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.

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.

JAWS quilt

My grandson Zeke is currently fascinated with SHARKS and creatures that have TEETH.  So when I saw this JAWS fabric on sale, I had to.  I rarely buy "licensed" fabrics, but, hey, it's for my Grandson.

I did a fast "disappearing nine patch" with 3/4 yard of the featured fabric, 1/2 yard each of two "water" fabrics, and a 1/4 yard of "blood." I cut each piece into charms.  I added 1 charm square of solid red.  Just because. It's a light weight cotton quilt, perfect for summer evenings.

AYOQ: Sea Creatures and Numbers Quilt

The 6-month baby quilt for my Grandson is June, and here in San Diego that means beaches and sail boats.  In the fall of 2015, his home was destroyed by a fire, and in it was the original June quilt.  It was my favorite of the yearly quilts, with sailboats and bright colors.

To replace it, I decided on something totally different!  I researched cartoon sea creatures on google, and drew some out on 5" muslin squares, then tinted them with inktense pencils.  Then I water painted them, and they became color fast and permanent. I then alternated with squares from a charm pack themed sea creatures and numbers.  Some of the drawn blocks included numbers and counting circles.

This was a real fun replacement quilt to make to photograph Zeke on his 18 month portrait.

Happy Summer Quilt

Happy is how I feel when I finish a quilt.  Actually, I feel happy when I plan one, sew on one, think about one, or shop for fabrics.  Quilting is the ultimate meditative pleasure, my mind wanders freely and peacefully while I work on a quilt.
This quilt was inspired by a You Tube Video Tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company.

"Cutting Corners"
https://www.missouriquiltco.com/land/tutorials/cutting-corners-quilt/index.html?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=lp&utm_campaign=t119

I used exactly 20 jelly roll strips and a couple of yards of white muslin.  I had 19 strips from a clearance collection I paid a couple of bucks for from Connecting Threads, (connectingthreads.com) and I added a solid green strip to make 20.  There were 5 (2 1/2") binding strips.  Straight line quilting between each block, down the center of each block, and 1/4" away from the seam on the white diagonals.  Finally, I chose my favorite thin 100% cotton batting (I buy it on a 50 yard roll from JoAnn Fabrics once or twice a year.)  I like it because it's thinner than "Soft and White" so after washing, the muslin back gets soft and the quilt has a very soft drape.  I mean, the quilt hugs you back!

This quilt became a retirement quilt full of happy inscribtions!

AYOQ: Surfer Baby for my Grandson

Liked the last one so much, had to make another!

Sun Print Plus Quilt

The "Plus Quilts" made of squares, that I have seen on Pinterest (I have 164 pinned.....) have long been fascinating to me.  Beyond simple, each "plus" is 5 squares.  They are distinguished by their layout, not being "blocks" at all, just interlaced plus signs.  This quilt was made on a morning off, with a charm pack named "Sun Prints" that I selected for it's diversity yet having at least 5 prints to most of it's color families.  I added 1 random orangish charm, and about a yard of white polka dot for alternate squares and a top and bottom border to make it a usable lap quilt. It is 401/2 inches wide by 54 inches tall.  The batting is a thin poly, slightly fluffy, but perfect weight for a summery quilt.

Ocean Waves

This pattern has always fascinated me, made as a set of Half Square Triangles, in concentric sets that swirl and flow, I imagined the illusion of sparkling rainbows across the gently moving water of a sunset over the ocean in my San Diego area home.

This is one of my very favorite quilts.  It is up on the wall during the summer and I always feel the calm peace of the sunset when I look at it.