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

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.

 

Strawberries for the Table

Reaching WAY back in the archives, to 2001.  My BFF Sprouty (did we even SAY BFF back then???) redecorated her kitchen with strawberries and asked me to make a table topper. 

Quick, simple, fun!  Mostly machine quilted and hand quilted in the border.  Button-hole stitch applique and good old white muslin. 

Sprout's Little Kitties

Sprout gave me a trio of scraps she wasn't particularly attracted to.   One had some little kitties jumping around and there was some nice contrast to one of the pieces. 
I had purchased some acrylic stamp and those rubber combs for making designs on stamps, so I went to work for a small wall quilt for my "Kitty Bathroom."

Angel Babies

This Baby Quilt was a joint effort between Sprout, Suzanne, Faye and myself for a co-worker's baby.  The angel skirts and wings is of course Dresden Fan blades.  We placed them on nite-nite fabric and surrounded them with pink clouds in the sashing and borders.  Each baby had a unique face from sleeping to crying and a few spots in-between!  We shopped for the fabrics together, and helped Faye (who had never sewed before!) to make her block. 

A Baby Quilt Sprout's design

I made this quilt after a pattern Sprout came up with.  So I called it Brote's Quilt (Brote being Sprout in spanish!) and when I made it I had no particular baby in mind.  Later, she had her grandbaby visit (This is Chloe!) so I loaned her the quilt for the visit. 

The quilt later was a gift for Ayva, the daughter of Kristina, who then eventually came to my house as a young quilt student! 

Suzanne's Coffin Quilt

Several years ago, some friends and I ran a "challenge."  Each of the four of us choose a theme, or a color.  Then we made a 12" block for each other.  My theme was "blue" and Suzanne choose "coffin quilt" as her theme.  Sprouty choose "fish" and Faye "flowers." 

When we got our blocks, each of us added one of our own and finished our quilts.  Suzanne never got around to finishing hers, so a few years later I took up her blocks and made her the Coffin Quilt she wanted.

Here is a quote on the practice of "Coffin Quilts:" 

 The graveyard quilt is one type of mourning quilt. Mourning quilts were popular in the mid to late 1800s. Aside from the graveyard quilt, other mourning quilts don’t have a particular theme or design associated with the term. After the death of a loved one, quilters (at this point in time, predominantly women) would work on a quilt to help them grieve.

A quilter might choose to make a quilt using a deceased person’s favorite color or favorite pattern. Or, the woman might simply quilt any old quilt block pattern just to keep her mind occupied and to help her work through the grief process. Most of the quilting back then relied on groups of women, so that fellowship also offered help in the healing process.

Suzanne's quilt has:  An upper block with a cross.  The right arm of the layout is a block called grave stone.  The left arm has owl fabrics, another symbol very dear to Suzanne.  Steps to The Altar in the center, Crown of Thorns on the cross body and Coffin Star on the bottom.  The backgroud is filled with little tumbler blocks, symbolizing the shapes of headstones in the graveyard.  The pink lines are tiny skulls, and the border is Day Of The Dead dancers. 

Suzanne's birthday is Halloween, and she brings her quilt out every year in October.

Sprout Moves To Hawaii

I avoided making this quilt for some time.  My dear dear OG Sprout had resigned and was moving to her retirement home in Hawaii.  I gathered scraps from quilts Sprout and I had made together, and hand-me-downs from her scrap bags (she was downsizing to move!) and started putting these scraps into blocks. I wanted plenty of light space so all our friends could sign this rememberance quilt.

It was a wild, well attended party.  Needless to say, the retirement lasted only a few months.  The house is still in Hawaii, and retirement is again on the horizon, but Sprout moved back and got her job back and has begun asking me if she will get another retirement quilt!

Blue And Yellow Sprout

This utility quilt is one of my very favorites!  Made from leftover scraps my friend Sprout gave me, along with scraps from my own collection.  The fabrics are not really related, though there are some plaids in common, and of course the colors are so great together.... blue and yellow.  The batting is warm and natural and it's just the right size to drape over the end of the bed and use as an extra winter blanket; or for my winter naps.  (I work nights so I nap a lot during the day!)

I like the un-related colors and patterns; the random placements, and most of all that they were  hand-me-downs from my good friend Sprout. 

Hawaiian Baby Fish

My best friend Sprout bought me a package of 4" Hawaiian cotton squares she found in the back of  a small drug store in Hawaii.  They were obviously cut from someone's scraps, tied with a ribbon.  Years later a friend of ours had her first baby.  She had married her husband in Hawaii, o it seemed a perfect pairing!  I dyed white muslin light blue with acrylic paint, then used rubber fish stamps in acrylic paints to stamp sea creatures on the plain blocks.  They alternate with 4-patches for this sweet baby quilt!

Little Indians

Made back in 2007, I wanted a vintage looking red and white quilt.  I chose an embroidery pattern of children playing as "Indians", like we played as children in the 50's. I alternated with a block of 25 patches, HST's and squares. One of the reds was a gift from my bestie Sprout, so of course I had to add it to the quilt!

Hand embroidered, hand quilted. Makes this one of my very favorites!