Friday, October 4, 2019

Quilt for baby Lilliana

This quilt will soon be on it's way to Minnesota to sweet little Lilliana Katherine. Lilly (her Grandpa calls her Lilly Kate) is my niece's baby.

I figure I've made 18 baby quilts for the babies of my nieces and nephews over the past dozen years.
It is fun to make this size quilt. This one is 55" x 45".
I need to get my sewing machine serviced (just a good cleaning) and then I will decide what to do next.  It was around 90 degrees here in Virginia for the first three days of October which is crazy. Today is a beautiful 80 degrees and it looks like some nice quilting weather is coming our way. I have a couple of small quilts to finish hand quilting and some other projects that I could pull out and start playing with so we'll see what inspires me.💜💛💚💙

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Scrappy, Wonky Log Cabin

This is my favorite kind of quilt to make. It was made for no reason, from scraps of fabric from other quilt projects.




Last fall I took a drawing class at our local art school. I have been hooked ever since. I'm drawn more to the imperfection of sketching with ink and watercolor. I took another class a couple months ago on keeping a perpetual nature journal. My entry for the week of April 23-29 is above. And through a set of coincidences I won't go into, I'm a founding member of a local group committed to sketching scenes of our little town on a regular basis. I'm continually amazed at the twists and turns life takes me.
Here is a one of my recent sketches-




Saturday, March 23, 2019

Lots of Quilting!

I just finished up this lap size star quilt. I've had this pattern on my bucket list for many years. The star points are made by sewing squares onto all four corners of a rectangle and then clipping, flipping and pressing. If this process has a name, it's not coming to me. This quilt is going in a Journey Bag for Foster Care Ministry. They give bags/backpacks full of toiletries, books, pajamas, a blanket, etc. for children going into foster care. I asked them if they'd accept a quilt as a blanket and they were very enthusiastic.
Isn't this backpack I found at TJ Maxx adorable?!? I decided this was for a 4 year old girl. They gave me a list of things with which to fill it. I bought some of the stuff from TJ Maxx and then the rest from Target. As I was putting things in my cart at Target I became really concerned about everything fitting. I sat in my car in the parking lot filling it to the brim! I hope, though, that this little girl doesn't have to carry this thing. It is heavy!




I've basted this wonky log cabin and have started machine quilting it with wavy lines. I'm happy to finish up some variegated quilting threads that I've had for a while. A real scrap quilt.

I've also been in touch with a local group that represents children in the court systems. They were looking for volunteers but it was more of a time commitment than I felt I could do so I offered to make a quilt for their benefit auction. I went to my quilt book shelf and the first book I laid eyes on was Roberta Horton's Scrap Quilts The Art of Making Do. I pulled it out and opened it to Scrap Baskets and said "this is it"! If I could only own one quilt book it would be this one.


Monday, January 21, 2019

Christmas Tree Quilt


Wanting to finish a project, I picked up the 9-patches I made for this quilt several years ago. It is Bonnie Hunter 's Crabapple pattern. My husband renamed it the Christmas Tree quilt.

It was quilted by Sew Classic Fabrics in Harrisonburg.



I also recently finished this quilt for my sister-in-law. She and my step brother recently became grandparents. My tradition is to make a quilt for baby but this baby already has 3 quilts made by another family member.

Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
by
Mary Oliver
Sept. 10, 1935-Jan. 17, 2019