Saturday, October 15, 2022

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).

 Suzette's daughter wanted a simple quilting design that would complement the bold stripes and angles of the piecing.  Once again, my 13' frame gave me the ability to load the quilt sideways so the design could be stitched vertically on the quilt, complementing the piecing lines.  I LOVE how this design looks on this quilt!  With so many large patches of fabric oriented on the bias, I did have some stretching and fullness to contend with, and the Tikki Soft design enabled me to distribute that fullness evenly between stitching lines and quilt almost all of it out.  Suzette and I were both thrilled with how it turned out.

Now, I don't always go looking for couture fashion to match up with quilts, but this one jumped right out of a magazine page at me yesterday, reminding me that I still hadn't posted Suzette's quilt.  See the resemblance?  It's a sweater set by Stella McCartney from their Winter 2022 collection.  It turns out that my high school Western Civ. teacher was right after all -- everything IS connected to everything else!  (Thanks, Mr. Nuccio!)

3D Stripes Sweater Set by Stella McCartney, Winter Collection 2022

Here's the "Before Quilting" shot of the quilt top:

Suzette's Quilt Top Before Quilting

Thank you so much for choosing me to quilt this for you, Suzette!  

PSST!!  I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!

By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you!  I am already scheduling into 2023, but I do have a few December slots remaining.  Please let me know ASAP if you are working on quilts with holiday deadlines.  Click here to learn how easy it is to book a quilt with me!

Meanwhile, at a Bucolic Horse Farm in Waxhaw...

You know how I told you in last week's post that I make quilts for beds, not for shows?  Well, on Thursday I ripped the quilts OFF the beds in my house and sent my husband up a ladder with them to hang them from the ceiling of Valerie Fox's barn for the Barnful of Quilts show that is happening today.  We were among the first group setting up for the show on Thursday morning, and many more artists and vendors were scheduled to set up throughout the day Thursday and Friday.  I can't wait to see everyone else's work, but that means getting up from the computer, getting dressed, and getting out the door!

Color Outside the Lines, Sermon Scribbles, and Nanu Nanu!

I have six quilts in the show and they are all hanging up high along this corridor.  Those bed quilts look so much smaller hanging up high like that!  I wasn't able to include Mission Impossible because that one is in Boone, keeping Lars-of-Ours warm in his college apartment.  And these are the ONLY quilts that I have 1. Actually finished 2. Not given away as gifts 3. Not seen disintegrate from use.

Sugar Shack Leaves, Giverny Teleidoscope, and Pineapple Juice Nostalgia

Sugar Shack Leaves is the oldest quilt I'm exhibiting, completed in 2006.  The only reason it has survived so long in such good shape is that, after watching me spend an ETERNITY hand quilting it, my husband has been guarding this quilt ferociously for the past 16 years.  If ever a child tried to cuddle up with that quilt with a juice cup or ice cream, my husband would snatch it away and exclaim "Do you know how LONG it took your mother to make that?!!"  That is the first and LAST quilt I ever quilted by hand!

This Barn is Full of Quilts!

The Fox Family Farm is a working horse farm on 155 acres in rural Waxhaw, North Carolina, less than 30 minutes from the hustle and bustle of Ballantyne.  Quilters and other local fiber artists are exhibiting and there will be yarn and quilt shop vendors there as well.  The address is 7505 Sims Road, Waxhaw, NC.  It's a gorgeous setting, and the weather today is perfect.  I hope to see you there!

I'm linking up today's post with my favorite linky parties, found on the left sidebar of my blog.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

12 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

if only I was there - I would love to see you and a barn full of quilts. I so love that a husband understands the value of a quilt that took forever to make :)

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Suzette's quilt is beautiful, I love the zigzag fabrics in here, and your tiki quilting pattern, wonderful! Have fun with the show, I wish I could have been there, your quilts look fabulous hanging in this old barn, what a great show! Like Karen, I love your husband's understanding!
Thank you for sharing these beauties, and linking up

Sandy said...

What a fun display of quilts! I wish I could have been t here, but I live more than a hop, skip and a jump away. ;) As for the Improv Quilt, it looks wonderful -- no surprise there. :)

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

Beautiful display of your quilts, Rebecca! The barn is so clean and tidy, are you sure it's a working farm?! Looks like a great day ahead for you. And I love that you got a quilt that could take the Tikki panto!!! So mod! (But those sleeves on the sweater!?! Haha!) That's a panto that I'd love to be able to use--I might have to make a quilt myself that fits the vibs, if I want to use it.

chrisknits said...

Wonderful quilting! And oh my, I would love to be there, but time and distance are a factor. LOL Good luck with your exhibition! I can't even pick a favored one of your quilts, they are all equally lovely!

piecefulwendy said...

Well, you know I love a good peek at an improv quilt, and this one is amazing! The quilting design works really well, too. Oh how I wish I was in the area, so I could see the quilt show (and meet you!).

Jenny K. Lyon said...

I would love to see your show! When I lived in Charlotte my church was the Methodist Church in Waxhaw! Your quilts look so gorgeous in that setting.

Peacemeal said...

OMG beautiful quilts in a beautiful barn. Quilting by hand, piecing by hand, I did it ONCE for my first child's first quilt (my first as well) and said NOPE never again. But it is so worth it in the end. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

LA Paylor said...

wish I could come see the quilts in this cool setting

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

That barn setting is a great background for your beautiful work. Speaking of beautiful, that quilting design in light thread looks amazing on your customer's quilt. What a great design!

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Your 80's quilt really looks wonderful hanging in the rafters. All of them look good, but the 80's will catch everyone's eye! Hugs

dq said...

Very nice quilting choice on this one too!