"Colorado" by Masha

There's a new baby in Masha's life, and everyone needs a quilt!  This one is called "Colorado" because that is where the family lives.  I love the colors, all done in earth toned batiks

 Quilted with Wolf, Pine and Stars panto, but it's hard to see in the photos.

"Ozzie the Ostrich" by Xande is ready to join his brother Mingo the Flamingo.

Sorry Mingo but Ozzie was more fun to quilt/  All those glorious feathers to play in!  And his legs!  Such fun to dimple those

Of course I had to add eyelashes.

 

"Franken Fleece" by Michael

Michael has made several "Fraken___ quilts in our 13 year career together.  This is one of his most recent.  Lots of leftover pieces of polar fleece cut to consistent sizes of squares.   Some smaller sewn together to make 4 patches, others larger to make a single square

A mostly solid backing, just 2 seams on the sides.

Quilted with "Whole in One" quilting design

 

"Space" by Susan

I love how Susan makes scrappy quilts that are adorable and organized.

Quilted with "Norther Lights" pantograph

 

"Asian fabrics for Michael"

Pat is one of the most giving people I know.  This quilt is for a former student of hers that she keeps in contact with.  He is going through some hard times, and Pat decided that he needed a quilt, so she whipped this out for him.  Lovely Asian fabrics and a pattern that she had used and enjoyed before. 

Quilted with the Asian Flow panto and I believe Butterscotch thread, so a soft gold.  A little color, but mostly texture.    I hope things get better for Michael soon.

"Cheetah quilt" by Mary Beth

When you are specifically asked for a "Cheetah quilt", you seemingly go shopping for all the cheetah print fabrics you can find.

Even the backing, which was a rayon, so very drapey, but still worked great. 

Mary Beth usually has several options for quilting designs, but this time told me "Surprise me" with something "tropical".  I went with the Tea Tree panto, and it only shows on the black.  She usually let's me choose the thread color, but this time found a gold thread that she wanted.  Nice to shake things up.

 

"Mingo the Flamingo" by Xande

He is taking flight!  Still needs binding, and that is today's project.  So much fun to quilt!  I loved the freehand swirling clouds/wind in the background, and of course h needed lots of feathers.

Flaming pink feathers, but plumey ones on the black.  Better lift that way!

And nearly finished on my machine.
 

"Tartan Stars" by Michael

When you initially look at this quilt, you see pretty stars.  When you look more closely, you realized that the star points are pieced  into the sashing.  So there is approx. 36 pieces for each large block.  Wow.  That's a lot of piecing.

Quilted with the Primitive Sky panto, gold to thread and bright pink in the bobbin on the dark purple backing.
 

Kaffee Fassett cats by Betth

Betty  picked up this pretty quilt today and said she was so excited because she now has 3 to deliver to the same family.  I believe this one goes to a great niece. 

This panel is the backing.  I don't think that this is quite how Gutav Klimt quite panted it originally, but it's very fun on this quilt back.

Each cat is made up of 2 different prints from Kaffee Fasset, and then machine appliqued to the background.  Betty had to buy a new sewing machine to get one that would do the blanket stitch that she used.  Darn!  A new sewing machine!

 Quilted with "Kitty Kat Meow" quilting design.  Very subtle, but perfect on this quilt!

"Fugarwe?" by me

Because what else do you do when you go on a cycling vacation around Lake Ontario, but try to find as man fabric stores as you can?   Then you look for the fabrics that are special or remind you of things you saw or did on the trip.

The pattern of the quilt is called "Kings Crown", so I quilted the "crown" piecing with a crown design freehand.

So, we have a piece from the Canada panel to indicate that we biked across the border a total of 4 times.  (Twice in one day just because we could while we were at Niagara Falls.  And we can now say that we have "crossed the Rainbow Bridge" on bikes!)

Beer can lids and wine labels because alcohol was an important part of the end of every day.  Clearly, we needed water fabric to represent Lake Ontario, and the falls, and the blue with bike gears because Xande and I didn't have anything like that in our stash.

The key fabric is in honor of darling brother Joe who got up one morning and unlocked the sag vehicle to load up suitcases.  Then kept the keys and started to ride.  Got a call about 2 hours in from our sag driver, Becky, wondering where the keys might be.  Sure enough!  Joe's jersey pocket!  He got extra miles that day riding back to our AirB&B, but then rode with Becky to where he had turned around.  I know that we are competitive for miles, but this is ridiculous!

