2018 Finishes

I've attended a quilting retreat once a year that has been going on for about 20 years.  In 2018 we were challenged to take this panel and make it into a quilt.  I decided to cut it into tiny pieces and make a grow chart for my great grandkids.  Here is the panel. 

Here is the Giraffe Grow Chart I made using the panel.  I won first place and a really nice gift.

 

In the Palo Verde Patchers quilt group, I participated in another challenge in 2018.  We were supposed to make a quilt about what we were eating.  I was eating a lot of fruit and vegetables so I made this quilt.  The center block is one I designed and made using colored pencils.  It's such a happy, scrappy quilt.

And a close-up of the center...

BLOCK OF THE MONTH FOR 2018

In the Palo Verde Patchers Handwork Group we had a very busy year.  Our block of the month was a Dresden Plate quilt.  I gave the ladies a choice of three options to put in the center of the block: Sun Bonnet Sues, Arizona Birds, or Tea Cups and a Tea Pot.  I made the quilt with Sun Bonnet Sues in the middle (picture soon).  I also made the birds and the tea cups.  Here is the Arizona Bird's quilt - I used a different layout rather than the Dresden Plate on this little quilt, designed the art for the birds and their scene, and used the two color prairie points that I taught last year.

I'm disappointed that Shutterfly has discontinued doing Share Pages.  I've been posting my newer pictures there instead of here on my Blog.  It will be a big job to post them all here since I haven't updated my Blog since 2017 - but here goes.  I'll start with some of the older ones I had posted.  

This is a little quilt I made for my niece in 2017.  She looks happy with it, doesn't she?  She's about 7 years old now.  

Here are some more older pictures that I captured.  The first one is of my Granddaughter and me.

The next few are of me over the years.

  

Here I am now - older but wiser.  Hey, I paid for all those wrinkles livin' life.

  

My wonderful great grandchildren who we have been providing day care since they were born:

 

Rick & our great granddaughter.  We get to play all day.

Here are a few more 2017 quilt finishes.  The first one is called Little Women.  I made it for a challenge the quilting group (Palo Verde Patchers) near my home issued.  We were to make a quilt about a book we enjoyed from our past.

. . .and a close-up

I took a series of on-line courses for making crazy quilts.  Here is a miniature quilts I made using some of those techniques.  I made it for a nesting robing challenge (a version of a round robin, but rather than pass the quilt around to have each person add another border, you do it all yourself.  I really liked doing that process).  For the challenge the host would pull a different category we were supposed to represent each month (such as lakes, birds, butterfly, etc.)  Most of the ladies made a separate block for each category.  I put all of them into one quilt. It became quilt a challenge when they pulled the category Tea and the next one, Kitchen Utensil - but I did it.  See the tea pot with flowers in it and the strainer with flowers in it hanging from the tree?  This quilt is only 11 inches x 13 inches. 

 

Mug Caddies for my Board Members

I made a dozen mug caddies for my Foothills Board Members and for several friends.  I made a handmade etui (needle case), and pin cushion to go in them, and several quilting items - and put some sweets in them too. Here's the one I made in a class and also a sample of the ones I made for the Board.

 

At the Christmas Party I was presented with some pretty "Baskets of Wishes" blocks in fall colors from members of the Foothills quilting group to thank me for my year as Chapter Chair.  I love them.  

BLOCK OF THE MONTH FOR 2017

In my Palo Verde Patchers Handwork Group this year we made a darling Redwork Basket quit.  I designed it, made a class sample, and sent a block out each month.  Here is the cute quilt.

This year we also covered the topic of coloring on fabric with crayons.  

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all good things for the holidays and blessings in the new year!
 

 

Here are a few pictures of Zahn (our great grandson) from this year.  He's such a blessing to our life.

 Recipe for fun-kids and water

Clothes-Pin Man

QUILTING TOOLS BLOCK OF THE MONTH

What was the block of the month for the Palo Verde Patchers Handwork Group?  In 2016 we made a Quilting Tools quilt.  It was a combination of redwork and fusible applique.  

Here are the ladies getting started on the Quilting Tools quilt.

Here's the cute quilt:

We also spent a little bit of time on several topics.  I taught writing and shading on quilts with Pigma Pens, Folding a Quilt so it Won't Crease, Preparing our quilts for the longarm quilter, and how to baste quilts using boards.  It was a productive year.  

