Newest finished projects

Here are a few of my latest completed quilts. Both of these were commissioned quilts.

This quilt uses the fabric from the Memoirs from China Collection. The pattern is from a Terry Atkinson design called Tile Tango.

This the finished quilt that I posted in an earlier blog entry. It is also a Terry Atkinson design called Slide Show, but I did have to make some adjustments to the sizes of the blocks.

Quilt top 20

What do you know, another Stack-n-Whack Quilt. When I was teaching quilting, Stack-n-Whack quilts were pretty popular and I taught many classes. That's why I have so many different quilts made using the Stack-n-Whack method.

My Wife, The Quilter

She learned to quilt on Monday
Her stitches were very fine.
She forgot to thaw out dinner,
So we went out to dine.

She quilted miniatures on Tuesday
She says they are a must.
They really were quite lovely,
But she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday, it was a sampler.
She says the stipplin's fun.
What highlights! Oh, what shadows!
But the laundry wasn't done.

Her charm quilt was on Thursday,
Green patches, blue and red.
I guess she really was engrossed;
She never made the bed.

It was wallhangings on Friday,
In colors she adores,
But she never seemed to notice
The crumbs on all the floors.

I found a maid on Saturday!
My week is now complete!
My wife can quilt the hours away;
The house will still be neat.

Well, it's already Sunday.
I think I'm about to wilt.
I cursed, I raved, I ranted ~
The MAID has learned to QUILT!!!

Summer Fun

The girls have been enjoying the little pool that their Uncle gave them. They were having fun this afternoon trying to stay cool on this beautiful hot Summer Day and I was having fun taking some photos. Enjoy!

Charity Quilts

For the past 3 years, I've been making Charity Quilts for a great organization Love Without Boundaries(LWB). I've mostly been making One Hundred Good Wishes Quilts from donated blocks and wishes from one of my Yahoo Groups (OHGWQ Yahoo Group). For LWB Art Auction in May 2007, I donated 4 quilts plus I made one for a customer, which she donated to the Auction. This year the quilts raised almost $1700 to provide heart surgeries for children in China. To see the quilts I donated this year, click on the webshot album link to the right and all the quilts are in this album. I've been collecting squares and wishes already for my 2008 Charity Quilt and I'm proud to say that I've started the construction of the quilt. I was trying to decide what pattern to make the quilt, when I received in the mail a block pattern and some fabric. It was an RAQ (Random Act of Quilting) from another Yahoo group I belong to and it couldn't have arrived in a more timely manner. The heart pattern was perfect for my quilt and just the right size to be able to cut out all the parts from the 8x8 squares that I had. Below is the quilt in progress. I'll post the final quilt top once it's finished but I just had to share what I've done so far.


Here are a couple of rows sewed together with the sashing fabric. The fabric on the bottom with the little Asian children will be the border for the quilt and also the backing. This fabric was kindly donated by Esther W., who also is the one who put together all the wish books for the 2007 Auction quilts.

A Close up of the Heart Block

How Many Blueberries....

can a tiny 3 year old eat? E. just loves all kinds of fruits and berries. I mean all because I haven't found any that she won't eat yet. The other day I found some blueberries on sale and bought 2 pints. The girl ate them all! She ate one pint in one sitting for lunch and would have eaten more but they were all gone. Seeing her eat all those blueberries brought to mind Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the little girl that blew up like a big blueberry after chewing the gum. E. didn't turn blue but she did have some colorful bowel movements for a couple of days.

I keep mentioning the tiny, little 3 year old, well E. is very small. Her photos are deceiving and she looks bigger than she really is. E. needs to grow another inch in about 3 weeks or else we have to go back to the doctor because she isn't growing like she should (along the growth curve). E. isn't even on the American charts for height and depending which Chinese chart you use, she's either not on it or less than 3 %. Let's hope all those blueberries gives her a boost and she shoots up that inch because the girl hates to go to the Doctors (she's very vocal about not going to the doctors or getting any more shots) and I really don't want to subject her to anymore tests.

Having Fun on the 4th

Our town has a little Community Days event every year on the 4th of July. They have lots of activities for the kids so the girls loved it. Here are some photos of them having fun. Here they are riding in the little Kiddie train.

E. having fun at the little petting zoo. She just loves animals so she was in heaven with all the animals that she could touch and pet.

They also had some craft activities for the kids. Here is M. making a patriotic airplane.




The Fire Truck was also a big hit. Here they are taking turns sitting in the driver's seat.

E. did not want to leave, so she just sat down in the grass and put her head in her hands. Oh, the drama! It was just too cute that I had to take her photo. I can deal with this kind of drama though and I'm glad she didn't throw a tantrum.

Quilt top 19

Another double/queen size quilt. This one is made from all batiks. It's from a pattern called Scrappy Sampler. There are many different type of blocks and block sizes in the quilt.

Quilt top 18

This quilt is from a pattern called EUREKA. It uses 11 different fabrics in 3 color ways, pink/fushia, green and cream/tan. A friend of mine is interested in a quilt for her brother's wedding in a queen/double size and what do you know, I have many of those in that size that just needs to be quilted. This same friend has purchased several of my quilts in the past and are displayed proudly in her home so I don't have a problem parting with one because I know the quilts will be cherished. She will send the quilt to a professional machine quilter to have it finished so the quilts usually end up looking so much better than if I tried to machine quilt them.

