Sixteen Patches for a Raffle

Just a simple lap quilt donated for a fundraiser for the Special Education in our town.  The center block was a leftover; on white muslin I pounded leaves and flowers to stain the cloth.  After heat setting the colors, I stenciled on the design from a stencil I cut.  I used oil based wax with a toothbrush for he stenciling.  Then strips from the scrap heap made the patches for the 16-patch blocks.  Threw it together, machine stitched in the ditch, and off it went to raise funds.

Autumn Snuggle Quilt

Isn't it always like this?  The quilter's own snuggle quilt is in tatters, worn and the batting thin and patchy!  It's still good, but so thin it's good for summer naps, not for the first chill of Autumn in SoCal.  So, into my stash for a set of fat quarters I bought online at some clearance some years ago and a pair of neutrals from my Anaheim Fabric Warehouse treasures!  Some Autum charms, left over from a project last year complete the random circles. Machine quilted and raw-edge applique.  I used a regular old glue stick to place the circles. The batting is 100% cotton, a little stronger for an autumn quilt.  Just my size"  46 X 56.

The design is my own.  Favorite basic 4,9 or 16 patches.  I call it "Square Unless it's a Circle"

Coffin Quilt

Back in 2004, I read an article in a book on old quilts about the custom of memorial, or "Coffin Quilts" in the late 1800's.  So I decided, along with a collection of reproduction prints of "mourning cloths" of that era, to make my own Coffin Quilt.  I chose a block named (of course) Coffin Star, which is a 16 patch square in a square.  I used 2 different grays from my stash to set the somber black fabrics, along with a tan from someplace.

The border is a great Anaheim Warehouse find, a black/pink/grey stripe I picked up for $1.98 a yard on one of my fabric binges.

 Perhaps my favorite part of the Coffin Quilt is the Epitaph, written by my BFF and quilting partner Sprout.  I wrote it on the back, and have asked Pete to display and read it at my funeral (some day MANY hundreds of quilts from now!)

In death
I leave this world I've known,
To reach
A place with streets of gold.

But still,
Remain, thorough quilts I've sewn,
And left,
Upon God's earth to hold.

 

Tiny 16-Patches

Another Charm Square Project.  The 3" blocks have 16 patches in them, each patch is 3/4" of an inch big.  Keeping everything precise in tiny squares is usually a bigger challenge.  BUT, I can satisfy an need to be instantly gratified, fondle fabrics, start and finish a project in an afternoon AND use a charm pack!  This color scheme is outside of my own norm, kind of glaring and clashing.  The theme of the fabric is robots, circuit boards, gears.