"Tartan Stars" by Michael

When you initially look at this quilt, you see pretty stars.  When you look more closely, you realized that the star points are pieced  into the sashing.  So there is approx. 36 pieces for each large block.  Wow.  That's a lot of piecing.

Quilted with the Primitive Sky panto, gold to thread and bright pink in the bobbin on the dark purple backing.
 

Kaffee Fassett cats by Betth

Betty  picked up this pretty quilt today and said she was so excited because she now has 3 to deliver to the same family.  I believe this one goes to a great niece. 
This panel is the backing.  I don't think that this is quite how Gutav Klimt quite panted it originally, but it's very fun on this quilt back.


Each cat is made up of 2 different prints from Kaffee Fasset, and then machine appliqued to the background.  Betty had to buy a new sewing machine to get one that would do the blanket stitch that she used.  Darn!  A new sewing machine!


 Quilted with "Kitty Kat Meow" quilting design.  Very subtle, but perfect on this quilt!

"Fugarwe?" by me

Because what else do you do when you go on a cycling vacation around Lake Ontario, but try to find as man fabric stores as you can?   Then you look for the fabrics that are special or remind you of things you saw or did on the trip.
The pattern of the quilt is called "Kings Crown", so I quilted the "crown" piecing with a crown design freehand.

So, we have a piece from the Canada panel to indicate that we biked across the border a total of 4 times.  (Twice in one day just because we could while we were at Niagara Falls.  And we can now say that we have "crossed the Rainbow Bridge" on bikes!)
Beer can lids and wine labels because alcohol was an important part of the end of every day.  Clearly, we needed water fabric to represent Lake Ontario, and the falls, and the blue with bike gears because Xande and I didn't have anything like that in our stash.
The key fabric is in honor of darling brother Joe who got up one morning and unlocked the sag vehicle to load up suitcases.  Then kept the keys and started to ride.  Got a call about 2 hours in from our sag driver, Becky, wondering where the keys might be.  Sure enough!  Joe's jersey pocket!  He got extra miles that day riding back to our AirB&B, but then rode with Becky to where he had turned around.  I know that we are competitive for miles, but this is ridiculous!



And found a crown motif to quilt in the empty spaces in the blocks for Joe
Considering there are at least 2 fabrics about beer, and one for wine, there was a LOT of dirnking.  But there's also coffee represented twice. 
Yes, those are "Buffalo wings" on the fabric in the square.  Also ice cream, although gelato was the preferred snack for the afternoon.  On the last day, we rode up and over the Berkshires on our last day.  Joe's phone app shows a mild elevation gain, and about a total of 60 miles round trip.   We should have looked at Beth's app, because mine showed some serious climbing.  But since Beth can't be trusted when it comes to navigation, we went with Joe's.  FINALLY got over the border, and found the quilt shop.  Then we called Xande for a ride home.  But I had to get the fabric representative of New England, even if I can't find anything about Massachusetts on what I included in teh quilt
The computer cords are to represent "The charging station" that Xande brought.  One plug into the wall, and then about 14 different places for us to charge phones, bike computers and lights.  One of the first  to get unpacked each night.  Also, cobblestones for when we were in town and above, the pebbles are for the "stone dust" along the Eerie Canal.  Essentially really hard packed sand.  Not difficult to ride on, but you wouldn't want a steady diet of it.

I found a couple of pieces of Sesame Street prints  Since Joe brought along 3 of his many Sesame Street jerseys, those had to be included.  The green and orange....  The green started when I found a large piece of it on clearance at our first stop.  I say that's Joe's favorite color is green, he corrected me that it is "Flourescent"   So, the green and the orange are to replicate the colors in his new bike.




 

Jungle Animals #2 by Susan

I seem to have already quilted a quilt that we called "Jungle Animals" and now I don't have a full on photo of this quilt.  Guess I'll head back down with the camera.  

I think that Susan has been "shopping" my stash.  I have this same jungle print, and I'm pretty sure the same black with multi colored dots.  Regardless, we've got got great taste in fabric!


 

"Canada"

This is what happens when you go on a bike tour around Lake Ontario.  You start in New York State, and then ride into Canada, and finally back across the border once more.  Oh, and you stop at all the quilt quilt shops that you can find to purchase fabrics of things that reminded you of your trip.

The center panel actually came from the Sew What quilt shop in NY state.  Loved the name, and had a good time with the women who worked there,  I "needed" a small Canadian flag, and the only way to get it was to purchase the entire panel.   Now when I next find a police officer, this can go to them for donation.

