Category Archives: free motion quilting

The Judges’ Comments

by Dawn Posted on October 3, 2019
Give Me the Simple Life (95″ square), made by Dawn White, quilted by Kazumi Peterson, 2019. Design: Hazel’s Diary Quilt by Shelly Pagliai.

Give Me the Simple Life, my version of Hazel’s Diary Quilt, is home again after hanging for three days at last week’s Northwest Quilting Expo. I entered my quilt for judging in the traditional category and received the judges’ comments when I picked my quilt up this morning.

Here’s what the judges said:

“A very compelling combination of a primary color palette. Presentation inside scalloped sashings is so appealing and beautifully executed.” Credit is due Shelly Pagliai of Prairie Moon Quilts, who designed Hazel’s Diary Quilt and cheered me on every step of the way as I posted my progress on Instagram and on this blog.

“Hand appliqué stitch is very well done.” This comment means a lot to me because I took on the challenge of making this quilt to become proficient at needleturn appliqué.

“Machine piecing is precisely done.” Thank you, judges.

“Quilting motifs are well chosen to fill the spaces.” Kudos to Kazumi Peterson, whose free motion quilting skills and precise ruler work greatly enhanced the finished product.

“Outside edge of quilt should be straight and corners square.” This comment caught me by surprise. Were the corners really not square? I used a square ruler to trim my quilt before attaching the binding.  Of course I got out that ruler and checked the corners. The first three were perfectly square. But guess what? The fourth corner was an eighth of an inch off!

I know there are many other imperfections in this quilt but all in all, I am very happy with how it turned out. Most of all, I am glad that it’s done!!

 

 

 

Posted in appliqué, free motion quilting, Hazel's Diary Quilt, needleturn appliqué, Northwest Quilting Expo, update | 7 Comments

NW Quilting Expo 2019

by Dawn Posted on September 27, 2019

Yesterday found me happily wandering around NW Quilting Expo, now in its 19th year, out at Delta Park in Portland. Hundreds of quilts were on display, including mine and several made by friends, fellow quilt guild members, and students.

Given my recent experience with needleturn appliqué, I found myself looking more closely at quilts featuring appliqué. There were some stunners, that’s for sure! Let’s look at a few of them:

Hosanna, made and quilted by Audra Rasnake of Meadowview VA

Detail of Audra Rasnake’s Hosanna:

 

Spring Explosion, made and quilted by Sharon Engel of Greeley CO

Detail of Sharon Engel’s Spring Explosion:

 

Baltimore Wreaths & Roses, made by Kathie Kerler of Portland OR, quilted by Cory Allender

 

Here’s a fun one made by Judy Liebo, one of the featured quilters:

Disney, Eat Your Heart Out, made and quilted by Judy Liebo

Judy reproduced Disney princesses (with permission), replacing the faces with photos of her granddaughters. Check out Tinkerbelle — that’s Judy’s face — in the upper right corner:

 

Here’s my quilt:

Give Me the Simple Life, made by Dawn White of Portland OR, quilted by Kazumi Peterson

 

Among the other quilts that caught my eye:

Cake Plate, made and quilted by Salena Korpi Beckwith of Columbia Falls MT

 

Zinnia, made and quilted by Heidi Thaut of Bend OR

 

Dancing Diadems, made and quilted by Emily Blackmer of Tacoma WA

 

Happy Chance, made by Dianne Denhem of Oregon City OR, quilted by Kazumi Peterson

 

Polar Vortex, made and quilted by Jean Ludeman of Welches OR

 

My Little Amsterdam, made by Sandy Arbuthnot of Lake Oswego OR, quilted by Nancy Stovall

 

Zebra Portrait, made by Jill Huntington of Portland OR, quilted by Nancy Stovall

 

Little Pieces of My Heart, made and quilted by Gail Weiss of Portland OR

 

La Fin du Monde, made and quilted by Cheryl Farris of Portland OR

 

Here’s another of featured quilter Judy Liebo’s whimsical challenge quilts . . .

