Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Summer Finishes

My unstructured days 
of summer have finally allowed
me to finish two quilts.
that had been lingering.

"Scrappy Rings"
55" x 60"

and 


"A Dutch Garden"
65" x 65"

The Scrappy Rings pattern
had been a weekly challenge


No borders and then with simple diagonal quilting


all those hundreds of different fabrics
could remain the stars.


I approached it mostly as a 
leaders and enders project, but
then as always with a L and E project,
I finally just sewed to get it done.

After having breakfast with girl friends this summer
they very willing agreed to help
me with a Fort Collins Old Town photo shoot.



Thanks Liz and Debbie.


A Dutch Garden was a kit 
I purchased at the Houston International Quilt Festival
of the Netherlands.

The kit came with that beautiful
outer border fabric, the center medallion,
and a few other key pieces.
The rest I filled in with my
treasured pieces of Dutch fabrics.


The design included all
kinds of fun piecing, broderie perse applique
and of course, hexagons.


I felt it needed to be heavily quilted 
and that challenged me to be creative with
my limited machine quilting skills.




 The real challenge came when
trying to decide what to do in that
very wide outer border.

I figured it had to be more feathers.
That's what I did in a very organic way!


A little harder to see, but there they are
weaving their way over all those flowers.


No binding was attached to finish the edge,
but rather I used a facing to give it a clean look.

During my photo shoot at the 
Colorado State Perennial Gardens,
something thought it was a real garden


I guess that was the real test
that I had created a "A Dutch Garden".

 Until Next Time-
Kyle

22 comments:

  1. Oh my, awesome quilts! How wonderful to add both of them to your collection.

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  2. They are both sensational! That Dutch Garden is amazing. And, I would say your machine quilting skills are spot on. Looks like your little hitchhiker enjoyed it as well. How sweet!

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  3. wow...both of your quilts are spectacular. My quilters envy is showing. Hugs

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  4. Two more awesome quilts, Kyle. Your Dutch Garden finished beautifully.

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  5. Swooning over your Dutch Garden finish! Looks like a tiny dragonfly is too...hats off to you for tackling the machine quilting - well done. I have the center medallion panel, the pattern and a bunch of possible fabrics laid out for this quilt. What I don’t have is the big floral border so am exploring options...you have motivated me to get this project off the ground come winter.

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  6. Two beautiful finishes. Your quilting is lovely on the Dutch Garden, well done.

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  7. Two very different, yet equally impressive finishes!
    I salute you for quilting the second one yourself. It is intimidating to me to set out to quilt such an "heirloom". But you did it beautifully!
    That is pretty funny about the dragonfly. :)

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  8. Gorgeous finishes! I love the first one for the resemblance to mosaic tiles and your color placement is spot-on with all those blocks. You've done such a lovely job of quilting Dutch Garden, love the way the hexie flowers pop, perfection! Fort Collins Old Town was the perfect backdrop for your photo shoot.

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  9. 2 beautiful finishes in one post! The scrappy rings is wonderful and I love your picture with the old brick building. Wth so many fabrics I bet it's a feast for the eyes up close. Your friends look pretty cute too .:0) Your Dutch garden is lovely. Dutch chintz is so special and you've used yours beautifully. I think your machine quilting is marvellous - wonderful border feathers.

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  10. Wow! Two great summer finishes, Kyle! Love your wonderful Scrappy Rings and Dutch Garden is just so beautiful! I'd say you are an accomplished machine quilter :) Great job!

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  11. 2 beauties! and your machine quilting looked fabulous to me! Finishes are the absolute funnest!

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  12. Ok, so those scrappy rings speak to me heart obviously! But your garden quilt is stunning as well. I'm impressed by all of those feathers. Congrats on two amazing finishes.

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  13. WOW, both quilts are beautiful - completely different quilts. Love the scrappy one. It's the kind of quilt that will just age so beautifully as it is used and loved. And the Dutch one - gorgeous - and your free motion quilting looks great. Isn't it satisfying to quilt your own, on your own machine.

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  14. Woohoo! Great finishes, both of them. Love the Scrappy Rings from the pics but Dutch Garden is probably magnificent close up! You make the best quilts!:)

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  15. Love the medallion center and the wonderful border print on the Dutch kit quilt. It can come live with me!

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  16. Your own Dutch garden in CO! How about that!
    I love how both quilts turned out.

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  17. I love your Dutch garden quilt!!! But those circles...that quilt just calls to me. Bravo, Bravo!

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  18. Beautiful finishes!! Scrappy Rings is a yummy catalog of scraps, and I loved the blooming flowers that accompanied it. The fabrics in Dutch Garden are amazing, and the quilting makes a wonderful finish! Brava!

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  19. These are both wonderful finishes and such different quilts. But they both shine in their own ways. Lovely photos, too, in the gardens. Love the detail in the Dutch quilt and I love the scrappiness of the rings.
    Great quilts.

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  20. Congratulations on finishing these beauties. I love your scrappy quilt. the colors and patterns are fun to study. Your quilt shoot in town is super. I always admire your photo locations.
    Your Dutch Garden is stunning. You did a beautiful job and the facing adds a special touch. The quilting is beautiful and brings it to life.

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  21. Both of your quilts are wonderful! How fun to do your photo shoot with friends and beautiful flowers!

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  22. Loved seeing both quilts, especially Dutch Garden

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