QUILT: Rings

This quilt was inspired by a wedding.  I wanted a representation of gold wedding bands, and had several great greys in a collection with the yellows.  After finishing the yellow rings, I decided to make grey nine-patches with gold centers.  the background is a great white with grey x's (kisses?) and the quilt came together as a generous lap quilt. White and natural in the quilt layer makes it a year round good choice for San Diego.

Romana and Jim

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.

Butterflies Quilt

My cousin Tary was a unique man, sweet, loving, kind. We lost him way too young.

The butterflies are batiks, the sky is a gently painted light blue on muslin. The quilt will reside with my cousin Patty.

Fly back home,  on newly formed wings.  I miss you.

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.

Persimmon Pluses Quilt

The name of the charm pack was "Persimmon" and though thoroughly modern, the muted colors suggested something from the past to me.  So I designed a "plus" block that used the width of the 5" charm with 2 muslin sides, split in half, trimmed to 5", then added the other 5" arm. Each arm was 2" wide.
Then I sewed it all 4 sides to a muslin 5" square, marked the diagonal lines and cut them (a method for making square in a square that works if you don't need sharp, bordered edges.) Since the background and the 5" square were muslin, this was a good accurate method to use.
A few of the fabrics were too light, they were simply lost on the unbleached muslin. After completing the quilt, I poured some coffee on the blocks that were too light and put it out in the sun for a few hours.  After washing, the coffee had very softly colored the light fabrics, and stained the muslin in a few spots, helping me achieve the "aged" look I imagined when I first saw the charm collection.  A few of the blues were also too light, I used inktense watercolor pencils to add a little deeper blue or brown on those pluses.

This is a small quilt, around 36" by 42". No border. The binding was a piece of brown scrap from the scrap box. It would work in an antique cradle, or just displayed on the quilt rack in my dining room where I display my smaller quilts.

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!

A Utility Quilt

Block is made with charms, a 16 patch block is made, then split on the diagonal twice. Then reconnected to make 2 blocks. I grabbed some left overs and random blocks from the workroom and began experimenting. Ended up with a fluffy, lightweight utility quilt.