Five Ways to Quilt a Butterly

 Lately I can't seem to commit to just one quilting motif. I find myself doing a lot of alternating designs. This fun butterfly quilt inspired me. I came up with five different ways to quilt the butterflies. I am sure you could come up with even more great ideas!

 Multiple spirals.....

 Inward loopies.....

 Big spirals......

 Half of a feather......

Stacked scallops.

Chevron Quilting

I have always had difficulty deciding how to perfectly quilt a stacked coins quilt. This version is quite small, but perfectly adorable. It has a boyish flair, so obviously no flowers, like on this version.

 I finally decided on chevron quilting. Why didn't I think of it sooner? A little zig and zag was perfect for this quilt.

Posting this quilt got me reminiscing on all the chevron quilting I have done. Check out a few more of my quilting jobs with zig zags.

Robot Factory Quilt

 A good boy quilt is not always easy to come by. Am I right? The fun robot fabrics in this quilt are Robot Factory from Robert Kauffman. I loved the saturated colors and how the quilter added lots of prints from other lines. With lots of patterns and colors, as well as lots of piece work, I didn't want to over do it with the quilting. However, I did want to give the customer a custom look.

 Here is what I did. I did a squared stipple in the center block. This quilting always reminds me of a microchip. I only quilted a motif in the center stripe of those strip blocks. The inner and outer strips got a straight line right down the middle.

I alternated the designs between a spiral, ribbon, figure eight, and ovals. It turned out just right! Not too much quilting, but just enough for a custom look.

Rescue Vehicles {Machine Quilting}

When I first saw this quilt, I knew I wanted to quilt spirals in it somewhere. Originally, I thought that I would quilt them in the octagon shaped blocks, but then I changed my mind and quilted them in the four patch blocks.

If there are a lot of curves in a motif, I like to do some straight lines as a contrast, especially in a boyish quilt like this one. You can see the straight line quilting in the yellow border above.  It is one of my favorite ways to quilt a border. 

I went through a few options in my mind for the octagonal blocks as well. I am glad I went with the diagonal lines.  I used yellow thread in this quilt. I use yellow thread A LOT! It seems to blend well with most multi colored quilts .

Repeat of Happy Mochi Zig Zag

Last week I was lucky enough to get to quilt this Happy Mochi zig zag quilt again. It has been hanging up at Gracie Lou's for over a year, and I know they sold some kits, so I am not surprised to get to quilt it once more. I filled the white space with a feather/spiral fill just like I did in the sample. This fill design is FUN to quilt. I won't mind at all if I get sent another just like it!

For more photos of what this quilt looks like as a whole, click here.

Hourglass Baby Quilt with 3D Flowers

 This happy baby quilt has a lot of features that I love. For starters, the polka dot border. I love those happy colorful dots. I love the yellow sashing, and the simple hourglass blocks. If we stopped there, the quilt would be cute, but a little boring. The 3D flowers finish it off perfectly.

I wish I knew the pattern and designer for this quilt. I would love to share it with you so you could make one of your own.

 The orange hourglass blocks are quilted with a spiral. I love the movement it gives to the quilt.

 I used what is probably my favorite motif from my Pam Clarke book. This design coordinates nicely with the 3D flowers. You can also see the spiral vine that I quilted in to the polka dot border.

 The yellow sash is quilted with a wide figure eight. This design is always one of my favorites.

Log Cabin with Stars and Feather Background Fill

I quilted this quilt for my sweet neighbor Myrle a few weeks ago. She sewed this intensively for a few weeks. It is a gift for her daughter's bed. As you can see there are many, many small pieces in this quilt.

The portions of the quilt with patterned fabrics are quite busy, so I quilted those areas more simply. I focused the fancy quilting to the white background fabric which I filled with feathers and swirls.