One of My Finished Projects

This quilt was made by my friend Sara, her second, of a favorite antique quilt in her collection that was beyond repair.  She says this will be the last one which she will keep for herself.  I love the simplicity of the design and the beautiful reproduction fabrics she has used. The half-square triangle border lends a air of playful irregularity.  As always, I enjoyed working on Sara’s quilt.

What’s it worth?

Here’s food for thought regarding the cost and worth of quilts!

What’s it worth?.

Another T-shirt Quilt Done!

T-shirt Memory Quilt

 

At last!  I delivered this quilt to a very patient client on Tuesday.  She was thrilled to receive it.  I had made one last year for her brother for his Christmas present and would have finished hers a lot sooner had my husband’s cancer not reared it’s ugly head again.  It is a memory quilt containing not only her t-shirts but her mother’s blouses as well.  This type of t-shirt quilt is very challenging.  Going up and down the step stool from the design wall to the sewing machine, the ironing board and back up the stool is also great exercise!  Now, on to the next one.

Giveaway Items and Quilting Finished

Giveaway #1

These are the giveaway items won by Sara C. of Scrapbasket in my first ever Giveaway.  I just thought that you might like to see them in their finished state.  Sara, as it happens, is a fellow quilter and creative type whom I have known for  quite a number of years.  Her quilts are a mix of traditional and contemporary and everything in between.  She has an eye for color and imaginative use of prints.  In fact, I just finished quilting one of her quilts last week shown below.  Now, don’t get the idea that the drawing was rigged.  In truth, I know many of my subscribers personally.  Who knows, one of you whom I don’t know could be next.  Let’s see those comments!

Sara’s Africa Quilt

A Little Show and Tell

Rosemary's Irish Chain Quilt

My latest finished project is Rosemary’s Single Irish Chain quilt destined for a little girl whom she knows.  I was told to do whatever I wanted in terms of how to quilt it. Sometimes I find that daunting and take my time until I find something that just feels right.  This time I found an old Amish pattern that I scaled up to fit in the alternate blocks. Here are pictures of the whole quilt and a detail.

My Latest Quilt

Here is a photo of my latest T-shirt Quilt finished recently for a client’s son’s graduation present.  I had the usual challenge of making the randomly sized shirt parts fit together in a balanced and pleasing manner.  I think that the red binding really sets off the whole quilt.  My client was very happy with the outcome.

T-shirt quilts have unique requirements when compared with woven cotton quilts.  The t-shirt material must first be stabilized with a lightweight fusible interfacing to minimize  distortion while piecing and quilting the  quilt.  Much of the time that it takes to make a quilt of this nature involves the  preparation of the shirts, fusing and designing.  Even though this type of t-shirt quilt is more demanding than a straightforward  block set, I enjoy making it and find it more rewarding from an esthetic point of view.  The best part is seeing the response I get from my client when I show the finished quilt!  That is it’s own reward.

 

New Quilting System

For the past couple of days I have been experimenting with a new quilting system given to me by a dear friend, the Flynn Multi-System .  This configuration allows me to quilt 45″ wide quilts without having to pin them using my domestic machine.  I am limited to about 6″ or so of quilting space which will work as long as I don’t have large quilting motifs to quilt.  As I get more proficient with this new “toy,”  I may get longer Electrical Metal Conduit so that I can work on larger quilts. Of course,  I would love to own a long arm machine.  Maybe someday!

It feels good to be spending more time in the studio.  I am also working on my ALN challenge: Trash into Treasures.  The rule for this one  is using all found or thrown away materials.  I like to call it all detritus.

Take a look at the March Special to your right.  I’ve also added a page called Quilt Preparation Guidelines that should answer some general questions you might have.