Judi's Reach for the Stars Quilt

Now this quilt has a funny story. Last summer I got an email from Judi wanting to send me this quilt but it's HUGE and the backing she chose was directional so we needed to formulate a plan to make it work and get it large enough to fit the quilt AND match the pattern as best as possible. Well, after a few emails and phone calls back and forth, we had success and this amazing quilt showed up at my doorstep.

 Judi made this version of Reach for the Stars and I can't even begin to describe to you how rich and vibrant this quilt was in person since it's basically a neutral quilt. It's creams, grays, tans and black, but it was sooo captivating.

I knew early on before I began that a few of the busier fabrics would be challenging to plan a design because they were so contrasting and so busy to the eye (like the grey borders - well, they read grey in pictures). For those areas we planned simpler quilting, because let's be honest, you're probably not going to be able to see the quilting 80% of the time anyway. That then allows for stand-out quilting to be in the lighter areas where you will see the quilting more.

We tried to keep the elements simple, straight lines, pebbles, swirls, and some fleur de lis by request of Judi. This quilt was inspired by a trip she took with her girls to Italy and we wanted to keep that same vibe in the quilting.

 Some of the blocks were quilted simply and let the fabrics do the talking, some had a bit more interest in plain areas where the quilting could be a bit "louder". All of the blocks were framed in one of three different fabrics, we chose three different fillers and kept the designs consistent throughout the quilt.

 Here you can see the crazy bold fabrics a bit better that I was talking about. Every part of this quilt has quilting in it, you just can't always see it all.

 And the fabric that started it all - the center of this block was the fabric that Judi picked first to use as color inspiration and it also happens to be the backing too. Whenever it came into play on the top of the quilt, I just followed the motif and let the fabric talk. There's no sense taking away from it at all.

 It took me awhile to figure out what to quilt in these complex side setting triangles, but I was so happy with the results, I'm grateful I waited to see how the rest of the quilt was coming along and see what areas or designs I could play with more to fit the space the best.

 The center of the quilt is this huge medallion type block and I tried to tie in a little of every quilting design in the spaces where I could.

 Here's some more close ups of the blocks - I'll take a narrative break and just let the quilt speak for itself.

 Now, the border. I came up with this crazy plan for these wild feathers to fill the borders and I'm so glad Judi agreed. They're complex and beautiful and fit the feel of the quilt wonderfully. If my memory serves me correctly, not all the borders were the same width so this type of feather allowed to fill wider and narrower spaces and still feel right.

 This quilt was massive and just barely fit on the machine with the way it needed to be loaded (the way you piece your backings determines how it gets loaded onto the machine, more on that in a later post).

 All in all, this was so much fun to work on and see it come to life as I worked. With so much contrast within the fabrics, we kept the thread colors as close to the fabrics as possible using grey and tan both top and back. Maybe there was a cream in there too, I don't remember - it's on my notes, but not important for the blog...

 I really really LOVE those feathers and need to find more excuses to quilt them!

 Here's the backing fabric once the quilt was done and all folded up to go back to Judi. Aside from a shadow here or there, the fabric is so busy you can't really see the quilting, can you?

Here's a close up. See the different threads. There's a tan and a grey, I promise. This is why you hear quilters say busy backs are best because they are! Especially when the top has so much going on and every color from black to white. It makes matching threads and getting the perfect tension/thread pairing so much easier to achieve.

Thank you Judi! This was one of my favorite quilts to work on last year - granted almost all of them are my favorites, but once again this was another quilt I wanted to hold hostage and never send back! It happens a lot...

If you have questions about my quilting services, you can read all the info you need by visiting the Machine Quilting Information page (at the top of the blog if you're on a desktop, follow the drop down menu at the top of the blog if you're on a mobile device) or by emailing me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm still taking in quilts at this moment, but I may only have a spot or two left before I can't reach the machine anymore and quilting may have to wait until Little Miss arrives in March. I'll be posting updates in the mean time and feel free to contact me to schedule a spot (or spots) or send me your quilt now so I can get to it when I can. I'll be working on a first come/reserved basis, so please plan ahead if you have deadlines. I will try to be accommodating, but no guarantees as I settle into motherhood and hopefully a new house in the future!

Well, thank you all for the comments on the other quilts I've posted! It's been fun to reminisce and see these beauties once again. Have a great day and if you're snowed in - have fun quilting!

Ask and you shall receive...

I have been absolutely inundated with questions about Bobette's Christmas sampler so here you go:

I had sooooo many questions flooding in, so I searched online to no avail and then I had to contact Bobette for the info...

This pattern is called Be Merry and it's by the folks at Bits 'n Pieces.

It comes in several size options, however...

