Quilts!
(that don't fit into any of the other categories)
This was a fun “mystery quilt” design that we did on a girl’s weekend get-a-way. We were given parameters to use for choosing our fabrics, the yardage we would need for each fabric, did our cutting ahead of time, then put the blocks together during the weekend. I added blue lines in the pattern as well as a border to increase the size of the quilt to fit better on my king size bed (though it is definitely closer a queen size). This was also the first quilt that I used my best friend’s LongArm quilting machine.
This was another mystery quilt that I did with my bestie. I stepped completely out of my comfort zone with fabric choices and I loved the combination in the pattern. I did have a hard time following the instructions in one of the steps in making a set of blocks which ended up with me being short on the amount of the black fabric I needed to complete the top. This led to the creating a completely not-planned block, the four corner blocks. We loved the results so much that we used this same plan on the quilt my bestie was making (same top pattern, with completely different fabrics). Since the quilt was going into my son’s media room, I let him choose the quilting pattern. I drew it out, made a stencil, and made it happen. He was thrilled with the end result and the quilt looks fantastic in its final resting place.
I had an employee getting married and knew I wanted to make a quilt as her present from me, I had an idea of the pattern (I wanted intercrossing rings) and I had a color scheme (blue and purple are their favorite colors). After scouring the internet, we (my bestie was helping me look) found the perfect pattern. The fabrics were cut and I had the front put together in a day, the border was added the following day. I didn’t have a piece of fabric that was large enough for the backing (I had hoped to use the green, it was the same type of fabric as the blue and purple), but I was able to add a few more fabrics to make it large enough and I loved how it came together. Keeping with the rings theme of the quilt, I made a new stencils to quilt interlocking circles over the quilt.
I was blessed for my 40th birthday to fly around the world to Bali, they are well known for the fabrics they produce. I brought my fair share home to use in quilting. All of the fabric used in this quilt came from Bali (except the white). The blue, white, and pink blocks in the quilt were made from a paper piecing pattern. I knew I wanted to use turtles in the quilting, but wow was that a TON of work. First, I found a drawing of a turtle online, then I had to hand draw the turtle to the size I wanted on paper, I then transferred it to the plastic I use for creating stencils, and then the painful (literally, talk about serious cramping in my fingers!) part of using an exact knife to cut the stencil out of the plastic. Totally worth it, the quilting tuned out amazing!
Dad decided he need a lap sized quilt to use while relaxing on his recliner. I found a pre-cut bundle of fabric with a pattern included. I mice simple pattern, fun to put together, and the perfect color pallet for my Dad and their living room. I was just learning to “free motion” quilt and used a random object in the house for the rectangular shape in the quilting (this was before I started using stencils). A combination of “stitch-in-the-ditch” and free motion quilting led to an interesting stitch pattern on the back but not much is seen on the front. To make the quilt softer and warmer, I used a flannel fabric for the backing.
A new mystery quilt completed. I loved the paisley fabric and chose the accent fabrics based on the border fabric. I was also able to use my Christmas present, my new Cricut, to make a new stencil, based on the paisley fabric! I was really fun to use and worked out fantastically. I had a hard time deciding what color thread to use for the quilting, as I didn’t want it to take away from the design of the quilt itself. Use dark thread would show too much in the center area but light thread would take away from the paisley design in the border fabric. So I broke the quilting up and used light for the center area and dark in the border area. The overall effect was exactly what I was looking for.
Another mystery quilt my bestie and I did together, this one we did in a class setting. We were given “clues” (steps) every couple of weeks for a few months leading up to the class. When we got to the class we were given multiple ways the blocks we had made at home could be put together. The fabrics were completely my comfort zone, I couldn’t resist when I found the butterfly fabric. This was a fairly large quilt (between and double and queen) and I again didn’t have enough of one fabric to use for the backing, and I am glad I didn’t, I had fun planning and executing the piecing for the back of the quilt. Unfortunately, back when I completed this quilt I didn’t have a great quality camera so I wasn’t able to picture the quilting I did. I used two bought stencils to create the quilting pattern.
My first paper piecing quilt project, and boy was I optimistic in the size quilt I did! I have no idea how many hours that the top of this quilt took to complete, it was spread out over two years, it was that intense. I love the sharp points that can be created with paper piecing, you just can’t get those sharp points without it. After spending so much time completing the top of the quilt, I again used my bestie’s Long Arm to complete the quilting. The smoothness of the curves is something I am just now able to achieve with free motion quilting.
My parents retired, sold their house, and bought a new, smaller house back where they grew up. There is a spare room in the house for the kids and grandkids to use when they visit that needed a new quilt for the bed. I used the “tumbling triangles” pattern to create this quilt. I was trying to complete the project for a Christmas present to my parents to I used the Long Arm for the quilting. One of our get-a-way girls found these amazing tags to use for our projects on Etsy, the second picture shows off the tag and the quilting.