Fabric for Life Contest!

I just entered this contest from Keepsake Quilting to win fabric for life!  

Enter once a day until February 28, 2014.  

Click on the picture to enter!

Mary

Vote for your favorite table runner at The Quilting Gallery

The Quilting Gallery's Quilters' Show and Tell contest this week is table runners. There so many beautiful table runners!

Mine is Autumn Runner (3rd one on the first row).

Take a look, and vote for your favorite!

Mary

Grand Prize Winner of the 2013 Q&N Paint Chip Challenge -- Me!

My Purple Butterflies quilt won the Grand Prize in the 2013 Quilt & Needle Paint Chip Challenge!

Back in January, I joined the Q&N Paint Chip Challenge --- my paint chip color was a red-violet.  I decided to use the Tessellating Star pattern, and wrote up instructions in this post.  After I finished the patchwork, I appliqued LOTS of butterflies onto the quilt top, then machine quilted it using a combination of echoing, flowers, pebbles and other fill patterns in a diagonal direction.

When the quilt was completed, I posted it here and sent pictures in and I won the Grand Prize!  I won a $50 gift certificate from The Quilt & Needle.

This was officially my 100th quilt, so was special to me, even before I won!

Mary

Spring Tulips - Blogger's Quilt Festival - Appliqued Quilt

If you are new to my blog through the Blogger's Quilt Festival, welcome!  I hope you enjoy my blog, and come back to visit again!

Spring Tulips is my submission in the Appliqued quilt category.  The quilt is 60" x 60".  

This quilt was adapted from a pattern called Windblown Tulip Garden. The fabrics were floral and tonal cottons in shades of blue, green, yellow and white, the green border was a basket-weave pattern, and the background was a white on white patterned fabric.

The applique was needle turned, and the tulips were outline quilted.  The rest of the quilt was quilted in a different overall pattern for each border. 

I liked the idea of narrow borders on this quilt, it added a lot of interest to the quilt.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing this quilt, it's one of my favorites.   To see more of my quilts, check out other posts on my blog, my Quilt Gallery or my Mary Manson Quilts web site!

Mary

"Butterflies" Quilt for the Blogger's Quilt Festival

If you are new to my blog through the Blogger's Quilt Festival, welcome!  I hope you enjoy my blog, come back to visit any time!

This "Butterflies" quilt was one of the first quilts I made, and it is still one of my all time favorites. The colors are so pretty and cheerful, and I love the appliqued dragonflies and butterflies!   When I made it, I wanted to make something bright and summery, and it was a wonderful way  for me to learn patchwork, applique, binding, and hand quilting techniques. It's 42" x 42"
.

The flower bud patchwork pattern was made with solid and tonal fabrics, in blue/purple, green, turquoise and yellow. with a white on white fabric for the background.  The border and backing were a print in greens and blues, with a dragonfly pattern.

I hand quilted it with a pattern of butterflies around the border, stitched around the colored areas, and did a geometric design in the larger white areas.

I appliqued the dragonflies and butterflies that I cut from the backing fabric, leaving the wings of the butterfly unattached for a three-dimensional effect.

I've made a lot of quilts since I made this one, but this is one of my favorites  and I wanted to share it for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  To see more of my quilts, check out other posts on my blog, my Quilt Gallery or my Mary Manson Quilts web site!

Mary

Purple Butterflies finished - Quilt #100!

After several stops and starts, the Purple Butterflies quilt is complete.   This is the 100th quilt I have made!!

Back in January, I signed up to do the Paint Chip Challenge.  Cindy sent me a red-violet paint chip as my challenge color,  and I decided to use up some of the purple fabric I had in my stash.  

The Tessellating Star was a new design for me, so I made a Tessellating Star tutorial for my blog, once I figured it out.  I didn't like the look of the quilt top, so I took some butterfly fabric I had and cut out DOZENS of butterflies, attached them to the quilt and sewed them down with invisible thread.  

I wanted to try a new technique, so I machine quilted very heavily on the white areas, and put different designs in each "star".  I sewed around the butterflies, so they stood out. 

This was a real challenge to make, I'm glad to say I've finished it, and I think the end result was worth all the effort.  What do you think?

Mary
 

Tessellating Star Instructions

Tessellating patterns are interlocking patterns that repeat.  There are a lot of different patterns, but I was really intrigued by the tessellating star, so thought I'd make one.

I wrote these instructions for myself for future quilts, but thought I'd share them.  This is my first attempt at instructions, so any feedback would be appreciated!

Quilters' Show & Tell - Please Vote before Monday!

I have entered the Quilters' Show and Tell Contest - Commemorative Quilts.  Please take a look at the beautiful quilts in the contest, and vote for your favorite. Hopefully that will be mine!

My quilt, Dixon's Wedding Quilt, was made for my parents, to commemorate their 62 years of marriage.  It was made from my mother's wedding dress.

It is satin, with lace overlays on the borders.  On the back, their wedding picture and invitation were printed on fabric and appliqued onto the quilt.

Wedding Dress Quilt Back Detail

There are also decorative ribbons and buttons from the dress in the corners.

Wedding Dress Quilt Corner Detail

To Vote - Click on Quilters' Show and Tell -- voting is down the page after the pictures of the quilts. My quilt picture is the 5th one on the first row - Dixon Wedding Quilt. Voting ends at 8 am Monday!

Wedding Dress Quilts are one of my specialties, visit my Custom Quilts web page at Mary Manson Quilts for more pictures and information.

Thanks so much for your support!

Mary 

Paint Chip Challenge

I've been on vacation in Southern California for a week -- visiting my son and daughter.  Beautiful weather!  But I'm glad to be  home, I missed my quilting :)

When I got home, my paint chip was waiting for me, for the Paint Chip Challenge!

My colors are shades of purple, which is great, since purple is my latest favorite color!  Thanks Cindy, I'm looking forward to this challenge.

Mary

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Pink

I'm trying something new -- the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This looks like fun, and what a good way to use up those scraps!  Go to Scraphappy's page and take a look at the Linky where everyone has posted their projects.

I certainly have plenty of scraps!

My quilt for today is a UFO that I'm determined to finish. I quilted it, and something happened, and the outside border was really crooked :(. So I cut off all of the outside borders, and am starting again from the 20" square center. Since I have already quilted the center, This seems like a great time to use the quilt-as-you-go technique, so we'll see what happens!

Mary