I must admit that I had a blast doing Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice quilt.

The top is now quilted, the binding stitched on.  I'm waiting for the opening of the Olympics to hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt.

I really liked how Bonnie presented the steps.  It allowed me to swap out some of her techniques for a few favorite of my own (which also gave me something to blog about each weeK).


Even though I make some errors in fabric placement, I'm pleased with my end result of the "baby" quilt.  At least that is what my friend Deb calls it -- since she is working on a larger version.

I used the Celtic Curlz pattern Bonnie recommended as the quilting pattern.  I looked at a number of different Celtic designs -- but this one seemed to flow the best.  It is a little hard to see the quilting from the front -- so let me show you a photo of the back of the quilt as well.

I was happy to have the APQS Millennium to quilt this puppy.  The biggest challenge was the thickness of some of the seam allowances.  I did break a few needles and needed to do some adjustments to the hopping foot after finishing the quilt -- but it was all worth it.

Are you looking for a machine quilter to assist you in finishing this quilt.  If so, I would be happy to help you.  If you would like the Celtic Curlz pattern, the price (excluding  MN tax and shipping) would be $117.19 for the small quilt and $270.75 for the large one.  If you book your quilt by the end of March, I will provide free return shipping (a $20 value)!!!  Contact me if you are interested in reserving a slot in my quilting schedule.

Kari Schell

On Point Quilter

PS - If you would like to sign up for my free newsletter (and receive a free quilt pattern for a small maple leaf quilt), please complete the form below.

I hope you have enjoyed working on the Ice Crystals wall hanging/table runner.  I've decided mine will have a place on the table in my family room.  I've done a number of extra blocks -- so maybe I will do a gift as well.

As a reminder, this free pattern will be available on my website until the end of the month.

In quilting Ice Crystals, I'll admit that I threw it on the longarm and used a snowflake pantograph.  However, I have thought a bit about how I would quilt this on my domestic machine.

I went back to an old favorite, snowflakes and loops.  This is a very forgiving pattern and a great one to practice your machine quilting.  The points of the snowflakes don't need to be the same size and it looks fine if they don't even stay on top of the line when traveling back.  Check out this video to see how to quilt this out.

Here are a few photos of a recent customer's quilt in which I incorporated this technique.  This stunning quilt was done by Judy Berry and will be on display as part of the Redwork Show at Four Season's Quilts during the month of February.  Check the show out to see this quilt in person.

Happy quilting.

Kari Schell
On Point Quilter

Each year I like to find a small quilted item that I can fairly quickly produce.  This gives me something with a personal touch to gift to friends and family. 

This year I saw a quilting design by Christy Dillon from My Creative Stitches that involved stitching out ornaments onto fabric.  With my Intelliquilter on my APQS Millennium, I was pretty sure I could produce quite a few of these ornaments, so I purchased the design.  I made a ton of these.  I'm hoping she adds an ice skating ornament next year -- my numerous skating friends would really enjoy that.

I thought the six inch seemed a little big, so eventually moved to between 3.5 and 4 inches in diameter.

My biggest challenge was how to finish them.  After a number of different attempts I decided I liked the rickrack the best.  Here are a few of the finished products.

I started to think about a design that quilters could more easily do without a computerized machine.  One of the easiest Christmas designs to produce is a holly leave.  It is a series of arcs and they don't have to be consistent.  Check out this video which shows my holly wreath being stitched out in Art and Stitch.  The background music is the Marine Army Band. 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas.

Kari Schell

On Point Quilter

As I was reflecting on Veterans Day, I realized that many of us have relationships with Veterans that we would like to honor.  Give one of those a call today and let them know you appreciate them.  I personally plan to call my Uncle who served in the Korean war.

There are a number of awesome free patterns on the internet that can be used for a quilt to honor a veteran.  Obviously anything with a star theme works well.  Also any quilts in patriotic colors.  Let me share a couple of them.

Star Struck by Terri Karash.  The design is by Quiltville and is offered as a free pattern on Quiltville's website.

Pinwheel Plus offered on the Quilts of Valor Foundation website.  If you are not familiar with Quilts of Valor, check out their mission and how to participate.

If you are interested in me quilting your Veteran's quilt, I will offer you a 20% discount for any bookings using these edge to edge designs during the month of November.  Just mention this post.  (Note that you do not need to send me the quilt in November -- just complete the booking at this time.)  Information and standard rates on my machine quilting services are available on my website, or just send me a note to schedule an appointment to discuss. 

Here is the full-size picture of the quilt I did with Star Dance quilting.

Happy quilting.

Last Saturday I was able to make it to Des Moines to see the AQS Show along with the show for the Des Moines quilt guild.  I really like how they combine the two events together.

The ACQ show allowed me to see what is cutting edge in our industry.  It is what the masters are doing and probably the things we will be working on in the next few years.  I definitely enjoyed the quilting on many of these quilts.  It was interesting to see that crystals appear to be waning in popularity.

The Des Moines quilt guild show provides a better perspective on the types of quilts most of us are working on including the favorite types of patterns that are out there and what is making it on our beds.

One of my favorite features from the Des Moines Guild show was an exhibit on Family Legacy Quilts.  It appears the quilting gene can be passed from generation to generation.  The following quilt was from that exhibit.  If I read my notes correctly the artist is Ellen Kelly Smith.  The diagonal lines is a very typical quilting style from the late 1800s.
 

This quilt appears to be made from an exchange.  There were 11 participents from the Loose Threads Quilt Group.  You can see how the artist combined the nine simple blocks into a larger block.  I just loved the color in this one.

What a great way to put simple blocks together.

In addition to the scrappy nature of this quilt, I loved that the number of different blocks in this quilt -- all with just squares and rectangles.  No half square triangles.  :)

This is actually a miniature quilt.  I just like barn quilts and love how she did the wood in this quilt.

A wonderful rendition of a traditional quilt pattern.  I love her use of color along with the feather quilting in the background.

There were a couple of exhibits that I found particularly fascinating on the AQS side of the show. 

The first was a group of miniature quilts.  Photos weren't allowed during this visit; however there was an ASQ book that I was able to purchase that not only had the photos but some additional information on the quilts and their artists.  One of my favorite parts of looking at miniature quilts is thinking through how I would make the quilt myself.

The second exhibit I loved was that of modern quilts.  Many of these were very simple in terms of piecing.  In these quilts you can see how the machine quilting really appears to move the quilt to award quality.

Iceterine Strata

Doris Lovadina-Lee
Toronto, Ontanrio, Canada

This reminded me of playing Free Fall on my Iphone.

Moon Shadow
Diana Roberts
Windsor CA

Moons Over Bars
Susan Garrity
Wilson, WY

I thought the quilting on this one was phenomenal.  Straight lines super-imposed with pebbled circles. 

I can't read the label on this quilt.  My apologies to the artist.

I loved the use of plaid in these circles along with the pops of color.

I hope you enjoyed a few of my favorite quilts from these shows.

Happy quilting.