Feathers in a Square

This quilt was made by a local lady who happens to be 97 years old!  It is for her very lucky granddaughter who graduated high school this year. 



She made a fancy-edging-flappy-deal around the inside of the squares with the dark green.  Im sure there is a technical term for it and that someone out there knows what it is.  Please let me know :)  I was searching for the right feathery pattern to do in the squares in Sally Terry's Hooked on Feathers book when i saw this one-It was perfect!  They were pretty fun to quilt too. 

High-loft batting really shows off the quilting on the back.  I la-la-loved this quilt!  I had a hard time giving it back to her. 

Irish Chain for a Wildcat

This quilt by Karen was made for a Kansas State fan.  She is new to quilting but I think she did an excellent job piecing this ambitious pattern.   



I tried to do a more "manly" quilting design and like how this one turned out.  It makes me think of a fancy paint job on a hotrod motorcycle.  Irish chains are tricky to quilt with all those diagonal sections and then the big open spaces which are flattened on the edges of the quilt. 

And then there are those tricky little grey squares that looked perfect for a little star inside.  I somehow managed to have Karen go from hating everything about this quilt to loving it.  Woo-woot!

AQS Show

Last weekend I attended the AQS (American Quilter's Society) Show in Des Moines.  My head is STILL spinning from the overwhelming amount of quilt gorgeousness.  You could spend an entire day just looking at the show quilts, then another entire day shopping at the hundreds of booths and vendors from across the US- and still not see nearly all of it! 

I also took a couple of longarm quilting classes from Judy Woodworth- an award winning quilter and super nice lady.  Boy, does she make it look effortless!  We watched as she demonstrated numerous designs, then we were able to attempt some of the designs on the HQ18 machines they had set up. 

This is a wholecloth, quilted by Judy and painted by her husband.  What teamwork!

This quilt is called "South of the Border".  I thought that this was the front of a wholecloth quilt, but this is actually the BACK.  wow.  The front of the quilt is pictured in her book- Freemotion Quilting. 

I decided that I really need to upgrade my machine to one with a stitch regulator.  Maybe next year I will take one home with me!  I need to start saving asap.  Anyway- Judy was really encouraging and she even signed my book!  If you get a chance to take one of her classes, I would recommend it. 

The AQS Show will be in Des Moines each year until 2013.  If you can swing it- Its definitely worth the trip.  It will provide you a humbling kick in the rear to up your quilting techniques and inspire you enough to last the whole year through.

Happy Scrappy Baby Quilt



This baby quilt was inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts Color Wheel Quilt.  I have lots of scraps that I can never seem to get rid of--they just keep multiplying!  So when I saw Amandajean's post, I thought this was a great way to use them up.  I love using scraps, but sometimes scrappy quilts can look a bit chaotic with a bajillion different colors, patterns, even textures.  This way, it is still very much scrappy, but dosent look like a huge pile of confetti.   Gee, sort them by color...what a genious concept!!  Now I keep a stock pile of different colored blocks on hand to whip up a baby quilt in a jiff. 

Here's how to make it:

1. Sort scraps by color.

2. (The fun part) Sew pieces together randomly until you get a big enough block.  Mine measure 10" square, 9.5" finished. 

3. Square up your blocks.  Any sizable trimmings can go back into your scrap pile to make another block!

4. Sew on sashing.  I think I cut mine 2 or 2.5 inches, I cant remember.

5. Quilt it

6. Bind it.

7. Take a picture of it.  I try to keep a photo album of all the quilts I make.  Although, I sometimes forget to snap a picture before I give it away. 

8. Give it to a baby.

There you have it--My very first tutorial!  Details Schmetails.

I quilted a different design in each block....except for 1 repeat.  Can you find it?

Funky Log Cabin

This quilt was created by my sister.  The log cabin blocks have strips of various widths and sizes for a wonky effect.  She is the Queen of Wonk and Scraps.  So, how the heck do you quilt this??  Well, I thought about the light verses dark areas and decided to highlight the contrast with different textures.  And I wanted to be able to quilt the whole row of dark areas and light areas in one complete pass- without having to stop, cut the thread, reposition the machine, do another section, stop, repeat a thousand times.  It takes me forever.  Me no likey.

I did loopy loops in the dark, and a more linear design in the light.  Can you see in the dark area how I squeaked through to the next section?  In the border I practiced my feathers.  I use the "Hooked on Feathers" technique by Sally Terry.  I really like her method and how there is very little backtracking.   I am lucky that my sister is not too particular and that she lets me use her quilts as guinea pigs for new designs.  And she makes quite a few of them!  Keep 'em comin!