Log Cabins by Meredith

You just never know where you are going to meet a new friend.  I was out on a bike ride with friends, in the absolutely pouring down rain.  I'm talking about wringing out your gloves when you stop!  Meredith said "Beth, I hear you are a quilter too." and that was pretty much the end of that bike ride.  We gave up on riding in the rain, turned around and went back and had coffee and talked for an hour or so. 

This lovely Log Cabin quilt is destined for a baby of a co-worker of Meredith.  Lucky baby!  I surely enjoyed quilting this quilt, but I think it may have been my one and only to do for Meredith.  She says already that she knows that there is a longarm quilting machine in her future.

Christmas Star by Pat

I love stars and I think that this Christmas colors and themed quilt is a great example. Well done Pat.

Quilt for Karin's daughter

I think this might be an international quilt.  When Karin contacted me about quilting it for her, she was living in Europe, and her daughter will be taking  it with her to some other country.  (How embarrassing!  Karin told me where she was going, and I've forgotten!)  It's going to be hot there though, so we chose a cotton batting.  Karin actually mailed me the quilt top, backing and fabric for the backing, and my instructions were to do and edge to edge design, and I would also choose the thread color.  Karin seemed to like it, although she states that this was out of her usual comfort zone.  She prefers to use brights, so earth tones was hard for her.  Very pretty though!

Ocean Waves

 Another wedding quilt, and this one spans 4 generations.  Patty's daughter Lauren is soon to marry Jerry.  This quilt top was pieced by her great-grandmother Cora Riggins. The triangles are all about 2" wide at the side, and it's all stitched together by hand.  Patty says that she remembers Cora stitching, and has several of her quilt tops to be quilted.  We chose a very traditional Baptist Fan design and a cream thread to blend with the background.

Paper Pieced Starburst by (guess who!) Michael

I don't think that Michael sleeps.  How else could he possibly make all these glorious quilt tops?  Someday, I'm going to try my hand at paper piecing again, but I'm not quite there yet.  I also won't start with something this complicated.

When Michael left the quilt with me he chose a very fine turquoise thread and told me to "Have fun" for the quilting design.  So I did!  Flames and fathers and what  I call "Mimbari"  Such fun to play with.

Michael and I described this quilt as "Blue Squares", but I'm sure there's a much better name for it.  I love the optical illusion that it gives of being nearly three dimensional.

Quilted with my favorite type of thread, King Tut, in a swirl design to give it lots of movement.

Flags by Michael

The oh so prolific Michael is at it again!  He made several quilts that are all the same size, and will hang in 

a specific area in his home. They are all seasonal and can be easily changed out.  

Michael chose a variegated  red, white and blue thread for quilting, and then I quilted freehand fireworks and stars.  I love the setting triangle fabric of flags.  I think that really makes the blocks stand out.

Journey Home for Joe and Heather

It has been a summer of weddings in our family.  This was the second of three.  Joe is my husband's nephew.  Joe's mother told me that their colors were "French Blue, Cream and Merlot"  I had the background fabric already, and then made a run to the store to find the other two.  I'd started a few blocks  in another design, and really wasn't pleased with the outcome.  Then I saw this pattern in a quilt magazine, and I knew that this was "their quilt"  I really had a good time quilting this with oodles of feathers, continuous curves, and some tight meandering to really make the feathers stand out.  The batting is wool so very light, but a much higher loft than the cotton that I also love to use.  

Wishing them both many years of happiness together.

This is the back of the quilt, showing some of the quilting.

Wedding quilt by Barb

I love quilts and I love weddings, so this was a great combination of the two.  Barb was referred to me by the prolific Michael.  I believe that they work together.  Barb made this quilt to celebrate her daughter's wedding.  Quilted with a fine beige thread that would blend into the background, in a leafy vine design.  There is no quilting over the appliques, kind of a quilting "no-no".  Barb also says that she intends to embroider the names of the happy couple and their wedding date into the center of the wreath.  Kind of makes me want to get married again so that I could receive a gift as precious as this.

T-shirts by Ally

My quilting is now starting to travel across the United States.  Ally initially e-mailed me all the way from Hawaii.  She and her husband like to vacation in Oregon, and they were going to be here for a week.  She brought me this fun t-shirt quilt that she had made and asked me to quilt it while they were at the coast.

Gotta love cows on skis!

 This

Brandon's t-shirts by Dianna

Dianna says that ever since Brandon was a baby, she's been planning on making him a quilt out of his shirts for when he went to college.  Well now it's happening.  Brandon leaves to be a Utah "Ute" in a few weeks.

Dianna doesn't sew or quilt, but she's not one to let that stand in her way.  We'd meet up every once in a while at my house, and I'd show her the next step in the process.  Dianna chose all of the fabrics for the borders of the shirts, and pieced those.  I took on the task of sashing strips, cornerstones, borders and quilting.  Sorry Dianna.  I'm willing to let you play on my baby sewing machine, but you're not taking Esther Pearl for a test drive for a while.  Since Brandon is a swimmer, we chose blue wave fabric for the borders, and quilted the quilt with a wave pattern

This is my favorite shirt.  The bear is holing a sign that reads "I am not a bear."

This is from "Blue Blankee".  Dianna tells me that even before he was born, this quilt was on his bed, and was carried around by Brandon for some time.  The family even joked that "Blue Blankee" would be going to college with him.  Well, now it really is.  I took the center panel out, and appliqued it to the back of the quilt.  Isn't that just so sweet?

Scotland by Glend

Another mystery quilt from Heart to Hand.  This is the Scottish mystery, and if memory serves correctly, this would be the Scotch Thistle colorway.  Glenda chose a variegated thread with a sheen, but it's hard to see in these photos. 

Black and White by Lavernqa

Laverna does it again with her black and white quilt. 

I see that I'm going to have to do some more figuring with this new upgrade to the program, and learn how to rotate the photos.  For now, just twist your head to the left to see these in their correction orientation.

Jackson's quilt

This is a very sad quilt.  Jackson was born in Sept., 2012, but only lived for 7 days.  This quilt was made by family members.  Lots of prayers said over this quilt

Pinwheels by kids

Here's a fun one made by school kids.  I was expecting something more simple and was quite surprised to find this.  Love the colors.