Sugar and Spice...Meanderings of The YEG Quilter

  Not all the quilts that come to us at The Studio are from local quilters. These three sweet projects came to us from Prince Edward Island. There is just something different about quilt tops that come in the mail. My first thought is "wow, they heard about us all the way out there?"

  I underestimate the power of social networking, and about how big of a presence that the Sparrows have on line. It's also very humbling and a reminder to me of what a huge responsibility it is to quilt for others, not just those who walk in the door, but to those who ship their tops to us.

  It's also a privilege. An opportunity to connect with someone far away who loves to create just as much as I do. Donna put a little note with each quilt top so we would have an idea of what her vision for these quilts are.

  All three of these were vintage looking,which appeals to me on every level! Looking them over and reading Donna's notes, I couldn't wait to dive in!

   The first one was the Christmas quilt. Its a panel with borders sewn around it. The centre picture has a Norman Rockwell feel to it. Searching on line I found out that it is Thimbleberries panel. I quilted holly berries and holly leaves on the outer border, and swirls all over the inner body of the quilt.

  The second quilt reminded me of handkerchiefs! The delicate print of the outer border was so sweet! I used the design printed on the border as my quilt guide. I ended up taking the quilt off the frame, and turning it in order to quilt the side borders. In the body of the quilt I used my favourite headband design. It suited the feel of the quilt and the end result was very satisfying.

  The third quilt reminded me of a Hummel figurine. A quick search on line and again we found it on the Thimbleberries page. This was actually called Pumpkin Boy. Donna had requested pumpkins in the quilt design for the outer border. I positioned them on the second border because I thought they would be more visible there. They would disappear in the outer border. She also, like the the other two, had requested a separate border design and an all over in the body of the quilt. I  just couldn't quilt over that sweet face so I did some picture quilting, just in the centre. Over the rest I quilted leaves and loops that joined up with the four pumpkins in the second border.

  On the first two quilts I used Glide thread on top and prewound Fil-tec  bobbins. IN the pumpkin quilt I used a variegated Aurafil thread in orange, yellow and green, as well as a prwound Fil-tec bobbin.