New Quilts

At the beginning of the year I joined a challenge that was supposed to help you finish UFO (unfinished objects). I listed 12 items, so far I have finished about 7. Which is pretty good considering everything that has happened this year.

Here are three of my finished projects for 2016.



This is quilt I call Pluses. It is made up of 5" (charm) blocks. 5 charms make up the block, they sort of meander over the face of the quilt. The background is light green. This wasn't really a UFO because I started and completed this quilt this year.




This is a quilt I call Yin and Yang. The center blocks are strip pieced. It took so long to piece them that I only made four. Then because I really don't like small quilts, I started adding borders to increase the size.





The final size is smaller than I usually like my quilts, a little larger than a table runner.













This quilt was started several years ago. I purchased a book on the Underground Railroad. As the story goes quilts/quilt blocks were used to help runaway slaves. There is a big controversy and several books debating the validity of the claim. I am not going to get into the middle of the argument, I just like the blocks and because I created the quilt I get to name it what I want so . . .






This is my Underground Railroad Sampler. Not all of the blocks were actually the URR blocks, some are just extra blocks I had that fit.

One of my favorite things

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE the game Monopoly. For years whenever family and friends got together they were roped into a game.

Imagine my surprise when while visiting Pinterest I discovered a Monopoly fabric panel. Of course like a lot of things on Pinterest the post was old and the fabric was out of print. I searched for months looking for the panel. Finally located it and then spent weeks trying to come up with a design for a quilt to feature it.

Well I didn't come up with a quilt, the panel was just too small that unless I paired it with another panel it would look as though the panel was just floating in the middle of the quilt. I could have also added pieced blocks, but honestly that would have taken way too long and I was excited to get it finished.

I have finished the piecing, I decided to make a table topper (yes, another one). I designed the top to look like a Monopoly game in progress. It still has to be quilted, but I like the way it turned out.

Grandma's Hands

My family is full of very talented people. My mother taught my sisters and me how to sew on her old Singer sewing machine. I won't tell you how long ago that was, but it was around the time that JFK was president.

I'm not sure where I got the quilting bug from, probably my grandmother and my aunts (paternal). A few years ago I was blessed to receive a quilt made by my grandmother (mama Evie). Recently my niece sent me two more quilts made by her.



This quilt is called a Lone Star quilt. It is made up of a large star that takes up most of the quilt top. The star has eight points, and each section is comprised of pieced diamonds. It has also been called the Mathematical Star, Native Americans called it the Morning Star. Other common names are the Star of the East and Bethlehem Star. It was dubbed Lone Star by quilters in Texas because it's the Lone Star state which is what most people call it. Being from Texas, guess what I call it?



It has some significant damage, but I would like to try and save it. It has been all hand sewn, pieced and quilted. Some of the fabric might have to be replaced because it it torn and shredded. There are two schools of thought on the procedure to repair a damaged quilt. Some believe that all the original fabric should be saved; the restorer places the new piece of fabric over the damaged piece. If this is done however the repaired section will be thicker that the surrounding pieces which may present a problem down the road. The other option is to cut out the damaged piece and replace it with new fabric. Since this quilt was made over 60 years ago it would be impossible to match the fabric or color. The repaired section would definitely stand out. I haven't decided which method I will choose. Currently I am marking the sections that need repair.


This quilt is a simple criss-cross quilt. There are several different patterns for criss-cross quilts this one is a block with sashing in between on the diagonal. It's very cool if you notice all the diagonal strips line up and all the blocks are even. If you look closely you can also see that the sashing looks like x's and diamonds. Even though the quilt is probably at least 40-50 years old it has a very modern feel to it. Both of them are hand pieced and hand quilted.









It also has significant damage. Although sad it is proof that these quilts were used and loved which after all was the reason they were made.

2016

Wow, I just realized that it has been a year since I posted anything. I have been busy sewing and quilting I guess I just haven't gotten around to posting anything. This is be a long post as I catch up on 2016.

I have started but not finished several items, hopefully I will get them finished before 2017, I'll hold off posting them for now.

I love getting together with friends and family. Love, love holidays. Decorating, beautiful table settings, etc. This is a free machine embroidery design by Kreations by Kara, I added the gobble, gobble. Last year I decided to stitch napkins for all the special occasions. I got sidetracked as I often do so I only got the napkins finished for Thanksgiving. This post may serve as a reminder to finish the rest. My original plan was to give them as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately most people don't use cloth napkins or pretty plates and serving dishes, opting instead for paper napkins and plates.

I am thinking of using either of these two designs for the Christmas/winter napkins.




When I started quilting I always promised myself that I would not quilt small quilts such as wall hanging, table runner, toppers, etc. I could never see the point. I always that the they would just be too small to be of any use. Well, never say never. I have since made several toppers, and runners. I made this one for fall last year, It has been bound and used, but I don't have a picture of the finished piece.

I created it following Jennie Doan's tutorial on YouTube. It uses a binding tool to create the strips that make up the star. It goes together quickly. I love her shortcuts and tips.

And Another Start

 Using another toy, my Accuquilt Go I cut out flying geese blocks.

These are made with African fabrics and batiks. The pattern is called the Dutchman's Puzzle, Spinning Windmill.

The windmill is the in center, the middle fabric is the same.

Another Finish

Every January my friend Carole and I go to the Arizona Quilt and Craft show at the fair grounds. A couple years ago Carole and I met Loralie Harris. She designs fabric and machine embroidery designs. I purchased some designs, went home stitched them out and promptly put them aside. My original thought was to make a quilt in red, black and white. As you can see that plan didn't work out. 

Most of the fabrics were also designed by Loralie. After some thought I decided to quilt around the embroidery. It's only the second time I have done so - I think it would have been OK to stitch over the embroidery because it is a single color embroidery and the designs aren't dense. But it did give me some practice with semi-custom quilting. 

T-Shirt Quilt

This is only the second t-shirt quilt I have made. It might be my last. I had a few struggles with it. I used a special stabilizer; it was a grid on point. In theory it is a good idea, but it is really hard to work with. You need a large table and a lot of space. You lay out the quilt on the back side of the stabilizer but the lines of the grid are hard to see on that side. I think it would have been better to have the lines on the back side because when you sew it together you are using a standard stitch of 1/4 to 3/4 of an inch so if the quilt has been laid out correctly the blocks will line up.

For those of you who have questioned the thickness of quilts, here is an example of a quilt using a thick polyester batting. The batting is an inch thick. It was difficult to quilt because of the thickness. Thick batting is best for hand quilting. The quilt is heavy and polyester batting holds the heat so this quilt will be very warm this winter. It's new home is in Tennessee so it will probably come in handy.