Quilts made of small pieces of fabric that are sewn together to make a quilt top. Can be made of scraps, coordinating colors, or a certain theme.
Sometimes a quilt top appeals to me and I just have to bring it home. This happened with this vintage Churn Dash quilt when I saw it at an antique store in Oaktown, IN in 2010. Even better, it fit my budget at $30. The blocks are 8″ square and are made of cheerful 30’s and 40’s prints. A solid orange sashing is between the blocks. Here is an easy pattern to make your own. I kept it where it…
Once upon a time, this quilter searched out and purchased all the reproduction William Morris fabric I could find. It was fascinating and I was hooked. And so the William Morris Revisited quilt was conceived and born. It was very difficult to find a pattern that showcased these beautiful fabrics. There was no way I was going to just stick these in any quilt. In August 2013, I was going thru the patterns again looking for the perfect pattern. Yes,…
My Fans Are Charmed was a really fun quilt to make and not nearly as scary as the first fan quilt that I made in 1988. I guess ten more years of quilting makes a big difference in how I approach a pattern. Each blade of the fans (there are 488 total) is from a different fabric. Maybe not a “true” charm quilt but I had fun sorting through the scrap bin and trading with other quilters to get the…
I love to English paper piece hexagons but not so much diamonds. This Tumbling Blocks (English paper pieced) was pieced using this method in 1990-91. It was an experiment, and I chose three colors to make the diamonds and a floral fabric that coordinated for the background. I found that the diamonds were harder to baste together than I thought they would be – maybe because of the sharp points of the diamonds. Plus, the more I worked on it,…
Life is busy. I am behind on my quilting projects, especially the mystery quilt I started back in November from Bonnie Hunter. But at least the mystery slowly progresses and has not stopped. My list of quilt projects does not need to include any new UFOs. I like to make mystery quilts because they are not my normal type of patterns and color combinations. Outside the box can be a good thing. Currently I am working on week 4 and…
I believe in giving back to my community. And veterans are some of my favorite people. Fabric was donated to me for making quilts for some local veterans. Bring together 5 quilters on a Saturday and guess what? It is possible to make 10 snuggly quilts for our local vets because veterans deserve quilts too. Making those lap quilts: The first five quilt tops are 8″ blocks. We quickly ran out of red, white, and blue. There was still other…
Back in October, I posted about the overwhelming list of UFOs I needed to work on. One of those projects was some Christmas placemats. So…here is how to make easy placemats. These directions could easily apply to any holiday or theme you would like to make for placemats. Have fun and enjoy the process. Supplies: 2.5″ strips of fabric to make “patchwork” front of placemat (I pulled several out of my precut box of this size strips in “Christmasy” colors)….
Beginnings… I was in that difficult 10 – 12 year old stage and was totally stopped in my tracks by an Amish Lone Star quilt that my Aunt Fran had hanging in her antique shop. This quilt is what started my quilting obsession. Wow!! The colors were so bright and the design was beautiful and I can still see the vivid turquoise colored background of that quilt in my mind. This was not a scrap quilt like the one on…
At my home, it is time to bring out the nativity collection. And the Christmas quilts galore that generally hide the rest of the year. There are so many patterns and ideas for Christmas quilts. Actually, it can be a bit overwhelming when planning a holiday quilt. But in the interest of keeping this holy season fun and low on stress, I thought I would share some of the Christmas quilts I have made over the years. Come join me…
Quilters love to show off quilts to anyone who will stop long enough to look – we are just like that. Yep, we are show-offs, at least when it comes to our quilts. I thought that starting off this week by showing off quilts would be a great way to deal with Monday. All these photos were taken in June 1995 in Montana. A co-worker allowed me to “borrow” the old barn and wooden fence on her family farm for…
