Sunday, November 8, 2015

Tree of Life - Happy November

November already, my my where is the time going to quickly? I was very lucky to be able to quilt this beauty for Jeanne.  I love the colors and they seem so perfect for this time of year.  The pattern is Tree of Life by Edyta Sitar.  I do love her patterns.   We used 2 layers of batting on this, Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 on the bottom and Hobbs wool on top. This give such great texture to the trees and leaves. Bottom Line thread was used for the McTavishing. This is a 60wt thread, nice and light for the dense background quilting. Filtec Invisible thread (the best invisible thread I've ever used) for the stitch in the ditch. Glide thread on the tree trunks. Look closely at the one tree trunk, it's got Bill  <3 Jeanne on it, so fun writing little things in quilts.   Jeanne wanted her name quilted in one of the trees.  As soon as my daughter got home I showed her this quilt and told her about the quilting we had planned.  It was her idea with the tree, ran it past Jeanne and she loved the idea too.  Now that's whay I call team work. I love the McTavishing on nature quilts, I think it adds to the texture and movement to the quilt.  Like a gentle breeze blowing on a wonderful fall day.  Thanks so much for letting me quilt for you Jeanne.

This is why pictures are good, I see a couple of stitches on this little guys tail that need to be removed.
Can you see Bill <3 Jeanne in the tree?  My favorite part. 
couple of stitches on this sweet little things belly need to come off.  I love the colors of this one.


Each tree trunk has free motion bark quilting.  It really gives a lot of texture with the two layers of batting.

Tree of Life





The back, loved the label.  She used EQ for this, I'll definitely give that a try.

I do have something new  on the design wall.  I start Jinny Beyer's Moonglow.  Oh my goodness I'm in over my head with this one.  I did do a Jinny Beyer quilt about 10 years ago for a different nephew's wedding.  It was paper piecing and I love it.  So I was pretty excited about starting this.  But ......it's not really paper piecing, more like partial paper piecing and templates. I've already made a couple of modifications to the blocks.  Boy oh Boy, I gotta figure out what to do with this one.  It's a kit, so I have to be careful with fabrics if I change any blocks.  But I'm not sure I can finish with these, I just don't like doing them.  These blocks are anything but flat!!  I'm going to need some really fluffy batting to take care of the fullness, there is definitely going to have to be some creative quilting on this top!!  I've got 6 / 13 done.  I do a block and then let myself do something fun for a little while.  I got two blocks done this weekend.  If I keep up that pace, I'll be done in 6.5 weeks :)  I have 6 months to finish.  Wish me luck!!
See those circle center?  they aren't suppose to be circles, I gave up and made the modification.  The circle die that I have is just the right size for fusible!!

And here's how I treat myself.  I've got this modern fun quilt on the frame now.  I quilt a row, make a block, quilt a row, make a block......We'll see which gets done first!
HHST on the frame

Don't forget to check out the linky parties on the side bar, lots of inspiration out there.

17 comments:

  1. The tree of life quilt is stunning. You sure have the touch to do beautiful, custom quilting.

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  2. Oh Sue I am always so inspired by your quilting!!! I'm still in the phase of using my Sewing Sundays to be mellow.....but I know as life progresses my quilting mojo will catch up....I'm thinking this next summer will be a big turning point for my quilting...fingers crossed!

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  3. A great quilt and pattern with Sue's special frosting - it all sparkles. We've had a few students try the Moon Glow and most just gave up and passed it on to someone else. Those that stuck with it had the same problems and we got creative in fixing them.

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  4. Your quilting on the Tree of Life is just gorgeous. I have looked at that pattern several times and now I really want to make it. The Moon glow blocks you have made are lovely... it's too bad they are frustrating to make.

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  5. I want to quilt like that when I grow up lol absolutely beautiful

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  6. First, I love your quilting! Second, I noticed that you are floating your quilt top. Why do you not remove the unused bar? Just curious as I am learning the longarm.

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  7. The quilting on The Tree of Life is beautiful! Good luck with finishing your nephew's quilt, inspite of the difficulties, it is going to be a stunner too!

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  8. I piece my labels into the backing quite often, and I like to have a lot of detail on them. I know one day someone will be glad I went to the trouble.

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  9. The Tree of Life quilt turned out beautifully. Love the quilting. You are a brave soul to try the Jenny Byers blocks, but yours look beautiful. Good luck with the rest of the blocks.

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  10. Very pretty! have fun with Moonglow as always her fabric and colors are spectacular

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  11. I have the Jinny Beyer Moonglow kit also. It was on sale a while ago and I bought it - not sure why. I quilted one several years ago but don't really remember how I did it. I can't seem to locate a photo. I don't know if I will ever make it but It is a pretty quilt.

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  12. Wow - your tree of life quilt is GORGEOUS!!

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  13. The Treee of Life is a wonderful pattern. You have made it stunning with your quilting. You're almost half done with those blocks - I have every confidence you will finish in plenty of time to be able to do your quilting magic on them. Thanks for linking to WIPs Be Gone, Sue.

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  14. Wow that is just gorgeous and I love the way you are rewarding yourself with some sewing time.

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  15. Your quilting is gorgeous, Sue! Love the tree quilting idea too.Wow!

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  16. Hello Sue,

    What a fabulous quilt! The colours are lovely, really restful, and the quilting on the trunk is a great personal touch.

    Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks!

    Love, Muv

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  17. Your quilting is always amazing Sue and adds so much to a quilt!

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