"Dad's T-shirts for Missy"

I'm sorry to say that Missy's father passed away, so she had me make this quilt for her mother.  This one is small, only 9 shirts so that she can take it with her when she travels.  There will be another larger on coming.

Missy shared that relatives did the Tye dye on 2 of the shirts, and that the purple one in bottom left corner shows her cousin's band's name

The center block is actually made from a Hawaiian shirt that was purchased on their 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii, and her mother had a dress from the same fabric.

 But this shirt was my favorite!  I don't understand all of the New England humor, but the "SHARKS" along the coastline makes me laugh.

Cross stitched blocks by Vickie

Vickie told me that this is her "last quilt", that she had given all of her supplies to charity.  I'm a bit sad about that.  Always lovely to see what she has come up with.

This quilt started as a stamped design in blue ink and then Vickie stitched over it with embroidery floss in either orange or red..  When the blocks are laid out, they make an alternating flower design in the corners, above, and this lovely design in the center of each block

My job was to quilt the remaining blue lines, so there is a bit of a scallop design that outlines and surrounds the blocks.  The blue ink will wash away the first time the quilt top is laundered, so I was not allowed to press the top before quilting.  That would have permanently set the blue ink, and that's not the look she was going for.

 

"For Neighbor" by Pat

Pat is one of the most giving people I know.  Always making quilts for people to celebrate or to help offer comfort.   This one is for a neighbor of hers, and I love the pattern!

She told me that "This is the top", and I carefully marked it because it looked upside down to me.  Once I saw the full quilt I figured out that they are all vines growing from the bottom up, and then getting more sparse at the top than at the bottom.  Of course!

Quilted with a leafy vine design because what else could we use on this quilt?  Lovely as alwasys.
 

"NY Beautry by Pam

Oh my.  Wow.  This quilt is made by Pam, and she will hand quilt it as well.  The entire quilt has been hand pieced, and she had me baste the layers together for her to quilt.  

I asked, and she said that it took her about a year to hand piece this, while holding down a full time job.

 "I used to work weekends for Jinny Beyer in her Great Falls, VA studio and machine piecing was simply not done there! "

Not being a hand piecer, or a paper piecer, this quilt just blows my mind.  As I was basting it with bright orange thread that will be easy to see and remove, I kept thinking of how I would machine qiult it.  I can't wait to see how she finishes it!  Amazing!

 

"Bargello" by Robin

Isn't this pretty?!  I love bargello quilts because they look so complicated, but the patterns and strip piecing make them come together quickly.

This will go to a friend of Robin's a clearly a lucky person  Quilted with variegated thread and a digital design called "Kelpie"
 

"Corgis go to Hawaii" by me

I am  a Corgi mom wanna be.  We had one once, but he passed.  Now I'm "auntie Beth" to a friend's.  I found this pattern and couldn't resist making it, then added the settings blocks with fabric that I had purchased years ago when my husband and I went to Hawaii for our wedding anniversary.

Quilted with a pattern called "Hawaiian Flower", but I think it's actually a Hibiscus.  I hope to sell this at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show in July 2024.

 

A string quilt by me

By my definition, "Strings" are the leftover bits of fabric that are too large to throw away, but too small to keep.  So I sort them into drawers by color, and every once in a while pull out a bunch, stitch the strings together to "Make" fabric, then cut them down to a consistent size.

 These are the blocks that were leftover from my most recent sewing fest.  Not enough of any one color way to make a quilt, so put them all together into rows.  It will keep someone warmer through the Portland police.

Alexis T-shirts

This is going to be a girl to watch.  She's been so active throughout her school years in so many different sports and activities.  Next stop college for Pre-Med.  I don't know her at all, but I can tell that she is amazing just from her shirts!

I love the shirts that have clearly been worn, so I didn't repair the tear on the sweatshirt pocket

My favorite shirt!
 

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!