"Joan's baby quilt"

The baby was born in January, 2010, but the quilt is not quite ready for her at this time. Isn't it sweet? Pinks and browns and lots of great dots and circles. And Joan's signature color, lime green. Quilted with Rainbows thread in pinks and browns too. The thread was a perfect choice for it. What a lucky little girl, and I think well worth the wait.

Day At the Beach

This is a pattern that my dear friend Wendy designed. Someday, I'd like to make it myself, but losing her is still to fresh, and it hurts too much. Quilting Linda's was fun because I got to remember the good times with both of these ladies when we worked on this quilt at the shop. Wendy loved the beach, and had a condo in Seaside. Although the lighthouse she designed looks a little different than the ones that usually dot the Oregon coast, I think it's great in this quilt. I got to make bricks in the lighthouse, sand on the shore line and waves in the water. Since I can't seem to quilt anything without putting feathers on it, the outer border has feathers, and then bamboo in the yellow inner border. Thanks for trusting me with the treasure Linda.

"The Quad"

Here's another from the College Life series. My computer is showing this as being in some funky colors, but it's actually done in orange and black. Another OregonUniversity, this time in Corvallis. On this quilt, I used a design called "Fold", and I really love how it turned out. The top is quilted with a pumpkin orange colored thread, and the bobbin had black. It's great!

"Marching Band Prototype"

This one is actually a prototype for the final version of Marching Band. It went to a niece (I believe) who is attending a college in Montana, but I've forgotten which one.

Pep Rally

My friends Lisa and Rachel have started their own business, Needle and Thread Memories. At the moment, they are designing and piecing quilt samples in college colors for their "College Life " series. This is Pep Rally, done in the colors of a University located in Eugene, OR. It will have pom-poms on the quilt, but this is how it left my studio. The quilts are all extra long twin sized, perfect for college dorms. As of this writing, they do not have a website of their own, but if you are interested in their quilts, patterns or kits, drop me a line, and I can get you in touch with them.

Charity quilt from Jennifer

I seem to be having a festival of finishing projects of late. Projects of my own, as well as those from other people. This is a quilt top that a friend of Jennifer's gave to her. By the way, the woman who made the top is also a longarm quilter. I'm not the only one with unfinished quilt tops!
Jennifer's friend gave her several bags of fabric which Jennifer was kind enough to bring to the shop to share with the rest of us. When I found this large (about 80" square) quilt top, I volunteered to quilt it for charity. Then it too sat in my bin for many moons, but I finally got it out. I'd recently ordered the panto "Royal Plumes" and thought about how pretty that would be on this quilt. I cut off more of the batting that Jennie had kindly given me, and loaded up the quilt. I had planned to give it to my usual charity of the Portland Police, but something said that there was a woman somewhere who needed this. It's just so feminine in pinks and peach colors.
The quilt was still in process on my girl when another customer, Molli, came to drop off a quilt. We got to talking, and she said that she worked for the Bradley-Engle house. Hope I spelled the correctly. This is a local women's shelter, and a non-profit. As soon as Molli told me where she worked, I knew that this quilt needed to go there. It's been a long time reaching it's final destination, but I know that it's doing some good for someone now.

Charity quilts in blues and white

This is actually the first quilt of 3 that I gave to the Portland Police Sunshine Division. The original plan was that it would be a queen sized quilt top, but I was so frustrated with my blocks not turning out nicely that I ended up making 3 smaller quilts. The poor tops have languished in my bin since about January 2009. It was a Superbowl Mystery quilt class during which I made the blocks. They are quilted with the free polyester batting from Jennie (thanks Jennie) and a blue thread. I'm sure that somewhere, someone is enjoying them.

Sharyle's Butterflies

Sharyle is such a precise piecer, I'm in envy of her. This is a baby quilt that will be traveling to Japan with it's owner to be born. Sharyle used a lot of Asian fabrics, and then I quilted it with a design called "Sashiko" which is a traditional Japanese type of stitching. Doesn't look anything like this, but that's what the design is called. We chose a Rainbows thread that picked up all the colors in the quilt top. Great job Sharyle.

A friend in need

When a friend of yours is going through a hard time, what do you to, but contact other mutual friends, and then make them a quilt. I sent out a prayer request on the APQS longarm chat for my friend. She reads the chat, so I couldn't very well use her name. The people who responded to my post were then invited to make quilt block in 1930's prints and send it back to me. True to their word, in they came. I spent the 31st of July piecing the top and adding borders, then quilted it soon afterwards. Again with the meandering feathers. This time it's because they really do fit the theme of the quilt. Seems that feathers were a popular quilting design in the 1930's, and since this lady collects them, that's what we had to use. I hope that all works out for her, but I still can't say her name. She doesn't have her quilt yet.

Wendy's Patriotic Panel

During the summer of 2009, Wendy decided that since this particular panel of fabric wasn't selling well at the shop, she would design a quilt using it, and then we would make kits to sell. I remember her making this top on a Saturday during one of our weekly "Quilt Til you Wilt" times. I took it home to add the borders when she was finished. The following week, the shop got an internet order for the remainder of the panels that we had in stock. Well, not much point in quilting it now, so it too had to wait and wait for it's turn to be finished. As you can see, I love my feathers, so they meander all over the quilt. I believe that my initial plan was to not quilt over the panels, but I got to moving too fast and zipped right over one. Rather than rip it out, I just kept adding more feathers. I like it this way without large unquilted areas. This quilt will be mailed to an Army base in WA state to be given to one of the soldiers. They'll know who needs it.

"Boondoggle"

This quilt was made by Wendy at a trade show, again, oh so many years ago. She was never happy with it, so it too just lived in my bin of unfinished quilt tops for a long time. When my bin was getting to the point that no more tops could fit in, I decided it was time to start quilting some and clean things out. This quilt has a polyester batt, so a loftier look, but densely quilted with a swirly meander. Another one for the police.

Color Theory

Oh so long ago, I took the Color Theory class from Sharyle at the Heart to Hand quilt shop. Then the top languished in my bin for years before I finally got a bee in my bonnet and got it quilted. Since there are so many colors in the quilt, I chose a light grey thread that would compliment all the colors, but not compete with them. The quilting design is all over feathers which gave me a chance to practice those. I chose a wool batting for this, mostly because I wanted to know what would happen to the quilt when it was washed and dried in the dryer. This will go to the Portland Police Sunshine Division, and keep someone warmer than they were before.

Austrian Mystery

This was a group effort between Lisa and Rachel. I believe that Lisa pieced the blocks, and Rachel added the borders. I think that neither of them were thrilled with the quilt top when they were finished with it, but they seemed to like the completed quilt. Rachel chose a quilting design called "Earthquake", and I think it mimics the Delectable Mountain blocks really well.

"Cuba"

Here is Diana's version of the Cuban mystery quilt that she made at the Heart to Hand Quilt shop. I love the colors, it's so different from the others that I've seen. Diana chose a simple Baptist Fan quilting design, and a fun tone on tone orange thread called "Mango Tango" It's just yummy!

Block of the Month by Tina

Tina is a friend of my friend Joan. This is a BOM, block of the month that she completed that will go to her aunt. Lucky aunt to get such a pretty quilt. Tina said that the pattern and kits used only black and brown fabrics, but that the setting was the same. I love the turquoise that she used for the sashing, and then the applique that Joan completed. I think it just makes the quilt.
The quilts is quilted with a feather meander in the large outer triangles, up to the blue sashing. Then it's a simple meander through the pieced blocks, stitch in the ditch around the applique, and a smaller meander through the flower pot.

Well done ladies!