Flowers Around My Cabin - Raffle Quilt for 2017

I finally completed the quilt I've been working on for months.  It's for my guild chapter's 2017 raffle (Foothills Quilters).

I'm so grateful that I was able to pass this off on Thanksgiving morning to the lady who is sewing on the binding. 

Back Story:  I quilted the quilt with an all-over feather meander in the center, small feathers in the red border, and outlined the applique, and then meandered around it.  I quilted this in mostly 2 hour stretches while my 2 1/2 year old great grandson was napping (on the days I wasn't so tired from chasing him around that I had to nap right along with him).

The ladies in Foothills made log cabin blocks for a quilt we donated to our meeting place.  I took the left-over blocks to make this raffle quilt (think left-overs = many blocks not true to size).  As you might guess, when asking for 12 1/2" blocks that will be 12" when finished, sometimes you get 12" blocks before they're finished.  That meant I needed to remake a dozen of the blocks to make them fit together.  We chose this star layout which I think is kind of unique and striking. 

I then gave a class on appliqueing an easy way (glue method), made kits for the ladies, and passed as many out as I could find takers.  After I collected them I made the ones that were missing for the layout I designed, and sewed them onto the borders.  Sewing them on took about 73 hours.  I missed a few session of keeping track so this number is conservative. 

Then I proceeded to figure out a design for the quilting and did some marking of the top.  Loading also took some thought because of the pieced backing, so I'm pleased that that turned out okay.  A lady in our group made the pieced back using several of the smallest blocks and I appliqued some flowers and leaves on it after I completed the quilting.

I decided on Dream Wool batting because the feather meander has some rather long feathers in some places and Dream batting can be quilted farther apart than what I had originally planned to use (Hobbs 80/20).  This quilt feels cuddly already with the wool batting in it.

After I completed the quilting, I realized it would need a hanging sleeve so we could display it on our quilt rack for the raffle.  So made that and a label that included laundering instructions. 

I was so pleased to hand it off just before noon on Thanksgiving.  Yea!

Here are some close-ups of the quilting and the back of the quilt:

"What I Love about Quilting" - red work quilting girls quilt

Here is the quilt I made last month for our Foothills Annual Quilt Challenge - the theme was "What I am grateful for about Foothills or Quilting".

I decided to use my little red work quilting girl blocks that had been languishing for about 9 years so it's a long-overdue UFO for me too.  I'm happy that they were right for the theme and are now made into a quilt.  The swag borders are pre-printed yardage.  I added hand applique bows at the corners.  It took a lot of calculating to make the pre-printed borders fit along the block edges evenly.  Thankfully trimming the blocks to a smaller size and choosing a good sashing width made it all fit together.

I did custom quilting on this quilt and it seemed to take half-of-forever (a total of about 62 hours).   I love quilting feathers and meandering, but struggle with ruler work, so was glad when that part was finished.  I put in some really long days getting this done on time - not what I want to repeat anytime soon.  We had been having our great grandson here so much, that I didn't think I'd ever be able to get enough time to finish it by the deadline, but it finally got finished.

Getting the marking out turned out to be a challenge.  I used Sewline pencil with pink lead and Bohin colored chalk, the purple.  I thought I had pre-tested them but not good enough I guess.  I'm going to have to be more careful in the future.

I plan to give the back a little bit more attention before I call this quilt completely finished.  It seems that when I was changing thread colors my longarm came unthreaded and I struggled getting it to sew evenly after I re-threaded.  The stitching looks okay on the front but there are some loops around some of the curved feather tips on the back.  I think I'll come up with an applique idea and do some back art to cover those "loopies".  I'll post some pictures when I get the back art finished. 

All in all, I'm pleased with the way it turned out, but I prefer a more leisurely experience when I'm quilting.  It's done though so now I can switch to doing a little bit of handwork - something I really enjoy.  A much slower pace too. 

Here are a few close-ups so you can see the quilting. 

Here's the back art:

 

. . .and a close-up

Sleepy Bear Quilt

I just completed this quilt yesterday.  I call it Sleepy Bear.  I plan to hang it over my gr. grandson, Zahn's, crib.  I had originally thought I'd give it to charity but he was so interested in the stars, the moon, & especially the ties, that I decided I would give it to him instead.

