December 3, 2016
Night of the Dragonfly
Night of the Dragonfly is leaving my collection to hang at my close friend Carol’s cabin. This quilt is, and I’m guessing, about 15 years old. I made it around the time I wrote my two books, Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows and Machine Stitched Cathedral Stars.
It represents the more complex range of my Cathedral Window technique and was never published.
I told Carol that I wanted to photograph it so I could show if off before it didn’t live at my house anymore. The Dragonfly fabric that I used is one of my all time favorite fabrics. Enjoy!
September 12, 2016
Remnants of Spring
Collaged fabric, embroidery and embellishment on Linen, Remnants of Spring, is my latest piece. It features silk ribbon embroidery over vintage fabrics, digital pictures, vintage napkins and lace. It is embellished with buttons, charms and beads with a lock and key. Once finished the linen was mounted on a piece of felt and then a quilted base of crinkled batik fabric. 
April 11, 2016
Lost in the Storm
Late last year Robert Kaufman Fabrics asked me to make this quilt using their Artisan Batik line of fabrics featuring their Floriculture 2 and Prisma Dyed Batiks.
It’s a Cathedral Window Storm at Sea based on a quilt I designed and made that was featured in Joen Wolfrom book “Color Play”. http://joenwolfrom.com/books/
I was thrilled to get the opportunity. Well, the Free Pattern is available on their website. i hope you enjoy working with the line as much as i did!
The link is here: http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/lost_in_the_storm/
March 13, 2015
Elegant Asian Fans
An easy introduction to the Machine Stitched Cathedral Window technique, Elegant Asian Fans uses the simplest element, a simple square folded diagonally. The base of each block is a foundation paper square with just thee pieces. Two folded squares are then basted on top. The curves happen during the quilting process.
I love Asian prints and have quite a few. This was a perfect opportunity for me to use some of them.
I just added this pattern on Crafty for those of you that like to download your own patterns. Of course you can contact me directly if you would like to buy the paper pattern.
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/elegant-asian-fans/135687
August 21, 2014
Sunflowers and Cathedral Windows
This one is for Throw Back Thursday. I came across the picture of my “Sunflowers” quilt that I made for my daughter, Sybill. It’s not a very good picture but it seems to be the only digital one I have. I think I made it around 2000. She loved Sunflowers so much that as soon as it was finished it became hers. The petals of the Sunflowers are three dimensional like I use in the Cathedral window process with four folded sides.
The two inner sides of the points are rolled and stitched into curves. I think the blocks are 15″ each so the quilt must be around 60″ square.
“Sultry Sunflowers” is the same idea but with 9″ blocks and only 8 petals as opposed to the 12 petals in “Sunflowers”. It’s probably 40″ square.
Enjoy!
March 31, 2014
Twilts or 12 x 12s, A Lot of Fun!
At the Beginning of the year I joined a group on Facebook called the 12×12’s with Cosmo & Cook. The idea was that they would give us a word and we would use that word to make a 12 x 12 quilt. Anyone who follows my blog knows ….. that’s a Twilt. Here are my contributions for January, February and March.
“Delight” is January’s word and the title for my piece. I used a Crinkled fabric base with a burned edge silk heart. A bow held down with french knots was added along with a Digital definition of the word Delight from a 1908 dictionary. I finished it off with pearl cotton and silk ribbon embroidery. The tiny French Knot Roses are one of my favorite stitches.
For February we were challenged with Colorful and then Animal. I knew immediately that I would use the Zebra Batik from the 80’s. I applied fusible web to the batik print ,cut out the Zebras and stitched them in place. Once I fused them to the background batik I added a variety of sequins and buttons. It’s called “Dance of the Zebras”
Tranquility was the word for Ma
rch with a bonus word of Bloom. I was working on my Tiny Twilt Squares and decided to use one with silk ribbon buds and a rose. I used pearl cotton Xs to stitch it onto a Digital print as the background. I added lace and silk ribbon embroidery. Once I added the border batik I thought it needed a bow and some pearl cotton feather stitch with beads. I finished it off with button and a Key. “What is the Key to Tranquility?”
Why did I call it a Twilt? For more info on the Twilts: Twitter quilts…….Twilts or see all my Twilts :Flickr Twilts Page. Click on the image of the Twilt to go directly to it’s high resolution image.
August 28, 2013
Enchanted Garden Cathedral Window Quilt
“Enchanted Garden” was made around 2000 in the style of the quilts in my first book, “Machine Stitched Cathedral Windows”. It used the templates in the book but the layout is different. It belongs to my daughter, Valerie, so it doesn’t go to lectures. I came across a rare photo of this quilt and wanted to share it. Click on the quilt and it will take you to the hi-resolution version. It has always been one of my favorites.
August 26, 2013
Shelley Swanland has Patterns on Craftsy
Romantic Reflection
I have started to put my patterns on http://www.Craftsy.com . Berries Jubilee, Romantic Reflection, Parchment & Black Lacquer and Sparkling Stars are now available for purchase and download as PDFs at my Craftsy store. I appreciate all the support I have had through the years for my technique and hopefully this will make the technique available to more quilters all over the world. I will be adding more patterns as time goes on so if you have a favorite you’re waiting for just let me know.
July 31, 2012
Summer In Bloom
“Summer in Bloom” is my newest Twilt. It includes tiny little pieces that I call Twiltlets. They are a great format for experimentation with bits of this and that. These four include, just to name a few things, trims, buttons, a picture on fabric, the corner of an old hankerchief, a heart paperclip and silk ribbon embroidery. When I mounted the Twiltlets on the quilted linen print I added gathered flowers and a vintage lace that looked like a little fence. So, I added a rose bush with French Knot Roses.
For more info on the Twilts: Twitter quilts…….Twilts or see all my Twilts : Flickr Twilts Page. Click on the image of the Twilt to go directly to it’s high resolution image.
June 12, 2012
Hearts and Flowers
Click on Twilt to see high res version on flickr
“Hearts and Flowers” is my latest Twilt. It includes paper piecing, a little Cathedral Window stuff, silk ribbon embroidery, a copy of a vintage flower silk, some crazy quilting and gathered silk in some of my favorite fabric colors.
Enjoy!
For more info on the Twilts: Twitter quilts…….Twilts or see all my Twilts : Flickr Twilts Page.
Snips and Bits from Shelley's Studio 
