Hard and Easy

This is a quilt with an amazing story. My sister Geri was at a garage sale near Etna, California. This quilt top was on the floor of the front porch with a dog sleeping on it. When she went up on to the porch to look at some books for sale, the dog left. She glanced down and, being a quilter, noticed the quilt top. It looked like it was a grandmother's flower garden in shades of browns. She picked it up and shook it and not noticing any tears or holes, asked how much the man wanted for it. She paid less than $5 for the 'old rag'. Taking it home, she soaked it in the bathtub in some quilt wash. The quilt turned out to be red and white - quite a surprise- and came out very clean. Unfortunately the bright reds ran and the quilt quickly became shades of red and pink. She sent it to me to use if I could. It wasn't very attractive with the pink, but was all beautifully hand sewn with each hexagon perfectly sewn to the others. I couldn't use it the way it was so threw it in the washing machine (gentle cycle) with hot water, laundry soap, and a little bleach. Then I added one after another color catchers and watched them turn bright pink. When the last one I added remained white, I rinsed the quilt top and hung it to dry. It looked perfect! I paid for it to be hand quilted by a mother-daughter combo in Utah - Alice and Melanie Stones. They did a beautiful job of outlining every single hexagon. Alice and Melanie came upon a few small 'toenail' cuts and mended them as they quilted. I found a few more as I put on the border and mended those as well. I then appliqued the outer edges of each outside edge hexagon onto a great print border and hand bound the edges. An entire quilt done by hand - a wonderful creation. We think the top was made in the 40's, but maybe later. I wish the woman who made the top could see her beautiful handwork all finished.

This 'diamonds on grays' king quilt I plan to send off to college with my grandson Macon. I found the pattern in a magazine, but didn't write down who did it. Thank you who ever you are.

2012 Starting out smallI

I combined two patterns from a magazine to make this small hot air balloon quilt. I had a few fat quarters and then used scraps. The birds on a limb involved some tiny pieces but I was pleased with the result. This is for my first great grandchild - due in September. This was machine quilted by Liz Minick.

I bought some muslin with red work design blocks in the sale basket at a quilt show. I combined them with some scrappy hearts and came up with the little quilt for our latest granddaughter to be born in December. This was machine quilted by Liz Minick

Last two of five in 2011

This Americana quilt is based on a Fons and Porter design. It is an exchange quilt. Each one in our quilt group made 19 blocks of one pattern. We each chose our own fabrics based on swatches provided. We exchanged blocks, I made the 4 log cabin blocks in the upper left. I also made about a dozen other blocks, plus several 'filler pieces' to make the quilt twin size instead of lap size. I also made the big lone star and the tiny flying geese that border the big star. This quilt was a real challenge for me. It is a treasure since it contains beautiful blocks by my quilting friends. I appliqued Bob's hand print and the wreath and the rose. It will be in the San Diego Quilt show in September 2012 along with 8 other versions from other members of our quilt group.

This scrappy spider web quilt was fun and fairly simple to make. I got the pattern from Karen Lusby and used lots of interesting scraps, emphasizing green on the outer edges of the webs and putting some yellow in nearly every block. I then renamed it a 'wheel quilt'. Who would want to sleep cuddled up in a spider web? Erin Hamson is the happy owner of this quilt.

2011 Three of Five Quilts

Using pieces of all the browns I had collected, mostly from Geri, and adding a few reds, blues, greens, etc. I made this king size quilt with help from the Hele girls. I used stair step sashing and a red floater for fun. The quilt now covers the Hele parents' bed. It is surprising to me that all the light tan prints look white in the picture. It was machine quilted by Andi Carlin.

Baby Jared's puzzle quilt. I saw a picture on the internet and used it as a model. I decided to put the 'missing pieces' in the border, hoping when he is older he'll have fun seeing where they go. I tied this quilt.

Julia Hamson and the Hele girls helped me with the houses and colors and design of this Paper Doll quilt. On the back is a pocket to hold the doll clothes, hats and other accessories. I put six dolls on the outside edges with 5 houses (2 big and a row of 3 townhouses) in the middle. It was great to design, a bit tedious to finish, and a real pleasure to see the girls play with. This was beautifully machine quilted in great detail by Nita Virgin.

Three more

This is my first baby quilt, made for Camden Hele. I had fun with scraps of fabric and flannel and was mostly pleased with the results. I am noticing that I am very conscious of my mistakes and am surprised when others don't notice them. I am trying hard not to point them out, and just accept the compliments graciously (tough to do when I don't feel I deserve them).

Hannah Kelly received this baby quilt soon after her birth. I enjoyed making the tulips and then figuring out how to put the blocks together in a way that suited me. Can you tell I was experimenting with making a scalloped border?

This is the last quilt I finished in 2010. It was a product of our quilting class where we learned many different techniques and made at least two of many different kinds of blocks. I used 30's fabric with an off white background and made some extra blocks so that it would be twin size instead of a lap quilt. I loved the class and was so grateful to Christine for teaching it.

First Two Quilts

It has come to my attention that I have failed to share pictures of the quilts I have been making so decided to try this method. As I finish quilts, I will post photos here, beginning with a couple of make up posts to catch up to the present.

This is the first quilt I made - triple Irish chain out of scraps that Geri sent me with some added yellows from Phyllis Schwartzlose and Janell Johns. I started this quilt in November of 2009 after two quilting classes. I had learned to 'nest' seams. I cut each square individually and put them together in 14" blocks using a photo of a quilt from the internet as my example. The Hele girls helped with laying out some of the blocks, choosing from the piles of green, blue, and yellow and following the pattern. The light center pieces were cut from a sheet that my mother-in-law had given me in about 1971 and reminds me of her sweet and generous spirit. I finished this in 2010. It was machine quilted by Wendy Knight. It is queen size and is now on our bed.

This is my second quilt. I started it in January 2010. It is made from hand dyed jellyrolls and scraps that Geri sent me. I had made two log cabin blocks for our quilting class, taught so wonderfully by Christine Francis, and thus felt confident to tackle this project. This is a simple pattern, but the beauty of the hand dyed fabric makes it a very beautiful quilt. I tried various backgrounds and Diane Grosbeck - one of the best visiting teachers ever - helped me decide to go with the black. I finished this in 2010 and it was also machine quilted by Wendy Knight. It now belongs to Ben and Bryn - as determined by a family lottery.