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

RAINBOW GRADATION

I made this top in 2015 and never did quilt it.  It was an exercise in gradation and to study the properties of printed fabric and how they relate to each other.  

I had an afternoon to spare this week, and decided to do a quick quilt on it with my walking foot and a simple wave design.

I love to spend time in my scrap bins; and when I made the top, I came up with 182 different fabrics to gradate.

It's amazing how your eye perceives fabric when different pieces are placed next to each other.

THE STATS:

"Rainbow Gradation", 2018, 24" x 30", Machine Pieced and Quilted, 182 different fabrics.

For more on my process of gradation, check out my original post on this top -- http://qbits-salmagundi.blogspot.com/2015/09/an-exercise-in-gradation.html

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
Ems Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday
Have a Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

2018 DONATION PROJECT

Every year I try to do a donation project of some kind involving more effort than money (since I have more time than money!)

Last year, I made 36 items of clothing for an American Girl doll; donated them to a 'court support for children' organization's annual auction; I was overwhelmed with the amount of money the doll clothes raised for the organization.

This year, I decided to switch gears when I was asked to organize, design and make a signature quilt for the permanent collection of Colorado Quilting Council to celebrate its 40th anniversary.  I have been involved with CQC since almost the beginning, and have made many wonderful friends at meetings and events.  I expect to obtain at least 200 signatures of members, and have started to assemble the quilt.  Members are also involved by donating 'fat 8ths' of red fabrics for the project.

The design is to remain a secret, but here is what I'm working with --- lots of luscious red fabrics and 100++ signature squares.

I expect this will take most of my sewing time for the next couple of months, so posts on this blog will be sparse.  A hint --- I will be busy making 100s of flying geese units!!

And, I'm enjoying every minute of it reliving fun times with this group.

I'm joining the following:
Em's Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday

GATHERING WOOL -- A CRAZY QUILT

I thoroughly enjoyed making this crazy quilt with wool and machine embellishment.  This was different from my previous crazy quilt experiences which were done by hand and with cotton fabric.

 Each block was spontaneous, but contains a memory such as copies of my grandchildren's doodles and drawings, favorite bible verses and songs, and meaningful appliques.

The majority of the wool fabric was sourced from thrift-store wool garments gathered over the years.  I used up various older spools of thread --- it took 10 loaded bobbins!  Lots of thread!!!

Everything was done on the machine including the binding -- a new experience for me.  The secret was "Heat n Bond" holding the binding down while I machine stitched it.

The Stats:
"Gathering Wool", 2018, 22"x 22", Machine stitched and embellished.  Sixteen 
5" blocks.

(Photographed on our beautiful in-bloom cherry tree.)

I'm joining the following:
My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
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
Em's Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday

WOOL CRAZY QUILT

I'm ALMOST finished with my wool crazy quilt.

Busy weekend ahead; so no sewing time planned.

Maybe next week!!

PINEAPPLE SALAD

I have not had a lot of sewing time this last month, but I finally finished "Pineapple Salad".

Still not a lot of signs of Spring in our part of Colorado -- it has been cold and windy.  It took several days for the wind to die down so I could get these few shots of the quilt.

It was a fun quilt to make with different fabrics and a few chosen words interspersed.

This wind-blown shot shows the backing fabric.

The Stats:

Pineapple Salad, 2018, 24" x 24".

Paper pieced, machine quilted. Sixteen 6-inch blocks with 41 pieces each for a total of 656 pieces.

And, don't forget to "Create Joy"!

I'm joining the following:
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Ems Scrapbag for Moving It Forward Monday
What a Hoot Quilts for BOMS Away Monday
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