MAQ Class Quilt DONE

I go to a wonderful quilting retreat lesson type place every summer--- Mid Appalachian Quilters in N. Maryland. This quilt was one of the classes. I used a jellyroll and then my stash. It is bright and happy. I think it will go in the Summerseat Quilt Auction this Fall. I need to raise some money for all the postage I spend on my charity quilts.

I will be doing through all my quilts and deciding which one I can part with for the auction. I just cannot see them languishing in a closet. Most of my fun is in choosing fabric and a pattern. I have a large stash and love using it. I find fabulous deals on quilt shop fabric online and slowly built up lots of lovely fabric.

Some fun quilts for kids

I have been catching up on my quilting the last week or so. These tops were done and just needed the quilting. I am practicing a new free motion stitch---swirl like designs.

The first one was a small panel. I just found some cute fabric to go with it. These will all go to various children's charities---either Fort Bragg or our local hospital.

I have really busted some stash this year. I hope to plow through lots more in 2012. I do occasionally buy more fabric when I find a really good bargain. I have used up way more than I bought and that is always my goal. Maybe next year I will keep track of what comes in and what goes out.

Sha Zam

This is a quilt from a book by Debbie Caffrey called Delectably Simple Mountains. It is really easy and alot of fun. I can see others in my future. She makes patterns using just squares and an easy way to cut and sew them into quilts that look much harder than they are. That is my kind of pattern.

This will go to a child at Fort Bragg or our local hospital.

Fractured Nine Patch Pattern

My friend Janet gave me this pattern and I LOVE it. I cut up all my fall Fabric into 5 inch squares. You can really use another size but I already had alot in this one. I still have lots of charms left and will make another as some point. The back is made from 10 1/2 inch squares.

This quilt will go to our local Hospice. I see more of these in my future.

First Pillowcase

I really could not understand all the talk about making pillowcases. Then I saw a couple of fabulous ones at our sewing day at the library. Our guild gets together on Saturday once a month or so.

My friend Cathy gave me this darling fabric and I made a pillowcase with it this AM. I had the star fabric in my stash. I am HOOKED. This will go to a special little girl named Hailey in mid December. Plenty of time for her to sleep on it and dream of
Santa's visit.

Baseball Fun

On my way to Lake Logan for our annual online retreat, I pass a Wal-mart with a fabulous fabric department. I sure wish we had one around here. I got some great kids fabrics there for backings for wonderful prices.

The top is all made from stash---which I STILL have too much of-and will make a little boy happy. I think I will send this to Fort Bragg for the Project Linus there. There is a great need for the military children at this base.

One For The Veteran Ladies-one for a child

This second quilt is from a fabric exchange from my online friends. We sent out 10 inch squares of a light and dark fabric. This quilt will be given to the Veterans Home for the new ladies wing.


This is a cute little quick quilt from more of my large stash. The backing is the same as the border. This fabric was given to me from a generous guild member.

I am currently working on a Fractured Nine Patch in fall colors. I think I will use up that category of fabrics if I cut squares for the back. That will mean another empty section on the stash shelf.

Two More For The Soldiers

This first quilt is from a pattern from the Moda Bake Shop. It was fun until I got to the point that I realized the blocks were no where near the same size. It is all bias edges and I am guessing that was one cause of the problem. I decided there was nothing else to do other than make them all the same size. So that is what I did.

I will NOT make this quilt again but in spite of many mistakes turned out very interesting looking.



The next quilt is from a pattern called Fractured Nine Patch. It is put together like a regular nine patch and then cut apart. I used up all my red white and blue charms and even had to cut more. This is really fun to make. I decided to sash the blocks to calm it down a bit. I ran out of that material and could not do the outer edges. I just decided to add an inner border.

I have several charm packs and will use them in this pattern. This one is a keeper.
The other one is in the recycle pile never to see the light of day from ME.

Few More Finished Quilts

This quilt is made from the fabric of our friend Jan Mynatt who passed away from Breast Cancer this summer. It will be going to our local Hospice in her memory.




This quilt is for a child in the hospital.





Here is a couple more finished quilts. 3 of them are tops from my friend Janet who now lives in Arizona. We were together in North Carolina last month and she passed them along to me. A couple of borders and they were ready to load up for quilting.

The strip one is the jellyroll race pattern. The other two will be donated to our local Veterans Home for the new ladies wing.

