My work on both my Christmas quilt and this little blog will be a little less regular for a while. We have a visitor at our house.
If you are currently in the market for a great read (Mr. Potter excluded), I strongly suggest Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I finished it last night so that I could meet up again with Harry and Company. It was one of the best books I’ve read in a while.
Be back later!
Last year my sister started college. Her birthday is in August and it was easy to answer the age old conundrum of what-do-I-get-her…. a quilt! She selcted the pattern and most of the fabrics- a little bit loud and a whole lot sassy, just like her. 
The pattern is ‘Any Way You Slice It’ by none other than Denyse Schmidt.
The end result?
Recognize it? Here it is in it’s home:
Ah, college. It’s almost enough to make me want to go back. Then again, a salary is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
Last fall I made a quilt for my mother-in-law. I asked her what her tastes were for a quilt and went from there. This was the first traditional looking quilt I’ve ever made. The pattern is called “Fanshaw Dam” and it’s made entirely of homespuns. It recently won Best Machine Quilted at a quilt show in my hometown! Hooray!
and a close up…
It’s hard to see, but there are primative stars quilted on the outer border and inside each of the quarter circles. It was the most warm and cozy quilt to sit and bind. My husband was in grad school at the time finishing up his MBA and I would sit and watch classic Christmas movies (you know, National Lampoons, Home Alone, A Christmas Story) while I worked on the binding.
Right now I am getting started on a Christmas quilt of my own. I’ve had the desire to make this specific pattern, but haven’t had the time until now. It’ll be the Past Times quilt pattern, made from the Moda Three Sisters ‘Maison de Noel’ fabric line. The fabric line is old, so luckily I found enough to make it. Here’s what it will look like…
I am also really wanting to make one of these…
It’s from American Jane. The pattern is called Merry-Go-Round. Looks like it’ll be good for people like me who don’t have the patience for Grandmother’s Flower Garden.
This May I became an aunt! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a beautiful little girl. I made the bedding for the nursery: bumper, crib skirt, quilt, curtain, a couple of pillows and… a teddy bear. She wanted gender neutral without being pastels or “Hello, we’re the primary colors.” I enlarged the What a Bunch of Squares pattern from Denyse Schmidt, but not by the 400% that the directions say to. The fabric was all from April Cornell’s Sonnet Collection. I love this little room and what they did with it…
I heart the striped pillow with the fringe! You can also see the curtain.
Say, “hello,” to Mr. Bear…
My best buddy in the whole wide world is turning the big two-six at the end of this month. I have been crafting away for the last couple of weeks on a set of tea towels and an apron for her. Hmm… how to describe my best pal… if you’re bored, she brings the party and if you’re bummed, she provides the type of laugh that makes your cheeks ache. She’s got great style and is just simply the greatest. Spending so much time working on her gift has given me plenty of opportunity to reflect on our long time friendship.
Anywho… the tea towels are not your average tea towels. No room for geese in bonnets here. No sir. She’s getting some sassy designs from sublime stitching. Photos later. However, you can see this one- the apron is officially finished!
I used fabric from American Jane’s Peas and Carrots and Building Blocks lines.
Speaking of aprons…. I’d like to think I was trendy before it was trendy to decorate with vintage aprons. About four years ago, my mother came across a bag of about ten aprons while sorting things from my grandparents’ house. My grandmother had made them long long ago. I quickly snatched them up. I asked my husband if we could hang a couple in our kitchen. Expecting him to say, “I’d rather not,” I was more than thrilled to hear him give his genuine approval. He loved the idea. I finally could afford to get them framed in December of 2004. If you could see them in person you’d see that the fabric is a bit darker in the center where she would have wiped her hands. That is my favorite part of them. Here they are.
Off to book club I go!
I must have made close to ten baby quilts in the last two years…I am at “that age”. Here are two from The Modern Quilt Workshop.
This one is the Once Upon a Time pattern. [please ignore the unfinished binding and the quilt behind it! ] The woman I teach with that chose the pattern is a communication arts teacher (English). I think it’s perfect that she selected this pattern because it is essentially a story telling quilt. The child/parent points to a block and starts the story. You continue to another block that is connected to keep the story going. Some blocks only have one path, while others have multiple options or are dead ends. Imagine the story telling possibilities!
I love the Plain Spoken pattern. Something about the simple shapes and the use of all solids makes me smile. This was my first time to quilt in a circle- or any type of curve for that matter. [the only quilts I do the actual quilting on are baby size quilts. I take my others to a woman with a long arm.] Ha! “a woman with a long arm.” That brings a funny image to mind.
I love the way a quilt wrinkles after you take it out of the dryer. Yummy! [for what it's worth, I am on the "don't wash your fabrics before quilting" side of the Great Fabric Washing Debate.]
I am a huge fan of Denyse Schmidt. When I heard she was coming out with a book a few years ago, I was sure to snatch up a copy asap. Since then, I’ve made four of the quilts as gifts. I altered two patterns for baby quilts- Drunk Love Two Tone and What a Bunch of Squares. I made Any Way You Slice It for my sister as an “off to college” quilt and am putting the finishing touches on the top of an Ice Pops quilt.
Something about using a pattern called “Drunk Love” for a baby quilt makes me giggle. Here it is.
The backing was made of three orange prints/solids. I’ve actually made two of these- the one you seen above and another in the same blues with an orange binding.
Here are a few quilts made long ago and not so long ago….
This flag quilt was made as a Mother’s Day gift for my mom while I was in college in 2001. It’s a string quilt pattern from a scrap quilt book. One of my roommates in college had the flag idea. I just altered the color placement and added another row in order to have 13 stripes. I’ve actually made three quilts from this pattern- one in rusty reds and oranges for my best buddy and one in lime greens, blues and purples for my sister. You can’t see it in the photo, but the blue area is quilted in a star pattern while the stripes have random wavy lines. Of all of the quilts I’ve made (over 20) through the years, this one is my favorite.
Here’s a close up of the string quilt I made for my sister as a gift for Christmas 2003. Same pattern as the flag quilt. I love the random placement of the strips. They are sewn onto 6” muslin squares and then arranged parque floor style.
Here’s the first quilt I actually made for myself! It is from a Westminster pattern book and is called “Chinese Coin and Log Cabin.” Although it looks black, the dark is actually a chocolate brown.
Here’s a close up…
Can you tell I prefer quilts that are a little off kilter?
In my many googles for quilting info, I’ve often read the blogs of other hip crafty people. I decided that I can share in the fun. I’ve been quilting/sewing for several years now and have a decent sized back log of photos to add as time (and my internet patience!) allows. I’ll also throw in some other goodies if the mood strikes me. Who knows where this little blog will go in the days to come…
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