Kyle's Quilt

The second quilt I ever made was for my son Kyle. It was delivered to him shortly after the new year in 2010. He loves it and sleeps under it most nights. It was a simple bear paw pattern made from lots of gorgeous Daiwabo men's kimono fabric that I purchased from The Quilt Patch in Fairfax, Virginia. The proprietor of the Quilt Patch (Leslie) has a very nice selection of these special fabrics. I first noticed them when I was shopping in the store for my first quilt class back in September 2009. I used Marti Michelle templates to make the patches. I think the results are beautiful -- and masculine at the same time. I love the way it turned out. Now I need to make a quilt for my son Jamie. His is 360 degrees different - a tropical batik design with beautiful hawaiian pineapples. Once I make that quilt I guess I will have come full circle to my first trip to the quilt store on Kauai back in May 2007. I have an appointment to get that quilt quilted in March -- just in time for Jamie's 20th birthday.

This paw was my favorite. I love the way plaids work in the bear paw. The quilting was done by Cindy at the Artful Quilter. It's a leaf pattern. She did a wonderful job.

I have a lot of the fabric left over. Maybe Kate Flynn can cut them into a couple more quilts for me :-) They would make great quilts for guys. hmmmm

Next Up - Oliver + S - Test Pattern Quilt

I took a fun class with Charlotte Angotti at the Quilt Patch in Fairfax VA back in September. I haven't finished that "Let Me Surprise You" quilt yet, but I did get a fabulous tip from Charlotte. Kate Flynn of Flynn Quilting Frame Company will laser cut a pattern for you. It just takes a little time waiting in her to-do queue, but it's totally worth the wait. I first saw the new Oliver+S "City Weekend" fabric line in a coming soon blurb online. I also saw the free quilt that was designed to go with the fabric. Well, I got the fabric from the FatQuarter Shop and immediately proceeded to start my first attempt at paper piecing. Like my experience with the long-arm quilting machine, I realized that this particular quilting expereince wasn't my cup of tea. Unfortunately, the pattern didn't lend itself to any of my quilting templates (and I have a lot of them.) So . . . I contacted Kate and found out that she could laser cut the pieces . . . and no more paper piecing. I sent her enough to make 3 lap quilts. I just got the pieces back on Friday. It was so much fun to open the box and take a look. Here's what I got back from Kate - pattern pieces ready to piece together and an extra set of templates in case I need to make a couple of extra pieces. The interesting thing is the fabric is slightly burned on the edges from the laser. That seems to keep the edges from fraying. It smells a bit smokey, but I figure that will go away eventually. Can you believe that there are 3 + quilts in the box? I guess I'll see. Should be a fun winter project.

A Very Buggy Christmas

This quilt was made using fabrics mostly from Andover's "The Very Series." However I did throw in one by Jinny Beyer's Northern Lights Collection and one from the Kaffe Fassett Ikat Collection. Since fireflies were a big part of the quilt, I love the way Jinny's fabric looks like firefly streaks. This quilt was fun and easy to put together -- it took about two days of cutting and sewing. It has a lot of borders and I ended up taking a couple of the borders out of the pattern (which is free on the Andover website.)

I love the way the quilt turned out. It's definitely big enough to keep a young boy warm at night while he dreams of bugs and fireflies.

Now it's time to rest for the holidays. The Bernina is getting it's first annual COA at the Quilt Patch. It should be ready to pick up tomorrow. Next up. . .a beautiful quilt using Oliver+S fabric.

Purple and Pink Girl Power

I created two quilts for an organization that assists women in crisis. Both are for Christmas. One was for a boy and the other was for his sister. The quilt for the girl was mostly done as I had started it in anticipation of using it for practice on the long arm quilting machine. However, after that first time, I really didn't want to try it again. . .so thanks again to Cindy at the Artful Quilter for making some "drop off" appointments available in December. Voila - perfectly quilted and beautiful. Fortunately the young lady receiving the quilt loves purple -- that made it perfect for her. Maybe the powers that be knew all along who it was intended for, because I sure didn't. It's funny how these things work out isn't it?

The quilt was made from a jelly roll of Me and My Sister's Clementine fabric - purchased in the early phase of my quilting adventure. I don't think I'll be using jelly rolls again in the future, but it was fun to turn the strips into this colorful quilt.

The pattern is called Baby Blocks. It called for a white border, but I loke the way the purple adds a nice frame. I hope it makes a little girl somewhere very happy! I made it small enough to be a dragger, but hopefully big enough to keep her warm at night.

Jasmine's Cats

This quilt was created especially for the adorable young lady that lives next door. She saw me working on Kat's Cats and the Fishing quilt and kept dropping hints like "Can I have that one?" Since both of those quilts were already earmarked for another purpose, I decided to create a quilt just for her. Lots of Kitty Cats (which she loves) from Amy Schimler fabrics and lots of color. I am hoping that this is a quilt Jasmine can enjoy for many years to come. I love the way the Kaffe Fassett Cloud fabric looked on the back. The colors blended perfectly with the bright colors on the top along with the binding. I finished the binding while my husband I stayed at the Homestead for our 25th wedding anniversary after Thanksgiving.

Jasmine loved her quilt! She turned the day she got it. Happy Birthday Jasmine. Thanks to Cindy at the Artful Quilter for a wonderful job on the Loop-de-Loop quilting.

By the way, the Kaffe Fassett Clouds in Duck Egg is out of print. I managed to snag 7 more yards from a shop in MN. I plan to use it for a couple more children's quilts with similar colors.

Gone Fishing

I got this pattern from my good friend Laurie. it was pretty simple to make. I used it for my first (and probably my last for a while) attempt at using a long arm quilting machine at the Artful Quilter in Burke, Virginia. I love the idea of doing everything on the quilt from start to finish, but I just don't have the confidence (or patience or back strength) needed to keep this up. . .at least not for right now. Cindy at the Artful Quilter does such a wonderful job, I think I need to turn the project over to her when it's too big for my Bernina. It was fun, but not something I want to keep doing.

Everything was going OK, but the machine snagged the edge and made a bit of an uh oh, which I covered with a couple of appliqued fish. It turned out OK, but I learned that I really do prefer to let "the expert" do the quilting.

The quilt was donated to Project Linus chapter run by the Quilt Patch in Fairfax Virginia.

Kat's Cats

This quilt was made for QuiltsforKids.org I added the White Squares with the mice in the maze. This one was a bit out of my comfort zone color wise, but I really like the way it turned out. I quilted it on my Bernina and it took a while making the square in a square pattern. Maybe there's an easier way to do this, but I don't think so. I hope someone is enjoying it now.

Lots to catch up on

I have completed 7 quilts since I first started. The last two were donated to a local organization called Doorways. I have found the quilting process to be incredibly fulfilling and enjoyable. I have only kept one of the quilts -- and that one was for my son Kyle.