YELLOW! Around The World

 I had an idea to do an around tgr world quilt in bright happy yellows with some other bright to define the shapes of the trips. 

This is IT! I am so pleased with it. I collected the yellows and the bright on a trip fabric shopping up in Anaheim earlier this year. I cut the 6 strips 2" wide and sewed a tube. Each Blick then is a 9" square with 36 patches.  That totals 720 patches on thus lap quilt!

I used a very light yellow for that backing with a random left over block. I free hand quilted an overall curvy meander in the quilt body with a geometric variation of a  wishbone in the border. 

For Lauren from St. Barts, for her 40th birthday. 

Ezekiel's Cozy Quilt

 I made this quilt from a pile of miscellaneous scraps given to me by my friend Sharon when she cleaned out her sewing room. They were varous sizes of scraps, from Mikey Mouse, to Spiderman, from Hulk to Captain America. 

I combined each color to a solid and made a random number of blocks, depending on how much fabric I had of each design. 

I saw I coul make an around the world pattern, and had enough blocks and bits to widen the back!

He loves it......

To make this quilt cozy, I backed it with a piece of flannel I had bought at Joann's after Christmas. It features tiny skeleton dinosaurs with Christmas hats! I then free motion quilted a meandar over a thin, poly bat. 

The final scraps were JUST enough to make a pillowcase! 

Around The World Baby Memorial

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

1,512 Prayers Around the World Quilt

I was inspired to make this quilt for my niece Carrie when she told me last September that she had breast cancer.  I immediately pulled the fabrics and decided this needed to have lots and lots of blocks, as each of the 1 1/2 inch "postage stamps" would symbolize a prayer from me.

I obviously hoped to get the quilt to her as soon as possible.  Carrie bravely endured grueling chemotherapy, she completed that on Christmas Eve.  After a brief recuperation, she underwent surgery, and still I prayed and worked on this Around The World quilt.

I worked on it between my own family challenges, babysitting my grandson, the holidays and a broken arm. But the quilt is now finished, and on it's way.

There is still fight ahead, as Carrie has radiation and more chemotherapy in the future.  But now, I hope she snuggles with her quilt, and knows how much we all are inspired by her fight.

It is full of 1,512 patches of love, dense quilting, and unlimited prayers.  I love you!

AYOQ: Around a Baby's World

I found a fat quarter in San Antonio while visiting my Dad, a white with tiny baby bottles and phrases like "Got Milk?" and "Milk, It's what's for dinner!"  "Milk, It's not just for Babies" and other such cute things.  I coupled it with a charm pack hat had little garden/farm scenes and a baby blue with tiny fruits and veggies.  The idea was "Around the World" but frankly, the colors didn't make a very strong statement.  In any case, it works as a early springy baby crib quilt for a boy!  Since I am having a winter grandson.....

My Springtime Baby! 

Making Memories

A friend brought me 2 old quilt tops, sewn many years ago by her mother.  This friend wished to divide the 2 tops among 5 family members, so each could have something made by her mother.  I told her they would be small, wall quilts, or table runners.  She agreed that would be the perfect size.  She said she preferred the blue quilt, but thought the rest might prefer the other quilt.

I was very excited to do this challenge!  Since it wasn't MY mother's work, cutting into it felt exciting, and I looked forward to seeing what I might render from these 2 quilt tops.  

I started by cutting out the center of the postage stamp quilt.  It was perfect, glorious, and I LOVED the color use.  I was very tempted to keep this one for myself, I loved it that much!
#4 was made from blocks cut from the 4 corners of the quilt.  #5, from blocks along the sides.  #3 also blocks from the sides, and I found a purple from my stash to make a centered design. #2 was the lone quilt made from the blue and white.  I carefully selected the blocks from the quilt that had a lot of variety, and a little brown stain to keep it real.  I machine quilted them all fairly dense, backed them with unbleached muslin, and gave them a gentle wash then into the dryer to wrinkle them up a bit.

This was a very fun project!

Baby Memorial Quilt

Sometimes I buy some fabric and even stitch it together.  These fabrics were in a collection of fat 8ths I got during a quilt run a few years back.  They are sweet, innocent, old fashioned classical baby fabrics.  I put them together, found a great stripe from my stash for the mitered border, then it went in a closet.  Until just the right baby came along, who's brief life mattered so much to his parents.  I knew just which quilt top I had, and pulled it out and finished it.

  Baby Dale, 2009.

Wedding Quilts Vanessa/Luis

For my brother's daughter Vanessa and her new husband Luis.  I chose a block sometimes called "Steps To The Altar" and a setting sometimes called "Many Trips Around The World." (Thanks, Google!)

The quilt for Vanessa has 25 1.5" squares per block, 42 blocks (That';s 1,260 1.5" squares!) in light ("Low Volume") colors, with some grey and dark blocks helping to define the pattern in the block arrangement.  I put strong blocks towards the center; and made them a little cork-screwy (because I can...) and the more subtle blocks out towards the edges.

The fabrics are scraps and leftovers from other projects.  You may recognize baby quilts, Christmas gifts, children's quilts, Sprout scraps, and some scraps of my Mom's.  I inscribed the saying on the back, "Chains do not hold a marriage together; it is threads, hundreds of tiny threads that sew people together through the years."  I have used it before, frankly I love the symbol of a thread in a wedding quilt sewing a couple together!  The quilt is going to the before and after parties to be signed by guests.

For the groom, the same but different.  Same 1.5" squares, but each block has 36 squares (1,512 squares total.) The color is dark, masculine blues; greens and browns with a lighter selection of fabrics suggesting the pattern. His is inscribed with "Marriage should be a duet.  When one sings the other should clap."  The best advice I could think of! 

These are generous lap quilts, meant to be snuggled under and wrapped up in.  Together; the pair took around 7 weeks to complete (you know with breaks for work and life!) and are very simply machine quilted "in the ditch" between blocks.  Each binding is MOSTLY one fabric, yet each one has a scrap of something else in it; just to avoid perfection and suggest forgiveness.

Very fun, simple yet tedious at times.  Want to do this pattern again!   

A Musician's Quilt

Linda has been singing with my husband since she was a teenager.  They have played for several churches around San Diego, and have a very close friendship based on their Christian Band.  We wanted to mark her 21st birthday with something very sentimental to us.....