Ketsup--as my friend Jan would say

Life has gotten in the way of blogging for a bit. I have still been sewing and just behind on picture taking. These are a couple of quilts I have made recently.

The red, white and blue one is for a child. I had lots of half square triangles left over from another project and wanted to use them up. Mission accomplished. Another patriotic one is an easy fabric choice.

The next one is from a panel. I cut the squares apart and added a four patch. It would have been boring to just add borders.

I attended the annual fall gathering of all my online friends. I am holding a top made with the fabric from our friend who died this year from breast cancer. She was given excellent care in the end from Hospice and this will be donated to our local one in both our names. I am almost done quilting it---just need to make a label.

Arrow Quilt From Fabric Exchange

A couple of years ago my online group exchanged 10 inch squares of light and dark fabric. I put it in a pretty box and totally forgot about it. I was cleaning out a cabinet and there it was. There are also a bunch of charms that will be used in the future.

I found a free pattern on the internet and tried it out. I cannot remember the link or would put in here. I do know it is by Anita Grossman and called Arrow something or other.

I ran out of the last border fabric and since it is so scrappy, just added something from my stash. I do not worry about those things too much with quilts I am keeping.

I will quilt this after our get together in North Carolina next month. It is much easier to pack a top than a finished quilt.

Pedal Pusher Quilt

I purchased a book recently called Strip-Smart Quilts: 16 Designs from One Easy Technique (That Patchwork Place) by Kathy Brown.

I found a pattern in there called Pedal Pushers. It uses a jellyroll and I had a nice one sitting on my shelf. It went together quite well. If I were to make another, I would press the seams open as it gets thick in some places. There are several more patterns I would like to try.

I went to my huge stash and found a good fabric for the borders. I am not sure where this quilt will eventually go, but it is on the back of a loveseat in my living room. This seating it due to go to the dump as we replaced it with a new one. We bought it used and got more than our monies worth out of it.

Arizona and Maryland for a Veteran Lady

My friend Janet sent me this beautiful top and back. This will be donated to our local Veterans Hospital for the new Women's Section.

I had the easy part to do in the quilting. I did a simple leaf and vine overall. I used Hobbs Polydown as it is a little puffier than cotton.

I just love how she did the border. It is hard to get a picture of the whole thing as it is big.

Fort Bragg Bound

I had started a log cabin quilt and it was going to be big. I got tired of it and decided to see what I could do with the blocks already made. I hate UFO's in a drawer. I put them together and thought there was too much white and it was boring for a child.

I have the wonderful Accuquilt cutting system and 2 cute dies for a dog and a cat. I used a fusible that allows you to sew through it. So I added the cat and dog which makes it a fun quilt.

Next I had a beautiful panel that an online friend had sent me. Sad to say, I have forgotten just who it was. But it is so easy to add borders and have a really lovely quilt. I am always amazed how lovely these panels quilts are.

These quilts are sent to an online friend who is a member of Project Linus that supports Fort Bragg families

More Layer Cake Fun--the right way

I had cut LOTS of squares from all my bright fabric. Her is a quilt following the pattern the right way. This is fun to make and easy easy easy.

I have one more large quilt to get quilted. Then I think it is time for some smaller ones for a bit. I have a few log cabin blocks that I will play with for a child's quilt.

Layer Cake Fun

I watched a video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company to make a quilt out of the Moda Pre cuts called Layer Cakes. I have plenty of stash to cut up and make my own assortment.

I have been buying lots of bright fabric online at several online shops. Some were assortments and other just odd pieces. I gathered up 20 of these as the patterns calls for 40 pieces. I figured they would be used twice. I was happy to see they all looked happy and fun together.

I proceeded to cut through all 40 to then realize that I had cut them wrong. Not a huge problem as I can still make a fine quilt out of them. I have another stack and will do the next quilt following the directions carefully.

I really like this quilt and find it extremely cheerful. My taste in fabric has really changed since I first started quilting about 5 or 6 years ago. I may not choose these type of colors for a quilt in my home but think they are just perfect for charity quilts. They just look plain happy.

Veterans Quilt

Our local Veterans Home is opening a new ward for women. They would like 18 twin sized quilts for each bed. I found a pack of charms and some fabric that would work well with them. I sewed a center and then just kept adding borders. This is a great way to move out some stash and force me to do a little designing instead of depending on a pattern all the time.

The center section should look lovely on top of the bed and the borders for the sides and bottoms. I used the Hobbs Polydown batting. It gives some dimension to the quilting and makes it a little puffier.

