Looking back in time

As time rushes by these days, I often think I am not accomplishing much with my spare time.  Then one day I look into the photo albums and the memories of old projects come rushing back of what I have actually done with my love of sewing/quilting. 

Below, is a picture of the very first quilt I ever made.  This was an Amish style quilt I made for my husband's grandmother when we were first married.  I gave it to her as a Christmas present and it was returned to me after she passed.  When I see this quilt, I see and remember her.

Ever want to try a new technique? I do, I do!  This was my first attempt at foundation piecing.  It finished at approximately 16 x 16 inches.  See those little squares in the center of each block?  They measure about 1/2 inch after sewn into the block.  I discovered my love of foundation piecing with this little quilt.

The quilt below came from an insert in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine from I think the mid 1990s.  I really enjoyed making all the different blocks and using calico fabrics that I had tea-dyed to age them.  What I learned from making this quilt is not to be afraid to use the wrong side of the fabric for a quilt.  That's right - I said the wrong side.  I needed another light/neutral fabric for one of the flag blocks and I was trying not to repeat my fabrics too often and the right side of a particular fabric was a little too loud, so I took a look at the back side and it fit in perfectly!   

The above quilt was entered in a local farm show and won a blue ribbon!!  I was surprised as all get out and very proud also. 


So, please take pictures of all of your projects completed, and when you think perhaps you are not getting as much done as you would like, take a moment and look at those photos and relive the memories.  It's not always about how much or how fast we accomplish. 

Baby Quilts

Morgan is the little girl whose parents are friends with my oldest son.  She was born in the fall of 2011.  I thought a baby quilt was in order, and it was a good time to experiment with the disappearing nine patch pattern.   I can’t be exactly sure, but I think from start to finish, this quilt took about 2 weeks of working for a few hours in the evenings.  The quilting was an allover large meandering pattern.  And the backing, well that was the first time I experimented with a pieced backing.  I really liked how it came out.   This quilt was started and completed in October 2011.

The next baby quilt was for a young woman whom I had met while she was cutting my hair.   We just hit it off and had a very pleasant conversation.  Usually I am pretty quiet in the chair while getting a hair cut, but not this day.  The conversation flowed and we had a lot in common even though we were separated by about a 20-year age difference.  She was pregnant and being a single mother, I wanted to do something nice for her and the baby.  What better than a quilt for them to snuggle with.  

I had no idea of the sex of the baby and I wanted the quilt to be a surprise, so I couldn’t ask.  Besides I was a virtual stranger to this person. She might think I was crazy!    Okay, green and yellow it was.  I did have to make a trip to the store for this quilt, as I do not keep much in the way of children's prints in my stash piles.   P.S. Love the monkeys!!!

Again, a disappearing nine-patch was the pattern selected since they go together so effortlessly and look so complicated.  It was machine quilted in an allover large square pattern.  The backing was the solid celadon green fabric.   It was started and completed in August 2012. 

I hope both babies are enjoying the warmth of their quilts. 

There's beauty in small things too.

Some days, I think about just wanting to be able to start and finish a project within a few days' time (okay, at my pace more like a week) and small quilts are just the thing.  I have made many wall-hanging quilts, 95% of them are larger than 18" in smallest dimension.  While browsing and catching up on daily blog reading, I came across the Abundance quilt along.  I thought it was just a great little project to use some of my reproduction fabrics on.

This is my finished doll quilt top.  It was fairly easy, yet still a little challenging what with those smaller pieces and trying to stay accurate.     It is now basted and sitting atop my pile of hand sewing projects to be hand quilted while watching television.    The hand sewing projects pile is starting to grow too, but more on that another time!

Meanwhile, winter is still holding on - freezing rain, sleet, and possibly snow for today before turning into all rain.  My mother has been wanting to put out a hit on the groundhog that predicted an early spring - I'm starting to agree with her! 

What's a gal to do?

when there's a fabric sale??  Well, this gal threw in the towel and went shopping!!  Just by chance I checked the fabric.com website and behold - fabric on sale for $4.95 per yard.  In the past few years of cotton prices rising, my fabric buying has fallen off, but when I saw the sale, well I could not pass it up.  I mean, after all I'm worth it right? 

The first picture is of some fabrics that I have a plan in mind for.  I would like to do a maple leaf quilt to replace one that I had made some 15 years ago and had given as a wedding gift to my youngest son's preschool teacher. 

In this next pic, the first two fabrics, one black and one blue, are Dear Jane II fabrics.  The bottom one is a deep dark blue with a golden-orange medallion print.  

This last picture is of "just because" fabrics.  I bought them just because I liked them and I knew they would be very happy at home with the rest of my fabrics.   The one on the far right is from the Elm Creek Quilt collection.  Ever hear of the books by Jennifer Chiaverini?  You can read all about them here - http://elmcreek.net/books.  I have a few on my Kindle that I plan to read.  

That's my haul, plus 2 lengths sports nylon for basketball shorts for my son who likes them long, as sometimes we have a hard time finding them to fit his 6 ft 4-inch height just right.