MOST VIEWED POST OF 2018

My most viewed post of 2018 also happens to be a favorite little quilt of mine -- Rainbow Gradation.  That post may be viewed here: 

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

CHRISTMAS AND QUILTS

I have some older favorite quilts that I like to pull out for the Christmas season.

Tartan Quilt, 1986

Holly Wool Appliqued Pillow, 2012

 Betsey's Block #3, 2018

This Santa does get to rest his head on a new quilt.  He has had a hard life starting with a tantrum-throwing kid 47 years ago -- I'll leave it at that as it was not one of my best parental moments!

Wrapped around the Christmas tree ---

1904 Revisited, 1984

1904 Star quilt made to honor the year my grandparents were married.

                                      MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!                                    

                                                                          

BETSEY LIVES AGAIN

I made this top in 2015, and I loved it so much that I wanted to hand quilt it.  I kept hoping my finger agility from arthritis would improve so that I could do it by hand.  But, alas, it has only deteriorated.  So, I decided if the quilt was going to see the light of day where I could enjoy it; I might as well machine quilt it.

As usual, I'm not satisfied with my machine quilting.

This is my all-time favorite block -- you can read about my journey over the years with the 'Betsey Block' here and here. 

Only two more 'Betsey Block' quilt tops remain unquilted.  Am I on a roll?  We'll see.  If I do machine quilt them, that would mean I could make another top using my favorite block.

The Stats:
"Betsey's Block #3", 2015-2018, 31" x 31", Machine Pieced, Machine Quilted

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday

A SIGNATURE QUILT TO CELEBRATE A 40TH ANNIVERSARY

I was asked to design and make a signature quilt commemorating the 40th anniversary of a quilting organization that I belong to.  It turned into a more labor-intensive project than I planned on.

It was my own fault as I think I over designed it not anticipating the work involved.

It contains 131 signature blocks which I gathered from members of the organization over a three-month period.  Members also contributed 56 different pieces of red fabrics to be included in the quilt.

The design has almost 300 flying geese units. I'm a lousy flying geese maker, so I paper pieced them for accuracy.  (I'm now laying off flying geese units for several months!!!)

I finished the quilt top in July, and turned it over to the organization.  It will be machine quilted by another member;

 and, hopefully, be completed by the first of 2019.

Here are some photos of the unquilted top ---

I hope to have some better pictures after it is quilted.

I was honored to be asked to contribute my efforts to an organization I have enjoyed belonging to for 36 years.

It was a fun project ---- just don't ask me to make any more flying geese for awhile!

I'm joining the following:
Have a Daily Cup for Share your Cup Thursday
My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday

DECORATING WITH QUILTS FOR 60TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Our 60th wedding anniversary has come and gone!  A project I have enjoyed over the last couple of years was making small quilts to use as table decorations for our reception/celebration/hoopla.

I also made two long table runners for the food tables ---

a wool crazy quilt with memorable appliques for the registration 

table ---

(Yes, that is a picture on the table of Bob and I on first date in 7th grade.)

a smaller runner for one of the memorabilia tables ---

there were 11 large, round tables for

 guests ---

the garden flowers were arranged by my talented granddaughter, 

Caitlin ---

my husband made the wooden boxes to hold the flowers ---

the flowers were gathered from our garden and the garden of a generous

 friend ---

One of the round tables did not get photographed; plus several of the small quilts were not used.

As usual, I over-planned!!!

Being a quiltmaker and my husband a wood worker; it was a fun family effort.  Then, to have our granddaughter work on the flowers was a bonus.

I'm joining the following:
My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Em's Scrapbag for Moving it forward Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday

BOOKCASE QUILT

I've come late to the bookcase-quilt bandwagon.

My granddaughter is a book lover and reader, and indicated she would like some of Barnes and Noble's Classic Editions to add to her collection for her 22nd birthday gift.

I figured she needed a bookcase quilt to go with the books I bought for her.

I made it in three units incorporating some of her favorite books plus some imaginary ones.

She loves pretty book covers, so it was fun digging in my scraps for different fabrics.

I incorporated striped fabric and machine embroidery on some of the books.

Also, I used a couple of family pictures to accent the shelves.