I would really like to see my stash turn over about every 3 years to keep it fresh and new. This moved some out for sure.

Quilt Camp Project

I took a class from Carol Blevins at MAQ Quilt Camp. It was called Perfecting Patchwork or something like that. It is about precision and excellence--something I sadly lack.

This is one of the blocks in the class. It is done with freezer paper and careful attention to grain line of the fabric. I am really amazed that I did Y seams so easily.

Book Made Into Quilt

This panel had me stumped for a bit. It was meant to be made into a book for a child. There were a couple of sections that just would not work for a quilt. I wanted it fast so did not want to sash all the sections. This meant just turn it into a middle and add borders.

This panel was given to me by a generous guild member. The rest of it came from stash. It is very slowly being used up. I do not ever want to have no stash but like having room to add fresh and new fabric.

I buy most of my fabric online as deeply discounted prices. I like quilt shop fabric even for charity quilts but simply cannot afford retail prices.

2 Cute Kids Quilts

I have 2 packs of those triangle precuts. I cannot remember what they are called. BUT I took one and just sewed them together into a square. I then took some stash fabric and cut the same size square.

Easy quilts but I managed to get one of the rows turned around. This is destined for the hospital and I doubt anyone will examine it that closely.

The other quilt is from a bunch of panels that were donated to me by a guild member. I just use stash in bright colors and lots of contrast to get it into a quilt. EASY button for sure and fun to make.

Using up Patriotic Fabric

I have a big shelf of red white and blue fabric. I have decided that is the next area I want to do some destashing. I do not want to use it UP but get it into quilts so I can buy more.

These are a couple of more quilts for the children at Fort Brag. I have a box open and when it is filled, I can mail it off. I had some time off from work so got a couple done quite quickly.

I LOVE that flag fabric and it was a generous donation from a friend. I still have several yards left of it.

Fort Bragg Bound

I am sending some children's quilts for distribution to the children of military families at Fort Bragg. It occured to me that they might very well like patriotic fabric. I sure have LOTS of that so put this cute will quilt together.

I can do this pattern in 5 hours from cutting it out to taking the picture. I would never be able to say that if I did not have my HQ16 for the quilting part. The pattern allows you to showcase a good sized square of fabric as it is cut 8 inches. They it is just easy nine patches and a couple of borders.

I can pack about 7 quilts in a box and shipping is about $12.00. Not bad at all.

Bliss Really IS Bliss

I bought a jellyroll of the fabric line called Bliss from Moda online. My local quilt shop had yardage of this fabric. I bought a few pieces of that and had no idea what I would do with it.

I decided to use an easy strip pattern and my Strip Ruler to cut triangles of the sewn fabric. This is a really fun pattern and quite easy. I wanted the fabric off my shelf.

I had enough fabric to use it for the back also. I never buy backing to match the front because it is expensive. But I did this time at a 40 per cent off sale at my quilt shop a few months ago.

This quilt will go on the back of the love seat in our house. I just love the result.
I used the Hobbs Polydown for the batting and really like the dimension it gives to the quilting. I bought a BIG roll and really like this batting---thank goodness. It makes really lovely baby quilts.

Little Farm Animals

I am continuing to sew up this lovely donated fabric from Joan. This is cute little farm animals. I pulled the rest from stash. I wanted enough for the backing so needed to find something else for the borders. They were already cut from something else---who knows what???

I am also on a decluttering mission. I usually get rid of something I have not touched in 2 years. BUT I still had things sitting around from my teacher life...like plastic baskets, etc. They went off to the thrift shop yesterday. And a HUGE big black plastic bag sits waiting for the dump.

We have a LARGE basement in this rental house and other than Christmas decorations and yard type stuff, I hope to have nothing down there of mine. I am getting close.

Hospice Quilt for a Man

I am still working on the large donated fabric. Panels are VERY quick and easy. My next project is for a gentleman that likes to fish or hunt. I have some more fish panels so will be able to make at least one more. Those will need to be sewed together so will take a little more time.

I would call the fish the front but it is really reversible so would be up to the recipient. I hope it brings back some fond memories of happier times.

Panel Quilts

A wonderful lady from my guild gave me quite a bit of fabric from her stash. She is my liaison for the quilts our guilds delivers to the local hospital for the children.

I like the challenge of designing from one panel and have made these cute quilts. It uses up stash also and teaches me more about color.

Thanks Joan.