"Windswept" by me for my sweet nephew Jackson

At Christmas at my family's home, Jackson was asking his mom if he could have a quilt to take to his home.  I overheard the conversation and offered to make him one.  I had found this pattern in a magazine, and thought it would be perfect for him to cuddle under on the couch.

I had a great time hand dying the fabrics for the quilt, so I love all the color gradations.  Although they all came from the same batch of dye, some parts got more and are darker, while others are lighter.  All the fabric started out as white, and some, like the purple above, where white tone on tone.    When they are dyed, the dye doesn't affect the print, so that remains white.  Still fun to use the "wrong" side of some of the prints so you get a print, but much more subdued.

Quilted with the Whole in One panto after sending options to his parents and sister to see what would be the best match for Jackson.

Two Bow Tie Quilts by me.

Babies galore!  My great niece Juni will soon be a Big Sister to Brother "Bean".  His in utero name, and Juni was called "Sprout" until she arrived in the world.

Fabrics are all hand dyed by me and some came from my stash of previous projects.

This is the backing, ice dyed, so less consistency in color saturation.  Quilted with an E2E design called "Bean Sprout" and what could have been more perfect?

  My darling neighbors Julia and Pete and Big Sister Indie are going to have a new baby boy.  I'd had so much fun making Beans quilt that I used the same fabrics for the blocks and dyed a slightly darker shade of blue for the background.  Can't wait to meet him!

"Bow Ties for Bean"

"Bean" if the in utero name of my future great nephew..  (His older sister was known as "Sprout" until she arrived)

We know that he is a boy, and I decided that he needed some Bow Ties.  All the fabrics are hand dyed by me, and that was the most fun!  Taking a plain white fabric and making it come out a completely different color and sometimes with a great print where the dye didn't take.  Not to mention all the gradations in the colors since they are done by hand.  Quilted with a design called "Bean Sprout", because what else could I possibly use?

 

"It all started with Andy" by me

 I got to know our neighbor Andy through a brief conversation in the winter.  We got to know one another better and by summer she had shared that she had ice dyed several garments.  I immediately saw the potential for fabric and that's where this all started.  All of the fabrics started as solid white, some were tone on tone.  So when the dye reacts, many of the white print doesn't absorb the dye.  

This is a baby quilt for a future great grandbaby of a biking friend, and grandbaby of her son. 

"Odds and Ends" by me.

The block is named "Odds and Ends" and it was made for a friends who is graduating from High School this year.  Her preferred colors are green and blue, and I had such a good time making it.  All of the fabrics are hand dyed, starting with either plain white for the green or a white on white fabric for the blue the left me with white feathers on the blue background

The "spoltches" are a part of the hand dye process, and when I inadvertently splashed the green fabric that was soaking as I started the blue. 

 Even with all of my careful measuring and calculating how much fabric I'd need, and then allowing an extra yard for each, I was still short on the dark blue for the binding!  Thankfully, I had some of the same fabric dyed light blue from a previous project, so used that for the little bit of leftover binding.

"Moose Be the Quilting Stars" by me

Anybody want to buy a quilt?

This quilt has been a long time coming, but has been fun all the same.  It started in Sept. 2023 when a copy of Quiltmaker magazine arrived in my mailbox.  I found this cute pattern and decided to make it.  Pulled fabrics from my stash similar to the pattern and dove in.  First part, make 13 pieced and appliqued moose blocks.  (I don't like to applique)  All the same, made the blocks, and then realized that this was done in installments, so waited for the next issue to make the rest of the quilt.  2 months later, the next issue gives clue #2 of 4! Dang!  I've got to wait to finish the quilt!  8 months later I'm ready to sew it all together and decide that I really don't like the fabrics I've chosen for the blocks,  Pull the 12 smaller ones into a quilt for an officer, and make the center block another cop quilt.  Start over again with hand dyed fabrics curated for this, choose different blocks since I wasn't happy with how many of the original ones turned out.  Including drafting a large center block.  NOW I'm ready to put it together!  Oh now, didn't read the directions, my center block is way too big.  Another cop quilt from that block, and make the correct size.  

Now that it's all together, and ready for quilting and I got to play.  Feathered wreaths in the pieced blocks and a feather background fill.  But how to quilt a moose?  While on a bike trip to Utah, there was a taxidermy moose at a restaurant, so I tried to mimic the fur and antlers of the moose there.

