Bright Stars for Heather

 Young Heather came to us last summer as a new grad from seminary to intern with Brenda at St. Andrews. At the same time Pete had graduated and was also interning as a Deacon. 

We enjoyed our young new age Deacon interning (barefoot) to remain connected to the earth with Seasoned Pete also finding his voice and role in the church. 

Heather was ordained and has accepted a post to minister to students at UCSD. We bid her good bye and good luck with a bright modern quilt of stars, peace and inclusion. We will have it autographed and prayed over on her last Sunday at St Andrews. 

Baby Woodland Creatures

Inspired by a printed panel of 8 critters blocks in soft neutral colors matched with similar fabric colors patchworked into quarter square triangle blocks. I set them in a circle of nine pattern (except there are only 8 blocks) and free motion meandered quilting. 

A generous 44x51 for a crib or toddler bed. 

SOLD to Jackie Keegan on etsy!

Ms Amy's Sunflowers

 Ms Amy created Springs Dual Language Academy in 2014. On opening day she had 13 students. Now, 2023, there are more than 200 in Tk through 8th grade. Ezekiel is thriving in the second grade. 

Ms. Amy retires this year. I made this special quilt to be signed by teachers, parents and students in her honor. 

All the fabrics making up the blades are sunflower fabrics! 

A few orphan blocks from another project matched the colors. 

A generous sized lap quilt with a thick cotton batting. 

Large Granny Squares

Starting with 4" solid squares and using the Jenny Doan technique for setting on point squares (search YouTube for missouri star turnabout granny squares for idea) I made 4 squares with muted solid leftovers and then put them aside a few years. Searching recently for another project I found the 4 blocks. Set them, and found the border fabric in my stripes stash box. Decided to miter the stripe corners and free motion it. Done! 

My personalized quilt label 

 For sale on etsy!

SOLD

And one more dog quilt

 I buy a quarter yard of dog or cat or animal fabric when I find them on sale and just cut them into 5 inch squares. Then making a 36 inch quilt is as simple as picking out 40 and arranging them using the technique I learned from Missouri Star of 2 25 square squares (The setting squares run diagonally) then cutting each in half on the diagonal. Re set the 4 pieces,  add a 3 inch border and back with doggy flannel. That's it! 

SOLD on etsy

Little Churn Dashes Baby Quilt

 I purchased all the fabrics at my favorite fabric warehouse in Anaheim. They sell zillions of fabrics for $3.98 a yard. I usually start by being attracted to one fabric (the border fabric in this case; little woodland forest animals in orange, blue, yellow, gray) and then search for colors to coordinate with it. At this point I don't know anything more than " cute baby quilt"

Then I decide how much to buy of each.... One yard of my focus fabric and 1/4 yard if 4 others. Finally I searched stash at home and added the pale blue tone on tone and went to my "stash stripes" for the binding!

Finally I picked a pattern: 

https://youtu.be/9rgQd6asPQs

BUT I started with 9" squares instead of layer cakes since I had purchased 1/4 yard cuts. Then I removed the pinwheels to center with my focus fabric. And rearranged the black to make churn dashes so..... the pattern was just a suggestion! 

This is a baby quilt for one of the nurses I used to work with. Congratulations Asia for your new baby boy!

Garlic Knots in Reds, Whites and Blues

 Garlic Knots are an interesting block to make. I like the look of  the 6" block, so it starts with 2" strips. Thus if I buy 1/4 yards of fabric (9") I can get a 5" strip (8 charms) plus  two  2" strip (garlic knots!)  For each set of garlic knots I use 2 strips of 2 colors, a 3 1/2" strip plus a 2" strip of background. 

I use the chart at this link to strip piece my  blocks:

https://abyquilts.wordpress.com/2017/08/11/garlic-knots-hack/

I decided to set my blocks into wreaths, roughly dividing my blocks into 2 color sets and then alternating them. 

Finally I used the tiny scrap strips plus the leftovers cut from the STRIP SETS to widen the back. 

A generous 48 x 60. SOLD to Sandra, a quilt buyer who converts quilts into jackets and resells them!