.  I also used on each quilt a color coordinating Perma Core thread 30 tex from A&E.
 
Thanks for reading, Happy Sewing to you~! 
~ leisha