The quilt is oversized queen, a combination of hand dyed and commercially dyed fabrics, heirloom quilted, wool batting and hand finished binding.  If you are interested in this, please email me at Beth@eocquilting.com

 

"Baby's Star" by me

We have a new baby on the way in our family!  My husband's nephew and his wife are expecting their first baby, and I don't know if it's a boy or a girl.  So, I opted for "neutral" colors.  The background is actually seam foam green, but I ran out of dye and it's not as deep of a color as I had hoped.  I still like it though.  This next photo is of the backing, also seafoam, but a darker shade.  All of the fabrics started out as white, but I hand dyed them all.  So much fun and a new addiction for me to be involved with!

 

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!

 

"Mother Hen" by me

Several friends or family members are going to have new babies soon, and this for one of those babies.  The block is called "Hen and Chicks" and grandma of the baby says that mom likes "green and pink".  The green and the backing are two of my hand dyed fabrics.  I love to see what a white tone on tone fabric will result in once dyed.  The block fabrics are from my stash.  Such fun to pull them out.

 

"Forest Colors" by me

My biking buddy Ted has partnered with his "Sweetie" Ellen, so there needed to be something to celebrate the occasion.  I know that Ted likes darker colors, but I don't know Ellen well enough.  So I asked Ted.  His response "Forest Colors" and then pointed at a kid wearing camouflage pants."Like that."  

I hand dyed the fabrics and the pattern is from Mystery Quilts Anonymous, and the official title of the pattern is Power Glitches. 

 Since Ted and Ellen like to camp, I was thinking of a forest theme throughout.  Green trees with brown wood, blue skies, and yellow sunshine shining on the camping trip.  Quilted with Pine Tree Trio .

 

"Cat's in Space", "Quilt Biography #2", and "Victory Quilt" all by Michael

Yes, Michael, the most prolific piecer I know, has been at it again.  Here is another darling pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.  Quilted with a star panto and glow in the dark thread, and I believe that the background fabric stars glow as well.  So cute!

"Quilt Biography #2"  I love this idea!  We've all got those strings of fabric that are too large to toss, but not big enough to do anything with.  What a great idea to make a courthouse step block, and use a consistent center square.   Clearly something that needs to be my next string quilt pattern.

Michael had asked me to use the same yellow fabric that he had used for the background, as backing, but I didn't have enough of it.  So, I used some of my hand dyed fabric with white stars  for the backing.  I love this stuff!

And finally, "Victory Quilt" an Eleanor Burns pattern.  Quilted with "Stars and Stripes" panto in "Freedom" variegated thread.

 

Photo dump of my quilts

Here's a bunch of my quilts.  My friend is having a significant birthday next month, so I am "gifting" a stack of quilts to her party for people to take and give to police officers in their area.  She is the mom of Tom, so this is in support of her, as well as Tom.  

This one is called "Child's Play", from mystery quilts anonymous (MQA) Since it's child's play, I chose a quilting design that kids could look for things.  This is the Rainforest set, so all kinds of animals and birds.  Black backing and gold thread so that it would show, doesn't photograph accurately.

Parrot

Gecko and leavesComodo dragon? and a gecko

Japanese Mystery from Heart to Hand.  This is a really old quilt top that I've been waiting to quilt "until I'm good enough."  Well pooh on that, just finish it!  All computerized, and designs placed in the squares and triangles.  I would much prefer edge to edge on computer, I don't like having to reposition all the time.  Good learning for me though.

Sadly, this is called "Forgotten mystery" from MQA because I don't recall the name of the pattern.  Then when I had it totally quilted and bound, I found the huge mistake in the left corner.  Oops.  Someone will hopefully not care too much.  Quilted with City of Light panto

Eye Spy.  We all have that stack of 5" squares.  Well I finally put them to use.  A bunch of leftover small orange squares too, so there was my sashing and cornerstones."To Celebrate this Day" a wedding gift for my friend's daughter.  The pattern is really "Attic Stars" from MQA, but I've called mine something more fitting for the recipient.  All hand dyed fabrics, and so much fun!  The dark purple is Imperial purple, Bubble gum for the pink and Parakeet for the background.  All hand quided heirloom quilting.

  The backing is Mist Grey dye.  I'm loving hand dying fabrics!