Bobette made the largest size but made it wider by adding in an extra snowman, snowflake and tree she told me. Now, this was made from Bobette's stash, so you're going to have to either ask the nice people at Bits 'n Pieces to make you a kit, or you can raid your own stash. I can tell you many of these prints were basics like the Moda Crackle and some Kansas Troubles basics, but there were a few Christmas-y prints thrown in here and there.

For better pictures of Bobette's quilt, you can visit the original post about her quilt here.

Now mind you, if you choose to make one of these quilts after seeing it here, don't forget that I would love to quilt it for you!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Machine Quilting: Christmas Sampler

There are very few quilts that I see that get me thinking, I NEED TO DROP EVERYTHING AND MAKE ONE OF THESE RIGHT AWAY... Well, Bobette was at it again and she's adding way too many projects to my to-do list...

 Now, being a quilter can be rough sometimes... I see quilts like this every so often and I know I don't have the time to make one (but I want to) and I know I have no fabrics in my stash that would look this cool (but I want them now) and do I really need a Christmas quilt (for Heaven's sake, I didn't even put up a tree this year, but I still have to take down those ribbons outside if the snow melts off of them) but I want to make this quilt just so I can quilt it like I did for Bobette. Simple as that. This quilt (or a version close it it) has made it's way onto my list, and it's near the top, it's that good.

 This sampler was unlike any other that I've seen... It had trees and a church...

 And presents, and squares, and wool snowflake appliques...

 And I could go on forever, but I'll just let you take a look for yourself...

 Even the back of this quilt looked amazing. I love how you can see the stars and the trees and the houses... I quilted my little heart out on this quilt and it was so much fun (not that I don't on other quilts, but you know what I mean)

 I honestly was not in the holiday spirit until I worked on this quilt... Then I became a raging lunatic and was trying to make and create new decorations and drug my Hubby to the crazy stores with a gazillion other raged crazy holiday people for things we didn't need because I thought it would be fun...

 Yeah, then I got in those stores, and didn't find what I wanted and then got the heck out of dodge and came back to my comfy cozy house to get away from all of those holiday lunatics and their crappy driving... Just saying... But isn't this quilt just GORGEOUS?! Supposedly this was a block of the month... And if I can come up with one, I may just have to host a little non-holiday sampler here because Lord knows I am not going to want to quilt a Christmas quilt in July... Would you like that? Would you want to play along?

 Now, I can only try to make it as awesome and glorious as this... But I can dream, and so can you. I will get to work and see what I come up with.

But then again, who am I kidding? I may just have to make a quilt like this to hang up around the holidays... What'dya think?

Anywho... when I finished this quilt I let Bobette know it was done and that I was keeping it... FOREVER... Yeah... that didn't work. Luckily she played along with me and then grabbed her quilt and ran for the hills before it disappeared into my stash, but I still have pictures to oogle over and share with you. Oh, and I have another quilt to share that made me bust into my stash and get to planning a quilt that I don't need to make (but I want to) and I think it will be fabulous!

Be back soon with more awesome stuff to share!

Machine Quilting: A Super Sampler

I got an email from Maryellen one day about sending me a sampler quilt that she had started long ago. Well, she sent it off and it was quite deceiving from the photos to the actual quilt how large it truly was, but that didn't matter. It was gorgeous anyway and the larger blocks let some piecing details and fabric choices shine where they wouldn't be able to in a smaller form.

 If I'm not mistaken, I think each block was around 17"... I can't honestly remember, but each block was different. Sampler quilts like this one are so much fun to quilt because I have to plan and think and be innovative to make each block as good as it can be, but also make the designs work well together.

 Here are a couple of my favorite blocks...

 With the wide array of fabrics used, we opted to use a tan thread to "play nice" in the variety of light and dark prints, but it really showed up well on the back too and almost made the back like a wholecloth sampler.

 Some blocks were hard to see the quilting details from the front due to the patterns and designs, but they looked amazing from the back too.

This quilt was quite and adventure and I had so much fun quilting it. I actually will be back tomorrow showing off another sampler style quilt that I did recently, so come on back for that one. I have so many pictures to show now that the mad rush for holiday quilts and Farmpark quilts is over. Plus, this snow stuff is forcing me to stay home at times which I kinda like :)

Anyway, I wanted to thank Maryellen for sending me this quilt and allowing me to play on it and live vicariously through her piecing (oh, I forgot to mention, this was all hand pieced and I am in awe of her work)... That's one of the best parts of my job... I don't have the time, energy, stash, or money to make every quilt and try every technique that I'd like, but I get to play with these quilts for a small time frame and it's kinda the same thing... Atleast to me it is... Maryellen, I loved this quilt and I hope you're enjoying it!!! Now is the perfect time to show a new quilt some love! I may just make myself a cup of tea and snuggle under one of my quilts for a little bit this afternoon. I already cleaned the drive, so it should be good for awhile, I hope...

If you are interested in my quilting services, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com or check the Machine Quilting Information page here on my blog for more information. Be back tomorrow with another quilt to share!