Falling Leaves

Sherrie Carr with her finished quilt, Falling Leaves.

When Ms. Jackie Lipper’s mother-in-law passed away, Sherrie Carr of Hopatcong, NJ ended up with her quilt top. The simple “Jelly Roll” pattern had a few piecing issues, but the quilt top was nearly finished and there was plenty of pre-cut fabric left for finishing. Never missing an opportunity to make something beautiful, Sherrie decided to finish the quilt.

At Tuesday club she commented that it needed something to make the simple pattern more special. After brainstorming, she decided to add laser cut leaves to take the quilt to the “next level.” Sherrie prepared many fall colored fat quarters with Heat-n-Bond and dropped them at QuiltDoc for laser cutting.

Two weeks later, she experimented with where to put the leaves; ultimately deciding on one leaf per block. She changed the orientation, making the quilt rectangular to emphasize the directionality of the leaves. She added a few leaves slipping off the top onto the border. After pressing, she dropped the quilt off at QuiltDoc for custom “Sketch quilting.”

Krelnik braided metallic thread in copper was the perfect compliment to the colors in the quilt top.

Several times around the applique secures the patch to the top and quilts the piece at the same time.

Andy did his sketch quilting technique in a metallic thread by Krelnik on the new longarm. He added whimsical loops between the leaves, filling in between the leaves with a subtle copper/green thread that looks like sun shining through the canopy.

A cheeky leaf fell off the top and onto the border, emphasizing the overall whimsy of the piece.

This is the first quilt off the new longarm machine in QuiltDoc Studios and every one is thrilled with the results. We’d like to congratulate Sherrie on this special tribute to her friend, we’re sure that Ms. Lipper’s mother-in-law is smiling down on this gorgeous quilt.

31

31, by Andy Wiginton PhD

The first ever Cover Quilt is here!

It seems fitting that “31” is the first cover quilt. I was born on Halloween, and it seems that this website will finally be “born” in October as well. “31” is also my first laser cut quilt kit available for purchase. It’s an easy, “stack and whack” pattern made with a Halloween layer cake, a few fat quarters and some solid black fabric. The quilt is virtually no waste, as all of the extra trimmings are cleverly used in an inner border and on the back.

With a Halloween party playlist blaring in the studio, I had a ball using my ‘sketch quilting’ method to both anchor the bats and quilt the quilt at the same time with my longarm. When I was finished with the center section, I engaged my Statler robotics and changed the thread to a bright orange polyester to quilt the borders. The Halloween themed edge-to-edge design trimmed into the borders transformed the black fabric from expected and basic into something that resembled expensive embroidery.

You can order the pre-fused bats (or leaves) and pattern here.