My Quilt Provenances



QUILT PROVENANCES
of quilts made by
Quilting Nonnie

Chris the Fireman
1.        Chris the Fireman        Winter 2002               April 2005                 Double
Pieced and Sewn by Terri
Tied by Terri

 


































Noel Heart asked me to make a quilt for Firstest's second Christmas. I had made simple tied quilts when the children were little and thought that would be easy. Then I found a book with the cutest quilt made of panels of fire trucks and Dalmatians. It didn’t look too bad, so I decided I could make it. It was my first experience with rotary cutters and real quilting. Mary, Hubby’s mother and also a quilter, got me started and taught me my first quilting skills. I had previously started the quilt at home following the directions from the book. "Cut x number of strips from x fabric." Believe it or not, I marked the fabric with a pencil and cut it out by hand! Mary had a good laugh (of epic proportions) and finally settled down enough to show me how to do it the modern way! I sewed strips together and cut them to make a checkerboard. When I sewed that first strip I was hooked! I thought this was the most fun I’d had in a long time and a much better use of a sewing machine than for making clothing. 
I had adapted the quilt from the pattern adding some rows to make it bed-size. I included more of the doggies that hadn't been used in the patterns shown in top and bottom row. I added the square in a square by asking my daughter. I showed her some blocks that I could use and that is what she chose. When I went to make the square in a square, I didn't know how to do it. I called Mary and she didn't know either. It was probably because I described it, poorly, and she couldn't figure out what I meant. To the rescue, my hubby, Mr. Superman! He had math skills. He figured out what size the triangles had to be, using some kind of weird math, something I couldn't do. I was probably looking at the board, while the math teacher taught it, with a bewildered look on my face. Let me tell you that the sizes of the squares did not come out with the usual fractions, like 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4. Nevertheless I cut the triangles that size and sewed them to the squares with astounding success! 
It took me a long two years, because I was teaching school, but it did get done. I tied the quilt with red crochet thread and Firstest had it on his bed for years. When he was twelve, Noel Heart had never washed it! I took it home with me to mend some seams and wash it!

I named the quilt "Chris the Fireman" in memory of my Dad. He was a fireman and became a captain of a firehouse. He died when I was four. This was a good way I could honor him. It was a way I could give the treasured quilt to my treasured first grandchild.

Marie and Me
2.        Marie and Me            January 2006            April 2009                  54"x60"           
            Blocks cut by Marie Christensen and myself, machine pieced and hand-quilted by myself

You’re in for another trip down memory lane in a quilt that is a collaboration between my Aunt Marie and myself. Those who read my blog know about my muse, my Aunt Marie.

I call these quilts “collaborations” because Aunt Marie either made the blocks or made the quilt top. I take the blocks or flimsy and finish the quilt from there. 


This isn’t our first collaboration, but it is the first one I did. You can read about the second collaboration, The Seventies Are Calling, They Want Their Fabric Back here. I’ve already completed our third collaboration, but haven’t posted yet. And…there are still more to come! 
Backside of quilt showing my stitching at age 8

I believe in putting labels on quilts! (Yes, I'm still talking about the story of my quilt collaboration! Patience is a virtue!) Most of them are small, but on two I wrote more of a provenance. Marie and Me is one of them. And here is what the label says:
"My Aunt Marie (1905-1997) was a gifted quilter. When I was eight years old (1963) she cut two-inch squares into sets for me so could make nine-patch blocks. I started hand stitching the blocks together but eventually stopped. When I was around eleven or twelve, I picked up the project again and did more blocks. I finally ended up with around 20 blocks with more waiting to be done.

More beginning hand stitching
I had the blocks and squares stored in an old red wicker sewing basket. It followed me through moves, school, college, marriage and children. In 2006, I became interested in quilting. I pulled out the red wicker basket and decided to finish my first quilt. All the blocks I had made as a child were all different sizes. I found the smallest one and squared all the rest to be that size. Once they were all the same size as the smalles blocks it made them fat in the center and skinny on the side. I wanted those blocks to be highlighted in the finished quilts. All the blocks I did as a child are inside the yellow border. 

The back of the blocks I made as a child. I put them in chronological order. 
You can see how the center rows are wider than the side rows.

I squared up the remaining two-inch squares and sewed them into blocks. Once I had sewn all the blocks and made it a flimsy, it was too small. I delved into my aunt's stash to get fabric of the same era and made a few more blocks.

Some of the extra blocks I added. I made the one with the bowling ball because my last name is Bohling. The square at the top left, brown dotted fabric, was from one of the dresses my Aunt Marie made me. I wore that dress in the first grade  !
More blocks. Love the kitties and ladybugs!

More blocks: My uncle was in the Marines, hence the squares with the military stripes. The little brown televisions have cowboys, clowns and a teddy bear on the screens. Are the ducks adorable?
(There is a secret in the quilt. When I was assembling the quilt, I did it in sections: top section, bottom section then the two side sections. When I went to assemble them I found one side section was shorter than the other, by two inches! To make both sides even, I made a row of single squares and sewed it to the bottom of the shorter piece. No one has ever noticed it and it blends in quite nicely. To keep the secret, I'll not tell you where the extra row is!)

By the time I got around to finishing the quilt in 2009, I had already made quite a few other quilts. Those quilts were all machine quilted by a professional. A good friend of mine, an avid hand quilter, convinced me that I should hand quilt Marie's quilt. I thought it fitting to do it by hand because all of Aunt Marie's quilts were hand quilted.



