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!

"Hunter's Starr" by Kathleen

This lovely quilt is made for a man who is a deep sea fisherman.  Made from blue, grey and bits of green fabrics, which mirror the colors of the Pacific Ocean.

Quilted with en E2E deisgn called "Wood Grain", but chosen because it mimics the waves and swells of the ocean.

 

9 patch sharks

Found out over thanksgiving that there will be a new baby arriving in December 2022 for the really extended family.  So, what do you do, but make a quilt?  What do the parents like?  "The Cowboys, and Sharks".  I'm hoping that this meant the Cowboys football team, as I tried go with their colors.  Sharks were easy to find a great digital design.

Again, raided the stash!

 

2 from Betty

Here we have Paintbox.  A kit from years ago.  Love the rainbow design of the colors across the top of the quilt. Quilted with "Asti" design, which someone had to point out to me is like Asti Spumante.  Oh!

And "Windmill".  I don't usually do this, but I changed thread colors for Betty without her permission.  Thankfully, she was thrilled.  Impossible to tell in this photo, but the background fabric has a lot of gold in it.  So, instead of the white thread she had chosen, I went for a gold, and it's is stunning!

 

"Ursa Major and Minor" by Michael

Oh my.  Michael is paper piecing again.  This quilt is quite large, measuring 83"x64".  So, some of the pieces are large, but when you get down to the eyes and mouths of the bears, they are back to tiny.  Amazing to have that kind of patience.  Then take into account that there are 67 different Kona fabrics in this quilt.  All solids, so there is white, a slightly different white, and yet another white.... You get the idea.

Quilted with the Optical Illusion panto which gives the bears just enough texture that it looks like fur from a distance, but is interesting to look at from close up.  

I still want to cuddle the baby bear, but maybe not with mamma standing guard.

 

Blue and Yellow stars from Janice

What a pretty quilt to work on.  Marcia is a new to me customer, and has already brought me 3 quilts to complete.  This is just the first.  She let me choose the thread and quilting design, so I went with Tiramisu on this one.  Kind of feathers but loose and works well on lots of different quilt tops.  Expect more from her very soon.

 

"Patriotic" by Marlene

This is another huge quilt, so only half gets to show.  A lovely "Trip Around the World" design with a center star.  All done in red, whites and blues.  Marlene changes her bed quilts out with the seasons, so this one will go on her bed after Memorial day.

Feather meander over the entire quilt, except for the center square which gave me a fun place to play.

 

"Made by Mom" with help from Carol

Carol is a new to me customer.  This is a quilt that Carol's mother pieced and then tied.  Since tied quilts don't usually last as long as quilted ones, the top was in great shape, not staying together anymore.  Carol asked me to finish it so that she can give it to her 1 yo grandson.

It's fun for me to see the process people go through as they are choosing how to finish their quilt.  Carol was looking through my book of designs, and she came up the "Woof" panto.  Her face lit up, and she commented that this is the one since the family that will receive the quilt has at least one, if not more dogs.

 So dog paws, bones and hearts are no quilted across this for her grandson.  Lucky kiddo to get something from great-grandma and grandma both.

"Layer Cake" by Ann

 I believe that this started out as a layer cake. (A collection of fabrics cut at 10" squares by the manufacturer".

Ann sent me an email stating "You might remember me."  We used to meet up with a biking group, so that's where I met her initially.  This quilt is for her mother for Christmas as the current quilt on mom's bed has been well loved.  I'm sure that there will be many more years of love in this quilt as well.

"Blue Heaven" by Michael

Wow.  I just got an email from Michael reminding me that I have been quilting his quilts for 10 years.  Lucky me!  

This is his latest creation, a pattern he is testing.  I love all the different blue fabrics that all blend so well.  The quilting design i called "Primitive Sky."  Perfect on this quilt.

 

 

 

"Fernwhe" by Sean

 

Sean is a new to me quilter.  I don't think that he's been quilting long, but this is the first quilt that I've quilted for him.   I'm looking forward to a long relationship with him. 

"Blue and Cream Stars" by Sara

Isn't this quilt a stunner?  All scrappy, my favorite way to quilt.

This is the backing, the pattern is called "Northern Lights"

 

"Feeling Crabby" by Sharyle

I admire people who paper piece, because I'm not one of them.

Sharyle used a product from Superior Threads called Texture Magic, which wrinkles up your fabric after washing for the textured look.  Quilted with waves so that they
can wash up over the crab legs.

