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| Victoria's new Christmas quilt |
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| Victoria with a work in progress |
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| Alexis with her new bed quilt (front) |
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| Back |
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| Patty's corduroy challenge |
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| Back |
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| One of Roberta's many quilts for Camp Aaron. |
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| LeeAnn's Goodwill Treasures, 54 x 80" |
Thanks to Cindy for identifying source of Patty's pattern: H.D. Designs, Mary Lou Hallenbeck. 
Patty's comments: Those are the four patch posie
blocks I made after day camp with Becca Knox last Friday. I used that
strange tropical print that I had brought to Rebels the month before. You
were trying to figure out the color scheme.
BuffY: Does anyone in blog land know who gets credit for this technique?
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| The Rebels challenged themselves to use this corduroy in a quilt. |
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| Here are some of the items they made! |
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| Buffy made Chinese Coins. |
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| Dawn made this bag. |
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| And it's reversible! |
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Roberta, perhaps the most rebellious of all, made this INSTEAD of doing her gardening. She calls it "Rebel in Fall."
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| Cindy was on the road, so didn't get the challenge piece, but she made this from a thrift store find and a pair of her husband's jeans. |
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| Our brand new member, Pam, got into the spirit too! |
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| She even included a zipper! |
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| Buffy is our fearless leader when it comes to corduroy! She made this quilt several years ago in a class with Gwen Marston. |
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| Another corduroy beauty by Buffy, also made in a class with Gwen some years ago. |
Previously blogged that Cindy was collecting these tourist-focused, linen towels to make a quilt. This summer her husband biked across the US to raise money for the Lung Association. Cindy followed along with truck and Hobo trailer (think very small). She, of course, stopped at quilt shops and thrift stores on the way. She found this piece which is already on its way to being a quilt top.
Vintage panel found at thrift store. Started to use this on quilt back, but Bug told me "No, I want to be my own quilt." It was supposed to be a Lady Bug Bag.
Quilt #5 of 10: Turned to Sue Patten’s Adaptable Quilting Designs for this pattern. Needed a freezer paper pattern of the basic paisley-shaped spines to start the block, but able to remove it and do feathers and swirls freehand. Still not always smooth, but making progress. Able to do border all freehand, by first doing a freehand spine. Used same thread in needle and bobbin. i.e. Superior’s Rainbows, 40 wt poly. It comes on a 2000 yard cone. I finished with about one yard of thread left! My machine service man has tuned up my Juki, so that the tension is perfect. It’s a joy to see those beautifully balanced stitches roll out. This took most of the month of September. I need to quilt a little less dense, if I’m ever going to catch up. I’ve given up counting the number of unquilted tops. They just keep growing. Can’t seem to stay away from piecing. It is a quicker reward.
This one is my own. It started with a challenge by Victoria to find an inspirational piece of clothing, and build a "quilt 15 minute made fabric" style. Then you gave me the Virgin panel, and I am growing it from there.
This one is my own pattern. I call it Hokule'a. Hokule'a is the guiding star for the Polynesian navigation system. I wanted to start with that and I will finish it up with sort of log cabin blocks to symbolize the journey we are all taking.
Seems like she mentioned inspiration from Quilting Arts Magazine.
Hand quilting with pearl cotton, following the lines of the stripes. No marking quilting at it's best. Fabric is from men's shirts, thrift market, of course.
Give Nifty an Accu-quilt baby, and a stack of thrift market plaids, and get a wonderful, lively quilt.
November 11, 2011 is National Corduroy Day. Deb Rowden issued a challenge to make a corduroy quilt to celebrate. Nifty found this "ugliest fabric ever" furnishing fabric corduroy and shared pieces of it with Rebels for our own Corduroy Challenge. Good luck Rebels!
Mary inherited this worn out family quilt, in poor shape. She has recreated it in this top; a great way to preserve the memory. 
Machine Quilting Journal #6
Another finish: finished quilt #4 of 10. This actually was fun when I got to border and was able to do a fern feather. This is really easy: mark a serpentine vine, and then quilt feathers, all the inside and then all of the outside feathers, in a to and fro motion. Even turning the corners was fairly easy. Foto is of the back of the quilt.
Thread learning: Doing the ditch quilting on quilt #5. When I was about 90% done, I was increasingly bothered by the shiny look of the monopoly on the top of the quilt. I switched to Invisifil, a 100 wt poly by Wonderfil threads of Calgary, Canada, and the result was much better. It was in a neutral color and disappeared into the fabric and didn’t scream shiny.
Mary started this in a Gwen Marston workshop in May. Looks like she really understands Gwen's philosophy. I like the exuberance and fun use of color; as well as the wonky patterning.
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| Diane brought her FINISHED crazy quilt. |
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| Truly amazing! |
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| Roberta brought some Lone Star quilts that have been in her family for 40 years. |
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| Our special guest from Tennessee, Mary Keasler, brought her trees, |
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| And her magnolia! |
Machine Quilting Journal #5
Working on quilt #4 of 10, the Leaf Quilt. Ditch quilting revisited.
Again I used the 60/8 Microtex sharp needle, Madeira monopoly in needle, and this time King Tut 40 wt. cotton in the bobbin. I wanted the quilting to show on the back, but not the front of the quilt. I used several color ways of the King Tut. Who says bobbin threads have to match??
Staying in the ditch: Contrary to most teachers, who insist that one keep one’s eyes on the needle for ditch quilting; I do much better to look ahead of the needle about 1”; and let the right brain steer. This takes focus and practice, but skills are improving.
If I were really smart, I’d figure out a way to avoid ditch quilting.
Fern Feathers
An article in the AQS journal, May 20010, “Braided Feathers” by Shirley Stults opened the door for me for quilting totally freeform feathers. I wanted a more contemporary look than traditional feathers, and was able to achieve that with fern feathers. I didn’t need to braid them, just do a left feather, a right feather, bottom to top, and quilt stem back to bottom.
I started with the idea of doing veins in the leaves, but the shapes morphed into fern feathers. On a larger scale, this pattern would look great with a few swirls and tendrils. Maybe in the the border?? Needle thread: King Tut 40 wt cotton, color Autumn Days. No photo. This is a picture of the back of the quilt, showing King Tut in the bobbin.
Bonus pictures: hanging flower baskets, Edmonds, WA, 8/18/11. Flowers have been spectacular this summer. They really like the cool summer weather.
