"Monsters" by Michael

 So cute!  Start with a panel of fun monsters, including a growth chart.  Find some coordinating fabrics and use them to piece blocks, or even just use them for fill.

It's got great messages for kids too.

Same green backing as on the ladybugs, but still looking white.

Great way to show off the panto of "Monsters" that Michael chose.  The bobbin thread is orange, the top is a variegated orange, green and blue.  Perfect matches for everything on the top.

I'm thinking that this is going to be a great panto to do as a whole cloth.  Take a large piece of dark fabric, quilt this design with glow in the dark thread and poof you've got a quick and easy kid quilt!

"Ladybugs" by Michael

More quilts that Michael will be donating to a children's charity.

Aren't they sweet little ladybugs?All on a pieced background of various greens and whites, with the ladybugs appliqued on top.  Michael told me today he's going to finish them off by gluing little black pompoms on their antennae.

Although the backing looks white, it's actually a pale green.  Michael chose a panto called "Ladybug Dance".  Perfect design on this quilt.

"Newton" by Mary

Mary has another granddaughter, so of course she needs a quilt.
"Newton" is the name of the fabric line, he's the lamb above, but he has other friends as well.
Quilted with the "Oriental Cloud" panto and Glide thread.  Lucky little girl.

"Baseballs" by Michael

 Here's the 2nd of the 6 from Michael.  Start with 2 baseball theme fabrics (the second is the blue blocks)  Piece some blocks in the same design for cohesiveness, then add several applique blocks fro fun.  Quilt all over with a "Baseball Fun" pantograph, and red, white and blue thread.  Who wouldn't love this?

"Fish" by Michael

Michael is so generous with his time and talents.  This is one of 6 charity quilts that he has left with me that will go to a camp for kids through his work.

He chose the "Sea Life" panto to quilt it with, so coral, seaweed, shells and a few seahorses are all quilted in.  Rainbows thread, so a sheen to it and the perfect variegated colors to match what the colors in the quilt.

What a great way to use a panel!  Cut it apart, piece blocks of the same size, that's a "Snail's Trail" block on the left, and make your quilt much larger.

So here are all the different sea creatures represented in the quilt. 

Baskets by Linda

Linda is our wonderful tax person.  I went to drop off our taxes this year and surprisingly left with a quilt to quilt.  Since I didn't have any of my check in materials with me, I offered some suggestions to her, and Linda was agreeable to all.I quilted this quilt with the Hydrangea panto in light blue thread from Glide.  Hope she likes it, she's on post tax season vacation out of town.

Marelle's quilt from Aunt Joy

This is an old family quilt that no one seems to know where it started.  

Back in August of 2014, my niece, through my husband, Marielle received this quilt from their Aunt Joy.  Randall's mother's sister.  Marielle washed the quilt, and sadly the original quilting fell apart.  She took the whole quilt apart, and we added new batting, and backing to it.

The story that we pieced together from Joy is that the quilt was found in a relative's home, and no one seems to know who made it or why.

The blocks are all hand embroidered, and the person who made it was great at embroidery, not so great at piecing.  Blocks were wonky and few corners matched, but you'll never notice from 3 feet away on a galloping horse.  That's a rule I learned from my friend Wendy.  "If you can't see if from 3 feet on a galloping horse, it doesn't show."  Excellent rule!  I used Glide thread, quilted it with vines and leaves to go with the flower theme in the embroidery.  Wool batting to give it loft.  The original backing wasn't large enough to use again, so it became the label on the back, and the new binding.  Now I hope it will have a new and long life with Marielle.

Rings of Saturn by me

This quilt went to the police.  One of the last (but not the last!) of the charity quilts that started out as something else. 

I had planned on doing all kinds of ruler work on it, but ended up using my swirls boards to just get it finished and off to someone who could use it.  I know that there's at least one more of these type of quilts to quilt, so it'll get ruler work.  I just need to schedule it in the queue .  Even though this didn't get quilted the way I had planned, I'm still happy with how it turned out.  It also gave the quilt it's name.

Jan's quilt for her daughter

 Jan had made this quilt some time ago for her daughter.  I don't recall if she had tied it, or not been happy with the quilting, so she brought it to me to refinish.

She chose and edge to edge design of leaves, perfect on the quilt, and finished in time to surprise the daughter who was coming home from school.

Joshua's t for Elaine

Elaine has 3 sons, and this is the last of the quilts for them.  I think I had the most fun on this one too.  I started with the two "101 Dalmations" pillowcases in the top and bottom corners. The bottom left corner is a Hawaiian print shirt that yielded the cornerstones for the blocks.  Hard to see, but in the middle of the quilt is actually a tie from a bathrobe.  Didn't know what to do with it, so I just stitched it down and left the ends loose.

 The tie was too perfect not to add.  The best shirt to "tie" it to was the one for the band, even if the shirt was a polo shirt that you wouldn't normally wear a tie with, and the colors don't exactly coordinate.  Still, too fun to pass up.

This has to be my favorite block.  It's actually more of a sweater, but still worked well.  The seam shown above was in the side of the shirt, and the safety pins were actually on the inside, but the stitching to hold the seam closed was on the outside.  I guess not everyone sews as much as I do, or has access to a sewing machine to repair clothes.  Very creative!