Dollar Quilt Jacobs Ladder

I love a bargain, don't we all?  Scrap quilts are often that, made from leftovers, orphans, donated fabrics and GoodWill treasures!  I found the blacks and reds for this manly treasure by searching Facebook marketplace for "Quilting Fabrics."  I found a small square dancing manufacturer in my own neighborhood, right by my Credit union, that sold 10 pound bags of fabric for $1 each.  Umm Hmm.

http://www.squareupfashions.com

Add to that a Missouri Star Jacobs Ladder made from 5" charms I cut from the scraps (I made half with dark centers, half with light centers) and there it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp1kbVut_1s

The backing is another treasure I found on sale after Thanksgiving at JoAnn fabric for $1.49 a yard.  It's a white with black and red ditsies.  I used about 2 1/2 yards.

This quilt found a home in my husband Pete's office!  

Just Squares Kaffe Fassett Fabric Collection

This one is just for me!

I LOVELOVELOVE this charm pack, bright, orange and pink, bold designs, by designer Kaffe Fassett.  The quilt features the charm squares only, no distraction by design or stitching.

Memorial Baby Quilt for Alden

This quilt is small and simple.  We brought it out at the memorial to baby Alden and asked guests to sign it with sentiments.  It was then gifted to the baby's father, my son Benigno,  to keep the warm wishes.

Baby Sister's Choice Quilt

My friend Laketa became a Grandma for the first time this year, welcome to this amazing place, Laketa!  So, any excuse to make a quilt!  Welcome, baby Scarlet Rose!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIQFU64nhDM&t=9s

This pattern is a favorite of mine.  Each square uses 1 colored jelly roll strip and 1 plain one. I vary the coloring by cutting several colored strips at once and mixing and matching the placement before I sew the block together.

Zahra's 4th Birthday Quilt Optical Illusion

After watching a tutorial at MAN SEWING I knew I wanted to make this quilt.  Zahra's Mom gave me a piece of fabric with unicorns on it, and the idea was born!  I selected bright colors based on the unicorn fabric and started making these fun blocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i-nb9qJHUU&t=2s

I also made a pillowcase with the blue rainbows fabric.  Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Rail Fence Signature Quilt

It's always bittersweet to make a quilt for somone I have known and worked with for some time, as they spread wings and fly off to new adventures.  Good Luck, Alyssa!

This simple rail fence was cut from low volume prints and sewn with plenty of white so it could be filled with good wishes and cheer.

Quilted Christmas Stockings

2018 is the year I finally made stockings for Ben's family.  The first year, with Zeke's birth just a week before Christmas, I simply didn' get it done.  The following years they were not settled in their home, which they lost to a fire in September 2015.  Well, this year, there is a home, and it was certainly time for Nanny to make everyone a quilted stocking!

Even Bruce the dog gets in on the fun!

Pinwheels Quilt Twist and Shout

After watching a tutorial, I decided to make this fun little quilt out of leftover jelly roll strips.  How fun!  This made 2 different blocks, another setting was used with the leftovers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEzz39TvrJQ&t=469s

Marvel Adventure Pinwheels Quilt

Happy 4th birthday, Love!  Made this generous sized pinwheels quilt from a Missouri Star Quilt Tutorial with a jelly roll of 20 strips of Marvel Superheroes.  Added in a set of solid colored 2 1/2" strips I cut, the background is a great stars on neutral.  This produced some smaller stars which I used in the borders to make this quilt longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEzz39TvrJQ&t=469s

Memorial Quilt Alden William

We were expecting our second grandson in December, 2018, when we learned that he was affected by grave genetic annomalies and would not be able to survive.  I had been working on his baby quilt, with embroidered hobos accented with fabric tinting.  Set with flying geese in shades of blue.  Very similar to the quilt I made my first grandson.

We lost him 6 weeks before his due date, he died loved, inside the only home he ever knew.

Alden William Cortez.  November 6, 2018.

Woodland Creatures Cross Quilt

Made for a very special couple to celebrate their first child.  They are expecting a baby girl!  I used a charm pack and cut each charm in half, sewed in a 11/4 inch strip, then turned it and cut again.  Sometimes I cut right down the center, sometimes the 2 pieces were 2 and 3 inch split, or any variation with division increasing by 1/4 inch segments.

The fabric charms are little woodland critters, per mother's request.  Little owls and foxes and such.  Quilted by machine in a free motion meandering pattern and bordered with a sweet white on white, this quilt is ready to welcome baby girl! 

Migrating Geese Baby Quilt

After making my first Migrating Geese Quilt, I decided it would be fun to make one where the geese wandered a bit.  I chose some neutral colors and made it baby quilt sized.

Memorial Quilt for Alden William.

