Guild Swap Blocks ...

Just a quick little post, as it features just a quick little wall hanging!

A while ago, our guild (Stonehouse Quilt Guild in Manassas, VA), did a block swap featuring a border print.  I won the blocks (5 of them, including my own ... we sometimes do not get a lot of participation in the block swap), and they were WILDLY different in color.  I ended up setting them with navy blue.  Oh, and SEVERAL of them had a little "meet in the middle" issue (humps, bumps, holes, or alignment).  I did not want to remake the blocks.  So, I CLEVERLY used buttons to camoflauge the issue!  This little wall hanging is now in my sewing room.

I did a little fancy hand quilting in the blue setting squares, and used buttons for continuity ...

This is the block that I did for the swap ... I LOVE deep turquoise ...

It *WAS* a bit of a challenge matching up those mitred corners, and I notice that I have a little matching issue with the yellow star ... oh, well ... I like the wallhanging, anyway!

My Favorite Birthday Gift ...

My favorite birthday gift (not counting WeeDD, of course, who was born 2 weeks before my 38th birthday), was an incredible "quilty" birthday gift put together by my fabulously talented ElderDD (and she quilts, too!) a couple of years ago.  Thought I would share the idea, as the holidays loom large ... and our quilty sisters are always deserving of a fun gift ...

I received a gift basket with all kinds of goodies and fabric (with handmade labels and cards) ... It had fat quarters of fabric arranged for a birthday "meal" ... red/tan/gold fat quarters bundled together was "lasagna", lovely greens were "salad", etc.  She called it my "Birthday Picnic" ... (you can click on the picture to enlarge it and see the label details ...)

Then, she gave me this gorgeous bouquet, with the prettiest hand-crafted fat quarter "flowers" in it, made from exquisite Hoffman orientals ... (again, you can click the picture to enlarge it).  I must admit, I have not "unwired" the flowers yet to use the fabric!

ElderDD is an endless fountain of creativity.  She is a video game artist (currently working in Houston, TX).  Some of her FABULOUS art is here ... ElderDD's Art (I am SOOOO proud of her!)

And, again, thanks for the wonderful gifts~!

A Little Wall Hanging from the Past ... Winking Kitties

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE applique, cats, and original quilt patterns, so this one was PERFECT!  (Or, should I say ... PUUUUUR-fect?)

WeeDD needed a quick charity donation for a silent-auction basket with a cat theme  (it was a fundraiser for her elementary school). 

I drew out the simple, rounded cat shapes (it is basically my cat Earl's shape, minus the long grey hair!).  I wanted the tails dimensional, and used buttons for eyes for a little more interest.  The whiskers (or "whisters" as WeeDD used to say) are embroidered on with 2 strands of black embroidery thread.

There is one cat with his eyes closed, one with his left eye closed, one with his right eye closed, and one with both eyes open.  I also (intentionally!) did not make all the tails face the same way.

The block background fabric is fishy-skeletons (those must have been HUNGRY kitties ...) ...

The border fabric is BRIGHT green and pink (brighter than my pictures came out -- sort of a bright spring green and hot pink.  The first picure is truer to color, at least on my computer monitor ...), and the backing is some BRIGHT cat fabric I had around.

I added a little handmade label ...

It is in-the-ditch machine quilted, with wavy quilting in the borders, and has a wee bright gold binding.

Start to finish (design to done) "Winking Kitties" took one weekend.  Whew!  Made that deadline!

This is a pattern that I may work up for sale or download ... some day ...

Helene's Quilt

A friend of mine was facing a new cancer diagnosis, and a daunting treatment series.  I decided she needed a "love quilt" (something to snuggle in and take to treatments with her).

I picked some yummy "chocolate" fabric for the border (I don't know why, but a lot of my quilts get built "border first"!).

I think it was a Hoffman print.  I don't have any left for reference!

I did simple pieced hearts in a variety of reds, and set the blocks Irish-chain style with brown polka-dot blocks. The white background of the blocks has a faint tone-on-tone pattern to it.

(That is Merlin the cat, admiring the quilt top in progress).

The thin inner border was a marbled red.

