The thought of having to wash the large bed quilt I’d recently made was a bit daunting — having to do so frequently was even more so. Why would I have to do that? Why, because our adorable little Bisou loves to sleep at the foot of our bed, of course! 😉 The solution seemed pretty simple: make a bed runner for the foot of the bed. This could be washed much more easily than the entire quilt. I purchased a Moda layer cake grouping (about 40 10″ squares of coordinating fabrics) and found a simple pattern called “Slice of Cake” designed by Denise Sheehan. The leftover squares that weren’t needed for the quilt top became the backing. The bed runner was quick to make, and you can judge for yourself whether or not it’s serving its intended purpose:
The runner ended up being about 19.5″ x 91″, completely machine pieced and machine quilted, and I finished it in May, 2011. Below, you can see a detail of the feathered quilting I did.
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A friend of mine demonstrated how to make this small quilt at a meeting of our local quilt circle. I really liked the effect of the bargello, and I didn’t have a wall hanging in a patriotic theme, so I made this. It’s completely machine pieced and machine quilted and measures roughly 27″ x 21.5″. I finished it in April, 2013.
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The group I belong to in the Las Vegas area had a block exchange using autumn colors. These are definitely not the colors I usually use! However, I decided to go ahead and join in so as to see what I could do in a different (for me) palette. This is the result, finished in October, 2001. The quilt measures about 52″ x 33″ and was machine pieced and quilted. I stitched in the ditch along each of the sashings and borders and then did a free-motion motif in each of the blocks. I used the same motif in each block to unify the whole.
Here’s a detail of two of the blocks where you can see the quilting:
In January, 2011, I took a wholecloth design class from Terri Doyle in Phoenix. There, I designed two quilts, but one must be redone for various reasons. The other, much smaller, one is this one. It’s about 17″ square. I quilted it with silk thread and wool batting (yummy stuff!) and finished it in February, 2011.
Here’s a detail of the quilting:
My quilting buddy bought a kit from Stacy Michell. The kit included two identical images, one positive and one negative, of laser-cut Hawaiian appliqué motifs. She did one of the blocks and gave me the other to finish, and so I did. The motifs arrived with fusible already in place, so all I had to do was to fuse them to the background fabric, layer everything with my own batting and backing, and then do some machine appliqué that also became the quilting. I used blanket stitch, and it was fun to do. I didn’t have anything suitable for the binding, so I used a facing instead. The piece ended up 17.5″ square (it really is square, but it’s hanging on a curved chair back!), and I finished it in December, 2012.
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When two of my grandsons moved out of state, I sent the Advent calendar I’d made previously with them. That meant I needed to make a replacement for the three grandchildren still living here, of course. I bought another panel and made this one.
It’s made up of scenes of Bethlehem, and I liked it a lot. I added the corded piping I like so much around the panel, followed by a navy border and more piping before binding it. It is minimally machine quilted and measures 23 3/4″ x 25 3/4″. I finished it in January, 2014.
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This quilt was made for our younger daughter’s first baby, Andrew Michael. He was born on February 24, 2001, and was 7 lbs., 6 oz. and 19″ long. The quilt was partially complete before his birth, but I had to wait to finish it until we knew whether he was a “he” or a “she” and his other vital statistics. The pattern came from the book P.S. I Love You Two!, and it’s about 30″ x 36″.
This is a detail of some of the fun free-motion machine quilting I did on the quilt.
And here is Andrew with his quilt!
A friend of our daughter’s has a little three-year-old girl — absolutely adorable — who didn’t have a nap quilt to use at preschool. Uh-oh — that just isn’t right! 😉 So here’s the quickie I whipped up from a panel, adding borders and doing some simple quilting. It’s 33″ x 40″ and was finished in November, 2009.
Aidan, grandson number four, was almost ready for nursery school, so of course he needed a nap quilt to take with him. A friend of mine and I found a very cute panel while shopping in Phoenix, and it was perfect for the purpose. I machine quilted it, outlining a lot of the motifs and using green thread for most of them and black for others. It was finished in March, 2007, and measures approximately 33.5″ x 43.5″.
Our fourth grandson arrived in late June, 2004, so I made him a quilt. Yes, it’s hot in the Las Vegas area in the summer, but I figure he’ll use the quilt the following fall and winter. 😉 This is made from a panel for a baby quilt that two friends from England and I bought while they were visiting here in 2002. Both of them made their panels into quilts ages ago, and I’ve finally done this one, too. The panel comes from a South Seas Islands line of fabrics called Once Upon a Time.
I used the Twist and Turn technique to set the blocks from the panel, and then surrounded then with more of the same fabric as a border, with pinwheel blocks at intervals. I used purple thread to free-motion machine quilt this with loops, stars and hearts in the sashings and borders, and I outline quilted many of the motifs in the blocks with the same purple. Here’s a detail where you can see a bit of the quilting:
The quilt measures 35″ x 41 1/2″ and was finished in March, 2004, in plenty of time for the baby, who is lying on the quilt here.