The cobblestones were something that we seemed to encounter in the historic parts of town.  This one is particularly memorable because while riding over this type of road, Joe hit a pothole and broke the seatpost on his bike.  He was able to find a "bike repair shop" in that town, so we rode there.  Turns out it is mostly a porn store, and a few bike parts in the back.  Joe went to the back, while I wandered out front, trying not to laugh or be aghast.  The front door had many signs indicating that you needed to be over 18 years of age, that there were X rated items inside.  Just remembering that was a highlight of the trip.  And by the way, he didn't have anything that would work for Joe's seatpost.
The calm water fabric reminded me of riding along the Erie Canal section of our ride.  Smooth roads, calm water, very peaceful.  Also the water above Niagara Falls looked like this at times too.  Hard to imagine that it would all collect down to such a massive falls.

Also in Canada, again, small town.  Had stopped for coffee very near to the stream in town.  There were all these salmon spawning, and so thick you could probably have caught them with your hands.  Most people were doing catch and release, and a local said something about toxins in the water.
 

This quilt is completely made from leftovers.  Leftover fabrics on the top, but the backing is made from squares of flannel fabrics from previous projects.  Even the batting is pieced together.   All quilted with a loose meander to represent the way our bike route would wander  as we took wrong turns.  So much fun.

Wooden Shoes by Kim


I hope you noticed the wooden shoes and Tulip quilting design.
Kim will also be traveling for a bike and barge trip in Holland in March, so I hope she will get to meet the baby when she is there.


 

"Traverse" by Deanna

I was so pleased to see that Deanna had made a part of this quilt with foundation piecing.  I as so astounded at her ability to match points on those triangles!  Also, astounded with her willingness to take on foundation piecing.  It's not my thing.




 

Hand pieced Lone Star from Pam

This is a quilt from Pam, but she did not piece it.  I believe that she found it at an antique or thrift store/sale.  Clearly vintage, probably 1930's or 1940's.  Hand pieced, and a few (as we call them in the business) "issues"  That is a lot of bias edges of fabric that often stretches out of shape resulting in quilts that don't want to lay flat.
Quilted with freehand feathers in the setting blocks, and continuous curves in the diamond shapes.    Truly a pleasure to work on, and I hope that the piecer, whoever they may be, is pleased with my work.


One little appliqued circle to cover the center hold where the star begins.
 

2nd quilt ever by Emily, made with Cyanotype and Ice dyed fabrics

Emily is my neighbor, and we met when we started talking when I was on a bike ride on our street.  I told her I lived in the quilting house.  Some time goes by, and then she reached out about quilting this lovely for her mom's birthday.  Made by Emily and her brother.
The background fabric is plain muslin.  The light blue is ice dyed, and the dark blue patterns are a Cyanotype fabric where you use the sun to change the fabric, and then create the patterns by leaving items on it as a relief.  So cool!


 

2nd quilt from Dad's T-shirts and Hawaiian shirts

Missy had so many shirts that we made 2 quilts for her mom.  One, the smaller, will be a "travel quilt" that she can take with her.  This one is much larger, probably close to a queen sized quilt.
We initially had 28 shirts, so the quilt would be 4 blocks wide and 7 long, making it very long and skinny and out of proportion  I suggested that 2 more shirts would make it a more even size, and  Missy mentioned that there were some things that her dad had written, so she printed them onto fabric and we included them in the quilt.  This is clearly a card that was included with flowers as you can see "Minot's Flowers" on the bottom of the card.  Then he wrote "Thanks for the perfect family."

There is also a poem/story that he wrote about meeting his wife when he was 11 years old, and how they came to be married.  I nearly cried the first time I read that!

 

"Large quilt for Betsy's bed"

This is an amazingly well pieced quilt.  No points cut off, all perfectly matched.  Wish my piecing was as precise

 Quilted with the Buzzsaw design

"Highland Coos" by Michael

Oh how cute!!!  I love the breed Highland Cows with their great shaggy bangs handing over their foreheads ,and here Michael has made them into a quilt!
Complete with a "Tam O'Shanter" hat on a few of them
And Scotch thistle in the corners.  Quilted with a thistle quilting design in green thread that doesn't show up on the background.
 

Mary Beth's "Modern for her daughter in law"

Another amazing quilt from Mary Beth.  So simple, yet so wonderfully graphic.
Mary Beth also shared that this amazing woman is going to nursing school full time, so thank you to a future RN.
 

"Food and Drink" quilt by Carol

Here is another "crumb quilt" by Carol  This one will be donated to Friendly House.

All of the fabrics in this quilt feature some type of food or drink item.  This is NOT the quilt to work on right before dinner.  I finally had to go upstairs and get a snack, but like a true Weight Watchers member, it was low in points and filling
Although impossible to see the quilting design, it's called "Simple Apple"

 

"Rail Fence" quilts for Officers

These two quilts are made from the same "3 yard quilt" pattern and it's a rail fence.  Recently 2 officers from City of Portland were injured on duty, so these are for them.
This is the backing of the top quilt, Both are solid black fabric with gold thread.  The design is called "Victory Salute"

This one has the "Spiral Stars" quilting design