Finished piece inspired by Gloria Laughman's workshop

Below is the finished quilt I started in Gloria Laughman's workshop way back in September 2012. I completed it mid-February but am just now getting around to posting the photos (life has been busy).

I had finished the appliquéd section, added the border then just stared at the piece on my design wall for several weeks, mulling over ideas about how to do the final quilting.  Feb. 19 was my self-imposed deadline to complete the quilt as I knew I would be out of sewing commission for about 8 weeks after that (3 weeks in New Zealand followed by rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder). As my deadline approached I just decided to go for it and here is the result.

I extended the quilting from the appliqued area into the border in an attempt to pull the two parts together. 

Quilting detail

Currently I am recuperating from shoulder surgery and slowly figuring out how I can resume gardening and quilting one-handed. Projects are beginning to line up:  two baby quilts, a bedspread, a table runner, a small table cloth and some sort of wall hanging that captures a snapshot of our trip to New Zealand.

Ellen & Andru's Table Runner

Started: Dec. 2012
Completed: Jan. 14, 2013
Size: 16 3/8" x 74"

This table runner was a late wedding present for my niece and her husband (they had two babies before I got around to making this). I just delivered it to them today. The batik fabrics are from The Stitchin' Post (Sisters, OR) and Fabric Depot (Portland). The gold border is from Tea Time Calicos (Beaverton, OR).

I quilted a floral pattern to reflect the pattern in their Lenox china "Floral Fusion"

...and it's reversible. The colors on the front match their dining room and  their "fancy" china but I felt the colors and pattern were a bit too much for the Lenox dishes. I had some batik fabric on hand that was a good match so I pieced that together for the back and added a narrow inner border of purple.

The back with the Lenox dishes

So what now?  I have a few projects yet to be finished, and no known babies or marriages on the horizon, so perhaps I will tackle those next.

Morgan & Reed's Baby Quilt

Started: Dec. 10, 2012
Completed: Jan. 8, 2013
Size: 44 1/2" x 47 3/4"

Another baby on the way and another excuse to make a quilt. I purchased the fabrics for the front at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon in the fall. While Morgan was here for Thanksgiving I showed her the fabrics to see if she was okay with the colors before I got going with the quilt. She loved them, so I was all set. Once I had the front pieced I located a great backing flannel at Cool Cottons in Portland.

The quilt was patterned after a quilt I saw from "Film in the Fridge" (Blocks & Stripes). 

For the quilting I did a meandering path with 30 images inserted here and there. 

frog, turtle and a bit of one of the nine flowers

giraffe

long-legged bird

pig and spider - When I was quilting I ended up with a small area next to the pig.
I went in later and added the spider. I guess I should have labeled this as Wilbur and Charlotte

I made a label for the back - thanks to some google research and HP instructions. I used fabric ironed to freezer paper, ran it through my inkjet printer, heat set it with an iron and voila! It worked great. Not only was it cheaper, but I could choose the exact fabric I wanted to use.

The label, the flannel backing (can't believe I found such a great match)
and the Marcia Derse fabric for the binding.

I am still in the process of learning how to take better photos of my work. The hardest part for me is getting the color to be true. Here is one more shot of the quilt that I think gives the best record of the colors.

This was so fun to make and went together very quickly. I love how this pattern shows off all of the fun fabrics.

Kathryn's T-Shirt Quilt

Started: Dec. 15, 2012
Completed: Dec. 21, 2012
Size: 49 1/2" x 65 1/2"

My son, Daniel, sent my blog out to some of his friends which resulted in my first commissioned piece - a t-shirt quilt. Daniel's friend, Sam, sent me 5 t-shirts to work up into a lap quilt as a Christmas gift for his wife, Kathryn. I finished it just in time to mail it back east where it arrived on Christmas Eve.

It was an interesting challenge for me to tie in the reds, maroon and green but I was happy with the end result.

All of the logos were from the t-shirts except for this Bates bobcat. When I was doing the layout for the quilt, no matter how I arranged the blocks, I found I needed one more design. I photocopied an image of the bobcat logo and used that to make this appliquéd piece for the quilt. I used some left over white t-shirt fabric along with the maroon fabric from the Bates t-shirt in the upper righthand corner of the quilt. 

To the right of this block I added little rectangles of some of the border fabrics used on the logo blocks to help tie things together. I also used these same fabrics for the pieced strips on the left and right sides of the quilt.

Catherine Elena's Quilt Finished and Delivered!!

Yesterday I completed the quilt for Cathernine Elena (due Jan 5, 2013). Here are a few more in-process shots along with the finished product.

 

Beginning of the piecing

Fussy cut some of the dresses

Finished size 46 1/2" wide by 51" long

quilted around the whole dresses

detailed quilting in the green and
pink rectangles

the back

An outdoor shot where the colors are a little more true

Anna and I delivered the quilt yesterday. It's going to look great on the pink wall. I'll add a photo once it is hung.

Jan 19, 2013 ...and here it is hanging in Cate's pink room

Catherine Elena's Baby Quilt - In process, November 2012

Alexandra's baby sister is coming in January 2013 so it's time for another quilt. Niece Ellen invited me over to see the newly painted room - pink! Now I have to say I am not a pink person. But it is good for me to work outside of my usual palette of colors, right?

The timing coincided with Fabric Depot's montly 35% off sale so away I went on the hunt for pink. I was walking up and down the aisles and spotted this fabric and thought - this is it! (Okay. For those of you who know me you can see that I did manage to find fabric that works in colors that seem to find their way in to many of my pieces. But I do have pink too!)

Robert Kaufman - "Dress Up" - #13063

My journal page of the palette
(somehow this came out upside down)

The design I am doing is a wonky log cabin inspired by a quilt photo I saw in Angela Walters' book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters (1979, pp.86-87). The quilt, entitled "Housing Project", was designed and pieced by Scott Hansen and quilted by Angela Walters.





Here is what is up on my design wall so far. The small squares are the centers for the wonky log cabin blocks. The finished size will be roughly 48" x 53". 

I can hardly wait to get further along but it will have to wait until my afternoon tutoring sessions are over today. I feel a long night coming on in what Mark refers to as "The Sweat Shop". Too much fun.

Molly's iPad Satchel - August 2012

Molly modeling her new satchel

A joint effort by my niece Molly and me. I was so proud of her work on her first-ever sewing project. She was such an apt pupil (and achieved excellence).

The back

It slides in so easily

The front