Quilt Transition...

The quilt I started here in November as a Halloween idea, turned into a Christmas gift when I finished quilting it just before Christmas...I kind of like "sending them off" when the quilting is done...





on to the next...

Baby Book Quilt...

LeeAnn is right...the stuff we see as children DOES influence us. Last summer I found my son's first book...a cloth baby book that had been much washed and was shredding a bit. I took out the binding seam and discovered it was one long piece of fabric with the images printed on it. I just cut them up and made some blocks not worrying about the goose's lost head or the stain on the dog block. It will be my New Year's at the beach quilting project!

Polyester Double Knit Quilt

Today was half-off-everything day at Goodwill. Couldn't pass that up, could I? I found this quilt, made entirely of polyester double knit. The price for this relic was a whopping $12.50.




I was trying to remember exactly when these fabrics were so popular. Then I found the 74 embroidered in the corner. I love those avocado yarn ties. The backing and binding are a polyester drapery fabric, in tasteful avocado also.

My grandmother used to teach "Sewing with Knits" at our local community college in Oregon. The class was very popular. She made all sorts of garments for the whole family. I remember a pink suit for my grandfather! I got swimsuits and bell-bottoms in every color of the rainbow.



Looks like Malti approves!

Holly Block, 10"x12"

From the JUNIPER AND MISTLETOE, by Menaugh and Brackman, Kansas City Star Quilts. Previously published as "Festival of Trees" by Sunflower Pattern Cooperative.

This is a tough pattern to do in machine applique. All of my friends have done it needle-turn. It has been very popular in Western Washington, a land of lots of trees.

Pinecone Garland for Winter Solstice

Top: Pinecone Garland for Winter Solstice, 2005, 56"x 80"

Middle:Pinecone Plaid, 2010, 22"x 22"

Bottom: Pinecone wreath I made for the garden, 2009

A sale fabric from P&B printed in 1999 called Pinecone Garland was the starting point for this quilt. I've long been fascinated by the curving cones of the Eastern White Pine and strung them together as garlands in my 1888 Victorian house when I lived in Kansas City, MO. Finding this image printed on fabric stimulated me to buy 1 1/2 yards of the sale fabric. Two years later, inspired by the Jan Krentz book The New Lone Star, I pulled fabric together to compliment the colors in the border print of the garland fabric. I was severely challenged to create this 56"x 80"quilt with the fabric on hand. Machine quilted on my 1971 Bernina #830 from Sally LeBeouf.

In fact, the second 22"x 22" piece is formed from the remnants of the first quilt. I hand quilted it this June, adding the vintage mother of pearl buttons to brighten it up and to mark fall and winter equinox and winter and sunner solstice. No more of this favorite fabric remains. If you ever see it anywhere, please buy it for me!

To make this pinecone wreath, I wired the cones to a purchased wire wreath base. It will last several years even exposed to the elements year round.

Confetti... Before and After

  

 A wall hanging made out of scraps of solids.

Hand quilted with Perle Cotton.

Finished quilt measures 22" X 32"

Zhivago Medallion

My favorite Christmas quilt. Started with Alexander Henry Zhivago Collection fabrics and grew from there. Quilted by Karen Kielmyer of Bella Vista, AR. Wool batting creates trapunto look, Made about 2005.

First this, then that!

Shared scraps... two great quilts

inspirational

So many things inspired me at the rebel visit...

Sally's First Quilt

 A backing fit for a front...

 Gorgeous cultural fabrics

 

 Nifty scrap tulips

And a walk down tobacco road.

I took a lot more pictures...

if you don't mind me showing them.

What is a Scrapbook Quilt?

Top: Richmond,1898 61"x 76"

Bottom: Union Made, 48"x 50"

Scrapbook quilts are full of memories and mementoes of our lives. Scrapbook quilts include signature quilts, memory quilts, timespan quilts, photo quilts and more. One of mine is a Lone Star quilt I did in reproduction fabrics imagining it was a quilt my Grandmother Coghill could have made with her sisters. I called it Richmond, 1898 because Richmond, VA was their home town. My scrapbook quilts include memory quilts in honor of my mother (two posted earlier), timespan quilts using vintage feedsacks and vintage blocks as well as signature quilts.

Probably the most obvious example of a scrapbook quilt is my quilt "Union Made." I cut apart the jacket of my 1980s TWA flight attendant uniform, added photos and quilt blocks to create a scrapbook without pages. Another quilt features palm trees reminiscent of my childhood in Miami Springs, FL. From doll quilts to full size quilts you can create with your own photos and scraps and leftover blocks and, of course, your memories.

To make your own scrapbook quilt, gather your possibilities. Choose a focus or starting point and use a design-as-you-go process. I strongly recommend using a design wall to lay things out and move them around. It is an adventure in possibilities! Scrapbook quilts record our stories using fabric, lace, buttons and other embellishments. Perhaps you'll be inspired to pull together unused blocks or family blocks to combine with photographs (on fabric) and other treasures to make a scrapbook quilt. Once completed you can call yourself a "visual historian".