Close up of the corner of the quilt
Close up of the center of the quilt.

Staying Busy

For those of you who were checking daily to see my unfinished quilt tops, I apologize. I haven't had time to take more photos, but I will try to continue to post them but maybe not on a daily basis. I've been busy this week trying to catch up on all the quilting projects for other people that I've been commissioned to make. I started to make quilts (mostly One Hundred Good Wishes Quilts) for people last year and I've been very busy with clients since. When I'm finished with one, I usually have another one waiting to get started. Right now I actually have 3 that I'm working on and to break up the monotony of doing one quilt at a time, I've actually been working on all three at the same time. Now you can see why I've been too busy to take photos of my unfinished quilt tops.

This a very simple sashing quilt using 35 squares and I'm proud to say that it is completed!!

This quilt is a little more complicated. My client sent me the squares and backing and said make whatever you want. Even though I like the creativity part of making my own designs it does make you a little worried that your client won't like the same design you decide to make. Well I was lucky and she loved it. I used 96 squares and will use the other 4 in the border, which still needs to be added. I adapted the design from a Terry Atkinson pattern called Slide Show. I had to change the size of everything so that the quilt would be a twin size rather than a huge quilt since I used 96 squares. The tiny squares are only 7/8 inches finished size so you can see how small everything had to be.

And finally, this is a China Culture quilt. It is on it's finishing stage of being machine quilted. Here it is being quilted on my Grace Machine Quilting frame with my Juki sewing machine. This frame is what I use to machine quilt all of my quilts. This is the 4th quilt I've made for the same person.

Quilt top 17

Again, made from all batiks (didn't I say that my favorite type of fabric is Batik). This is an easy pattern in a book published by the Buggy Barn called Spring Fever. The book is called Certifiably Crazy. The type of fabrics that are used in the Buggy Barn quilts isn't my favorite so I use the bright and bold fabrics and they still turn out great.

Quilt top 16

This is another sample quilt for a class I taught. I used a special ruler called a Tri-Recs ruler. I really can't remember what book this quilt came from since it's been over 5 years or so since I made it.

Summer Colds

What's the deal with the weather being about 90 degrees and you end up with a horrible cold? I made it through the whole Winter with only a mild cold and now this week I feel terrible. My youngest daughter started this whole mess last week with the sneezing and runny nose. Then M. got the mild version of it but she got Pink eye. Now I think I got the worst of the cold. My husband was even kind enough to take the girls to my parents house for the weekend so I could get caught up on my sewing for people and I didn't even feel like quilting that much, so you know I don't feel 100%. Please let my body beat this cold soon! I want to stop coughing and blowing my nose long enough to get some rest!!

Quilt top 15

An Attick Window wallhanging made from Asian Prints.

Quilt top 14

I have to a have a quilt or two that has my Scottish terrier on the fabric. We are huge Scottie fans and collect a lot of Scottie items including real live ones. We currently have two, a 2 1/2 year old wheaton male named Mosby and a 2 year old brindle girl named Belle. Throw in a terrier mix and 2 kids, it makes for a very active house. This quilt is from the companion quilting book to the Quiltmakers Gift called Quilts from the Quiltmakers Gift.

Quilt top 13

This is a wallhanging and yes, it's another Stack-n-Whack quilt. I believe I got this pattern from a quilt magazine several years ago. I used an Asian fabric to cut out all the flower parts and on the border

Quilt top 12

This is another Stack-n-Whack quilt designed by Bethany Reynolds. Can you tell that I went through a Stack-n-Whack phase. All the fan circles are made from the border fabric. Every time I make one of these Stack-n-Whack quilts, I'm always amazed by the type of designs you can achieve from the same fabric. You can find the pattern for this quilt in the book Magic Quilts by the Slice,which is no longer in print.

Quilt top 11

I took a workshop with Kaye England. She does a lot of reproduction type quilts. This design is from her book called Voices of the Past. I tried to stick with reproduction type fabric.

PlayDough

What do you do on a beautiful summer day when you find out your daughter has Pink Eye or Viral Conjunctivitis? M. woke up this morning with yellow gunk on her eye and her eye was a little swollen and red. After a quick trip to the pediatrician, we find out she has pink eye and is contagious so no contact with other kids today. Since it's viral too there is no medication to give her that will really help and it must run it's course. Because of this Pink Eye, no My-Gym camp today so I had to find something to keep these 2 girls busy. A friend of mine gave me this Play dough recipe a long time ago when her boys were young (the oldest just graduated from High School). I now have a reason to make it and today was the perfect day. The girls have been playing with it all afternoon and having a great time. I like this play dough better than the stuff you buy in the store too because it doesn't smell and I know exactly what is in it. Here is the Recipe for anyone who would like to try it out:

PLAY DOUGH

1 C. FLOUR
1/2 C. SALT
2 TSP CREAM OF TARTAR

PUT IN SAUCEPAN. ADD 1 TBSP OIL AND 1 C. WATER. COOK FOR 3 MINUTES.
ADD FOOD COLORING AS DESIRED.

Quilt top 10

This is a trip around the world quilt. The design came from the book Traditions with a Twist.