Grandpa's Baby Quilt

This baby quilt was once my husband's Grandfather's baby quilt.  His mom has had it in her possession for a LONG time.  It is very worn and very thin.  There are holes here and there.  She ended up ironing interfacing to the back of it and had me quilt it.  

 

The previous quilting lines were still apparent so I used them as guidelines for this loopy pattern.

Seeing the variety of prints was pretty neat.  I'm sure most of them were remnants from clothing.  She used a solid white fabric for the back in case you were wondering.

 

The steam boat print was my favorite.  I imagine they were actually pretty popular when this quilt was made!  I don't know if this quilt will last another 100 years, but it might come close!

QBB Quilts

I finished up a couple quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders.  I debuted this top a few weeks ago, and was able to get another top together too.  These quilts were made using up random blocks and leftover units I had laying around- mostly from other people, a few of my own.  I had them as PIGS.  You probably have a few PIGS of your own lurking around.  (Projects In Grocery Sacks)  I don't know what I was saving them all for...just waiting for the perfect little project to use each one in I guess.  Well, I finally came to my senses and thought I will NEVER. EVER use these all up separately.  I should just put them all together in one wild quilt.  So that's what I did!!

I did NOT make the compass block.  My super talented Mom did.  Although I did put the curved corners on- which resulted in a super wavy block.  Oof.  But I was able to quilt it out.  

And then I went wild with the quilting as well- doing each section differently.

And here is the other one- a bit more vibrant this time.

I quilted everything but the kitchen sink in this one!  feathers, pebbles, swirls, leaves...  No flowers though.  This is supposed to be a boy quilt. :)

I even used up leftover blocks from this quilt for the labels.  One of the requirements is to machine stitch the bindings.  I'm a bind-by-hand kind of girl, so this was a challenge for me.  The peach binding I stitched in the ditch from the top.  Which resulted in a lot of skipped places on the back.  So while I'm repairing those-from the top side, and having to go back a third time in the same spot... and in several other spots,  I decided to just stitch from the backside from then on.  That worked out a lot better!  Oh, and the back is flannel btw.  

So the binding isn't pretty, but it is very secure!  So, off they went in the mail to Karen in WA to be whisked away to an orphanage in the mountains of Haiti.  Until that is I checked my email today.  Karen says:

We pick the best of the wonderful quilts we receive and sell them, with the quilter's permission at the Houston Quilt Festival.  Yours are particularly striking and interesting.  Would it be okay with you if we put them up for sale.  (Houston is our only attempt at getting operating funds - we sell quilts, items from Ethiopia and some etc. like table runners)  let me know.  Thanks

Well, gosh.  OK I guess that's ok with me!  I was really wanting it to go to a poor little kiddo, but I said if it would benefit the organization more to sell it, then go ahead.  So if you are at the Houston Quilt Festival, you could actually see it OR BUY IT!!  

I guess if I make another quilt for QBB, I'll try extra hard to make it less striking and wonderful so that it will actually go to a kid in need!  ha ha!  So  in the end I de-cluttered my sewing space a little bit and was able to help out a very deserving charity in the process.  Win-win!  Karen's tag-line in her email I think sums it up pretty well...

"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day."  S. Koch

Finish it up Friday

Katie's Funky One

My sister Katie made this one.  It's pretty funky!  So I went with some funky quilting.  

In the improv-pieced blocks I did a heart/crescent shaped star in each block.  I only had to mark the diagonal lines as you can see.  I also wanted to have different textures on her setting squares-since she made all the effort to have them in two different fabrics- and did a large pebble on one side and giant loops on the other.

For her pieced stars, I did a bit more traditional feather.

In the funky raw-edge applique flower blocks, I just meandered in the background.  It's super hard to see I know, so you'll just have to believe me :)

This odd-ball block I was nervous about because I used a high contrasting thread, but I think it turned out pretty cool!  I used a silver/gray colored thread throughout the whole quilt.

And on the pieced edges I did a big heart, small heart design.  

I hope my quilting was funky enough for you Katie!  I always have fun with your wild quilts!

Katie's T-Shirt Quilt

I *almost* forgot about this one.  I quilted this one up back in early May, but it got buried in my photo files.  Ahh well!  My sister Katie made this T-shirt quilt using up shirts from her high school and college days.  It was fun to do - partly because I had/still have a few of the same shirts (one I still wear regularly!)  and could reminisce as I quilted.  

And also partly because I could just go wild with the quilting!  