Since time was of the essence, this one was machine quilted in the ditch, with looping hearts in the border.  The backing was a tone-on-tone swirled red.

She loved it!  (And she is now in remissions, doing really well!)

Starry Baby Quilt

I made this little quilt for a co-worker's new baby boy.  I did not really have a pattern, I just enlarged one block to HUGE size!  This is 40" x 40".  I love "one block" baby quilts, because you can use larger prints and the fabrics really pop.

The design flowed around the border "star" fabric (a beautiful Hoffman print from several years ago).  I bought a BOLT of it, and used every scrap of it in one quilt or another.  I have one 3" piece left.



I free-form drew the little star in the center, then hand appliqued and embroidered him.

The corners have the nursery rhyme, "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight."

I hand lettered the corner blocks using a pigma pen.  You can see the border fabric better in this picture, too.

I used a star design to hand quilt this little quilt.  I traced a star cookie cutter onto label stock, then used the sticky star to quilt around.  Easy!

I channel quilted around the center star, and outlined quilted the other triangles.

It was fun to hand quilt this, and it made we wonder why I do not hand quilt more of my quilts!

(in the last photo, you can see the groovy blue, swirly backing I used.  These fabrics were such fun!

Happy Quilting!

Hugs, MammaO (in VA)

Hello from Quilt Hell!

At least, that is my family's nickname for my basement quilting space. Too much stuff, too little time spent putting it away. Actually, when it really bothers me (or when I have misplaced a crucial tool), I *do* clean it up. The rest of the time, creativity reigns (and that is pretty messy).

I am hoping to use this blog home to share photos of finished quilts, ideas for new ones, original patterns, and general quilty goodness.

The pictured quilt is a little table topper made from a wild-colored homespun fat quarter pack. No real pattern, just a little machine applique with a simple flower shape and some color-controlled nine-patch blocks. Now if I could just find the time to get it quilted ....



I have been sewing FOREVER and quilting for nearly as long. I will admit to a wonky seam here and there from time to time ("that will quilt out, don't worry!"), and I sincerely hope the quilt police never put me in their radar. I don't make "show" quilts, but rather ones that are well-used, dragged through the dirt, and worn through. Mine are made to be LOVED, which is great, because I LOVE making them!



I have LOTS of inspirations -- from quilters I admire, quilts I see in shows, quilting books and magazines, photographs, nature, my own drawings -- even food! I have way more ideas in my brain than will ever make it onto my quilting frame. So, I never lack for inspriation -- just time!



Check back in with me -- I have BIG ideas for this quilty space!

Quilty Hugs,

JudyO

Kansas City Star Quilt Patterns! Quilty Goodness!

I lucked out BIG time! I was at a yard sale and got an ENTIRE BOX of old newspaper quilt patterns (appx. 200). For $5!!!!!! She called it her grandma's "craft trash." Oh my gosh! And, sadly, "no", she did not have any more craft trash left. She had THROWN AWAY everything else! Ugh! What a waste!
I have not sorted them all, but they seem to be from the Kansas City Star, the Farmer's Home Companion, some are mail order ones (still in their envelopes with period stamps), and some I do not know. Some are dated, but a lot are not. All OLD, all intact (with printed template pieces). Pieced, appliqued, wonderful! I am a "traditional" quilter, with a serious jones for 1930's fabrics (HUGE feedsack collector here!) and styles. I am gonna sort these, put them in acid-free sleeves in notebooks, and then plan my next projects (I am conveniently forgetting the hundreds of UFOs littering "Quilt Hell" that are not done yet -- and may NEVER get done in my lifetime).

I hand appliqued original sunbonnet baby blocks for my WeeDD (we had a BATTLE keeping panties on her when she was teeny, so these blocks have the baby with a little bare bottom peeking out on some of them), and I want to alternate them in a quilt top with traditional pieced blocks but could not figure out what pattern to use for the other blocks. I have a hunch I will find one in this quilt pattern stash! I will try and scan in one of the sunbonnet baby blocks over the weekend so you can see them and maybe help me with my setting dilemma.
 
(archived post, moved from joyofquilts.xanga.com)