Migrating Geese Quilt

I love the simple designs made possible with a charm pack and white muslin.  It's a favorite combo for me.  This one is like that.  One block, repeated in columns, with soft white muslin in the background.  Quilted along the columns in 1/4 inch from the seams, after washing it made a nice shadow along the seams.

Baby Love BowTie Quilt

A pretty charm pack in reds and a few pastel sage green, a background of navy pindots. The tiny border are leftover scraps from making the little bow tie blocks.  What a lovely quilt!

Happy Bright Star Quilt

This quilt is made with some neutral fabric scraps and one pack of happy charms. Half square triangles, I just love them! Each square used 3 charms, and I was fortunate to have a charm pack in ordered colors to make these scrappy but matching blocks!

Sold! At St. Andrews Silent suction.

Remembering Dean, a Baby Memorial Quilt

It's always so devastating when a friend or family member loses a much anticipated baby during the pregnancy. I like to make a quilt so the mother has some tangible memento that her baby's life existed and to acknowledge the reality of the loss.

Half Square Triangles in a sweet, pale Winnie The Pooh fabric.

Striped Circles, a dresden plate quilt

I loved this idea of making every other dresden blade white on a white background, so the plates appear to be floating on the background.  I chose all stripes for this version, and bright colors.  I love the overall look of this one!  Quilted in a stippled free style. 

Scrappy Stairs Quilt

recently, while cleaning out the sewing studio, I found a pile of blocks, about 25 of them.  So it was easy to sew up some more and complete this quilt in just a few hours!  It's a nice, scrappy quilt I like to call Waterfall, or Stairs, but I don't know if the block has another name.

Sold at St Andrews Silent auction.

Baby Bright Blocks

I had 5 leftover blocks from another (as yet unquilted) quilt, made with a set of 10" squares, following a tutorial from Missouri Star Quilts. They went together beautifully, and this baby girl quilt was made and stipple quilted.

This quilt does not yet have a home. 

https://youtu.be/SalR4rtGxmU

Sister's Choice Baby Quilt

I just adore this pattern!  Made quickly with 2 1/2 inch strips, then divided with 1 inch sashing, the delicate colors  make it all the sweeter! 

For the Great Grandaughter of my former sister-in-law on the Cortez side of the family!

Baby Skellies Quilt

This quilt, for my niece to gift to her First Grand Niece, was inspired by the great find of the skeleton fabric in pinks.  I just had to buy it when shopping at my favorite fabric warehouse in Anaheim with Shannon.  From there, I went into stash.  The mother to be suggested her style was"rustic" so I pondered how to incorporate the joyful Mexican themed skellies into a Rustic Baby Girl Quilt.

The pattern is from a tutorial at Missouri Star Quilts made with 10" squares.  I happend to have these squares as part of a quilt kit I had purchased on clearance, never planning to make the quilt, but thinking the fabrics would go together nice in some other project.

I think I Nailed It!

Half Square Triangles Quilt

I NEVER get tired of Half Square Triangles!  They can be controlled colors, controlled settings, or wild and wonderful and crazy.  This one is inspired by antique quilts that arranged the units in groups of 9 by color, all facing the same way.  Of course I find it hard to be totally precise in placement, and usually throw in a few squares that don't fit the pattern of style.  Call it a soft spot for misfits, I dunno, but that's where my creative side goes when I am putting a qult together, especially if it's not for any particular person in mind!

So, fairly restrained (for me!) browns, reds, black and whites. 

Happy Geese Quilt 1

For this generous lap quilt, the general idea was "Geese in columns, irregular amounts of them, all flying the same direction.  The geese are dark colored florals and the backgrounds are not."

I tried a layout with some going sideways, and decided that was for a different quilt, a different day!

I went fabric shopping with Shannon, my Co-Granny, in Anaheim and told her my task:  Buy an 8th of a yard of dark florals.  They don't have to match, I just have to LIKE them!  She helped me pick them out.  The backgrounds are all from stash.  Zillions of fabrics in stash!

There is ONE goose, a steely blue single goose, that was made with a scrap from the wedding quilt I made for my Father when he married his sweetheart when they were in their 80's.  A treasured memory of new love found later in life.

I completed a baby sized quilt from the scraps!

Since Shannon LOVES this quilt, I gifted it to her for her birthday. I kept the small one, with the same blue patch, as a memento of both my dad and of Shannon. 

An Abstract Quilt

This small quilt, sized to be a nice table runner, was made to learn a technique. The pieces were layered, then cut freehand with a rotary cutter and re arranged.  Then I hand quilted it, and since it was small, it only got worked on when I traveled.  I enjoyed the colors, the softness of the fabrics and the freedom of the technique!