Mr Piano Man Sings the Blues, made and quilted by Judy Liebo

. . . and here’s Judy herself with another one:

Sometimes It Is a Zebra, made in a small group project with three others and quilted by Judy Liebo

 

Linda Reinert, a fellow teacher at Montavilla Sewing Center in Lake Oswego, was another featured quilter. Here’s Linda with her husband’s favorite quilt:

Platform 9¾, made and quilted by Linda Reinert of Vancouver WA

This one was also made by Linda as part of a group challenge on the theme of architecture:

Made in Portland, made and quilted by Linda Reinert of Vancouver WA

 

Look at the beautiful embroidery in this detail of Marcia Sanderman’s award-winning quilt:

Here’s a look at the entire quilt:

Flowerville, made by Marcia Sanderman of Beaverton OR, quilted by Teresa Koster

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of the quilts that caught my fancy at the show. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, I highly recommend that you visit NW Quilting Expo today or tomorrow. If that’s not in the cards, you can see videos and photos on NWQE’s Instagram page.  Sometime soon photos of all the winning quilts will be pictured on NWQE’s website.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Posted in appliqué, free motion quilting, Northwest Quilting Expo, update | 7 Comments

Looking Back on 2018

by Dawn Posted on January 1, 2019

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2018 Linky Party, inviting bloggers to highlight their top five posts of last year. It’s a fun way to look back over the past 12 months and identify some of the high points.

Finished projects are always high points for me so that’s where I’m taking you now, showing you five projects in random order. Clicking on the links below will take you to the original posts where you can read more about the finishes and see more photos.

Number 1. Quilt Finish: Checkerboard Curves

This 44″ square quilt was made from the pattern Dancing Churndash by Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson of sewkindofwonderful.com. I’ve made several quilts using their Quick Curve Ruler; this is one of my favorites.

Number 2. Quilt Finish: Hip Hop

A lively print featuring kangaroos was the inspiration for this wall hanging made using my pattern Full Moon Rising. Finished size: 16″ x 59″.

Number 3. Quilt Finish: Bluebirds for Bethany

Scraps from another quilt went into this lap quilt for granddaughter Bethany featuring Karin Hellaby’s method of making pineapple blocks. The quilt measures 57″ x 58″.

Number 4. Project Finish: Junior Billie Bag #8

The essential quilter’s tote, designed by Billie Mahorney. It’s 14″ wide, 17″ tall, and 7½” deep. I’ve been teaching Billie’s design for three years now and make a bag every time I teach a class. This one is a gift for a dear friend.

Number 5. Quilt Finish: Spokesong

I became quite enamored with Corey Yoder’s pattern Idyllic and taught it at a quilt retreat last year. This quilt was my class sample. It’s a lively design so I simplified three blocks to give the eye a place to rest. The quilt measures 53½” x 67″.

Joining the Best of 2018 Linky Party has been a useful exercise in reviewing my quilting accomplishments over the last year. I’m also inspired by looking at the work of other  quilters who blog. Take a few minutes right now and join the party! Clicking on the link will transport you right there.

 

 

 

Posted in Billie Bag, free motion quilting, home dec, Idyllic, pineapple quilt block, Quick Curve Ruler, quilt retreat, update, wall hanging | 2 Comments

Autumn Reflections

by Dawn Posted on September 22, 2018

Happy first day of fall! This year is flying by way too fast.

After our unusually hot summer in Portland with a record number of days in the mid to high 90s, many folks are relieved that fall has arrived. Me, not so much. As a native Oregonian I don’t mind the rain and cooler weather that fall brings but I do miss the long days of early summer when the evening light doesn’t fade till close to 10 pm.

The official change of seasons is my cue to change the wall hanging in the master bathroom. Off the wall goes Sun Flowers . . .

. . . and up goes Autumn Reflections:

Both quilts were made from my pattern Season to Taste. They measure 18″ x 55″.

Here’s a look at Autumn Reflections in situ:

Of course I had to buy coordinating hand towels!