Here's the back....... .  I used muslin, which I often do to save $$$, and then use some of the left over quilt fabric from the front to machine applique something onto the back.

 

The top was made in 2012 - the backing was even finished and ready to go back then.  Then it sat around waiting until I got re-interested in it again.  I'm glad to finally get this UFO (unfinished object) finished.  If I recall correctly, I found the pattern for this little bear in one of my quilt magazines.

Friendship Star Prayer Quilt

Here's the next quilt I've completed - another prayer quilt for the church. 

 

It's a friendship star variation.  I added machine appliqued butterflies in the center of each star.  This is the block I made for the first AZ Retreat I attended - for the block exchange.  I had a few extra blocks, so sewed a few more to add to them, and made them into a quilt.  The top has been languishing all these years. The church will say prayers over it as they tie the final tie on each knot.   I'm glad to finally have it finished and going to someone who it may comfort. 

Little Fishy Prayer Quilt

I'm working on finishing some quilt tops.  I made this blue and yellow-orange quilt top in 2004, and it's sat unquilted, and languishing in my cupboard. 

 

It has flying geese interspersed with fussy cut fish.   I've decided to call it Little Fishy.  It will be donated to the church where our quilting group meets to be used as a prayer quilt.  It's tied and the strings are left long enough that they can say prayers while tying the final knot.  I'm so happy to have it finished!

 

The other day my husband asked me what I was going to do with all of my quilts.  He suggested I try to find homes for some of them now, rather than wait for someone else to decide what to do with them when I pass on.  That was an idea I could get behind, and it's motivating me to finish some of them, and find good homes for them.  Our quilting group donates to both the church and a battered women's shelter.  I've gone through my tops to see what needs to be done to finish a bunch of them and donate them to one of these worthy causes. 

 

The backing is manatees. 

 

This is a quilt label I found on the internet.  I really like it and may use something similar.

 

This is the label I made to use for the prayer quilts - it's adapted from the above.

 

We hope this quilt comforts you, both spiritually and physically. The knots were tied while saying prayers to God.  Any loose knots can be tightened before washing to prevent them from coming out. Even if a knot comes out the prayer will last forever. Lovingly, Spirit of Hope UMC

 

Comfort Quilt

Here is a comfort quilt I just completed:

 

If you read my blog, you've probably read where I mention little Zahn.  It's a long story which I'll just abbreviate here.  Zahn is my granddaughter's baby - 2 1/2 years old now - who was being raised by his other grandmother (who adopted him).  Unfortunately that grandmother has been fighting cancer and lost that battle last month.  Her partner, who also adopted him, is now raising Zahn.  This quilt is a comfort quilt for the partner, Bobbie.  She's a lovely person and we care about her so much.  She's doing a wonderful job raising Zahn and is very dear to us.  She just loved the quilt - she cried and cried when I gave it to her, especially when she read the label.  It reads:

 

When a loved one becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.

 

 

I started this quilt in 2010 but didn't have anyone in mind for it then.  After Pattie lost her battle with cancer, I added the hearts on the front, and the back art heart bouquet, thinking I wanted to give it as a comfort quilt for Bobbie.



Quilts for the Church

We support two places at our quilting group, the church where we meet (we donate quilts to them) and a battered women's shelter (we donate quilts and pillowcases to them).  Here are two quilts I made to donate to the church.  The church use them as fund raisers, or to give as comfort quilts to the sick or needy, or to go to homeless senior citizens.  This year we hope to donate at least 10 quilts to the church.

 

These quilts were quilts I made previously just waiting for the right place for them.  I started the blue and yellow one in 2006 and the peach and green one in 2012 .  I'm so glad to finally have a home for them.  Now I need to get busy working on the two quilts I have in process for the battered women's shelter.  I need to put on borders and then quilt them.  I need more quilting time!  Sound familiar? 

Heart Quilt

At the guild chapter I attend, Foothills Quilters, we've been making heart quilts to give to those who have a serious illness or have lost a close loved one.  Here is the one I made and donated to give love and comfort to one of our ladies.  It's hand appliques using batik fabric on a black background.  I call it Framed Hearts:

 

I started it in 2005.  I love that it will one day give comfort to someone when they are sad.