Quilts

Hi Everyone, this has nothing to do with my paper crafting abilities(which I question most days). It's all about quilts. I made these quilts over the past several years, and they each have a story. So travel along with me while I share their story with you.

The below quilt is my first full size quilt I made several years ago.  I was out shopping in a very quant country town and saw the completed quilt hanging in a store.  I had never tried quilting a full size quilt and fell in love with this pattern.  I came from a book by Cathy Wierzbicki called Take time to Quilt.  I believe it's out of print now, but you might still be able to find a copy.  I used colors that I see when I look out across our hay field in September.   I sent the top out to be quilted by a professional.

It's still my favorite.

The next quilt was inspired by our neighbors who are old order Mennonite and quilt quite heavily in the winter.  They were making one similar.  I am not sure what it is called, but it's made up of log cabin blocks, and grandmother's fan blocks.  I did not have a pattern, but I do have a program called electric quilt.  I designed it on that, and made templates out of wood so I would cut the fan pattern with my rotary cutter.  For the colors, I went to Lowes paint section and picked out several combinations that appealed to me.  I had grandeous plans of quilting this one by hand, and I had every intention of completing it, but 2 month's later I only had the very edge quilted.  So I contacted my neighbors, and made a deal, I would trade them a finished top, if they would finish quilting my quilt by hand.  What a deal.  So a little piece of the wonderful neighbor ladies is in this quilt. I never took a picture of the top I made for them, and regret it.

This last quilt was inspired by a 1.00 calendar I got at Micheals 3 years ago.  It was quilts in a calendar painted by Diane Phalen.  One month showed a quilt hanging over a porch railing.  I loved that quilt and with a little research, I found that the pattern was called Corn and Peas(I think).  Anyway I dyed the fabric except for the red, cut it out a put it back together.  By now I was really interested in machine quilting free hand.  So I drew the pattern on, not sure really what I wanted and started quilting.  I had to roll up the quilt to get it to fit under the arm of the sewing machine.  It took 80 hours to quilt and 5 spools of thread, but that includes the time it took to tear out stitches becasue I wasn't satisfied with the way it was turning out.  The quilting has an Urn, Peacock, Feathers, Flames and meandering.

I really am missing quilting, and I have at least 6 full size quilts in various states of being finished, not unlike my paper crafting.  Maybe this winter I can get a few done.

Thanks for listening to my quilt stories.

Beth.

I made this quilt for my MIL last Christmas.  She is always making quilts for everyone in the family, but I don't think anyone has every made one for her, so I made her one.  It was a quick and simple pattern, nothing real hard.  I do like the way it turned out.  Most of the fabric in the quilt, I hand dyed.  I love dying fabric by hand, it is so much fun to see how it turns out, and how vivid the colors are that can be achived.