Leslie's Dresden Plates

Leslie arrived at my house with 16 vintage Dresden Plate quilt blocks.  Leslie told me that her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother had pieced and hand embroidered them all.  Leslie told me that they were all from flour sacks from the 1930's and 40's, and a few had segment that had been replaced.   I think at some point in their existence they may have been put into a quilt top and tied to finish.  This is just based on some stitching lines around some of the blocks, and what appears to be the remnants from a yarn tie in the center of most of the blocks.  Leslie trusted me with these lovely blocks, and asked me to make them into a quilt of 12 blocks, and 4 pillows.  Lucky me!

I trimmed all the blocks to a consistent size, then added sashing fabrics and corner stones for frames.  Then the real fun began because I got to quilt them!

First I used the seams of each segment as a spine for feathers, and stitched in the ditch around the center circle.  I didn't want my cream thread to compete with the black hand embroidery, so I didn't stitch around the appliques.  I added a background fill of a loose meander to just hold everything together.

All of the sashing strips received a feather that met in the middle.  That way there is no top or bottom to the design, and it can go any direction.

Last was to add a small feathered wreath in each of the corner stones.  What a lovely quilt, and it's going to be a lovely gift for Leslie's 86 yo mother, daughter and grand-daughter of the women who made the blocks in the first place.  What a great ending to a lovely collection of blocks.

Stars by Debra

Isn't this fun?  You don't realize how cool the shading of the colors is until you see it at a distance.

I got quilting rulers for Christmas so used them on the border.

Continuous curves in the stars to allow them to pop out, and a tight background fill in the black to make it recede.  Most of the top was done with "Military Gold" thread by Glide, but I used black on the backgrounds so that it wouldn't be overpowering.  Quite effective, I think.

Rail Fenc by Carol

I love Rail Fence blocks.  They are quick, fun and satisfying.  Besides, how can you go wrong with purple and yellow?

Quilted with a panto of dragonflies, made even more appropriate since the backing has dragonflies on it.

Mexican Stars or 8 pointed stars by Pat.

Pat brought me another stunner to quilt for her. This one is for her Sister in Law, the lucky lady!  Here's what Pat had to say about the recipient of the quilt.

 When I think about my sister in law (whom the quilt is bound for), I think of words such as snazzy, somewhat glittery in that she likes rhinestones on her western garb, not afraid of color and a amazing seamstress.

So we went for "Snazzy".  I used "Glide" thread since it's got a bit of a sheen to it.  I was going to do something else for the quilting, but it just hit me that this is what this quilt needed.  Snazzy, but still feminine. 

I love the continuous curves in the stars, and how the feathers fill the background.  Such a fun quilt to work on.

Butterflies by Carol

Carol contacted me about quilting this quilt for her grand-daughter.  Now it's going to go under the tree, so SHH!  No telling!

Yes, all those butterflies are in fact dimensional.  I can't imagine what it must have taken to piece them, but quilting was really kind of fun.  All freehand, so I didn't quilt over any wings or antennae.  Just lift up each wing to quilt a little underneath.  

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I am rather slow I guess. It took me 2 days to realize that the design I was quilting mimicked the swirls of the antennae of the butterflies.

Unicorn Mosiac by Xande

I can't remember who gets this quilt, I believe it's a niece or nephew of Xande's.   I love the design that she has come up with, although I didn't see it  until I was finished with it and hung it up for the photo.

I can't be the only person who is amazed that all of the unicorns march around the border in the same direction!

Sheep!  The backing is flannel, most of the sheep are white, but there's a blue one plopped throughout.  So cute.

Baby quilt for Winslet

Gerri contacted me about quilting this quilt for her grandaughter.  This quilt will be used for decor, so it's got buttons sewn on the bottom of the birdcage bock on the left.  I think that there are further embellishments to the top center block.  I love how Geri incorporated Winslet's dress in the top left block.

Quilted with an all over design of hearts and loops.  Perfect for a little girl.

Ruler practice

Oh my, I need practice with rulers, don't I?  This is another of those quilts that started out as something else and became a charity quilt.  I tried using double batting of wool and cotton, and dont' think it worked on this quilt.  Then I played with some rulers, and that didn't really work either.  You'll notice there's not really a good  close up shot of this quilt, and there's a reason for that.  Suffice it to say that it will keep someone warm, and I hope that they will be able to look past it's myriad of flaws.