An old quilt top

Here is a quilt top that I bought at a garage sale last year for $35. It is huge! It creates a wonderful optical illusion! There is some damage in this hand-sewn beauty; I will be able to undo the damaged edges and use the good pieces to fix holes in the middle. After repairs, it will still be large enough to completely cover my queen size bed!
Here is a close up of the pattern. I have not seen it anywhere else, and I cannot identify it.

All the seams are set in, something I don't ever care to do with a machine. But I will honor the quiltmaker and hand sew it when I repair it. Then to clean it. Yikes, I am sure that red will bleed. I will have to do some major research before getting this one wet! Eventually I would like to hand quilt it as well!

Memory Quilts

I'm joining Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!
http://www.amyscreativeside.com/2010/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2010.html


When my sister passed away, I offered to make two memory quilts from her clothing for her two children. My mom came out with the bags of clothing, and we worked together for a week to finish these two quilts.

The clothing included many different kinds of fabrics, from heavy sweaters to cotton knit tops to sweat pants. So we decided to cut large squares and sash them in order to preserve the patterns of each piece of clothing.
We included a photo transfer or two, plus three favorite Bible verses of my sister. The backing was a soft ivory fleece; there was no need for batting, as the tops were plenty heavy already! I machine quilted straight lines on the sashing.

It was such an honor for me to make these for my nephew and niece. The clothes smelled like my sister's house...and Mom and I were able to remember my sister as we worked on the quilts.

My day today

Here is where I sat from 7:30 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. It is the King County Regional Justice Center in Kent. It was a long slow day, and I was thankful that my name was not called to be on a jury.
I came home and did this! I put the borders on the very patriotic quilt!

The border fabric depicts exploding fireworks! I like it very much. And it felt good to do something productive after a day of sitting in a chair, waiting.

Quilt play

Someone donated small hourglass blocks to our church quilting group, but we would not be able to use them in our graduation quilts. So I took them home and played around a bit. It was great fun! Here is the result so far...



Daughter loves it and says she thinks it is perfect for her American Girl Doll Kirsten, who lived in pioneer times. I will add more to it eventually, probably with more fabric from church that is considered too ugly to use in the graduation quilts. My plan is to donate it to a charity when it is complete. But one little girl at church declared that it was ugly! Well, it is a scrappy quilt, and I am not sure what the final product will look like. If it is too "ugly", I may have to keep it. Personally, I love it!




We also had leftover pieces cut for one of the current quilts. When I saw the pattern "Avignon Picnic" on the Moda Bakeshop site, I knew I could use the fabrics to make the quilt. Here is what I have so far...




Yes, it is patriotic, and I think it will look very festive when completed.