My First Quilt

This is not really white on white; it’s white and off-white. This was my first quilt, and I made the blocks from patterns and techniques in a Georgia Bonesteel book. The sampler consists of twelve 12″ machine-pieced and hand-quilted blocks, each with a 3″ sashing hand quilted with cables, making it 54″ x 72″. At one point, my scissors slipped, so my initials are free-motion machine embroidered in one corner to cover the slip. I lap quilted each block and then put them all together, finishing in 1985, when the quilt won a blue ribbon at our county fair.

My First Quilt

 

Here is a slightly better photo, taken at a quilt show that spotlighted members’ first quilts.

First quilt, a sampler

My First Feathered Star

This was the result of a terrific class I took from Sharyn Craig at Quilt Camp in the Pines in 1999. I needed a small (20 1/2″ square) wallhanging for my kitchen, and this fit the bill. It was machine pieced and machine quilted.

Feathered Star Quilt

My First Appliquéed Quilt

I’ve been intimidated by and interested in appliqué for a long time. I finally screwed up my courage and machine appliquéed this quilt in 1995. I used a pattern for most of the dogs, but I designed the Doberman myself and made other changes that would reflect the dogs I’ve known and loved. They are in an Attic Windows setting to give them their own spaces. The dogs are echo quilted by hand, and they have a supply of dog biscuits quilted in the borders. The pattern I used was called “Family Dogs,” created by Critter Pattern Works, and the quilt is roughly 45″ x 44″.

Canines Quilt

Morning Stars

I fell in love with a sketch in a magazine and drafted this quilt from that. I finished it in 1990, machine piecing and hand quilting it. I’d never done eight-pointed stars before, so the centers were a bit “hilly” until they were quilted. But the quilt won Best of Show at our county fair! This one measures 43 1/2″ x 35″.

Morning Stars Quilt

More I Spy Panels

Just as it suddenly became obvious a couple of years earlier that Benjamin needed a “big boy” quilt to take to preschool, Andrew and Dominic also needed the same sort of thing! I had foreseen this, however, when I bought the preprinted panel for Benjamin’s quilt; I’d bought two more of the same panel at the same time. So now those two have become nap quilts for preschool, too. 🙂 The center panels are identical, but I used different border fabrics and quilting motifs. Here is Andrew’s quilt:

Andrew's Nap Quilt

Andrew loves big trucks, so the border fabric seemed a good choice for him, and I used variegated thread to do lines of cars and trucks in the red border. It measures about 41″ x 50″.

Dominic’s quilt is similar:

Dominic's Nap Quilt

I used the same thread to do rows of five-pointed stars in the border of this one. The quilt measures approximately 41″ x 49″, and both quilts were finished in June, 2004. They were both machine pieced (just adding borders) and machine quilted.

Moon in the Window

This Drunkard’s Path version is called Moon in the Window, designed by Elisa’s Backporch Designs. I began it in May, 2013, and finally finished it in February, 2015; it sat for quite a while as a finished top before I quilted it. The finished quilt measures about 54″ square.

Moon in the Window Quilt

It is free-motion quilted with feathers and curved cross hatching, as well as a dense background filler in the “L” shapes around the quarter circles. As usual, there is corded piping next to the binding. Here are some details of the quilting:

Moon in the Window detail 3

Moon in the Window detail 2 Moon in the Window detail 1

Blog post 1, 2

Mini Trip Around the World

A good friend of mine showed me her miniature TATW, and I was very intrigued. Then she gave me the strips necessary for the center of this little piece — all in gorgeous batiks! I just love the colors. I machine quilted sprays of feathers in lavender variegated thread all over the top and added corded piping before attaching the binding. I finished it in October, 2009, and it measures about 21″ square.

Mini Trip Around the World Quilt

Here is a close-up of some of the quilting.

Mini Trip Around the World detail

Update: I entered this quilt into our local show in 2011, and it won second place in its category! Here’s a photo of it with its pretty ribbon:

Mini Trip Around the World & ribbon

Mike’s Log Cabin

I made this quilt for my husband to use as a throw (it measures 45 1/4″ x 50 1/4″). It took me a long time to come up with what I wanted to make for him, but I knew it had to have purple in it, since that’s his favorite color! I finally settled on this Log Cabin variation, giving a woven effect; the layout for it was sent to me by another quilter online. I then translated that layout into a QuiltPro pattern to make my life easier. The quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted, and I finished it in January of 2000.

Mike's Log Cabin Quilt

I used yellow for the center of each log cabin square, just to brighten things up a bit. Since Mike loves to garden, I machine quilted the names of his various crops into the white borders. This includes chiles, tomatoes, peaches, and lots of other fruits and vegetables. The logs in the pattern represent the logs he used for his square foot gardening, and there are lizards quilted into some of the blocks; they’re to keep the insects away! Even the back of the quilt is garden-themed, as it’s a vegetable and garden-tool print.

Megan’s Wedding

A very small (about 14 1/4″ square) wall hanging, this was made for our niece’s wedding in 1996. This one also was the first I made using QuiltPro software to design and lay out the project. What fun! I machine pieced and hand quilted this one, too.

Megan's Wedding Quiltlet

Mariner’s Compass

This is another project from Quilt Camp in the Pines (1999). It’s the result of a class with Gail Garber, who taught us how to draft and make this pattern. It’s machine pieced and hand quilted, and I left it small in order to hang it in a small spot in my kitchen.

Mariner's Compass Quilt

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