Quilt Design with Mirrors - I'm Obsessed

Have you ever drawn quilting designs using a mirror?  I'm obsessed with this technique, especially for whole cloth quilts.

Design 1 Piece

I saw some videos by Sharon Schamber where she described the technique, once you get the concept, it's easy to do...

Heard about IBlog Magazine for Professional Women Bloggers?

Have you heard of the new iBlog Magazine for Professional Women Bloggers? I'm always impressed with anything that will make my blogging better (and easier!) especially when it's targeted at us women.

IBlog says "In every issue, iBlog Magazine offers a deeper insight into the lives of top bloggers and social media experts and chronicles their rise to success. Readers will find epic content that will launch their business past the competition and great features that will address the hardest hitting questions in our industry."

The iBlog print magazine first issue will be in December, but their Facebook page is already up and running, with links to good articles and advice.  They're also on Twitter, Linkedin and Google+.  They have some great deals on membership now too.

There are several different levels of membership, and benefits include:
iBlog Social Daily Show - Your blog news daily! (Mon-Fri)Smart Blogging Social Show - Audio interviews - Listen while you work!
Best Business Bloggers Show - Top Blogger interviews weekly!
iBlog Social Scoop Show - Free "Live" Hangouts & Facebook events
Social Media Experts Show - The Best in Social Media Interviews
"The Flip Side!" Show - Fun, Crazy, Fast, Insightful interviews!
iBlog Masterminds - Monthly Expert Webinar Series
iBlog Magazine (Print)- Premiering Dec 2013

I'm really hoping this magazine will be a success, I know I can learn a lot from them!

Mary

Circles Quilt - Heavily Machine Quilted!

I can't believe I made this quilt in twelve days!  But then again -- that's probably more than 100 hours.  I am a bit obsessive with my quilting, and tend to spend all day in my studio when I'm working on a project I really enjoy.  

Autumn Circles

The beautiful fabric was from The Fat Quarter Shop.  Birch Autumn Harvest, by Jason Yenter.   I love the feel of this fabric!

I used Strips'N Curves acrylic templates for the quilt. I've had these templates for years, and this was the perfect time to use them again. I didn't have much trouble with the curves, and the piecing went pretty quickly.  

Autumn Circles Detail Top Left

I blogged about another similar quilting project, White Wholecloth Quilt where I was excited to use some of Cindy Needham's techniques in a white quilt. (Her Craftsy class  Design It, Quilt It: Free-Form Techniques is excellent!) 

Light and shadow make a big difference in heavily quilted quilts, once I got that from Cindy, my quilts looked a lot better.

Autumn Circles Detail Bottom Left

I used a light weight grey thread in the machine and bobbin, Gutermann Miniking, and quilted on my mid-arm Juki on a Grace GMQ frame.

Autumn Circles Detail Bottom Right

The back was off-white.  If I were to do it again, I'd probably make the back a light blue or grey, but it does show off the quilting!  The hardest part was knowing when to stop!

Autumn Circles Back

I'll be putting the quilt in my Etsy shop Mary Manson Quilts later in the week, but it will be hard to put a price on all that work!

I hope you enjoy my pictures! 

Mary

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

I just realized I never finished my blog posts about the double wedding ring bed runner I was making.  I did finish it, and think that the machine quilted feathers really set off the design well.

The original posts were New Way to Paper Piece and Update on Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Even with paper piecing, this was not an easy quilt to make, but I enjoyed making it, and the finished quilt was worth all the effort.

This bed runner was a hostess gift for my aunt and uncle, I hope they enjoy it.  And I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Mary