This quilt was
machine
pieced and hand quilted as a gift for my younger daughter's best friend
(since eighth grade) when they graduated from high school in 1994.
Stephanie
lived on a ranch, which is the source of the theme here. The black and
white fabric (more visible in the detail below) says "moo" all over.
The
quilting pattern I chose was the livestock brand Steph's family used on
the ranch. The quilt is approximately 28" square.
A
small wallhanging
This
is a very small wallhanging (about 14" square) that I made as a
beginner.
I liked the pattern of the saguaro cactus, since we have so many of
them
near where I live. I machine pieced and hand quilted this.
This
quilt (35"
square) is machine pieced and hand quilted. I learned the technique for
doing this from a class with Moneca Calvert at Quilt Camp in the Pines
in the summer of 2000. The quilt presented a couple of challenges for
me.
First, I had to learn to do the curved piecing. Second, I couldn't find
a ready-made feathered-heart template in the right size for the
quilting,
so I had to learn how to draft my own. That was made much simpler
thanks
to Marianne Fons' book, Fine Feathers. All of that was worth
it,
though, when the quilt won third place in its category in our local
show
in 2001. :)
Once again, I attended Quilt Camp in the Pines in July, 2002. One of the classes I took was from Freddy Moran to learn a technique for making a pineapple quilt. I used batiks for the colored portions of the top, and the background is a mottled off-white. The pink batik in the center of each pineapple block is repeated as one of the two inner borders and again in the binding. The outer border is made of simple four-patches set on point. I'd originally intended to hang this in our entry hall as a symbol of welcome, but it grew too large for the space. Instead, it will hang over the bed in our guest room
Here are details of the quilting patterns I used in the pineapple blocks and in the outer border:
As you may be able to see, I used pineapples for the quilting motifs, too -- a more ornate pattern in the blocks and a simpler one in the border. The quilt was completely machine pieced and machine quilted with invisible thread, and it measures approximately 50" square. I finished it in September, 2002.
I took another class from Freddy Moran when she came to our area in May, 2003. This time we made her Garden Party Ladies blocks, along with topiary trees. My ladies' dressses are made from provençal fabrics I bought in Houston at the festival, and they're on multicolored backgrounds. When I was quilting this, I decided to make the quilt a memento of my first trip to Houston and the wonderful time several quilters from RCTQ had while staying at the Ramada there. Seven of the dresses have the name of one of us "Ramada Gals", and the remaining two have related information. The quilt will hang in my guest room when we use the Doggie Brick Road quilt. The ladies can look after the dogs and vice versa! ;) Here's the quilt:
This was machine pieced and machine quilted and measures 51 1/2" x 46 1/2". I finished it in late August, 2003 -- just in time to get ready for the next Houston show! ;) Starting on the left in the top row, the ladies/gals are: (row 1) Wendy/Frood, Ramada gals, IQF 2002 Houston; (row 2) Ally, Sandy in Henderson, Marilyn/Nurse Ratched; (row 3) Pat in VA, Kris in northern VA, Kathy Z./lurker.
For the label, I took a photo of one block and made the photo very pale, superimposing the text I wanted over that:
A few months ago, I came across a preprinted panel that I just loved; it was in colors I like, and it was a good size to use as a spring-time wall hanging in my dining area. I bought the panel and brought it home, only to find that I already had the perfect fabric for a border in my stash. It was meant to be! ;) Since the panel didn't need any piecing, this was a very quick project, and I finished it over Labor Day weekend (2003), working on it part-time. It's free-motion machine quilted in rayon threads to match the various colors of the panel. It's fairly small, measuring only about 28" x 48 1/2".
The little quilt measures 21" across the
narrower dimension and 24 1/2" across the
wider one, and I machine pieced and machine quilted it, finishing in
October, 2004.
Teatime
In April, 2003, our local quilt guild had its annual show, and the
judge for that show came here from the Phoenix area. In the course of
discussion, she mentioned that she designs patterns and that one might
appeal to me, since it was in blues and was teapots -- she'd discovered
that I love tea. She was right, too! The blocks are all blue work and,
while I don't normally do embroidery, even I can handle stem stitch. ;)
The patterns were originally available as a block of the month and are
now a single pattern available at Valerie Boman's and and Debbie
Foley's web site, Cotton
Pickin' Designs. I had some fabric on hand for the borders; I'd
bought it some time ago with no idea what I was going to use it for.
But it was just about perfect for this project, since it has teapots,
cups and saucers, jugs and little flowers all over it. The quilt is
hand embroidered, machine pieced and hand quilted. It measures
approximately 40" x 45", and I finished it in March, 2005.
