Winter has arrived in Europe, with temperatures in the past week rarely rising above freezing. It seems that the cold weather has spurred quilt makers to get busy, because I have received a flurry of quilting orders this month. It is an honor to be invited to collaborate on another maker’s project. Here are some stunners I’ve been blessed to quilt this year. Enjoy the show!

Pas de Deux by Muriël van der Ploeg

If watching you sew my patterns is like being served cake, getting to quilt those quilts is definitely the cherry on top. Check out this beauty made by Muriël @Muriel14. She participated in the Pas de Deux block of the month, now available as a complete pattern library.

Muriel’s patchwork is so vibrant. She combined bright happy colors with low volumes in each patchwork group, so that the finished work is light and oh-so-cheery.

Muriel chose bubbles for her quilting pattern, and I couldn’t agree more. This motif has a childlike glee that absolutely suits the playful patchwork style and palette. Plus, bubbles is an open-style motif that never fails to result in a soft, drapey quilt.

Check out her quilt backing too! It’s a colorful confetti-style print. Perfection!

Modified Meadowland by Christine Joubert

When Christine @lopolokko sent me photos of this quilt top, I couldn’t believe my luck. I mean, it is pretty special and she wanted it custom quilted. What fun! We discussed quilting ideas by email so that I could calculate the cost of the custom quilting in advance.

Christine used the Meadowland pattern, but scaled the blocks into two very different sizes. I suggested to quilt each Meadowland block with the explode motif. Explode embellishes the structure of Meadowland and yet doesn’t quilt it to death.

With the bigger blocks I edited the corners of explode and added a pretty flower motif where the blocks meet.

The biggest challenge with quilting Christine’s Meadowland variation was working with that negative space at center. After some puzzling, I quilted echo blocks in the negative space, so that the two block scales seem to splash together.

It’s a gem of a quilt, Christine! Thanks for letting me be part of its creative story.

Sponsor of the Week

Winter Creek Cloth

Are you a fan of the Kismet collection by Sharon Holland? You know I am! Well, you’re in luck because Winter Creek Cloth has this hard-to-find collection ready to ship. Hurrah!

It could be time to treat yourself.

Steve the Chameleon by Monique Helmstrijd

So this is fun - I’ve been doing some quilting work for a fellow Dutch quilt designer. She sells her patterns on Etsy, including this cool dude: Steve the Chameleon quilt.

Lots of us make quilts for special people in our lives and, would-you-know-it, not all of them are fans of patchwork stars and log cabins. So weird, right? If you’ve got more of an animal-and-nature lover in mind, Steve the Chameleon may be just the ticket.

We decided on pineapple quilting for Steve, and I think it came out awesome. It has that rough, outdoorsy vibe, and feels super modern.

Here’s to quilts with character!

City Sampler by Christine Joubert

To finish off today’s show-in-tell, I am excited to reveal another quilt by Christine @lopolokko. This time she has sewn a sampler style quilt, her version of Tula Pink’s City Sampler. Drumroll please - - -

Ta da! Wowzers, did you look long enough? Probably need to go back and look again.

Christine put her own twist on the pattern. She created 4 quadrants using 4 different background fabrics. Then there’s the block that jumps forward, thanks to the circle appliqué setting. Such a creative idea!

We decided to keep the quilting simple with the u-turn motif. It lends a dense straight-line texture with subtle curves and turns. On the front, the quilting fades away rather than distracting from the awesome blocks. On the back, the quilting shows off well on the funky, modern backing fabric.

I’d be happy to finish your projects with a beautiful quilting texture too. My services are available to those who live throughout the European region. Please be in touch if you have any questions or start the process off by placing your order. I can’t wait to collaborate on YOUR quilt!