2 T-shirt quilts by Mary Beth for a friend,

Mary Beth made these two quilt tops out of shirts from her friend's late husband's collection.  Clearly, he was a Blazer fan.

 She also chose Blazer themed fleece for the backing, so they are extra cuddly.

Hand dyed fabrics for donation

I always have a good time with the mystery quilts anonymous patterns, this is one of those, but I wasn't happy with how my hand dyed fabrics turned out  Or, not that I look at this, much of my piecing.  Mistakes galore! Oh well, quilted and finished for someone, and will learn to make better use of my design wall and camera before posting next time!

 

Judy Neimeyer quilt by Gina for her 15yo son

Oh my, this is amazing!!  I have long admired Judy Niemeyer quilt, but I also know that my dislike of paper piecing will get in the way of my completing one.  Lucky me!  Gina a brand new to me customer, brought me this amazing quilt top.  She said that she had completed it some time ago, and it was time to get it quilted.  She made the top for her 15 yo son, but that's all that I know about  the pattern.  Gina chose threads to match the fabric colors, and then turned me loose on quilting it.  My only directions state Beth to play, rulers and such.

Here's what I did.  Rulers in the "star points", the lighter red in the top photo.  This is the back of the quilt which is actually a lovely navy blue, but trying to get decent pictures of the quilt and quilting was impossible with threads that match.  There rest are freehand designs, trying to find lots of "pointy" designs.  Didn't think a 15 yo boy would like feathers and things.  Wool batting, so extra warm, and gives lots of texture to the quilting.  There's a LOT of thread in there.  A total of 27 bobbins.  (The average quilt will take 6-10 bobbins, depending on the size of the quilt, and the density of the quilting.)

I also really appreciate Gina's patience.  She dropped this off 2 months before I got it finished.  Between suddenly selling my former machine, and then waiting for the new one to arrive and be set up, and wanting to do a couple of other quilts to get used to this machine, and the holidays, and..... it took some time. I just hope that they both love it as much as I did working on it!

 

"Rainbow Fish" by Pam

There are lots of different fish prints in this quilt, and colors, so I think that's where the name of it comes from.  Pam loves the Baptist Fan designs, reminding her of family members marking quilt tops with chalk lines and a string for hand quilting

These fans also have a heart in the middle, so even more love in this quilt.

 

Minecraft #2 by Betty

Betty's goal is to make a quilt for each family member.  I'm not sure who get this one, but it's the 2nd Minecraft one that she's done.  I got to choose the thread color and quilting design, so the design is called "To and Fro" and soft grey thread. 

 

White and green stars by Susan

Small world, Susan is my dental hygienist.  Every 6 months when I see her, we talk about quilting, bu this is the first quilt that I've helped her with.  It seems that her family currently has one quilt with a Minky backing and there are 'fights" over who gets it.  Now with 2 kids out of the house, there's a second on for her and her husband to choose from
 

I love the texture that really shows the "Sand dollar" quilt design

Purples by Mary Beth

Being "a purple girl", I love this quilt.  Great quilting design that she chose as well, it just looks restful. Perfect for the recipient!

 

Puppies by Michael

Hurrah  Michael is back!  he has been busy wit other projects and/or not inspired by any patterns, bu then he found these sweet puppies.

Clearly, they needed the "Woof" design with hearts, dog bones and paw prints.
 

"Bright batiks" by Karolyn

 I love how fun and bright this quilt is.  Just random fabrics cut to the same size, and then pulled out and pieced together in now design.  Much like confetti.  

I'm making a similar quilt, will have to keep this idea in mind for when I start to sew it together.

Pat's wallhaning part 2

 Pat gave her son and daughter in law their wall hanging and while I'm sure they loved it, they asked if I could add more quilting in either end in gold thread.

It needed to be a slightly larger circle design than I had a ruler for, so I marked the outer edge with chalk, and I can still see that in this photo.  Must tell Pat to wash that off, and wonder why I didn't.  Pat loved it, I hope they recipients do as well.

3 from Betty

Betty's current goal is to make a quilt for each family member.  I won't try to keep track of who each quilt is for.  (I have a hard enough time keeping track of my own family.)  This stunner above is done in flannels, so warm and cozy

This is over and under flannels.  I love how to the piecing makes the weave design.  My check in sheet on this one said that I was supposed to quilt it in a bright yellow thread, and I just couldn't make myself do it.  I think that I had written it wrong.  I used a medium grey, and thankfully Betty liked it.

This is a "Minecraft" quilt for one of children.  I think that's a video game.    Betty let me choose the quilting design, and now I can't recall what this is called, but I love how it turned out on this quilt!

This is the backing and my favorite part of the quilt!  Betty says that there is no top or bottom on the backing fabric which is great because I couldn't figure it out.

When Betty picked up this quilt, she brought me another Minecraft one to do with the same backing.  I think I may find a similar, but different quilting design so that they won't be the same.
 

"Shake Down Cruise" by me.

I bought my first APQS Millie longarm machine in 2006, and didn't think I would ever change.  Then, as a rep, I felt I needed to have one that looked like what we were currently selling, so purchased a 2013 Millie.  Changes were pretty obvious to others, new on is white, old was grey.  Then come November 2023, I receive a call from my friend in Iowa and learn that the company is offering a deal to reps that was just too good to pass up!  So, goodbye to my 2013 machine, and welcome to my latest girl!  

Most people won't be able to see much difference between 2013 and 2023, but I can.  Since I didn't want to get to know my new baby on a customers quilt, I threw on a charity quilt top to play with and get to know my new girl a bit.

These blocks were simply "strings", pieces of fabric that were greater than 1" wide, and varying lengths.  I stitched them into bands, and then cut them to 6.5" because I have a ruler that size.I think plan A was to have a purple string quilt, but then it was really long and skinny.  Add some green blocks to the sides to build up the size.

Now take all those blocks and play in them.  Some rulers, free hand designs that I've never done before, ones that I've done many times but wanted to get the feel of how my new girl works. Really glad I took the time to do that, I've gone from feeling anxious and a bit of "why did I do this?!" to "Oh hey!  This is great!"