 
This was  the first quilt that I hand quilted. From where I began to where it ended, it showed the progression of my skill as a hand quilter. I chose to do a Bishop's fan pattern, and there are many funny fans! I was using a template, but now know a much easier and better way to quilt that pattern.

Thanks, Aunt Marie, for your legacy.



 
Here is the label from the back of the quilt. It has the back of one of the first blocks I hand stitched when I was 8. I think it's adorable all those big stitches and wobbliness. I also included a picture of Aunt Marie and one of me from when I was eight.
 Marie and Me hangs in my bedroom. I deeply love this quilt. I have spent many hours before sleep, before getting up and just lazing on my bed looking at all the blocks and different fabrics. At night, with lights out, it is changed into a study of light and dark. With the street light coming in my room, all that can be seen are light and dark blotches. It is a mottled effect and I love that view of it also. 

It is just a humble nine patch quilt, but it enchants me.

Tarter Shimai
3.        Tarter Shimai                         March 2006                November 2006         Wall
            Pieced by myself; Quilted by Jackie Pavlochek

My quilt guild offers free classes to help beginners with quilting. Linda, my quilt teacher,  was going to teach a class on a kimono quilt she designed. I immediately thought how perfect a Christmas present it would be for Nancy Drew. She had served an 18 month mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was called to teach in Japan. In our Church, we don't use "Mr" or "Mrs" or "Miss" to address others formally. We use Brother or Sister. For example, I am Sister Bohling. When we're acquainted, we use first names. The name of the quilt, Tarter Shimai, is the English equivalent is Sister Tarter.

I got started on it at the class, then took a machine quilting class and a beginning quilting class during the summer. I finally got around to finishing it that Fall. I asked Jackie, a machine quilter, to quilt it. She did a beautiful putting in ginkgo leaves and bamboo along the borders plus a design in the kimono area. It was done on time and I gave it to Nancy Drew for Christmas.

This is the label that I put on the back of the quilt. It's a bit blurry but at least you can read it! I must take a good picture of it when I visit Nancy Drew.

Star-Struck
4.        Star-Struck                         July 2006                   July 2007                   Crib
            Pieced and quilted by myself

I was just beginning quilting and had tried to do a Block of the Month from Keepsake Quilts, but didn't have the right skills. I looked around for someway to learn more about quilting. I took the kimono quilt class from Linda, asked about mini-groups and then discovered Quilt University online. The classes were very affordable, so I signed up for a machine quilting class in May 2006. With those skills I was able to machine quilt the quilt. I made it for another teacher in our group of Teachers for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Leslie was expecting her first baby and I gave it to her at her baby shower. For the summer, I took a beginners quilt class from Quilt University.. It’s difficult to learn quilting through the net I have to say. There is no teacher to immediately look at your fabric and help you with problems. I managed to finish up however. I let the quilt top sit around for several months. The next summer, 2007, I offered a beginning quilt class for the Relief Society Sisters in our ward. I decided to use this pattern, so I ended up quilting the quilt to have it finished for the class example. This time I quilted a true stitch-in-the-ditch! My First Stars is  not my favorite quilt. The colors are not quite what I wanted them to be, but it’s a fairly good job for a beginner!

 
 As Time Goes By
5.     As Time Goes By                 August 2006

42 Stars
5.         42 Stars                      November 2006         March 2008    Calif. King (122x98)
            Pieced by myself; Quilted by Jackie 

While serving in the Army in Germany, Andrea met and fell in love with Dallas Bleak. In August 2006 Andrea and Dallas became engaged to be married March 10, 2007. Of course I planned to make them a wedding quilt…but what timing! I was working on Andrea’s Christmas present: the Kimono quilt and then when it was finished it was 3 months to their wedding. I had a time finding a quilt pattern, as Andrea does not like flowery fabric or overtly feminine fabrics. I chose a beautiful quilt from an Australian Quilting Magazine and chose the fabrics with as little flowers and an emphasis on green, yellow and cream colors. While in Germany visiting them, we happened to find one quilt store and I paid attention to what fabrics Andrea liked. I realized my first choice wasn’t going to do it. I decided to do a quilt with Amish colors and plainness because it fits Andrea’s personality. I found a pretty block called Amish Star, which is a Sawtooth Star with one more row added to the block. Unwittingly I had chosen a time-consuming block. I worked fiendishly through the Fall and into the Winter until I realized it wouldn’t be done for their wedding. Andrea, who had seen the first few blocks at Christmas, was understanding. During Spring Break 2007, I spent every single day sewing blocks and got the all 72 blocks finished. I also burnt out and it lay around until the end of summer. I got it together and had Jackie Pavlicek, a local machine quilter and friend, quilt it. She did a wonderful job quilting it loosely and with curving pattern as I had asked. I finished with the binding at the end of February 2008 with time to show it to my guild on the March 5th meeting and then send to Andrea and Dallas for their first anniversary.

 
Blue and White Quilt
6.        Blue and White Quilt               January 2007

Leslie's Baby Quilt
6.        Leslie’s Baby Quilt                 January 2007            March 2007                Crib
            Pieced and quilted by myself



 I teach blind and visually impaired (VI) children. On of the VI teachers in our group, Leslie, became pregnant. When it was close to the time for her to start maternity leave, we gave her a baby shower. I made a baby quilt for her from a pattern of Linda's. The pattern’s name is “I Need It Tomorrow.” It went together very quickly thank goodness because I was now working on Andrea’s wedding quilt and needed every minute to work on it. 

When Leslie saw the quilt she was so excited. She said she was going to hang it on the wall in the baby's room. I told her it wasn't that kind of quilt and it should be used for the baby. She couldn't see doing this and it was hung in the baby's room. Leslie’s Baby Quilt was the first quilt I machine quilted myself. I was quite happy with it.               

Donna's Retirement Quilt
7. Donna’s Retirement Quilt            March 2007                May 2007                    Wall            Pieced and quilted by myself
Another VI teacher, Donna Briggs, was going to retire at the end of the school year in 2007. I wanted to make her a signature quilt. Donna is a quilter and I knew she would really appreciate the quilt. I chose a Square-in-a-Square block and each teacher wrote a sentiment in the middle square and chose two fabrics for the outside squares. I sashed it all in black and it turned out very nice. I quilted this with stitch-in-the-ditch method; which was the first I had done this and it was more like stitch near the ditch! Donna was speechless when she received it and cried, and Donna never cries. I was so happy. The other teachers were totally amazed at how pretty it turned out. It’s that black…it always makes things pop!




French Baskets
8.        French Baskets                      June 2007                  September 2007        Wall
            Pieced and quilted by myself

With Andrea’s wedding quilt top done, I was pretty burnt out from the large quilt. When the Fons and Porter magazine came out in Spring of 2007, it had this wall quilt on the front cover. It instantly captured my eye and I wanted to make it. I liked the colors and the baskets on point. I had also been wanting to try something small and this fit the bill. I found that the complete kit only cost $45 and I immediately ordered it to be my very own made-for-me quilt. I began sewing it as soon as summer vacation started and finished it completely by the end of September that same year. I quilted it according to the directions in the pattern. It was mostly stitch-in-the-ditch with some outline stitching. I had decided that this quilt was going to hang in my bathroom and I would use the colors for the room. I bought towels and rug to match the quilt. I’m still planning on painting the bathroom pale yellow to go with the quilt.

String Obsession
9.        String Obsession                    Spring 2007                August 24, 2014               Queen size   86x107                        
Pieced by myself, hand-quilted in plain squares by myself.
Machine quilted in string squares by Jackie P ($152.04)


Seven Years in the Making!          A Masterpiece of Quilting!          
Breathless Backgrounds!                 Colorful Fabrics! 
 She tried, but she could not save herself from Obsession!    
                       Strips of Fabric Recklessly Ripped to Small Strings!                               Blood Aplenty from Pricked Fingers!         
Her recklessness knew no bounds!
in the Most Amazing Quilt You'll Ever See...
STRING OBSESSION
coming soon to you in technicolor!

I was introduced to string quilting when I was taking a class on Nickel Quilts. Our guild was sponsoring Pat Speth, the quilter, designer and author of Nickel Quilts. 

Pat was teaching a class that involved cutting 5" (nickel) squares. When you cut your squares from a strip, you would be left over a piece that wasn't big enough to get a 5" square. Next you would save all those leftovers and afterwards cut them into lengthwise into different sized strips. Pat told us about making squares from the "strings" to make another quilt.
That sounded exciting and I liked the quilt she showed made of left-over strings. I never finished my nickel quilt, it still awaits in a box, but I have finally finished my String Obsession.

I did this quilt as a Leader/Ender. It is a way to make blocks for another quilt while working on your main quilt project. Before you stitch together for the main quilt, you start by sewing a two strings together. When you finish the piece you're sewing for the main quilt, you sew another two strips together and then cut the thread. You continue this way, sewing more strips on the first two you started.

The plain fabric squares in between the string blocks I found in my Aunt Marie's stash. It is a lovely light lavender. It is so precious. The number of blocks made was determined by how much lavender fabric I had.

I decided to make the borders wide enough so the quilt would fit our queen size bed. To me this means you make a king-size quilt so the quilt is big enough to drape over the edges. Luckily the lavender held out perfectly. I had a heck of a time finding a border color that would go with the lavender. If I chose purple for a border, it made the lavender look blue. Conversely, if I chose blue for the border, it made the lavender look purple. I spent an amazing amount of time in a quilt store trying to find the right thing. I found the gorgeous green with gold specks in the Christmas fabrics. And it was perfect.

It took me two years to make the top and then it was ready to quilt. I wanted to hand quilt the lavender squares. I was just beginning to hand quilt and thought those blank squares would be perfect to hand quilt a motif. I wasn't crazy enough to imagine I would quilt the whole thing! I took the top to Jackie and had her quilt all the patterned areas and the borders.

My estimation was that I would finish the hand quilting in two years. I was about right, but there were a couple of sitting-around years there also. I put the binding on with a new method. I sewed it all on with my machine. It came out good. Next time it will come out lots better because I learned what I needed to do from the mistakes on this one!


This is the first quilt I used wool batting. I had heard some good things about it from my "quilt teacher", Linda Paladino, so I decided to give it a go. The quilt has quite the heft to it! The saddest part is that it was summer when I finished and too hot to sleep under. I've never wanted Fall to come so much!

When it was time to name the quilt and make the label, I was a bit flummoxed. In the time I was doing the hand quilting I had made another string quilt, a spiderweb quilt. My friend, Jeanne and I had so much fun putting our spider blocks together. I taught two different classes on how to make it. I also started collecting "patterns" for more string quilts. I can't wait to start another...and another...and another... I realized the name of my quilt, String Obsession.

The label says, "String Obsession! It all started here..."











Around the Town Square 
10.       Around the Town Square       July 2007              Dec 2010                    20x20"
            Pieced & Quilted by Myself (a quilt class from Sister's Quilt Show)           
            Entered in Sonoma County Fair 2011 and won 1st prize!






11.      Sister's Quilt                           July 2007


12.      Circling the 30’s                    February 2008          May 2008                    Full
            Pieced by myself; Border and Binding by Linda; Quilted by Jackie Pavlicek

I had been looking for a quilt to do with 30’s fabrics since I started quilting. In the January Quiltmaker this absolutely perfect 30’s quilt was on the cover. I knew this was my thirties quilt and was going to be my bed quilt! I had also signed up to teach a Beginner’s class for our Guild; the class was set for Feb. 16. I decided this pattern was the one because the basis was a four-patch block which had a circle cut from the center. Each block was an mirror of the block next to it. With white circles and white square blocks the blocks were a four patch circle on white background and a white circle on a four-patch background.

I put the pedal to the metal and managed to have 20 blocks completed to show for the class. I had 6 women in my class and it was great. At the end they were so enthused because the class was fun. They decided to show what we had finished in two months on the April Show and Tell Meeting. By then I had the quilt top done minus the borders. While doing the 5-second pressing, I left the iron down for 7 seconds and when  I picked it up to find that the white border fabric had scorched! Only a light tan, but still scorched! When I pinned the quilt together for quilting, I found several other spots that were lightly scorched. Too late I realized that the fabric, which had said it “felt like silk and had a speckley texture to it must be easily scorched by heat. I decided to go on ahead and give it to Jackie and try to lighten the scorches after the quilt was completely done. Luckily, in room light you couldn’t notice the scorched areas without examining it quite closely. So off to Jackie’s it went.

Then tragedy struck…again. I got tangled up in a sprinkler and stumbled around then fell and broke two bones in my RIGHT hand! There’s go quilting for six weeks! I had this quilt entered in the Guild Quilt Show in June…so I asked Linda if I could pay her to bind it. She completed that and, after I washed Miko, I put it on my bed. Wouldn’t you know, two days later there was a four day heat wave and I slept with only a sheet over me!

13.      Christine's Summer               April 2008                  November 2008         Lap
            Pieced by myself; Quilted by Ann Linville

After I was released from being enrichment counselor in our Relief Society, I decided I needed to be of service. Unfortunately I was still working through a 10-month serious depression. I decided that I would start making quilts and humanitarian items for the guild and the Church. My first project was a pinwheel quilt. I had found some red plaid 5” squares in Marie’s things and decided they would make a cute single bed quilt for the Church. The Church Humanitarian site said they needed twin size bedspreads and quilts. I counted up how many blocks I would need. To make the single size I needed 63 block and I did my math and found I'd have 68 blocks!

 It was after I made all the 68 half square triangles that I realized that it took four half square triangles to make a block. I never have had much luck in quilting math! Obviously now I wouldn't have enough for a single quilt. But, no matter, I could still give it to the community quilts. I now had 17 blocks. I could make a 4x4 block quilt, which amounted to a baby quilt, and have one left over. What I really wanted was to make a 4x5 block quilt to make a rectangular lap quilt. But I lacked 3 blocks to do that layout.

I decided to cut down 3 or 4 of the red pinwheel blocks to make smaller blocks and border them with a plain fabric. I found some good blue plaid fabric in my stash and made 3-4 large pinwheel blocks and 3-4 smaller blue plaid blocks with borders.

I was ready to put the top together, when tragedy struck! (see above) I fell and broke my right hand and all quilting came to a halt while I had the cast on.

After the cast came off, I still couldn’t get right back into quilting. The first day after my cast was off, I spent a blissful day quilting. Then there was payback: my hand hurt miserably for a week. My PT told me “Bad Girl!” and I had to temper my enthusiasm. The new quilting regime was quilt for an hour and ice hand for 20 minutes, quilt for an hour and ice hand…

When I got the pinwheel quilt top completed, it was very cute. I began having second thoughts about giving it to charity because I liked it so much. Enter Christine. Having a cast on my hand had stopped me from being able to tend to my flower garden, just as the beginning of prime springtime. At church I was bemoaning the fact, when Christine Lopes, a girl just back from her first year at BYU, offered to help me weed and plant! It was a match made in heaven. All summer long Christine came over weekly and we put in a morning in the garden. Even after my cast came off, she continued to come. She was having a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed her company. We capped off the summer by painting my refurbished, redecorated quilting room.

I showed Christine the quilts I had done and was working on. She liked them all but it was clear she like the little pinwheel quilt a lot. I was happy to find just the right person to give my lovely quilt.

I delayed a little in getting it done, thinking that I would be able to machine quilt it myself. Alas, when I tried machine quilting on a charity quilt my hand was sending painful repercussions to my brain. I shelved the idea and Christine’s quilt went to the quilter.


14.      Charity Quilt #1                     May 2008                    September 2008
            Pieced by myself; quilted by Jackie Pavlicek

While wearing my cast (see above) I was waning from lack of quilting. I decided I could probably do plain seam sewing as long as I didn't have to cut. A couple of years earlier I had bought a half-done quilt kit at our guild's auction. It was a baby quilt that was a simple thing with squares of 5 different patterns sewn together in rows. First I had to engage in "unseemly" behavior while I picked out the seams sewn by anonymous person, who didn't know what a quarter inch seam was.

After starting sewing I found it still was too strenuous for my broken hand and I laid it aside for a month. After the cast came off, I quickly finished it and pin basted it. From there it sat in a bag in my house for eight months until I finally took it to Jackie to quilt. Jackie had volunteered to quilt all charity quilts for the guild for free.

15.      Big Yellow Failure                  June 2008                  given to charity July 2010
            Pieced by myself

I started this quilt in the summer of Quilter's Café. I had picked out the jelly roll when I was in Sisters. I had seen the quilt hanging in a quilt store and loved it. The quilt was a shabby chic and very different from anything I had made thus far. The only thing I wasn't able to purchase at that quilt store was the background material. When I decided to make it I went to a local quilt store and tried to pick a good background. Woe is me! I picked out a fabric that blended well, but when it was put together in the quilt it was a disaster. It was not very pretty at all. I just chucked the finished top in a drawer and left it there. I even tried looking at it six months later, thinking it couldn't be that bad…but it was! It languished in the drawer for a long time. I decided I'd tie it and give it to charity quilts. Even that was too much for me. I didn't want anything to do with it! In the end I gave it to the Santa Rosa Quilt Guild. They would accept quilt tops and finish them and donate them to charity. I guess that was the best decision. I just hope that whoever received it thought it was pretty!

16.      My Other Daughter                June 2008                  November 2008
            Pieced by myself, quilted by Ann Linville

Jennifer Adams is the childhood friend of my daughter Andrea. They met when they had the same 3rd grade class in Woodland, the first year we lived there. Jen and Andrea became fast friends that has endured through the present. During the school years, Jen spent many, many days and nights at our house. The girls did craft projects for the fair, I made Halloween costumes, we took Jen with us countless places and it seemed like Jen was party of the family.
Jen calls me her "other mother" and sends me Christmas, birthday and Mother's Day cards. I love her and call her "my other daughter." In June 2008, Jennifer got married and we attended the wedding. It was because of this that I decided to make her a quilt. Not as a wedding gift, but just a gift for a sweet other daughter.

Jen's favorite color is purple. At our guild's quilt show less than a month after Jen's wedding I found a jelly roll of fabrics with purple as the main color. I had a pattern I'd picked up in Sister's the year before, so I nabbed the jelly roll.

At the same time I also had the jelly roll I had bought at Sister's to make the same quilt for myself. I decided my first project that summer was going to be making both the quilts at the same time. This was the summer that Quilt Café began…

Amanda was a woman I'd met through the guild when we volunteered for Block of the Month (2006-2007). From there we started quilting together. It was great because Amanda had as much time to quilt as I did, so we were often together. The next year (2007-2008) for the guild I volunteered to do Hospitality and Marie was my helper. She was so much fun that we started doing things together. In February, I taught a guild class on the pattern of Circling the 30's. There I met Marian who became another good friend. In the summer of 2008, we all got together every Monday from late morning to early evening. It was a toss up of whether we did more quilting or more eating! We definitely did more laughing than anything else. It was a grand summer!

The two quilts were done during the first month of summer. I planned to quilt them myself, but found I couldn't quilt even by the end of summer. I sent Jen's quilt off to a new quilter I tried, Ann, along with Christine's Summer.

The quilt I was making for myself had a less happy ending! After putting it altogether, I found that the background fabric just didn't make it. I showed it to Marie and she agreed with me that it was "ugly." (see above).




17.      Paul Plays the Blues              July 2008         October 2008    61"x72"             Pieced by myself; Quilted by Jackie

This quilt came from the April 2008 McCall's Quilting magazine. It was called Gumballs and was designed by Deb Luttrell. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it for TGS. In the course of taking me to quilt shops while visiting TGS, I discovered that he like batiks. I collected 30 fat quarters of batiks and got started.

The design of the block is asymmetrical and the block layout is non-sequential. When finished, it is hard to distinguish where the blocks are. As I made it, I tried to be careful about the placement of darks and lights. I worried that somehow my result would not be as good as the quilt in the magazine.

It came down to the time that I put up the blocks on the design wall and stepped back. I immediately started doing a happy dance. It looked every bit as wonderful as the magazine quilt! My next thought was that I had to make one for me! And this time I knew I wouldn't worry about placement of the small pieces, I could piece with abandon.

TGS Plays the Blues was his Christmas present. TGS plays the piano, so I thought it was a fitting name.It was a lap quilt for him. At six foot three, the single bed size was perfect!

18.      Mouse                          July 2008-July 2010                    91.5 x 61.5 super twin
            Pieced and machine-quilted by myself

The summer of 2008 was a very productive one for me. It was the summer of  Quilt Café; Amanda, Marie, Marian and Shirley got together every Monday. We were friends from the Guild but also Marie, Marian and Amanda and I were already good friends. We'd gather, usually at Marie's house, bring potluck lunch and quilt. Marie's husband, Wayne, made us a wooden plaque than said "Quilt Café." Marie hung it in her big quilting room, really a family room, and our name was born. Sometimes it was hard to say whether we ate more or quilted more!

During that summer I made My Other Daughter, The Yellow Failure, Dale's Log Cabin, TGS Plays the Blues and started the Blue and Green Christmas. Everyone was getting quilts for presents that year!

Hubby's favorite color is black. I had been searching for a couple of years for a good pattern to make him a lap quilt. I decided on a Log Cabin with shades of black on one half, and shades of gray on the other. I found some sumptuous Japanese black cotton that cost $15 a yard; at the time good quilt fabric was going for $9 a yard. The Japanese black became the darkest black. I had found some grey on sale at an internet website and the rest came from a local quilt store.

I used Eleanor Burns Log Cabin in a Day to construct the quilt and it went together very quickly. I decided to quilt it myself on the machine using Aunt Marie's Log Cabin quilt as a pattern for the quilting. As I was ironing the top, getting ready to sandwich it, I discovered that the gray I had purchased on sale was of questionable quality. It had already begun to fray along the seams and in a few places had frayed almost to the seam line. What a nightmare!

While at PIQF in October, I discovered 007 Bonding Crystals and found the solution to the fraying seams. I cut strips of good white cotton and, using the 007, I bonded the cotton to the gray. It was a bit of a project, but worth it. I wanted that quilt to be really nice for Hubby.

19.      Blue Christmas                       August 2008               December 2008         24"x24"
20.      Green Christmas
21.      Blue Christmas
Pattern re-design, pieced and machine-quilted by myself.

I decided late in the summer that I wanted to make small wall hangings for Nancy Drew and J. I originally thought that I would make a log cabin heart, which is about 6 or 8 blocks. After my experience with Eleanor Burns Log Cabin in a Day I figured it would be quick and easy.

 I started looking on the internet for Log Cabin Hearts, but didn't find something that appealed to me. I then looked in my gathered magazine patterns and came across the absolutely gorgeous quilt Singing the Blues from Quilter's World magazine, designed by Toby Lischko. Jes' favorite color is blue, which was the color in the magazine. Andrea's favorite color being green, I figured that it would look equally as beautiful in green.

I made the first blue quilt following Eleanor Burns method, but wasn't happy with the result. Some of the small light squares in the centers weren't very square. I decided that it would come out better if it was paper-pieced. I drafted a pattern for my second blue attempt; the first blue became my quilt. The paper-pieced pattern took 9 different layouts of the half log cabin block!

This blue quilt turned out much better, but I could see where I could improve. I re-drafted the blocks and made the green quilt. While not perfect, it also turned out well. I only needed to make a few changes to the paper-piecing and it would be easy and result in a great quilt.

I machine quilted these quilts also, following Aunt Marie's quilting style. Andi loved her quilt and decided to hang it in her cubicle at work. Now we all know Andrea's follow through! The quilt is still not in her cubicle! (2014)


Jes never did comment on her quilt, which was very annoying. This was now the third quilt I had made for friends and not received any comment back. (My Other Daughter, and Christine's Summer). It changed my ideas about who I would make my quilts for in the future. It took a long time for the hurt to go away.

I entered my Blue Christmas is the 2011 Sonoma County Fair and won 3rd place!


22.      Ms. S's Kindergarten Nine-Patch     February 2009           April 2009
Block designs by Ms. S's Kindergarten class, Pieced and machine quilted by myself

It is fun to look at all the different arrangements of the student's nine-patches! You can see a lot about their personalities in how they arranged their blocs.
One of my visually impaired students was in Ms. S's kindergarten class. I was in the class every day helping my student and observing the class. Ms. S is one of the very best teachers I have ever seen. She is cheerful and kind. She can keep the class under control, but never, ever loses her patience. She has wonderful, innovative ideas for teaching the children. It was a honor to be in her class for a year.
I volunteered to do a class quilting project when the class learned the letter Q. I cut up different fabrics into two-and-a-half inch squares, sorted them by color into bowls and brought them to class. I had made a paper grid of a nine-patch for each child.

The Class Picture was in the center of the quilt
First I talked to them about quilts and showed them a couple of examples. I explained what a nine-patch was and different ways to design it. They were then ready to begin. They each chose their own designs and colors and lightly glue-sticked them on the grid.




I had seen a demonstration of some single-sided fusible web that had a one-inch grid drawn on it. I thought this would be the easiest way to assemble the quilt rather than sewing each square together separately. I fused each square into place with the grid helping to keep the alignment straight. I then folded and sewed long seams. Alas, there was a big problem. I had planned a class picture in the center of the quilt and this made long seams impossible on some rows and columns.
In the end it was a mammoth project and it didn't turn out as well as I can usually do. The fusible web made the seams very thick and hard to press down. I ended up many times taking pieces off and re-positioning or sewing them.
Ms. S, the children and the parents, however, loved the quilt. I had hoped Ms. Sweeney would keep it for herself. Being a consummate teacher, however, she decided to raffle it off and use the money to buy things for her class.





Sweetie's Charm
23.      Sweetie's Charm            July 2009                   July 2009                   30" x 34.5"
Designed, pieced and tied by Sweetie, with instruction and support by myself

The summer of 2009 I finally realized a dream of mine: to quilt with my grandchildren! When I went out to visit SWH and Nancy Drew, I brought along a pack of charm squares for Sweetie to make a quilt. We decided that the day before I was to head home, Sweetie would stay home with me and we would make the quilt.

The night before I gave Sweetie the charm pack and told her how to make a layout for the quilt. She had so much fun with it, changing and rearranging, that she spent over an hour playing with the squares.

The following morning we started sewing…or tried to. A few stitches in on the first seam, the needle got stuck in the down position. It turned out that the bobbin case had been inserted incorrectly the last time Nancy Drew used it and there was no way I could get the needle to come back up. I called Hubby, I yanked and pulled. Eventually I got the bobbin casing out, but in doing so, I broke the little tab that you have to hold open to keep the  bobbin in while you insert it in the machine. I tried and tried but couldn't get a bobbin case in the machine. 

