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

Three Generation Wedding Dress Quilt

Another wedding dress quilt finished and off to the "brides" Shelly and her mother. The dress was worn by Shelly's mother in 1961, Shelly wore the dress in 1981, and she wanted the quilt for her daughter who is getting married in 2014.

Needless to say, 52 year old satin and lace can be very delicate, but after carefully de-constructing the dress, I had enough fabric and lace to make this wonderful quilt. It is approximately 65" x 65".  The shiny areas are satin, the other areas are the lace. I also was able to use buttons and the beautiful satin bow from the dress in the quilt.

Shelly also sent me a wedding picture of both brides (and grooms) that I printed out on fabric and put on the back of the quilt.  The bride and groom-to-be's names and the wedding date were embroidered on the front. 

  

The quilt was machine quilted on my mid-arm machine and frame. I quilted several designs, including my favorite, feathers!

I'm adding it to my Wedding Dress/Special Occasions blog page with my other wedding dress quilts, and it's also on my web site at www.marymansonquilts.com.  Please contact me if you are interested in a heirloom wedding dress quilt for yourself!

Mary 

mary@marymansonquilts.com

Christmas Table Toppers

Two similar table toppers, two different looks!  I finished the Snowman table topper last Christmas, but never blogged about it.

The snowmen were appliqued, and the quilt was machine quilted on my mid-arm.  The blue area was a feather design, and the snowmen were a x'd spiral pattern.

The second one was finished this week, I may still do some more detail on the trees, but it's on the table. When I compare the two, I can see how my quilting has progressed, from feathers to more detailed designs.

Trees were appliqued using fabric from my Christmas stash, the background was quilted in a feather circle design, with cross hatching, dots, and stippling in between the trees.

Lots of fun to make! Merry Christmas!

Mary

Black Dahlia Holiday Quilt

I wasn't sure which way to word the title of this blog, It's a black quilt with a holiday dahlia -- not a black dahlia!  Anyway, this was a "practice" quilt for me.  I've never done a giant dahlia pattern, ribbon border, or a black quilt.  I wanted to make something pretty for the holidays, just in case it turned out ok!

The dahlia pattern was a bit of a challenge, once I got the hang of it, it was much easier.  There is a way to make a secondary pattern so that you see  the "petals" that I want to try next time -- hint:  light, medium, dark one direction, single colors the other direction.  Can you figure it out?

The ribbon border was fun and easy, and sewing with black thread on black fabric wasn't as hard to see as I feared!  The detail is hard to see here, but I did circles on either side of the ribbon, then straight lines 1/4" apart in the rest of the border.  The lighter black towards the center has a meandering feather pattern in it, and for the dahlia, each colored row was sewn in a long feather.