Maps on the back for all the time that poor Joe had to figure out where we went from there.

And found a crown motif to quilt in the empty spaces in the blocks for Joe

Considering there are at least 2 fabrics about beer, and one for wine, there was a LOT of dirnking.  But there's also coffee represented twice. 

Yes, those are "Buffalo wings" on the fabric in the square.  Also ice cream, although gelato was the preferred snack for the afternoon.  On the last day, we rode up and over the Berkshires on our last day.  Joe's phone app shows a mild elevation gain, and about a total of 60 miles round trip.   We should have looked at Beth's app, because mine showed some serious climbing.  But since Beth can't be trusted when it comes to navigation, we went with Joe's.  FINALLY got over the border, and found the quilt shop.  Then we called Xande for a ride home.  But I had to get the fabric representative of New England, even if I can't find anything about Massachusetts on what I included in teh quilt

The computer cords are to represent "The charging station" that Xande brought.  One plug into the wall, and then about 14 different places for us to charge phones, bike computers and lights.  One of the first  to get unpacked each night.  Also, cobblestones for when we were in town and above, the pebbles are for the "stone dust" along the Eerie Canal.  Essentially really hard packed sand.  Not difficult to ride on, but you wouldn't want a steady diet of it.

I found a couple of pieces of Sesame Street prints  Since Joe brought along 3 of his many Sesame Street jerseys, those had to be included.  The green and orange....  The green started when I found a large piece of it on clearance at our first stop.  I say that's Joe's favorite color is green, he corrected me that it is "Flourescent"   So, the green and the orange are to replicate the colors in his new bike.

This is my "princess tiara"

And the 2nd half of the backing with more maps

 

Jungle Animals #2 by Susan

I seem to have already quilted a quilt that we called "Jungle Animals" and now I don't have a full on photo of this quilt.  Guess I'll head back down with the camera.  

I think that Susan has been "shopping" my stash.  I have this same jungle print, and I'm pretty sure the same black with multi colored dots.  Regardless, we've got got great taste in fabric!

 

"Canada"

This is what happens when you go on a bike tour around Lake Ontario.  You start in New York State, and then ride into Canada, and finally back across the border once more.  Oh, and you stop at all the quilt quilt shops that you can find to purchase fabrics of things that reminded you of your trip.

The center panel actually came from the Sew What quilt shop in NY state.  Loved the name, and had a good time with the women who worked there,  I "needed" a small Canadian flag, and the only way to get it was to purchase the entire panel.   Now when I next find a police officer, this can go to them for donation.

The cobblestones were something that we seemed to encounter in the historic parts of town.  This one is particularly memorable because while riding over this type of road, Joe hit a pothole and broke the seatpost on his bike.  He was able to find a "bike repair shop" in that town, so we rode there.  Turns out it is mostly a porn store, and a few bike parts in the back.  Joe went to the back, while I wandered out front, trying not to laugh or be aghast.  The front door had many signs indicating that you needed to be over 18 years of age, that there were X rated items inside.  Just remembering that was a highlight of the trip.  And by the way, he didn't have anything that would work for Joe's seatpost.

The calm water fabric reminded me of riding along the Erie Canal section of our ride.  Smooth roads, calm water, very peaceful.  Also the water above Niagara Falls looked like this at times too.  Hard to imagine that it would all collect down to such a massive falls.

Also in Canada, again, small town.  Had stopped for coffee very near to the stream in town.  There were all these salmon spawning, and so thick you could probably have caught them with your hands.  Most people were doing catch and release, and a local said something about toxins in the water.
 

This quilt is completely made from leftovers.  Leftover fabrics on the top, but the backing is made from squares of flannel fabrics from previous projects.  Even the batting is pieced together.   All quilted with a loose meander to represent the way our bike route would wander  as we took wrong turns.  So much fun.

Wooden Shoes by Kim

What an adorable quilt for a soon to arrive baby in Holland!

I hope you noticed the wooden shoes and Tulip quilting design.

Kim will also be traveling for a bike and barge trip in Holland in March, so I hope she will get to meet the baby when she is there.

 

"Traverse" by Deanna

I was so pleased to see that Deanna had made a part of this quilt with foundation piecing.  I as so astounded at her ability to match points on those triangles!  Also, astounded with her willingness to take on foundation piecing.  It's not my thing.

Quilted with  an edge to edge design called "Wiggo". 

Even the circles are beautifully pieced curves