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, update, wall hanging | 4 Comments

Starry Starry Night

by Dawn Posted on August 14, 2018

A month ago today I was in Sisters, Oregon with Vincent van Gogh. And I have the picture to prove it:

I must say, even with a bandaged ear Vincent is looking pretty cheerful. Not at all like the unsmiling tormented soul we see in his self portraits.

So what’s this all about? In 2017 Cherrywood Fabrics issued a challenge for quiltmakers to interpret the paintings and life of Vincent van Gogh in a 20″ square quilt. Contestants were required to use three saturated blues and one black — all hand dyed fabrics by Cherrywood — in their creations. The company received 465 submissions and ultimately selected 200 to be included in two traveling exhibits, one called “the Dutch Gallery” and the other “the French Gallery” to represent the time van Gogh spent in his home country and the country where he spent the last years of his life.

The 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show included a special (indoor) exhibit of the French Gallery. I went to the exhibit near the end of the day and quickly snapped a few photos of the quilts in groups:

I’m amazed at the artistry, creativity, and skill displayed by these quiltmakers. I could have spent hours at this exhibit and probably would have had I arrived there earlier in the day.

If you look carefully at the last photo, you’ll catch a glimpse of “Vincent” between the first and second vertical panels. He was standing against a backdrop of The Starry Night holding an empty frame and a bouquet of sunflowers. His colleague was encouraging viewers to stop for a photo op. So I did.

The dates and venues of both traveling exhibits can be seen here along with the names of the quiltmakers and close-ups of the quilts made by the five winners of the challenge. If you get a chance to see either one, I highly recommend it.

Having viewed the French Gallery, I am now very keen to view the Dutch Gallery. I see that it will be in Spokane, Washington Oct. 19-21, at the Washington State Quilters Show. That’s only 350 miles from my home in Portland, Oregon. Road trip?!

 

 

 

Posted in appliqué, free motion quilting, Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update, wall hanging | 5 Comments

The Quisters in Sisters

by Dawn Posted on July 29, 2018

Before more time flies by I want to show you some of the projects my friends and I were working on in Sisters, Oregon during the week leading up to the July 14 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Normally the group consists of the Quisters (Quilt Sisters), a small group I’ve been a part of for many years. This year Quisters Peggy and Vickie couldn’t make it. Happily, two other good friends, Nancy and Vivienne, were able to take their places.

All four of us took classes during the week organized by Quilter’s Affair. When we weren’t in class, we were back at our rented house sewing in the bonus room over the garage. Here’s Deborah, who just finished layering a darling baby quilt made from the pattern Just Can’t Cut It:

See the blocks with dinosaurs? She’s planning to quilt dinosaur tracks onto the quilt. Won’t that be cute?

Deborah was also working on hand appliqué blocks for her Vintage Moments quilt designed by Marsha McCloskey. The quilt finishes at 90″ square so it’s a large and very ambitious undertaking. She brought along the center medallion as inspiration:


Here’s Nancy with a newly completed quilt top:

The pattern, called High Fashion, is from the book More Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott (F & W Media International, 2011). Nancy’s handbag quilt was made from a Layer Cake, a set of 10-inch squares from a line of fabrics made by Moda.

Nancy was also working on a second design in the book called Twisted Braid:

This one is made from a Jelly Roll, pre-cut strips of fabric 2½” wide, also from a line of fabric by Moda.

I don’t normally work with pre-cuts because I like to wash my fabrics before using them. However, exceptions can be made! During one of the Quilter’s Affair events, I won a door prize: the Charm Pack you see below. It’s a set of 5-inch squares from the fabric line “Blue Carolina” by Riley Blake:

It’s pictured with the book mentioned above because I’m thinking of making a smaller version of the cover quilt from this Charm Pack. If I do, I’ll shorten the handbags so they look more like baskets.

Vivienne was working on a very scrappy Trip Around the World quilt made with squares that will finish at one inch. I wish I had a photo to show you but I’m sorry to say I didn’t get any pictures of Viv with her project. She does such beautiful work! I have never seen such perfectly stitched and pressed blocks. In the evenings Viv was knitting a beautiful and intricate scarf and again I missed out on getting photos. I hope she will forgive me.

