hand quilted – Juanita Collins

September 5, 2016May 22, 2021

A spring-time disappearing 9-patch

I wanted to make a quilt for my aunt, who has always been a very special person in my life. But time passes and things don’t get done and you know how it goes. (sigh)

So one day last spring I was sorting my sewing room and I came upon an unfinished quilt top. It’s one I started way back when. Before I had (mostly) mastered the art of matching corners, lol.

I’m not sure why I put it away and didn’t finish it. I think maybe I felt (at the time) that the colours were too bright, or maybe I didn’t like using grey for the background neutral. I really have no idea.

Anyway, it was spring when I pulled it out and all the spring flowers were in full bloom. I carried it out and took some pictures with the tulips. And oh my gosh…the quilt just sang!

Suddenly, every spring colour just jumped out at me, and I realized that every single colour was in the quilt. It screamed Spring!

That’s one of the things I love about Kate Spain’s fabrics. She really captures the colours in nature. 🙂

I looked at the grey background and thought of the soft spring rain that comes and melts all the snow, and makes the flowers bloom.

And I thought to myself, this quilt belongs to my aunt, whose favourite season just happens to be spring.

Mine, too!

This is a lap-sized quilt made from the Cuzco collection by Kate Spain. The backing is cream flannel and it was hand quilted in a clam shell pattern. I didn’t wash and dry it before I sent it, but when she does, it will shrink a wee bit and pull around the stitches, creating that wonderful crinkly look that makes a quilt so soft and snuggly.

December 21, 2013

Little Sister: A Quilt Finish!

You’ve seen glimpses of this quilt over the last couple of years as I worked on the hand quilting.

"Little Sister". Machine pieced & hand quilted by Nita Collins.Photo taken at the S.S. Klondike National Park Site in Whitehorse, Yukon. November 24, 2013. — “Little Sister”. Machine pieced & hand quilted by Nita Collins.Photo taken at the S.S. Klondike National Park Site in Whitehorse, Yukon. November 24, 2013.

The pattern is called “Chinese Coins” or “Stacked Coins”, whichever you prefer. I made it for my sister, Heidi, and named the quilt “Little Sister”.

Her favourite colour is purple ♥

The last few months I was working pretty fast because I wanted to have it finished before I left Whitehorse at the end of November.

I don’t know, it just seemed…fitting somehow. Tying up the last of the loose ends before moving.

I stitched in a few surprises:

Plus, I really, really, really wanted to do the photo shoot at the S. S. Klondike.

Really puts size into perspective, eh?

I had fun with my “helpers”, Heather and Tammi. They were great quilt holders on a cold day!

I used a “lemonade’ Bali Pop with Kona Cotton purple for the top. The backing is a pansy print on a yellow background. Binding is green checks from the same collection.

Every time I took the quilt out to work on it, Jade and Halia would sit and watch me stitch. They were full of questions, observations and comparisons about the quilts that I had made for them last year.

5-year old Halia wanted her picture taken with the quilt. 7-year old Jade liked to look at all of the fabrics, and also liked to walk tight-rope style on it.

Which I thought made for some interesting photographs!

Even Crook the Cat got into the action.

insert "Jaws" soundtrack here! — insert “Jaws” soundtrack here!

It took me about 2 years from start to finish, I think. Maybe not quite…I don’t remember exactly when I started it. But that sounds about right.

…Doing the very important job of keeping Heidi snug and warm during those long Montana winters.

And of course, Little Sister was tested and approved by the resident quality assurance inspector (which he had to do before the quilt was finished due to time constraints).

this quilt tested and approved by Samson.

May 23, 2013

Blogger’s Quilt Festival: Quilt Photography

This is my entry for the Quilt Photography category of the Bloggers Quilt Festival! Head on over and cast a vote for your favourite!

This is Kelly’s College Quilt and the post about it is here. This quilt took me 16 years to finish and it is entirely hand quilted. However, I’m not entering it into the hand quilted category, I’m entering it into the quilt photography category because I had so much fun taking pictures of it and and I think they turned out really well!