No pattern -- as usual, I just made it up as I went.  A fun project, but time intensive --- I probably won't make another bookcase quilt.

THE STATS:
"Caitlin's Bookcase Quilt", 2018, 22" x 44",
Machine pieced, paper pieced, machine appliqued, machine embroidered, machine quilted.  The printing was computer generated on my home printer.

I'm joining the following:
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Em's Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

HAPPY THE HOME #4

The last of a two-year project to make mini-quilts to use to decorate the tables for our 60th wedding anniversary/hoopla/celebration/reception is finished.  The celebration will be on September 8th, and I now have more than enough little quilts to use for the party.

This one is small at 16 inches square so I think I will use it on the guest book table

This is the fourth version of this half log cabin block that I have made over the years.  The simple block can be arranged in several orientations to produce secondary patterns.

THE STATS:

"Happy the Home, #4", 2018, 16" x 16", Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

Not much quilting will be going on here in the next couple of weeks, as I am pretty well bogged down with preparations for the party.

This is the prototype my granddaughter and I came up with to decorate the 15+ tables -- a small quilt on each table with wooden boxes, made by my husband; and holding Mason Jars with raffia and garden flowers.

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Em's Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

TIME WOVEN IN #3

  Time is fast approaching for our 60th wedding anniversary hoopla/celebration/reception (three more weeks)!  For the last couple of years off and on, I have been working on small quilts to use on the 15 tables with garden flowers for decorations.  This summer I finished this watermelon pink version of "Time Woven In".

Our small hometown is world famous for its melon production, and every year since the late 1800s celebrates the harvest with a fair and a give away of watermelons.  We got married 60 years ago on Watermelon Day weekend; and the bridesmaids dresses were watermelon pink!

 

 This is the third time I have made a version of this pattern; and it is always fun and quick to put together.

 This striped fabric I used in the setting blocks was purchased in Nashville on a teaching trip for American Quilter's Society.  It happened to be on hurricane Katrina week, and I had a difficult (and scary) time getting home with all my quilts and class samples.  

Therefore --- another quilt full of memories!

The stats:

"Time Woven In #3", 2018, 24" x 24", Machine pieced and Machine quilted.

I'm joining the following:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday
Em's Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
Love Laugh Quilts for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

ANOTHER "I SPY" BOOK

One of the gifts I make are quilted, soft "I Spy" books for babies.  At about 8-9 months old, they begin to enjoy them; if only to chew on them!!!  They are a quiet distraction during church, etc.

With parent's or sibling's help, they learn to find the objects fast.

I usually make them with 12 pages including the front and back covers.

It's fun to collect appropriate fabrics to cut and frame.

They are interfaced with flannel rather than batting, so they are not too bulky.

The pages are each 7" square finished.

Time consuming, but once you have accumulated a supply of "I Spy" fabrics and used scraps; they are an inexpensive baby gift.

My friends are having a grand-baby explosion --- I've made 2 books this month with two more to go.

I'm joining the following:
Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Em's Scrapbook for Moving It Forward Monday

JULY 4TH SEWING

I was fortunate to celebrate my freedom yesterday by sewing all day ---- in the morning, I worked on a quilted baby gift project.  It's almost done; and I'll post it after the baby is born.

In the afternoon, I made a little 6" quilt, a small project I've wanted to do for some time.

I have inherited several pins, etc. that belonged to my family that I usually display on the patriotic holidays in a little dish.  But, I've been thinking they would be better displayed pinned on a little quilt.

Included are my great-grandmother's Carrie Nation's hatchet pin, a couple of my grandfather's political pins, my dad's 1956 Eisenhower for President pin, and my uncle's WWII dog tag and ribbon.

Now, these treasures have a permanent home and hopefully won't get lost.

Hope your 4th of July was celebrated with joy.

P.S.:  I inherited the pins, not necessarily their political affiliation!!

I'm joining the following:

Have a Daily Cup for Share your Cup Thursday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

QUILTING IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH

How many of your quilts have cookie crumbs (or chocolate) sewn into the seams?

I have to admit that most of my quilts probably DO have crumbs in the seams.

Hey, repetitive sewing can get boring on occasion; and I need a diversion!

It happens.

I'm joining the following:
My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday