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