As for moi, I finished piecing a top based on Corey Yoder’s Idyllic block:

Those blocks range in size from 14″ to 21″ square.

I also experimented with Dancing Churndash, the delightful pattern Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson of Sew Kind of Wonderful designed for Cut Loose Press in 2014:

I used up all of the focus fabric I had from a previous project but I like this checkerboard effect well enough to make an entire quilt out of another set of black-on-white and white-on-black companion prints.

Speaking of Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson, they were part of Quilter’s Affair, giving a lecture and trunk show during the week and demonstrating the Quick Curve Ruler on the day of the quilt show. I had the pleasure of meeting Helen last year and was delighted to meet Jenny this year. Here I am flanked by Jenny on the left and Helen on the right:

I’ve been a fan of Jenny’s since since she introduced the Quick Curve Ruler several years ago. To date I’ve made 10 quilts using Sew Kind of Wonderful patterns and there are more on the horizon because the SKW sisters keep coming out with tempting new designs.

Coming up in my next post: pictures of quilts from the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show that caught my eye.

 

 

 

Posted in appliqué, baby quilt, free motion quilting, Idyllic, Quick Curve Ruler, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update | 4 Comments

More Quilty Inspiration . . .

by Dawn Posted on June 8, 2018

. . . coming to you from the streets of Portugal.

It’s been a week since we flew back to the states from Portugal. Fortunately, I have many memories and lots of photos to remind me of the delightful time my husband and I spent cruising the Douro River and the many shore excursions we took to medieval hill towns and modern cities. Everywhere we went, images appeared that made me think of quilt blocks, appliqué designs, and even free motion quilting motifs.

When we got to Lisbon, our final destination in Portugal, the amount of gorgeous tile work I was seeing made my head spin. These three designs were on the walkway outside our hotel:


This one was on the floor of the main entrance to the hotel:


On the north bank of the Tagus River near the Monument to the Discoveries there’s a huge tile wind rose and map of the world charting Portuguese explorations. The map is embellished by wonderful designs that would look right at home on a quilt:

We visited the National Tile Museum dedicated to the azulejo, a glazed colored tile traditionally used in Spanish and Portuguese buildings. The museum houses examples dating from the 15th century to today. With the battery in my cell phone running low I took very few pictures but they’re enough to give you a sense of what I was seeing:

Tile work from the 21st century evoking a sampler quilt (a modern take on Dear Jane, perhaps?):

Half square triangles! Four-patch kaleidoscope blocks!

Inside the cafe at the museum:

Looking for the restrooms? They’re in this hallway:

Taking a city bus back to our hotel, we spied more contemporary tile work that may well have been made by the same artists whose work we saw at the museum:

Looking at these photos makes me very eager to get back to my various and sundry quilting projects. I hope to have something to show you very soon.

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, appliqué, Dear Jane, faux-kaleido quilts, free motion quilting, kaleidoscope quilts, machine applique, needleturn appliqué, update | 10 Comments

Hip Hop Hooray!

by Dawn Posted on May 1, 2018

Rally ’round the maypole, folks — I have a May Day finish to report. It’s Hip Hop, my kangaroo table runner (or wall hanging — I haven’t decided which). There was just enough late afternoon light left on this overcast day in Portland to snap a photo outdoors:

In a prior post I described how I quilted the background of each block, some with a walking foot and some with free motion quilting.

The last thing I did was stitch an outline around each of the five kangaroos. I was lucky that the fabric (from the “Walkabout II” line by Paintbrush Studios) included five separate ‘roos so I could put a different one in each circle. In these close-ups you may be able to see the outline stitching as well as the stitching-in-the-ditch around the inset circles:


Last but not least, the label:


The label is a finished edge appliqué circle, my preferred method of making quilt labels. It’s fused in place but I will also appliqué around it by hand to make it really secure.