Tropical Fish Quilt

This little gem was another one inspired by a tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilts.

https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/make-a-summer-school-quilt-with-jenny

I made mine with a water background I scored on Summer Clearance at Quilt-In-A-Day and 25 charms from my batik charm squares box, so they are left overs and random charms.

Quilted by machine in a lazy, swirly, watery horizontal flow representing water, its the perfect size for hanging on the wall in the dining room.

Sam's Patriotic Picnic Quilt

My husband and I met Sam first as a boy who played guitar and attended our church.  Once a year, the children led the worship, and Pete got to know Sam when he coached Sam to play the worship music for Youth Sunday when Sam was around 10 years old.

Through the years, Pete and Sam participated in music together, and when Sam was around 15, Pete started a youth Praise Band and Sam was the cornerstone of guitar all through his high school years.

Now Sam is a young man, and he is leaving San Diego to continue his college preparations and study Forestry at Humboldt State.  He is ultimately interested in Conservation and we couldn't be more excited for this next phase of his life.

Congratulations, Sam.  Please take this picnic quilt and use it a lot!

The back is inscribed using rubber stamps in acrylic craft paint with the blessing often used at the end of services: "Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord."

Ice Cream Summer Quilt

A co-worker, whose baby is turning 2, asked me one evening at work if I could make her daughter an "Ice Cream Cone Quilt."  She was decorating the room and the fact that her baby was leaving a crib going to a Toddler Bed.  At first I looked on Pinterest (of course) but wasn't inspired.  Then I just started thinking of the components that make up an ice cream cone.  A triangle, of course, and a half circle.  I can do THAT!

Next I saw the perfect fabric for the cones at a Summer Clearance at Quilt In A Day.  So I looked for a background fabric, and then searched my charm packs for some light, fun fabrics for ice cream.  Of course, all kids drop their ice cream at some point, so I had to include that.

Texas Geese in Flight Quilt

Da is 92, and I fly out every three months to visit.  So, I went out Father's Day, and rented a car, and we had fun!  We drove out to the country, and went and visited the former house he owned. We went to church on Sunday, and he saw a lot of old friends.  We ate BBQ and we went to a QUILT SHOP!  Ha ha, my suggestion of course!

I bought a yard of fabric on sale, a red with little white birds and tiny dark blue anchors on it, and that became the inspiration for this quilt which is a reminder of Dad. 

Flying Geese.  Because I love to make them. The block arrangement is called Dutchman's Puzzle.

It's 48 X 60, stitched in the ditch, a pretty simple quilt in red, white, black and grey... and a little navy.  And ummm, a patch or so of yellow.  Just because.

Treasure Box Baby Quilt

Missouri Star puts up a tutorial every week, and tey look so impressive that I often must IMMEDIATELY make one!  So, with this quilt.
They designed it, named it, picked out te colors.  I omitted one small border out of laziness (and a desire to keep the width under 39" so I didn't have to piece the back....) and here is my version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWcnyg_ZtLg

SOLD on Etsy

 

Split Four Patch Baby Quilt

I was commissioned to make a baby boy quilt and FAST! for a prematurely born baby. The Split four patch (or disappearing four patch) is always quick, fast, fun and looks like a LOT of complex piecing was done.

Split Nine Patch Graduation Quilt

My granddaughter Miranda has graduated high school!  Congratulations!  Her other grandma and I shopped together for fabrics to make her a large lap quilt to mark this achievement.

Pink and blacks, a combination of girly, elegant, fun!  Just like her.  She excells in dance, so dancing is featured, as well as travel, adventure and beauty.

Everyone in the family inscribed the back, so it's full of greetings, love and memories and good wishes. 

Celestial Stars Quilt

I had a pack of charm squares that inspired this quilt.  The dark blues have stars and planets and swirls on them, and they contrasted so well with the mustardy yellow suns and swirls.  Then I saw the pattern on a Missouri Star tutorial... and the quilt idea was born!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oahqzxvUuDs

Now, my setting.  Not as originally planned.  I made 4 blocks at one sitting, and came back later and finished 2 blocks.  When I went to arrange the blocks on the table, I realized I had made mirror images of the sets.  They did not flow into each other they way they were supposed to!

So I decided to offset the blocks so their edges would not show that I had messed up the design.  I had only a 1 1/2" strip of the background fabric left over when I was done, so that was lucky I had just enough to set them!  The plan had been to make a 36" square for hanging on the quilt rack in the dining room, but the setting made it bigger, so I added a border and finished it as a lap quilt instead.  

It was gifted to a friend at church as a memorial quilt. 

Memory Signature Quilt

I got a LAST minute notice that our Nurse Manager of many years would be retiring at the end of the month, Oh, and could I finish the quilt in a few days to go to a party and be signed?

Whew!

