Cars and Trucks and Trains

Cathy paper-pieced this for her grandson, and I'm sure he's going to love it. There is so much going on, he'll have lots of things to look at.  I quilted a simple meaner in the borders and the lower blue background.  The star fabric in the top had a meander and some stars.  There's a zig zag through the pieced border.  Stitch in the ditch around all the letter and vehicle blocks.  The backing was a light tan fabric with tone-on-tone cars and trucks all over it.  Finished size will be 74 x 92.

not yet trimmed and bound - Cathy will do that.

 

 

lots of different vehicles

 

pieced border and more vehicles

 

cats in the window!

 

trees and mountains and a house

 

 

How much is that doggie in the window???

 

 

Grandma Gigi added her name and the years that she has worked on this

 

quilted star in the starry fabric

 

 

Thomas the Train for the outer border

 

 

 

Sun and Moon

 

Taylor's T's

Taylor started out wanting a twin quilt, but had so many favorite shirts that we ended up doing a full size.  Her  Mom had done a great job saving little shirts from when Taylor was young.  We chose a light grey for sashings and borders so all the shirts would stand out.  She also wanted the orange and black cornerstones to separate each shirt more.  The finished size is 87 x 93.

 

 

The backing is basketball fabric, which is perfect because it is orange and black like the school colors.  I also used this fabric for the binding:

 

 

I quilted loops and wiggly lines in the sashings and borders:

 

 

In the center of each shirts I used a circle template, then added lines to make it look like a basketball.  Then I added a simple meander around that.

 

 

 

 

Quilt of Valor

Jill in Ohio pieced this fabulous top.  I love the pattern and I love the fabric she chose.  It's really rich and vibrant, and every triangle point is just perfect.  I did a little extra on the quilting because this top deserved it.  I quilted "e's" and "l's" in the cream border, a wiggly line in the red border, and a meander in the outside border.  I forgot to get pictures of those.  The finished size is 65 x 77.  This quilt will be donated to a veteran through the Quilts of Valor program.

This one doesn't need any more explanation  - the photo says it all  :)

 

I quilted 8-pointed stars in the background squares, and lines of ribbon in the blades of the star.

 

 

cross-hatching in the checkerboard.  The lines go one way in the cream squares, the opposite way in the red and blue squares.

 

 

The backing is muslin, so the quilting shows up well.

 

 



Colleen's T's

Colleen is the third of three daughters.  I had them all in school, and now I have made quilts for all of them.  Colleen chose the colors, and I thought the gray sashings were going to be dull, so I added a bunch of quilting to liven it up.  I decided the gray look great as the shirts show up great.  The backing is turquoise.  Finished size is 71 x 94.  There were a lot of large designs, so this one ended up a little longer than normal for a twin quilt.

 

 

quilted loops and wavy lines in sashing

meander on each shirt

 

 

 

piano keys in border

 

 

backing

 

 



Scrap basket

I made this using 7" squares and batting scraps.  There is a different colored button on each side.  It is a scrap basket to take when I am not sewing at home.  Quick and easy to use, and the perfect size.

Trenee's T's

Trenee wanted a t-shirt quilt without sashing - just shirts.  This allowed for almost double the usual number of shirts I put on a quilt this size (queen - 94x108).  So it's really heavy because there are 58 shirt pieces in it.  She also had the great idea to turn the shirts on the sides side-ways so that when it's on the bed they will be straight up - an idea I will definitely offer again.  Quilting is a large meander.  Backing is a bright blue.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Mountains

This is a bargello quilt for a customer.  She picked out a pattern that was a wall-hanging, so I had to totally re-do the pattern to make it bigger.  I used up lots of graph paper to plan it all out.  She is giving it as a wedding gift - the bride requested black, green and silver.    Finished size is 56 x 80.

 

The quilting thread is a high-sheen poly that looks sparkly when the light catches it right. 

 

 

I quilted an all-over hook and swirl pattern in the body, loops in the small black border, and in the outer border -  parallel line that mimic the spacing of the piecing in the body. 

 

 

 

The backing is stripes in the same colors -  a great find. 