The always slightly inappropriate college dorm floor t-shirt...

The light gray backing shows off the crazy quilting pretty well.  

(Those lighter lines are from the lovely vertical blinds btw)

Enjoy your T-shirt quilt Sister!  

I wonder---I could probably make one out of some of my old college t-shirts...  Uh oh.  I think I just added another sewing project to my list!

Screenprinted Whirlygig Quilt

Norene made this Whirlygig quilt for her daughter-who screen printed all this fabric while studying design in college. This was Norene's first time making one of these quilts with the special ruler and didn't realize that you need to keep the rows you cut out in order until she already had a few rows already cut out.  Well, as you can imagine it created quite a headache trying to put them all back in order again.  I even tried to help her, but it was too much for me to figure out!  Ugh!  She tried starting over with new rows, made up a few new individual blocks, and eventually started to run out of fabric.  So, there ended up being a few funky fans, but oh well! she says!  Lesson learned the hard way!

Anyways, the fabric is all the same print, but in different color ways.  I quilted a Super echo-swirl all over to keep it a bit "Modern".  

An all white back.  

LOVE an all white back!

A couple from Lydia

 

Lydia improv-pieced this adorable baby quilt.  So very bright and cheery!  It's hard to see the quilting- the fabrics are so busy, but I did an all over flowers and swirls. 

 

She also had this really neat quilt.  So very contemporary! 

 

 

She liked how I quilted this quilt so that is what I happily did. 

 

Thanks for letting me quilt your quilts Lydia!

Farm Quilt and June do.Good stitches

I haven't been doing too much quilting lately--I need quilts!  So naturally the blog has been neglected too.  Although I have several to share, I just haven't wanted to set aside time to get the posts up and ready to go.  We've just been busy doing summer things, as I'm sure most of us are and should be doing anyway!

 

 

Norene made this Farm Quilt--very similar to the one she made this spring.  This time I quilted it a little differently. 

 

 

I tried to carry out the cute/whimsical theme with the quilting.  I know it's hard to see- the quilting blends in so well, but I did giant lel's with an echo.  Or you could say its an lel ribbon...  And big bubbles in the smaller border. 

 

And I did double corner to corners in the setting squares and outlined the critters like I did in the last one. 

 

 

And here are my June blocks for my Haven group at do.Good stiches.  The block is called Antique Tile and you can find instructions for it here.  Goin' Dixie was the planner this time and went with orange and yellow with white background.  It will be a sunshiney quilt for sure!

 

Little Cooking Bunnies

 

Norene had me quilt up several of these little quilts--all made from this cute cooking bunnies fabric. 

 

 

Double C2C on this one.

 

 

This one might be my fave. 

 

I eye-balled the widths of the scalloped border for a more whimsical look. 

 

 

 This one was just a panel of the bunny stripe.  I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for visiting!

Antique Embroidered Bunnies & Duckies

 

Norene found this quilt top in an antique shop and had me machine quilt it up. 

 

 It has some pretty adorable hand embroidered ducks and bunnies.  I quilted feathers all around and filled in the blocks with swooshes.

 

 

 

I'd say it turned out pretty darn cute!

WIP Wednesday

 

Jann made this throw quilt for a relative battling cancer.

 

 

Here is the back where you can see the quilting. 

 

 

And here is another project I've been working on.  I somehow ended up with several orphan blocks, odds and ends, left over bits and pieces from a few different people.  (Anyone recognize a block or two?)  It's very... uuhhh, unique?? 

 

I came across this Call for completed quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders a while back and decided to use these bits up for this charity.  I have never donated to them before, but how could you not want to after seeing the pictures of those happy kids with their quilts.  Anyway, they are in need of 500-600 completed quilts by July 12th!  They have a few recommendations on the size and require that you bind by machine.  See the link for more details.  I hope they make their quota!  depending on how quickly I can get my act together, I might make another...we'll see.

 

But here's the project I've really been working on.  A Christmas quilt!  It's a triple 4-patch using 1.5, 2.5, and 4.5 inch squares.  It's very scrappy.  And very addicting to work on.  When I should be doing a million other things,  this is what I gravitate to.  So far I have 36-8 inch blocks about done, but I still have a little more Christmas fabric left, so the plan is to keep cutting til it's all gone!

 

 

And I'll leave you with this shot of (get this!) and old shower curtain Norene had me quilt up into a table topper.  It was very satin-y and drapey and was concerned how well it would quilt up, but it turned out beautiful!

 

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday.  See what everyone else is up to!