I’m really happy with my choice of turquoise for the binding. The acid green fabric used between the blocks would have been too strong, I think.

Hip Hop measures 16″ x 59″.

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, table runner, update, wall hanging | 6 Comments

Hip Hop: Almost a Finish

by Dawn Posted on April 19, 2018

Earlier this week it hit me that I’ve finished only one project since 2018 began. Only one! Plenty of things started, of course. I decided to spend some time this week addressing that rather pathetic record.

I quilted Hip Hop, the wall hanging/table runner pieced in January using my Full Moon Rising pattern. The quilting motifs were suggested by the fabric, a lively aboriginal print featuring kangaroos hopping around in the bush. The kangaroos were fussy cut and centered in the circles, which are inset (not appliquéd).

Here’s a look at the entire quilt, measuring 15¾” x 58″ after quilting and trimming:

All told I used four different quilting motifs. You can see three of them in this close-up of Blocks  1 and 2 bordered by the end piece:

Block 1, with the turquoise background fabric, was quilted with uneven wavy lines patterned after the wavy lines in the fabric design. Block 2 was quilted in a simple loop-de-loop design suggested by the dotted batik background fabric. For the end pieces I quilted angled straight lines at random using my walking foot. All the quilting in the other blocks is free motion.

Here are Blocks 3 and 4, stippling in the dark blue background of Block 3 and a repeat of the waves in the turquoise fabric in Block 4:

Here are Blocks 5 and 6 and the other end piece, with repeated quilting motifs:

Still to do: outlining the kangaroo in each circle using white thread, just following the lines on the fabric. I already did it in Block 1, though it’s hard to see in the photos.

My binding is already cut and sewn. I’m using the turquoise fabric, cut on the bias to show off the wavy herringbone pattern to better advantage:

I’m very happy with this little piece and will be even happier when it is bound and labeled. Only then can I claim my second finish of the year.

 

 

 

Posted in free motion quilting, home dec, table runner, update, wall hanging | 2 Comments

This and That

by Dawn Posted on December 16, 2017

Look what came in the mail yesterday!


Isn’t that a gorgeous array of fabric? The prints are all from Jill Finley’s new line called “This and That” for Penny Rose Fabrics, a division of Riley Blake Designs.

I’ve been keeping my eyes out for this fabric since Jill introduced it on her blog, Jillily Studio, a few weeks ago. Not finding it at a local quilt shop, I ordered directly from her website last week. I bought almost every print in the line, that’s how much I love it.

And I have a project in mind already:


I’ve been wanting to make the quilt on the cover ever since spotting this book in Sisters, Oregon in July of 2016. Hazel’s Diary Quilt was designed, pieced, hand appliqued, and machine quilted by Shelly Pagliai of prairiemoonquilts.com.

The book contains lovely photos of this quilt (along with several other quilts and projects designed by Shelly) but guess what? I have seen the real thing! In April of this year I was lucky enough to be in Paducah, Kentucky with my quilt group, the Quisters, attending AQS QuiltWeek, the huge quilt show and vendor mall put on by the American Quilter’s Society. I turned a corner in one of the quilt display areas and this is what I saw:

Now it’s one thing to admire pictures of a quilt in a book. It’s quite another to be up close and personal with the actual quilt. I stood as close as the ropes would allow, studying fabrics, admiring Shelly’s beautiful piecing and appliqué skills, and taking in the beautiful free motion quilting. The quilt is 95″ square so there is a lot to look at.

Jill Finley’s fabrics will be the starting point for my own version of Hazel’s Diary Quilt. I’m quite sure I have other fabrics in my stash that will play well with them. I’m going to take my time with this project, making one or two blocks a month. Every block includes some hand appliqué, giving me ample opportunity to practice and improve upon that skill.

I like the idea of starting this project at the beginning of the year and letting it take me all the way to the end. But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself. We still have a couple weeks left of 2017, and I have a couple of projects to finish up in the time remaining.

 

 

 

Posted in appliqué, free motion quilting, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), update | 10 Comments