Saturday, July 23, 2011

I do NOT get credit for this masterpiece!

I just wanted to document it for posterity and really felt I must share it with the world--it is so beautiful.  Done by our "real quilter" friend for my granddaughter...

detail of the pattern and the "flaps"

A big larger portion

back

I am not sharing the "signature" area; too much personal information for a public blog.  It's beautifully done.

Stunning!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Another one; I only "helped" with this one

Some eight or so years ago, my daughter started this baby quilt for her sister.  Her sister has finished creating her family, but it was not complete.  This year she decided to send it to our friends in Sweden.

She designed, pieced, and backed it with flannel.  Many friends helped with hand-quilting.  In the end I finished the hand-quilting and turned the backing over to form the binding.

Here is the back of very soft flannel

And the front of lovely little pastels squares

Very sweet, and much appreciated by the new baby.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Big Blocks

One of my daughters designed these.  My other daughter chose the fabrics.  The effect is very bold, especially as we used such large squares.  (I would not make another one with such large squares, but it is quite spectacular.)

It was originally one quilt, and it was massive, so I split it into two identical ones. 

It was relatively easy to get the quilting stitches where I wanted them with the corners to "eyeball".


Back

Front

Kids Around the World - new color scheme

I like this design so much, I got it in a natural background.

Detail

Back

Front



First Village

This fabric is called "First Village", and I suppose it is as good a title for the quilt as anything, although I don't think the first village looked anything like this adorable fabric.

Detail

Again, I needed to quilt "around" the scenes.  It shows up best on the back side.

I love the combination


Finished back

Front  (it's strange how the stripes beside the center panel completely distorts in the photo)

Dancing Horses - (and free style gets REALLY crazy!)

I simply cannot chop these horses heads off.  I tried to tell myself I could, but it just couldn't happen.  

So, 7 hours of quilting later (that is only on the center panel, which is not a full-width panel like many I've done)...

This is what it looks like on the back side

Back of the whole quilt

I said these crazy bugs and horses just might be my "Sistine Chapel"

Complete



Dutch Flowers

My daughter calls this one "Wooden Shoes".

It's another large quilted center panel with border.  I merely followed the lines of the print for the quilting.

Detail

I love the crisp clean look - finished quilt

Backside


You will see a variant on this one if I ever get back to my quilting.



More Nursery Scenes and Free Style

It was mandatory to find a way around these little scenes.

Detail

Back

Finished quilt

Nursery Rhymes - Pages of a Book


I just couldn't resist this one.  It's like the pages of a book.

Detail

One of the "pages"


On this one I used an actual print on the back

Print detail

Finished

Jemima Puddleduck - (and I begin to play with free hand quilting)

This is a youth size quilt.  I looked at the pattern and I just could NOT sew through Jemima Puddleduck!  So I decided to see what happened.

Detail

Back side

Finished front


(I'm getting pretty proud of my bindings sometimes these days!)

Regular size and Youth size Matching Quilts

I got a nice print to make easy quilts for kids...

Regular Size

Close-up--I stitched around the squares of the pattern in the fabric


Back side

Finished quilt

Youth Size

Just for fun, I made the second one slightly smaller, as many are needed in Korea of varying sizes.

Back side of this one is a different print, instead of "quilt liner" fabric.  You'll see the print in the next post.  

Finished front


New Clothesline Helps



My husband installed a retractable line so I could line up some quilts and do regular laundry as well.


Time to leave...



As our guests prepared to leave, I realized I had not made their little cutie a dolly quilt, so I had to scurry through my stuff trying to find some bright, suitable, pinks.  I would not have chosen this exact combination if I'd had a better choice, but she loved it.

Fabric close-up




Back side

And the front


Sewing on the Deck!



During September we had friends from Sweden as house guests, so I moved my sewing out to the deck (having emptied my sewing room to put a bed in it).

Serger/sewing station


Iron/steam station (with my awesome new pressure steamer iron)

You'll see the back side of this quilt in more detail later.

the all-in-one technique (open to press, after serging)

Then press it all down firmly from both sides before stitching the next panel


Meantime a small cutie romps on another new quilt on the couch!