So, into the cupboard of UFO's I went.  (UFO= Unfinished Objects) I found this great nine patch quilt top I made last summer with lots of white space.  In fact, so much white space that when I completed the quilt top, I thought it was too simple and plain!  It's made from a charm pack, some pale icey blue/green and a nice amount of pure white muslin

Zoom zip, backed, quilted, bound, and it's ready to be enhanced with signatures, drawings, good wishes and memories!

Vintage Baby Quilt

A young friend of mine is happily expecting her first child and is so excited!  I sat with her and asked her about the nursery, h colors, themes, ideas.  She described her ideas as not "cutsie" but vintage, and showed me a picture of a large red rose on a white background.  With that as my starting point, I selected these fabrics that feature large flowers and green leaves and white to make some classic blocks.  I hope this is what she had in mind!

Inspired by a tutorial at Missouri Stars Quilt:

https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/make-a-half-and-half-quilt-with-jenny

Pinwheels Quilt for a Baby Girl

I have made hundreds and hundreds of quilts over the many years of my quiltmaking.  And half square triangles?  Yeah.  Probably at least a hundred of that pattern.  But in ALL that time I never put together a PINWHEEL!  It was time, after seeing a darling baby quilt made by a first timer, I realized I needed to make one.  So, into my charm pack collection and a yard of solid pink, and a remnant for the border, this is what came out!

A Picnic Quilt On Point

Another quilt inspired by a tutorial on Missouri Star Quilt's You Tube channel.  Simplified the on point random setting for a square quilt!  OK, had to try it.  YES!  Easy! 

Backed in a dense navy print and the batting a warm and natural with body, this quilt will be a gift for someone's picnic basket!

Autograph Quilt

As my friend packs up a lifetime in So. Cali and readies to move her family to Wyoming, we know we will miss her smile and professional expertise.  A Lot. 

A rail fence seemed appropriate to the new locale, and gave plenty of space to pen love, wishes and memories.

 Kristina

Sister's Choice Baby Qiuilt

An old friend is happily anticipating meeting her second grandchild, a little sister to her first. She told me the quilt theme is "Purple and Silver" and that she was having a hard time locating things for the nursery in this color scheme.  DING DING DING!  A challenge!

Not my usual color scheme, I had to SHOP! for a few fabrics to put this one together.  Why have I not used purple often? I like how this turned out!  I LOVE the Sister's Choice block, always putting the colors together a little differently.  Quilted overall in a 2 inch grid, it's ready to snuggle the new baby. 

Tumbling Blocks Quilt

This block has always been fascinating, and now that I have finally made one, I want to make 100!  I want to make one in monochromatic colors, I want to make one in stripes, I want to make one with black spaces, and for babies, and for a man!

Sold

Vintage Baby Quilt

Recently, a young friend of mine told me she was expecting her first baby, and was looking forward to receiving a hand made baby quilt from me!  I asked her to tell me what she imagined a hand made baby quilt from me would look like.  She said nothing too trendy, or too pink.  "Kind Of Classic, and Vintage," she described, and showed me a photo of some white fabric with large low volume roses on it.  Well, I have not yet decided, and am working on something traditional with roses on it, but I also went out into my scraps, collected some old tablecloths, napkins and other table linens, and put this simple squares quilt together.  What do you think?

Quilt for a Housewarming

Bright colors on a neutral grey background, an easy charm pack quilt made for the celebration of a new house for a young family. Cozy, lap sized quilt.

Around The World Baby Memorial

For a family mourning the loss of a baby yet unborn. A small quilt to
honor a love lost.

Baby Bunnies Tinted Linens Quilt

Several years ago I made the bunny blocks, using an iron on design published by Aunt Martha's
(https://colonialpatterns.com/)  The motifs are bunnies doing housework and chores.  I then used inktense pencils, watercolor pencils that you draw with dry, then use a brush to wet them and they become permanent ink watercolor!  Then they went in a bag and I forgot about them.  For some time.  Years.....

A year or a few ago I found them and paired them with some pastel Easter fabrics.  Back into a bag they went.  For another year.  Finally I pulled them out and decided to make some Geese Blocks with white centers, and an arrangement that was pleasing.  Had a great stripe for the border.  Maybe a year after THAT I quilted it with Nice and Soft Cotton Batting in a dense 2" grid.  It's finally finished!  It found it's home for a child born on Easter! Annie W

Two Dollar Mini Charms Quilt

I found an online source for International Shopping, and it offered packs of 10cm "charm packs" of 50 fabrics.  For $1.00. How could I resist?  I ordered 2 packs, coupled them with some of my existing neutral scraps, and made a very simple quilt. 

Stitched between the blocks and diagonally on the neutrals, it reminds me of a home makers baby quilt from the 1960's. 

SOLD on etsy