Sunrise Quilt Studio

Wishing all of you in "Blog Land" a very Happy New Year! Thanks to all of you who blog and share your talent in the cyber world. I am for one have been inspired by each of you to try new techniques and new forms of art. Thanks again for your generousity. Susan

I made this quilt a few years ago when I was working on my Filigree patterns. This little quilt is trapuntoed with a 6.6oz batting and a Soft and Bright main batting. The background is McTavishing. This is one of the quilts I use as a sample for my customers who want McTavishing in their quilts. I took time out from quilting to spend time with family at Christmas. Even though we were all here at home and we didn't do any traveling, we had a nice day here. We are used to traveling or visiting relatives on Christmas day. Our son came and spent several days with us, so it was a nice week. My oldest DD helped me with cooking. That's quite a feat since she doesn't like to cook ;) She made a batch of chocolate chip cookies one day, and on Christmas Eve she helped with the entire meal. I had precooked a turkey the day before so we had only the trimmings to fix. Mashed potatoes, rolls, lemon and basil carrots, scalloped mushrooms, etc. All my families favorites. Christmas morni...

Working on a show quilt takes time. I know that, but everytime I start one I realize how much time they actually take. It seems I have memory lapse from one show quilt to the next. The excitement of the challenge takes priority in my brain. Today I finally finished tying and burying all the stops and starts on the feather stems and outline quilting. I timed myself at one point and the results are:....... 5 minutes to quilt = 25 minutes to tie off and bury thread tails! Of course these are meandering feathers and I had to stop and start the stems at various places. Normally I don't have that many stops and starts in a quilt. This is also a very large quilt - king-sized plus! Today I'm working on the feathers and hope to get to some of the background quilting. I hope to have the quilting done by this weekend so I can work on the binding. With Christmas just 2 days away, this may be wishful thinking :) Susan Susan

In working on this wholecloth quilt, I did a couple of comparison quilting samples with different types of batting before deciding on which combination to use. I want a trapunto look, but since I can't get this quilt wet due to the type of fabric as well as the beading, lace and sequins already on the quilt, I'm going for faux trapunto. The photo above shows feathers quilted with 3 different combinations of batting. These were quickly quilted freehand with McTavishing background filler. The top fabric is bridal satin with a silk backing fabric. I've used Sew Fine 50wt. thread in the top and bobbin. I had my DH and oldest DD give me their votes. I'll reveal my decision and the batting combination I've chosen in a future post. Which do you like best? Susan

Christine asked me what Golden Paper was that I had mentioned in a previous post. The correct name is Golden Threads Quilting Paper . It's made by Golden Threads . You can purchase it from their website here or from other quilting suppliers like Kingsmen . It comes in 3 different widths. You use it by tracing your design onto the Golden Threads Quilting Paper with a water soluble marker. You can then place your design on your quilt top and pin it in place and quilt through the paper onto your quilt top. Or you can punch it by stitching through the paper on your design with your sewing machine (unthreaded) to make a stencil. You then use a chalk pounce pad to mark your design onto your quilt top. The paper comes with instructions on how to use it. I've used both methods and they both work well. With the whole cloth that I'm working on now, I'll use the method where I quilt through the paper directly onto the quilt. I pin it in place and quilt just as if I've marked...

I spent the majority of yesterday working on designs for the satin wedding gown quilt. I have so many ideas running through my head on what designs to use on this quilt that I haven't come to a conclusion at this point. This photo shows some of the tools I've been using to design quilting patterns. I drew that feathered heart design so many times that I can't remember how many times I erased and redrafted it. The feathered heart itself came together quickly since it's a pattern I quilt freehand quite often - it was the layout that I couldn't decide on. At this point it is drafted to set on-point with a slightly curved outline surrounding the hearts and then a feathered filigree design I drafted earlier in the same day. I also drafted 2 more blocks of the filigree feather in 2 different sizes as another possible design for the quilt. Most of the tools I use are familiar to quilters: paper - tracing, printer paper, and large sheets of plain paper: pencil, black shar...

This photo is of a wholecloth quilt that I made for an auction to raise funds for the Missouri Baptist Children's home back in 2004 or 2005. I can't seem to remember which year. It's white cotton with cut-away trapunto. I used Warm and White as a main batting and 6.6oz poly batting for the trapunto batt. The background fillers are micro-stippling, McTavishing and rays. I thought I would post a few photos of the quilt since my mind has been pre-occupied with wholecloth quilting designs the past week. The quilting designs in this quilt are from Anita Shackleford's Infinite Feathers Quilting Designs book as well as from Pepper Cory and Karen McTavish. Of course there are some timeless ropes in there, too. The wholecloth I'm working on now is a satin wedding gown redesigned into a quilt top. It's absolutely gorgeous with the ivory satin, lace, pearls and sequins. I'm very excited and honored to be working on this quilt. This week has been spent pouring over eve...

I finally got my daughters gathered up and wrapped up in heavy coats and we made our trip to run errands. I stopped by the fabric store to buy small pieces of silk and satin to practice quilting new feather designs for the wholecloth quilt. I'll bind the practice pieces and use them as samples once they are done. We arrived home just in time. The back deck was covered with ice from where the rain water had frozen. It won't be long and the roads will be icy, too. Here is a photo of the completed Dick and Jane quilt. It's all quilted and bound and ready for wrapping up for Christmas. This photo shows the back of the Dick and Jane quilt detailing the quilting. I used Mary Covey's Apple design. This is the finished Mystery Quilt. I have to decide on a name for this quilt. It gives me the impression of lattice work. Any suggestions? My customer's embroidered snowmen quilt is also done and ready to go home to it's owner. It's been a productive week. Now back t...

Preparing for winter in our new home in central Missouri is completely different from when we lived in the country. We used to cut and stack wood for supplemental heating - something necessary when you live in an area where electricity is unreliable in summertime much less in winter. We lived near the Arkansas border and ice storms were usually more common than snowstorms. Ice storms mean ice-laden limbs that fall out of trees and knock down power lines. Which in turn can equal days on end without electricity or heat or water for that matter. We had well water so when you don't have electricity, the well pump doesn't work. We have been snowed in for as long as a week with snow storms that dump 8-12 inches of snow on our 1/4 mile long hilly driveway. There was only one way in and out of the property and if you tried to drive down the driveway and slipped off, you would end up in the pond! Not a great prospect and not worth risking. We kept the freezer stocked as well as the pant...

I've been busy crocheting in the evenings to finish a couple of projects. The photo above is a crocheted dishcloth. It is one of several that I have completed over the past month. I'll use a couple of them as "White Elephant" gifts at our Sunday School Christmas party next week. Here is a close-up of a few of the crocheted snowflake ornaments that I've also been working on. I soaked them in heavy spray starch and pinned them to a piece of cardboard covered in plastic wrap and freezer paper to dry. Today they will be ready to attach a hanging cord to and hung up on the tree. This photo shows the entire set that I have crocheted these past weeks. I finished piece the quilt top for Debby's Snowman quilt yesterday and today I'll be loading it on the machine and start quilting. Once that is done I still need to get my son's quilt on the machine and quilt it. I'll do an overall design on that quilt. It's a tesselating star quilt. I made this qui...