 

Quilt of Valor jelly race quilt

This is a" jelly race" or "lasagna" quilt.  2.5" strips are sewn end to end to create one long strip.  That is then folded in half and sewn down one side.  That process is repeated over and over until the desired size is reached.  I started this at the National Quilt of Valor sew-in day on Feb 1.  This will presented to a veteran through the Quilts of Valor program.  It's 66 x 76.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't happy with it when it was done - there were too many spots where there was a large section that was all one color.  At the next guild meeting, someone had a supply of stars and flags that were already cut and had "heat 'n bond" on them read to go.  I grabbed a few of those, made some more on my own, and put them in  appropriate spot. 

 

 

 

 

quilting pattern - I quilted an all-over hook and swirl pattern with red thread to perk it up even more.

 

backing

 

 

Camp Mack Magic

I started this quilt at our guild retreat at Camp Mack in September, 2012.  I finished the piecing during that winter, but just now got it quilted.  I knew how I wanted to quilt it, but had to do some research first on how to do it.  The inspiration came from Judi Madsen at Green Fairy Quilts.  I'm a long ways from what she does, but it's a start.    Thanks also for help from Susan at Quilt Fabrication. 

There are two layers of batting, Hobbs wool on top of Hobbs 80/20.  I used a clear poly thread to SID the entire quilt to hold all the layers together, and to give definition to each individual piece.  That took 6 hours.  Then I went back and did the detail work - another 17 hours of work.  A total of 23 hours of quilting. Whew - I was sure glad when all that was done.  The biggest thing I learned was that this type of details needs to me on plain or much lighter colored fabrics.  All that work should also be done on a smaller quilt so it doesn't take quite so long!!  A lot of the detail is lost in the darker fabrics.  But it was all a learning experience, and I'll do better next time.  The backing has two leftover blocks, and is a batik that has all of the colors from the front side.  Finished size is 66 x 76.

 

 

 

Texture shows better with side view.  There are the same circles in the cranberry fabric.

 

 

the two different blocks - detail close up. 

 

"button" close up - This element is one I had seen elsewhere and was the start of this whole idea.

 

 

borders - diamonds in brown border and squares in  cranberry border.  The yellow is a flange - only attached on one side.

 

2 extra blocks on back.  The detail shows up better on the back than the front!!

 

 

 

 

Easy Street

This is Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter's mystery from fall 2012.  The top has been done for a year, and I finally got it quilted. There are Baptist Fans in the body.  I love the look of them even though it takes forever to do them. There is a zig-zag line in the gray border, 1" circles in the narrow blue border, and piano keys in the outside purple border.  I used a template for those circles - they took forever also - had to make sure they were exactly within the border.  I found a batik for the back that has all of the colors in it.   This quilt took 3rd place in our 2014 quilt show.

 

Baptist Fans

 

 

borders

 

 

 

                                                                          Backing

Blue Ridge Beauty

This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern that took over 1 year to complete.  It was started at our guild retreat in Sept 2012 and worked on as a leader/ender project.  There are a ton of different fabrics, including some donated by friends at the retreat, and even a few Goodwill shirts.  All blocks were complete by the 2013 retreat, where I had a lot of room to lay out all the blocks and make sure they were all facing the right direction.  I numbered them all so I wouldn't turn any the wrong way.  Borders were added, and it was a 3-day project to quilt.  It's all free motion, with daisies, roses, feathers, swirls, leaves, and loops and zig zags used to get to where I wanted to go next.  There are 3 different fabrics on the back, solid white, solid blue, and white with grey polka dots - all pulled from my stash drawer.  The solid backings create a whole cloth look  - the quilting details really show up.  Finished size is 97 x 108 - BIG!!  This quilt took second place in our 2014 quilt show.

 

Couldn't get the whole quilt in the photo unless I was so far away you couldn't see the pattern!

 

 

 

close up of pattern

 

 

close up of quilting

 

 

border quilting

 

 

blue backing

 

polka dot backing

 

white backing

 

 

 

Quilt of Valor

This was pieced by Betty C in Ohio.  I love the pattern, and her backing is perfect too.  This will be donated to a veteran through the Quilt of Valor program once she binds it.  It is 70 x 72.

 

A fabulous patriotic pattern

 

 

 

 

The backing has Snoopy doing a happy dance with the words "Hugs for Heroes" around him.

 

 

 

I quilted feathers across each red and white stripe, line dancing in the star blocks, and a meander in the blue side borders.