Not All Quilts Are For Snuggling

The small art gallery in my town (the Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center) recently displayed a small exhibit of art quilts. Luckily, a small piece of mine was juried in (as well as a number of pieces by some of my good friends).

I fused some very small batik scraps onto a background, covered it with white tulle, and then couched some fun yarns on top and along the edge.

12" x 9"

Here's a closeup...

It's the same technique I used when I made some artist trading cards to trade with some quilting friends a few years ago (I wrote about it in this post here).

I guess I can call myself an art quilter now...

December!

I recently finished this Christmas table runner, and now that Thanksgiving is over and it's December, I have put this on our dining table. "No Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving" is the rule in this house.

click on photos for a larger view

The pattern is a free one I found online at Dragonfly Fiberart, called a Disappearing Nine-Patch with a Twist" (scroll down the page of free patterns to find it).

This is the second one I've made using this pattern, and it looks much harder than it is. You just have to be OK with having points that are cut off, which is part of the design. Some quilters have a hard time accepting this.

Here's a closeup shot...quilted with a serpentine stitch on my Bernina...

Backing and binding...

And a shot of it on our table (with a swan carved by my husband)...

Whew! It's Done!

About a year ago, I told my son that I would make him a quilt for the full-size bed he has in his apartment to replace the one I made for him when he went away to college back in 2010 (it's too small for his current bed). I sent him a link to various quilt photos that I had collected for inspiration over the years on Pinterest and told him to pick a couple that he liked and I'd see if I could get the pattern. Of course, he picked a pattern that had a gazillion pieces, but I loved it. Here is a link to the pattern info. It's called "Seeing Squares" from the Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio.

My son said he wanted the quilt to be mostly medium to dark blues, with some orange and gold/yellow. After making a few trips to some of my favorite fabric shops, I had 24 fabrics to work with. Then I spent hours and hours cutting and piecing, and finally finished quilting and binding it right before Thanksgiving. It's now out in California with its new owner, and he tells me he likes it. I really liked it, too, and it was hard to let it go.

click on photos for a larger view

approximately 84" x 96"

Here's a close-up shot --

And a shot showing the backing and binding --

I plan on making a couple of pillowcases for him as well, maybe by Christmas.

Getting Things Done!

I finally finished a project that I had started in early summer. A good friend of mine had done me a very big favor, so I told her that I would repay her by making a wall hanging for her.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

She had bought the fabric and pattern a few years ago, but never got around to making it, so I volunteered to get it done.

Some of the quilting was done free-motion on my HQ16 mid-arm machine...

And some was done using a fancy stitch on my trusty Bernina...

More finishes coming up!

Yes, I'm Still Quilting

Although I haven't been at my sewing machine much for the last few months, I did finish a quilt a while ago for a dear sister-in-law.

It's just half-square triangles. Easy, peasy.

Closeup of the quilting...

A look at the backing...

And a nice shot outdoors...

I have more projects in the pipeline, so perhaps I'll get back to posting more on the blog soon.

Thanks for reading!

I'm Still Here

It's been way too long since I posted, but I haven't really finished anything since the last quilt I showed in April. More projects are in the works, but nothing is finished enough to show (hopefully, a couple will be finished in July).

In the meantime, here's a shot of the Genesee Valley Quiltfest in Rochester, NY where my Jane Stickle (aka Dear Jane) quilt was on display in early June.

This is an absolutely wonderful show, held every two years, and put on completely by volunteers! More than 600 quilts on display, and lots of vendors. The next one will be in June 2019.

click on the photo for a larger view

Baby Love

Wow, it's been more than a month since my last post. I've been busy with a lot of sewing and quilting, but nothing finished to show until now. One of the quilts I'm working on has many, many pieces, so that one won't be finished for a while yet, but I did manage to get this quick baby quilt done this month. This is for a new member of the family on my husband's side.

The only fabric that I bought specifically for this quilt was the backing. All the rest was from my scraps, 74 different prints and about a dozen different tone-on-tone whites (they're hard to see in photos). I recognize some of these fabrics from a quilt I made for my son in 2001!

Here's a closeup...

And a shot of the backing and binding...

The backing was requested by the new grandma -- her son (the new father) had had a stuffed blue bunny when he was a child.

This quilt is now on its way to its new owner!

A Finish From Mid-2016

 I just realized that I never blogged about this finished small wallhanging that I made last summer.

(click on the photos for a larger view)

It's made with a simple fabric weaving technique that a friend of mine taught me. There's no piecing involved, and the seams are just sewn down using a decorative stitch on the raw edges of fabric.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with this piece once it was done, but then I realized that I had accumulated a lot of pins from the various quilt shows I've attended over the years, and this would make a great way to display them.

Here's a closeup...

batik strips from my stash

And another shot that shows some of the pins a bit better...

Now it's hanging on the wall behind my trusty Bernina...

Another Finish for February

One jelly roll and Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern make one quick and easy quilt.

(the greens are really much nicer in person than on the computer screen)

A closeup shot...

And a bit of the backing and binding...

This one will be on its way to a new home next week!

Another Finish

This is my latest finished quilt, which used a jelly roll of brights and some strips of white fabric. 

The pattern is called Bright Idea, and the video with instructions can be found by clicking here. It went together very easily, and is a fairly large throw, approximately 60" x 74".

Here's another look...

And a closeup...

And a look at the backing and binding...

What's on Your Table?

This table runner was a quick and easy project, using five-inch squares from my batik stash. Five nine-patch blocks cut into four pieces (a la "disappearing nine-patch" technique), then sewn together, cut again, and sewn together again. Careful value placement makes the design.

Click here for a link on the technique (scroll down the page to the "disappearing nine-patch with a twist" pattern). Easy peasy.

First Finish for 2017

approx. 32" x 32"

I had a few blocks leftover from the two quilts that I blogged about in my last post, so I made a small wallhanging. There are two different shades of white -- Kona Snow from one quilt, and Kona White from the other. In real life, the different is definitely noticeable when the two fabrics are next to each other.