Dad's quilt

Almost forgot this one that I made for my dad at Christmas time (2010).  Fishing was his passion, so I used all flannel fabrics with fishing/outdoors theme.  The pattern is pretty simple.

Cat's Cool Cats

At our guild's show last fall, I bought a really neat batik panel.  When I saw it, I immediately thought of my friend Linda, because she likes cats and she likes "quirky" things.  So, I turned it into a wall hanging for her.  I found some 2 inch African batik squares on Ebay (got one of the packages for a penny!) and used them to create the pieced border to look like a wrought iron window.  The outer border color was suggested by a clerk at a LQS -- I wouldn't ever have considered it, but I think it looks great.  Quilting is the focal point of this project -- all kinds/colors of threads on the picture.  My favorite is the metallic thread on the palm tree.  Then the outer border is a Leah Day design with wavy lined triangular areas.

(My friend really liked it... yea!)

Jungle Neighborhood quilt for Lucas

Another set of Ebay fabrics turned into a Jungle Neighborhood quilt for grandson Lucas.  The idea is to follow the path and visit all the jungle friends at their homes.  I quilted the path with a brick road pattern, then came up with a leaf motif for the jungle parts.  It's twin-bed sized (with plenty of overhang for sides and bottom.)  I used flannel for the backing.

Projects from jungle animal fabric

I certainly haven't been keeping my blog up to date -- I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted anything!  But, I have been busy. 

 Found this fabric on Ebay, and thought it would be good to use for one of the grandkids:

 But, it looks like the grandkids may never see it!  I used it to make myself a "bow tuck" bag, which I love -- it is just the right size for me:

Still had fabric left, and had been wanting to try a "One Block Wonder" quilt.  This was a challenge; not so much the creation of the blocks, but the fact that they are hexagonal, and the design they morphed into wasn't symmetrical.  I filled in with some solid colors to create a landscape, and then spent a lot of time figuring out how to put a border on it.  Again, not symmetrical, which was a real drain on my left-brained self!  Quilting was fun -- I used my walking foot to do six-leafed curves on each hexagon, did some leafy FMQ in the purple and green areas, tried one of Leah Day's designs in the sky, and stippled/meandered in the border.  That was my first attempt at stippling, and I was pleased with the result.  I found a suggestion somewhere to imagine a grid on your fabric, and try to enter each square only once.  Well, this border fabric had a grid built-in, with the giraffe-skin pattern, so I tried to enter each darker spot once, and no more than twice.  Worked great!

My first baby quilt

Some neighbors just had their 2nd child, so I thought I'd try a baby quilt for them.  I wanted to do something pretty quick, so I chose the Rail Fence pattern.  It was a boy, so I did it in shades of blue, with the dark blue print containing some cute little dogs.  I used a coordinating flannel print for the back.  I quilted it all on machine, not very close, so it would be nice and "loose".  Upon finishing this, I decided that the sign of a good quilt is that you do not want to give it away!  This one felt so nice and snuggly.  (But, I did give it up!)

Beginner's Luck

In the spring, I joined the Durham Orange Quilters (DOQ) guild.  The group held their bi-annual quilt show this past weekend in the old tobacco district of Durham NC.  The setting was fantastic; the old brick tobacco buildings have been incorporated into a convention center, athletic park and restaurant area.  Bay 7, where our quilts were displayed, is airy and open and sunny.  Unfortunately, the sunniness at times made it hard to get good pictures ... but that's a small price to pay!

I entered 2 quilts -- my log cabin sampler, in the bed, pieced category, and a wall hanging called POP - Pinwheels on Point.  Unbelievably, both got 1st place ribbons in their categories.  I'm still in shock.  Not bad for a newbie, eh?  Here are some pictures -- first, a picture of bay 7, and then my 2 quilts.  (Again, sorry for the sunshine on the POP photo).

 

Weird Halloween Quilt

I just finished this one. It's kinda weird, but I like it. It was not quite all "scraps", but a personal challenge I gave myself. Every month, our guild has some door prizes, and in September, I won one of these. It was about 1/2 yd of Halloween fabric. It had 16 pictures in various sizes, all pumpkins and black cats, etc. I would never have bought this myself, as I prefer geometric designs for blocks, rather than fussy cut kinds of things. Anyway, I challenged myself to make a quilt from it without purchasing anything new, using only scraps and leftovers that I already had.

I had been wanting to try a spider web design that I saw on the web, and decided that would be a good Halloween-ish thing to incorporate with the picture blocks. So, here's what I ended up with. I'm learning FMQ, so I quilted spider webs over all the main blocks, and a "radio static" pattern in the sashing. (These ideas came from Leah Day's web site).

I did manage to make it all with scraps from my stash, with the exception of thread; I bought some silvery grey thread for the spider web.