1930's charity in blue

Let's see, when did this quilt get started? About 2009 I believe. My friend Matthew from Weight Watchers offered me a box of fabric since he was moving the Boston for grad. school. Okay, great. Several boxes and bags later, I was overwhelmed with fabric! I made Matthew and his partner a queen quilt using 1930's fabrics that they had given me. In the process of cutting out squares for their quilt, I way overcut squares. Stuffed them in a bag to use "someday". One of my resolutions for 2012 is to clean out the closet in the sewing room of bags of projects that have been started, but not finished. This is the first of 2 quilts from Matthew and Earnest's leftovers. Simple piecing, simply quilting, but one less bag in the sewing room closet!

Double Wedding Ring

Maybe, someday, a long time from now, I'll be brave enough to tackle one of these quilts. In traditional Michael fashion, this is a scappy quilt, so lots of different colors and fabrics. I love the green background though. Traditionally, these are a white background, so nice to see something different.

Birds and Log Cabins by Sylvia

And the second quilt from the same panel. This time with log cabin blocks to set the bird panels. Quilted with leaves and swirls in an edge to edge design

Birds by Sylvia

Sylvia must have really loved this panel, because she made two quilts from it. First, just the birds set with sashing and cornerstones. Quilted with an edge to edge design of swirls to mimic the swirling branches that the birds are sitting on

Flying Geese by Jerri

Aren't flying geese so much fun? There are so many ways of making them. Numerous rulers, templates, etc. I don't know how Jerri did hers, but I do love the fall colors. I think my favorite part is the border treatment.

Asian French Braid

I know, this quilt looks awfully long and narrow. That's because it's designed to drape over a fainting couch to keep the dogs from getting hair all over the upholstery. Easier to was a quilt than to clean the couch. I can't believe that they had enough fabrics in their stash to make an entire quilt. I've got an extensive stash, but mine would probably end up being a lot scrappier and not nearly so organized as theirs. I'm sure the pups will love to have a place to leave their soft fur without too much consequences.

Ron's T-Shirts

A couple of years ago, I had given a gift certificate for quilting to a fundraising auction for a cycling group. Dot bought the gift certificate with the intent to make her husband Ron a t-shirt quilt. In order to save some money, she was going to do the piecing work, and I was to quilt it for them. Time went by, and no word from Dot about the quilt, but then there was an e-mail from Ron asking if I could make the quilt, as Dot was just too busy. All the shirts had been cut down, and they had given me this great giraffe print fabric. No direction on how they wanted the quilt, just a queen sized quilt. With such a great opening, I was a little apprehensive that they might not like what I did with it, but I guess I was wrong. Sashed with the giraffe fabric, and black cornerstones to set them off. Too many shirts to end up evenly on the front of the quilt, but how do you just not include them? You don't! You put them on the back of the quilt! I love all the bike shirts, and the "Have you petted your therapist today?" one. But Boris and Natasha, from the Bullwinkle cartoon of my childhood, has got to be one of the best!

Cats by Michael

Wouldn't it be wild if cats came in all these colors? This quilt is rekindling my interest in paper piecing, but I've got a few projects to finish before I get to start anything new. Wouldn't it be fun to give the cats Mohawk haircuts and have their spines be spiky with the opposing direction of the spikes match the background? Oh the possibilities! Michale asked for a cat quilting design, and we found "Flat Cat" online. Very fun! This is the back of the quilt.

Fiesta by Grace

This is one of those quilts that the minute I saw it, I knew how to quilt it, and even what type of thread to use. I didn't know what color it would be, but everything else was clear right away. Turns out I used a thread color called "Pinata". Seemed appropriate with the Hispanic theme of the quilt top. The quilting design is called Sunfire.

Butterfly Applique

I bet that Greta's mom and I would have gotten along really well. These are blocks that appear to be from a block swap with friends. All are hand appliqued and hand blanket stitched down. They appear to my untrained eye to be original 1930's prints. The blocks were all finished, but never got made into a quilt top. Greta found time to set them and made this lovely quilt for her sister. It's a surprise, so don't tell!