Sweetie and I said a prayer together that we might find a way to sew this quilt,

especially since this was the last day I was there. Meanwhile I sent Sweetie off to play Mario Kart since it was taking so long. A little bit later the phone rang, it was Nancy Drew. She asked if everything was all right. Later that day she told me that she was in a meeting and felt she should call me. She decided to call me as soon they broke for lunch. The feeling persisted strongly until she made the call. Nancy Drew was able to call her visiting teaching partner, who happened to be a quilter, and ask if she had a machine she could loan us. She was more than willing to help us and Sweetie and I went over and borrowed the machine.

On the way to picking it up, I asked Sweetie if she thought our prayer had been answered. She wasn't sure, so I explained that although Heavenly Father hadn't answered our prayer the exact way we had asked, he had answered by making it possible for us to make a quilt.

We had loads of fun quilting. Sweetie loved the steam function on the iron. She was very good at sewing and except for a few rough patches we got the top stitched together. That evening, I put on a border to make the quilt a little bit larger, and did Eleanor Burns' method of quick turn binding.

Sweetie was ecstatic about her quilt and so proud of it. I had a terrific time with her and having the bobbin difficulty turned out to be a wonderful part of the day also. I got to share a spiritual experience with my granddaughter.

The next day I left and gave Nancy Drew instructions on how to tie the quilt.

The summer of 2009 I finally realized a dream of mine: to quilt with my grandchildren! When I went out to visit SWH and Nancy Drew, I brought along a pack of charm squares for Sweetie to make a quilt. We decided that the day before I was to head home, Taylor would stay home with me and we would make the quilt.

The night before I gave Sweetie the charm pack and told her how to make a layout for 
the quilt. She had so much fun with it, changing and rearranging, that she spent over an hour playing with the squares.

The following morning we started sewing…or tried to. A few stitches in on the first seam, the needle got stuck in the down position. It turned out that the bobbin case had been inserted incorrectly the last time Nancy Drew used it and there was no way I could get the needle to come back up. I called Hubby, I yanked and pulled. Eventually I got the bobbin casing out, but in doing so, I broke the little tab that you have to hold open to keep the  bobbin in while you insert it in the machine. I tried and tried but couldn't get a bobbin case in the machine. Sweetie and I said a prayer together that we might find a way to sew this quilt, especially since this was the last day I was there. Meanwhile I sent Sweetie off to play Mario Kart since it was taking so long. A little bit later the phone rang, it was Nancy Drew. She asked if everything was all right. Later that day she told me that she was in a meeting and felt she should call me. She decided to call me as soon they broke for lunch. The feeling persisted strongly until she made the call. Nancy Drew was able to call her visiting teaching partner, who happened to be a quilter, and ask if she had a machine she could loan us. She was more than willing to help us and Sweetie and I went over and borrowed the machine.

On the way to picking it up, I asked Sweetie if she thought our prayer had been answered. She wasn't sure, so I explained that although Heavenly Father hadn't answered our prayer the exact way we had asked, he had answered by making it possible for us to make a quilt.

We had loads of fun quilting. Sweetie loved the steam function on the iron. She was very good at sewing and except for a few rough patches we got the top stitched together. That evening, I put on a border to make the quilt a little bit larger, and did Eleanor Burns' method of quick turn binding.


Sweetie was ecstatic about her quilt and so proud of it. I had a terrific time with her and having the bobbin difficulty turned out to be a wonderful part of the day also. I got to share a spiritual experience with my granddaughter.

The next day I left and gave Nancy Drew instructions on how to tie the quilt.

24.      Firstest's Oriental Dragon        July 2009                   July 2009
Designed and pieced by Firstest and myself, Quilted by Jackie 

Just a week after coming home from Nancy Drew's, Firstest came over to spend five days with us. Again I got to help him make a quilt. Because Firstest was older, I figured he could handle making "I Need It Tomorrow," which is the quilt pattern I used to make Leslie's Baby Quilt (#3). I started out by showing him fabric from my stash. I thought he'd pick some novelty fabric, but none of it appealed to him. I continued on showing him drawer after drawer until we came to blue fabric. Firstest immediately saw the fabric he wanted. It was an oriental blue and gold fabric that I had bought because I absolutely adored it. I had been saving it, and the matching border fabric, for a couple of years, to make something fantastic for myself. I decided that it wasn't as important as letting Firstest have the fabric he loved.

I cut the squares and rectangles, then Firstest  and I set up the design board to decide which layout he wanted. I showed him the traditional layout and then he made one himself. After that his interest waned and I tried a few others. We settled on a layout and got down to sewing.

What a surprise and difference from Sweetie! Firstest was unable to keep his attention on the fabric long enough to sew a seam. His seams all came out as a diagonal. I ripped out practically every seam he sewed and had him re-sew it. His interest was lagging, but we did manage to get the top together, minus borders.

Later that night, I went to put on the borders. Our design was one row short of what the picture shows, and it left an incomplete pattern. My orderly mind just couldn't stand that unfinished part, so I went to work trying to get enough fussy cuts to make one more row. I was truly blessed as I was able to just eke out eight  more fussy cuts to make the last row and cornerstones.

Firstest was thrilled with the finished top. He was so excited to show his Mom what he had done.

Once it was finished I realized it was too grand to be tied and decided to have it quilted. I asked Jackie to quilt it, but I didn't know how I wanted it quilted. Jackie asked me what Firstest liked and I answered, without hesitation, "Dragons." That was enough for Jackie. I got back the quilt with fire-breathing dragons quilted into the top.

When I gave it to Firstest he was overjoyed with his quilt and loved the dragons. That made it all worth it!

