Getting Up Close with My Quilting - Special Area Quilting

Today, I am sharing Kelly's Cox Comb Quilt. It is a paper pieced quilt with many curved seams.  The quilt was created with colorful batik fabrics.

Kelly selected six thread colors.

The "Special Area Quilting" was the perfect choice for the quilting.

I took several up close photos of the quilting at different angles.

The Cox Comb Quilt is a quilt pattern by Judy Niemeyer.  Kelly said Judy made it easy to stitch the curved seams.

Special Area Quilting enhances each section of the quilt. 

I flipped the quilt over so you can see the details of the quilting on the backside of the quilt.

Enjoy!
Marcia
I love your comments ---- BUT for some reason blogger sorts through them and if you are on Yahoo for your email, they go to spam and I do not get them, so I can not reply.  If you want to email me directly you can do that at Marcia@craftysewing.com. Thanks!

And of course, I will share all your comments with my customer, Kelly!  Thanks!

Tulips for Rainbow Hospice!

I completed 30 Tulip Blocks at Quilts by Barb's Quilt Retreat.  I have more to make, as you can see. The retreat project this year, was Log Cabin Quilts, but you can select a project of your own.  I chose to work on this year's donation quilt for the Fireside's fundraiser for Rainbow Hospice.

Every year, my Mom buys the fabric and we make the quilt, usually together. This year, I started the quilt blocks at Barb's Quilt Retreat. I have attended the retreat every year for the past 12 years.  I signed up for next year, too!

We originally selected a blue background and only dark solids, but I changed my mind and went with a black background and added light solids.

It looks like a rainbow!

So pleased with the fabrics we selected for our Tulip Quilt.  The quilt pattern is in the book - Jelly Roll Quilts.  I did not use jelly rolls. I cut strips from my fabric 2 1/2 inches wide for the pieces.

At a quilt retreat, you need to take a break and eat a few snacks to energize yourself, so you can sew and sew and sew and then eat again!

I love all the colors with the black background.  Really makes them pop!

One of my friends said she had never taken a "Selfie" so we tried to take an "Us - sie" together! 

If you don't know what I look like .... I am the one on the left and up front holding the camera with the funny smile!

Another wonderful quilt retreat hosted by Quilts by Barb. 

I was inspired by one of my customer's quilts and that is why I selected this pattern.  Click here to see her Tulip Quilt.

Enjoy your day!

Marcia

A Passage Quilt for the Veterans at Rainbow Hospice

This fall, Candy and I teamed up to make a Passage Quilt for Rainbow Hospice. They requested a Passage Quilt that could be used for their patient's that are Veterans with a red, white, and blue theme.

My Mom and I had made one for Rainbow Hospice several years ago in floral fabrics.  You can click here to see the photos of that Passage Quilt.

Candy purchased the fabric for the red white and blue quilt top and she made it at our quilt retreat in October.

Then I brought it home and added the backing fabric and batting and quilted it.

Candy stitched the binding on the Passage Quilt at the Quilt's by Barb's Retreat this past weekend and delivered it to Rainbow Hospice this week.

A Passage Quilt is used when a patient passes away. They use it to cover the body bag as they take the patient out of of the Hospice Center to the funeral home car. The Passage Quilt is used to give comfort to the family members and others at the Hospice Center. Hopefully the colors of the quilt will comfort those who are suffering the loss.  Before the car leaves the quilt is removed and folded up and used for the next passing. It is my understanding that this is a ceremonial process and is very comforting for everyone involved.

The Passage Quilt is approximately 90" × 72".

As many of you know, we also make lap quilts for the beds at Rainbow Hospice. Candy and I and Debbie and Linda have all teamed up to make lap quilts.  We try to make at least 8 to 10 of them a year.

These are the two lap quilts that we just completed in October. The Lap Quilts are approximately 50" × 60".

We welcome donations of fabric and orphan quilt blocks and financial contributions for our efforts.  The lap quilts are placed on the patient's bed. It cheers up the room and makes it more home like during their stay.  When the Hospice patient passes it is given to the family as a comfort quilt.

Both Candy and I enjoy making the lap quilts for the beds and really enjoyed making their newest red, white, and blue Passage Quilt.  We know we are comforting the patients and their families.

Enjoy your day!

Marcia
You can contact me at Marcia@craftysewing.com

Friday's Frequently Asked Quilting Questions --- FFAQQs

What do you do with your thread scraps? Save them or throw them away?

I belong to several facebook quilting groups from Fabric Crafters U-Bid Fabric Destash to Quilting and Sewing Enthusiasts  to  Professional Long Arm Quilters and Long Arm Quilters Groups.  In one of the Long Arm Groups one of the members shared her empty spools and a container of all her worn out needles.  

Well....I saved all my thread scraps from the past 11 years years of long arm quilting!  I started saving them, because I did not have a wastepaper basket next to my long arm machine. I would clip threads and put them on a piece of batting as sometimes it would stick to my hand with static electricity. I thought it looked so pretty, so I grabbed the globs of thread and put them into a glass jar.

It reminded me of the colored sand in the jars from the 60's and 70's! 

I just kept filling jars!

I love how they look!  Oooo all the wonderful colors!

What do you save and how do you save them?

Scraps of threads?  fabric scraps and strips?  empty spools?  bobbins?

Remember the post about my jars of fabric scraps? These are scraps from the first quilt I quilted on my quilting machine.

Enjoy the colors around you!
Marcia