This quilt was a very long-term thing! I participated in an online block swap in 1999, and my set of blocks arrived at my home late that May, literally days before I was to move out of state. I was really worried for a little while there! This swap was among people from all over the world whose name was Sandy, or a variation of that: Sandra, Alexandra, Sandi, etc. For a very long time, the blocks sat in my closet while I debated what to do with them. Finally an idea began to form.The blocks weren’t all exactly the same size, which is common in a swap, so I used Sharyn Craig’s Twist ‘n Turn technique to even them up. I like the effect! I had originally wanted to turn this into a blue and yellow quilt, but the red just seemed to want to be used. That was probably because of the events of 9/11/01.
The quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted and measures approximately 66″ x 80″. I used smaller versions of the stars in the corners of the outer border, which is a fireworks print. The quilting includes stitch-in-the-ditch work along the pieces of the sashing, a multicolored swirl effect in the large stars, and dark blue stippling in the blue backgrounds. The border is quilted with a loopy pattern. It was all finally finished in June, 2002. The blocks in this quilt came from Missouri, Florida, California, Massachusetts, and Colorado in the U.S; British Columbia and Saskatchewan in Canada; Leicester in the U.K.; Panama; and South Africa!
I saw a gorgeous quilt at my local quilt shop and fell in love with it. Since I had a gift certificate I’d won, I decided to buy the kit for this quilt, even though I don’t often do kits. The pattern was by June Pease for Red Rooster Fabrics, and it went together quite easily.
I machine appliquéed the circular pieces in the four corners, but everything else was simple piecing. For the machine quilting, I did a lot of outlining of the major motifs in those corners and in the center panel, using gold metallic thread to echo the gold tracery in the fabrics. The same gold thread made scallops in the various squares and rectangles of the borders; but I used black thread in the top and bottom portions of the center panel, doing swirls in the top section and leaves in the bottom. This is a detail of the center panel:
There is also corded piping between the outer border and the binding. I pieced, appliquéed and quilted this by machine, finishing in September, 2012. The quilt measures approximately 60″ x 70″.
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During the summer of 2015, I downloaded weekly blocks from San Francisco Stitch Company, done in machine embroidery, thinking to practice this technique. The blocks had a theme of travel around the US, and they were fun to do. I finished the quilt in September, 2015, using some echo quilting in the blocks and the corded piping I so like to place next to the binding. The finished quilt measures 21.75″ square.
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I took another class from Freddy Moran when she came to our area in May, 2003. This time we made her Garden Party Ladies blocks, along with topiary trees. My ladies’ dressses are made from provençal fabrics I bought in Houston at the festival, and they’re on multicolored backgrounds. When I was quilting this, I decided to make the quilt a memento of my first trip to Houston and the wonderful time several quilter friends had while staying at the Ramada there. Seven of the dresses have the name of one of us “Ramada Gals”, and the remaining two have related information.Here’s the quilt:
This was machine pieced and machine quilted and measures 51 1/2″ x 46 1/2″. I finished it in late August, 2003 — just in time to get ready for the next Houston show! 😉 Starting on the left in the top row, the ladies/gals are: (row 1) Wendy/Frood, Ramada gals, IQF 2002 Houston; (row 2) Ally, Sandy in Henderson, Marilyn/Nurse Ratched; (row 3) Pat in VA, Kris in northern VA, Kathy Z./lurker.
For the label, I took a photo of one block and made the photo very pale, superimposing the text I wanted over that:
I took a class from Marsha McCloskey in April, 2005, when she came here as part of our local quilt show. I’d already made another small Feathered Star, but I really love this pattern (it’s based on the Lemoyne Star, after all!), so I took the class. We worked on the Radiant Feathered Star in class, learning how to draft our own patterns, too. After I finished my block at home, I decided to make three more, two in reversed colors; but the fabric is too old and isn’t available, so now I have another small wall hanging! 😉 This one was machine pieced and machine quilted and measures 21″ square.
There are red machine-quilted feathered hearts in each of the two-color squares, and there are cream feathered sprays in the border. The star points are stitched in the ditch, and there is a LeMoyne Star quilted in the center. I inserted piping between the border and the binding and finished the little quilt in May, 2005. Here’s a photo of the back, where you can see the quilting more easily.
My quilt buddy, Phyl, came for a visit and to work on an adorable quilt together, each of us making our own version. Neither of us had ever planned to make a quilt using the technique of appliqué in the hoop, but then there was this set of designs …. We couldn’t resist, as both of us are dog lovers. There were ten different puppies to choose from, along with some “filler” blocks, but I was hoping to make this a very narrow quilt to fit a small wall in my sewing room. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way, and the quilt now measures 23″ x 27″, which is just a bit too wide for that wall. Oh well. 😉 The dogs and other motifs were done with appliqué on the embroidery machine, and the paw print border is all embroidered. I free-motion quilted it, trying for a bit of variety in the background motifs.This was finished in September, 2014.
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In July, 2012, my husband and I took a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. While there, I found a beautiful batik fabric that is apparently only sold by a specific Hawaiian quilt shop, and I also fell in love with all of the lush flora there. After some experimenting at home, I found a photo online of the plumeria blossom and made it into templates for this quilt. I machine appliquéed the leaves and blossoms and machine quilted the finished piece, adding the piping that I like so much. The quilting has pebbles between the leaves to represent the earth where the plant grows, evolving into swirls further away to represent the water surrounding the islands. The border has a variation of those swirls.
Here is a detail of some of the quilting, and another of the flowers:
The quilt measures approximately 27″ square, and I finished it in April, 2013.
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Once again, I attended Quilt Camp in the Pines in July, 2002. One of the classes I took was from Freddy Moran to learn a technique for making a pineapple quilt. I used batiks for the colored portions of the top, and the background is a mottled off-white. The pink batik in the center of each pineapple block is repeated as one of the two inner borders and again in the binding. The outer border is made of simple four-patches set on point. I’d originally intended to hang this in our entry hall as a symbol of welcome, but it grew too large for the space. Instead, it will hang over the bed in our guest room.
Here are details of the quilting patterns I used in the pineapple blocks and in the outer border:
As you may be able to see, I used pineapples for the quilting motifs, too — a more ornate pattern in the blocks and a simpler one in the border. The quilt was completely machine pieced and machine quilted with invisible thread, and it measures approximately 50″ square. I finished it in September, 2002.
This is a memory quilt I made after the unexpected and premature death of Tuppence, our little cocker spaniel — almost certainly the dog who has meant the most to me of all the beloved ones I’ve ever had. She was almost six years old when the medication she took to control her seizures caused her liver to fail. She and our lab/chow mix were great buddies, so there are lots of photos of the two of them together; but she spent most of her time being my constant companion while I either puttered around the house or sat at my computer or my quilting.
There are 24 photos of Tuppence in the quilt, not counting the one forming the points of the LeMoyne Star in the center. The name of the quilt is appropriate, since she definitely left pawprints all over my heart and since I quilted little pawprints inside hearts all through the background of the main part of the quilt. The borders are quilted with feathers; I love feathers, and Tuppence had beautiful ones on her legs and torso. Here is a close-up of some of the quilting around the center star:
The quilt measures 34″ square. I began designing it in Quilt Pro in November, 2005, shortly after her death; and I finished the quilt in February, 2006.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, it was impossible to find a flag to hang at our home. However, I did find a pattern for this banner on a web site which unfortunately no longer exists.. The banner measures 14″ x 36″ and was machine pieced and machine quilted on my little Featherweight. The Featherweight used to belong to my mother-in-law, but she generously gave it to me, and I’ve since gifted it to my granddaughter to keep it in the family.