25.      From My Heart to Yours     October 2009-January 2010    Queen size 90x98
Pieced by myself, Quilted by Ann 

In the spring of 2008, Nancy Drew and SWH moved into a very nice townhouse. Sweetie was allowed to choose the color to paint her room. She chose blue, which was a surprise to all. Sweetie's favorite color has always been pink, but the room was painted blue. When Sweetie 's mom heard about the blue decision, she said that blue was a boy's color and insisted that there be pink in the room also. 


That summer when I came to visit I made curtains for Sweetie 's room. I also decided to make a quilt for her bed for Christmas. I bought more of the curtain fabric and some great butterfly fabric and was all set. That Christmas wanted everything "High School Musical," including a bedspread. I put off the quilt for a year.




I made her quilt the following year and when it was finished had enough time to get it to the quilter and then to Sweetie for Christmas. Unfortunately (which seems to be a common word so far) I had been sick since Thanksgiving and the quilt languished for a couple of weeks before I got it to the quilter. I got it back 5 days before Christmas and still had the binding to do. Thank goodness Sweetie's birthday is January 
25th. I swapped Christmas and birthday presents and sent Sweetie 's quilt off for her birthday.



Ann  quilting made the quilt. Instead of having a meander, I had asked her to quilt something inside each heart. She also quilted around all the butterflies in the alternate blocks and in the border. The quilt looked amazing after she finished!








26.      Lone Star                                October 2009 


Needing 4 triangles on top & bottom, left & right,
plus borders
           

27.      Janene's Raffle Quilt             December 2009        


28.      Charming Hobos                     December 2009         May 8, 2010               65x76 (full size)
Pieced by Aunt Marie Christensen, quilted by hand by me

I entered Charming Hobos in the Sonoma County Fair 2011 and won 2nd place!

29.      Bricks & Stepping Stones       7/2011


30.      The 70s Called and They Want Their Fabric       1/2010-2/25/13
Pieced by Aunt Marie Christensen, Assembled and Machine Quilted by Me QAYG, SAYG (Sew as You Go)










31.     Curly's Quilt                              March 6, 2010           May 15, 2010
Pieced by myself, Quilted by Ann  ($208)






32.      Jacque Cousteau's Under Sea Adventure                Mar 29, 2010             Sept 1, 2010   60x73
Pieced by myself, Quilted by Jackie Pavlicek  ($91.60)


I entered Jacque Cousteau in the Sonoma County Fair 2011, but it didn't place.



33.      Farmer's Wife Sample Quilt  August 2010





34.       Prairie Quilt                             Dec 2011

35.      Spider Web String Quilt         Jan 2011




36.      Big Purple Hug                       May 2011                    March 2012                Lg. lap robe   53x67





Details of blocks


Front and back together

A section of the quilt



37.      Little One                               Nov 2011                    Nov 2011                    Baby Quilt 36"x36"







 


38.      Playful Doggie                        May 2012                    May 2012                    Baby Quilt 36x36

Leslie, a fellow VI teacher, became pregnant with her second child. I decided to make a quilt for this baby, just as I did for her first baby.







39.      Baby's Chinese Coins             July 2012                   July 2012                   Baby Quilt 36x36
Pieced & Quilted by myself

The "birth" (excuse the pun) of this quilt began as a leader/ender somewhere back in 2010 or 2011. Beverly had given me a large amounts of fat quarters. Among them were these very brightly colored ones. I decided they would make wonderful stacked coins. I cut each fat quarter into 5"x2.5" blocks. Then I sewed them together in strips. I put them away after this and planned to make them into charity quilts. When I decided to make them into a baby quilt for Sydney & Mike, I pulled them out and used them. There are still plenty left for more quilts.

TGS has had a friend, Mike, that he's known for years while living in Maryland. He is a stout member of the church and has never given up on TGS. Around the time that TGS & OSLW were getting ready to marry, Mike's wife, Sydney, was in the last trimester of her pregnancy. She was so close it was questionable if she would make it to the wedding, which was in Leesburg, Virginia. Mike and Sydney made it to the wedding, part of the reception and headed home that evening. The very next day they had their baby.

I wanted to make a quilt for their baby. Sydney is the RS President in her branch. She has been a devoted friend to OSLW. She has helped OSLW in her new membership in the Church. I decided that the Chinese coins would be a perfect, bright quilt.
 I used some columns of the coins and still have enough for another larger quilt. I had some white minkee that I thought would be perfect for the back. Even though quilters advise against it, I decided to machine quilt, rather than tie, the quilt. After reading dozens of Google articles on quilting and sewing with minkee I nearly changed my mind. I decided to persevere and quilt. With tip 
s from several articles, I quilted and found it easy!

I remembered that Bryony had a woobie that was a baby blanket with satin binding. She loved, loved, loved that binding. I decided I would put satin binding on the blanket. I'd only had one experience with putting on satin binding to revive a friends baby quilt. It wasn't a good experience. Back to Google. Again, after reading enough articles, I put the binding on and it came out perfectly!
I sent it off to Mike and Sydney after school started, even though I had it finished a couple of months before. That brings up another story of the Post Office Curse of the Christensen's. And that is another story.











40.      Christmas Pillows
 for Family 2012                               November 2012         December 2012                     from 17"-20"
Noel Heart and SWH's pieced by myself, OSLW's pieced by Aunt Marie, TGS's pillow from Zambia Traders, Nancy Drew's pillows from Japanese exchange student












           


                                                                                               







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