Edge-to-Edge Quilting Over Machine Appliqué: Megan's Fiesta de Talavera + Debbie's Modern Rectangular Chevron Quilt

Good morning and happy Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday!  I've been working on this post in fits and snatches throughout the week.  😉  

So, the Barnful of Quilts show in Waxhaw that I told you about in my last post went off without a hitch a couple weeks ago.  It was a perfect early autumn Saturday, the air crisp without being cold, all the trees in peak foliage and beautiful sunshine filtering into the barn to illuminate the quilts on display.  Many thanks to host and organizer of the show, Valerie Fox of Fox Family Farms, and to her co-organizer (and my client) Megan Shein and their small army of volunteers who scrubbed the barn spotless, climbed ladders to hang quilts, and saw to the myriad details that made the event a smashing success!

Megan’s Glorious Fiesta de Talavera Quilt

One quilt that I especially enjoyed seeing at the show was this machine appliquéd quilt, Fiesta de Talavera made by my client Megan.  This was one of several quilts I’ve quilted for Megan that were exhibited in the show, but it's the only one I hadn't shared yet on my blog.  Doesn’t it look fantastic hanging from the barn rafters?  

Megan's 67 x 67 Fiesta de Talavera Quilt with Denali E2E Quilting

Fiesta de Talavera is all fusible raw edge appliqué, satin stitched, done completely "in the hoop" using machine embroidery, and Megan made this quilt in a class at a local shop that specializes in machine embroidery.  The Fiesta de Talavera pattern and digital machine embroidery designs are by J. Michelle Watts for Anna's Awesome Appliqué Designs, available here on Etsy (this post contains affiliate links).  I should mention, for those who haven't done any machine embroidery -- just because it's computerized doesn't mean it is instant!  This quilt required hours and hours of cutting and stitching over weeks and weeks to create all of these intricate blocks, and once all of the embroidery was finished the blocks still needed to be sewn together the same as any other quilt top.  I'll circle back to this quilt and give you more details about it later in this post, but first I want to show you another client's completely different style of machine appliquéd quilt that I also quilted with an allover, edge-to-edge design.  We tend to associate appliqué with traditional quilt styles, but it's a useful technique for modern quilts, too.

Debbie's Stunning Rectangle Chevron Quilt

This next quilt was made by my client Debbie, who told me it was a UFO (UnFinished Object) project that she'd begun in a workshop at one point and was glad to be finally finishing and crossing off her list.  I don't know the name of the workshop or who taught it, but the the techniques involved were traditional piecing and fusible raw edge appliqué (of the skinny, lighter valued rectangular shapes).  Whereas Megan's raw edge appliqué was satin stitched "in the hoop" with an embroidery machine, Debbie's raw edge appliqué was stitched on her regular sewing machine with a blanket stitch, pivoting and turning the project under the needle at every corner.  

Debbie's 54 x 59 Rectangle Chevron UFO Quilt with Starlight E2E Quilting

Isn't this gorgeous?  Debbie's quilt was hanging in my office for a few days before she got back from vacation and was able to pick it up, everyone who saw it was oohing and aaahing over it.

So, instead of talking about just one of these quilts at a time, I thought it would be fun to share these two quilts together, both machine appliqué, both edge-to-edge quilting designs, one in a traditional floral album appliqué style and the other very contemporary and geometric.  

Suzette's Stunning Improv Quilt + The Barnful of Quilts Show in Waxhaw TODAY!

Good Morning, my lovelies!  Today's post needs to be short and sweet because I'm exhibiting at today's Barnful of Quilts show in Waxhaw from 10 AM to 6 PM.  If you're local and you're looking for something fun to do today (I'm writing this on Saturday, October 15th), head on out to Waxhaw and look for me!  The address is 7505 Sims Road in Waxhaw, NC.  Hope to see you there!

Before I head out the door, I wanted to share this stunning improvisationally pieced quilt made by my client Suzette.  It looks like an art piece that you'd hang in a gallery, but at 93" x 105" it was sized and intended to be a bed quilt for her daughter.

Suzette's 93 x 105 Improv Bed Quilt with Tikki Soft E2E Quilting

Suzette's daughter, the one for whom she made this quilt, works at the Whitney Museum in New York City.  

Tikki Soft E2E Stitched Sideways in Omni Natural White Thread

Now for the quilty details: We chose the Tikki Soft E2E quilting design by Karlee Porter for functional as well as aesthetic reasons, loading the quilt sideways on my frame to stitch the design with a vertical orientation.  I used Quilter's Dream 80/20 batting and Omni thread in Natural White (this post contains affiliate links).

The One Where the Longarm Quilter Finishes Her OWN QUILT: Nanu Nanu! Retro '80s Building Blocks is Ta-DONE

Y'all are not going to believe how I decided to quilt my Retro '80s Building Blocks sampler that I've been working on in fits and snatches since 2016.  When I started this project, I was drawn to it partly because it would be so much fun to custom quilt each block individually...  But by the time the quilt top was finished SIX years later (who's counting?), I just wanted the quilt to be done.

85 x 93 Nanu Nanu! Retro '80s Building Blocks is FINISHED!

I know some of you are in shock, wondering why I would take a challenging quilt pattern, make lots of changes to make it even more difficult to put together, and then just quilt over six years of blood, sweat and tears with an allover meandering edge-to-edge design.  Well, I will explain.  

Reason #1: This is a Bed Quilt, Not a Show Quilt

This Time, It Fits the Bed Perfectly

Don't you love how the rainbow borders tie in with the Pink Floyd poster above the bed?  And it's no coincidence that I have the exact same shades of blue, yellow, green, white and red in my quilt to match the wallpaper in the adjoining bathroom, either.  I matched my Kona Cotton Solids Color Card fabric swatches to my handprinted Italian wallpaper in the early planning stages of this quilt!  Once an interior designer, always an interior designer...

From his second birthday until he was 12 years old, my younger son Anders slept underneath his Mommy-made "Froggy Quilt of Many Colors."  I finally took it off the bed because it was beginning to show some serious wear and because I thought the novelty frog print fabrics were too babyish for a middle schooler, and I promised him that I would make him a new quilt.  Because I overcomplicated the plan for the new quilt and got sidetracked with lots of other projects along the way, Anders has been sleeping under a plain old comforter from Bed Bath & Beyond for the past 6 or 7 years, a comforter that was supposed to just be "temporary" until Mom finished the new quilt.  Oh, the SHAME!  I can't tell you how good it makes me feel when I walk past his room and see a handmade quilt on his bed again!