 

Dresden Plate/Irish Chain by Pat

Here is another stunning quilt for a niece in Texas.  Pat's directions on the check in sheet say "Make it pretty.", so I hope we've done that.

Continuous curves in the chain blocks, lots of feathers that grow up from the bottom of the quilt along the chains and plates.

I love the continuous curves in the plates!  Curved crosshatching in the centers of the plates

 And a large loopy feather on the borders to frame it all.

"Wonky Stars" by Sue

One last Christmas quilt for Sue this year.  This one goes to her 9yo grandson who loves the "Star Wars" films. 

I love the "wonky" stars, the blocks finish at about 6", but some of the star points only show about 1/2"  I am guessing that they are paper pieced, but I will have to ask Sue.  

Quilted with "Distorted Stars" panto.


 

"Deconstructed Airplane" by Renee

 

I don't see the airplane in here, and I'm not sure I'd want to fly in one that was deconstructed.

 

I found a panto of "Jet Fighters", I recognize some shapes, but only know that they are jets  Cool design though.

 

 

"Bigfoot" by Michael

 

Oh how cute it this!?  Michael found the quilting design, can you see Sasquatch below?  Absolutely perfect for this quilt.  I'm so happy that he's making a second one.  Even if he weren't I'm sure I'd find another quilt to use it on.

 

 

"Japanese throw quilt" for Louie

I got a phone call from Louis and he said that he had a quilt that needed repair.  I was thinking patchwork, lots of holes in it, probably not salvegable.  I was srong.  The top and bacing where in great shape, but any quilting stitches to hold the batting together were long gone, and all of the cotton batt had fallen to the bottom.

I wanted Louis to find a quilting design the he liked, and sent him some ideas, none of which were right.  Then I asked him,"Please, if you can, tell me what you think of when you look at that quilt?  That will give me an idea of where to go looking for quilting ideas."

This is his response.

This quilt is probably one of thousands of its kind. It is a common dorm blanket from Kokusai Budo Daigaku, a very serious Martial Arts University in a small fishing town in Eastern Japan.

It was my dorm blanket the first year I lived there, training in Judo 4-8 hours a day every day from 2013-2014.

The following year, I had the opportunity to move to Tokyo City to pursue more training at the Kodokan, which is the source dojo of all Judo in the world.

I took the blanket from my dorm and moved three hours by train with all of my belongings into a small apartment in the city, where I lived alone and trained at many universities, schools, private practices, and of course at the Kodokan from 2014-2015. The lodging was small. Only enough room for a bed, a toilet, and a hot plate stove for cooking, but I made it work and focused on my studies.

When my time was up in 2015, I brought the blanket with me when I returned to Kokusai Budo Daigaku with the intention of leaving it at the school.

But when it came down to my last day in the country, I couldn't bring myself to leave the blanket behind. It had comforted me through so many battles and so much change.

In the end, I see this quilt as a representation of a major chapter in my lifelong study of Budo, or the Martial Path. It represents acceptance, comfort, change, and of course reminds me of the many battles I fought against the hundreds and hundreds of nameless opponents I faced every day I lived and trained in Japan. The moments alone. The endless train rides. Tokyo City nights. Snow. Warmth.

When I look at this blanket, I think of all of those times and what they mean to me.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Thank you,

-Louie

 

 

I was hoping to be able to save the batting, but when I looked at it a second time, nope, not even for a donation quilt.  So, that's gone to the bag of fabric donation.  I had a blue backing fabric almost the same color as the original, so that was the new backing, and then used the original backing to make a new binding.  I hope that this will provide Louie with many more years of memories.  What a lovely story, and the amazing people that you get to meet through this business.

 

Cathedral Window by Quinn

Oh my, this quilt is a stunner.  What makes it even more amazing is that this is Quinn's second quilt.  Wow.  He's going to go places.

When I think Cathedral Window, I think of small blocks of folded fabric, so this was a new twist for me.  There are a couple of parts where he had to topstitch down curves, and it is impeccable. (Wish mine was that good)

Two "Yellow Brick Road" quilts by Kathy

 I've never made this quilt pattern, but now I see why it's so popular.  Take a collection of fat quarters and voila!  A fun twin sized quilt.  Or in this case, 2 of them.  Slightly different, but in the same color scheme.
This is the backing of one quilt.  Nothing like using up your scraps to create a backing.