Kaffe Scraps/Hawaiian Vintage 75"x 76"

More Kaffe scraps, sparked with Alexander Henry vintage and other Hawaiian fabrics. Colors really more intense than photo. The flash has dulled them some. We haven't had much sun this summer, and I have to use flash.

Patty H. Show & Tell, Rebels, May 26, 2010

Amish Impressions

A Perfect Storm (lightening/Zigzag)

Please read about this journey here.

Nifty Quilts response to Gee's Bend Show in Tacoma, a couple of years ago

That was about the time we realized what treasure was to be found at thrift markets.

X and O Top, 70"x70"

Made from Kaffe and other scraps by paper piecing. Started in Freddy Moran workshop, October 09.

Eye-Dazzler by Nifty Quilts left, and Buffy right

These are our Anna Williams inspired quilts, hung "side by each" for fun. The solids vs. the prints!

Rebels, 6/23/10, Patti goes to thrift market

She has gifted me with a stack of these shirt fronts, and I'm finding the grayed palette a challenge. It will be an ongoing challenge for both of us. There is lots of this fabric. She has only used the sleeves, and gets 2 blocks and a left over triangle from one sleeve. Oh my!

Hawaiian Shirts Rule!

I finally finished quilting the Hawaiian-shirt-baby-quilt and delivered it to the expectant Mom a week before the baby was due..NOT my usual M.O. Now I've started working on the state of Oregon quilt...more on that later. Just wanted to publish "homage" to nifty...my teacher in all quilt-related things.

Hawaiian Shirt Quilt

This one was a "commission" for my friend's daughter, Janet, and her partner, Jen. They are two young professionals living in NYC. It was fun to see their color palate emerge as they chose their favorite shirts from my stash. Then I added new fabrics to fill out the mix. It will be sent out for quilting, at their expense--yea! My payment will be dinner at their Brooklyn apartment someday--double yea!

Quilting/Recording Studio

This is how my quilting studio looked on Saturday. My son's band made it into a recording studio. Thankfully, it's all cleaned up now!

Tina's Guatemalan

Dot Crazy

Flower Pot

I was too frustrated for some unknown reason! Needed to have a quick fix! Here is what made me happy!

Large flowers are old Alexander Henry Fabric. I took advantage of it's black background and framed it with Kona black. The pot was leftover patch from the Ferris Wheel Quilt. 

This really was an easy fix!

I used bias binding to work around the curvy edge of the quilt. I had a strata left from a previous quilt so I cut bias strips from that. Makes it look like it was work piecing the binding!

Patty H. Show & Tell, Rebels, May 26, 2010

Paper piecing with and without walking foot

Upper block without walking foot. I used the 1/4" foot. The paper moves faster than the piece. The resultant disparity causes the curl. I noted this when I did a similar block with the pieces going crosswise. It is much worse with the longer pieces.

Lisa Jenni, Convergence Quilt

Problem: How to quilt????

Inspired by Anna Williams

Roberta McAbee, design class project

Rebels, Ann Lindquist

What do you do with all those quilts?

Do you have some of those friends that come to your house and admire your quilts, and then say, "But what do you DO with them all?" This question always renders me speechless. So I began to wonder myself. What DO I do with them all?

Well, after giving one or two to each relative, donating some to charity, dressing each bed with at least three, and reserving a pile for picnics and cold spells, I tend to put them all over the living room. It's a good thing my husband doesn't mind!

What do YOU do with all those quilts?

Old Lone Star

This quilt top belongs to a friend. The star is hand-pieced. It had been sewn to an old white sheet. I changed the background for her. I love the colors in this one!

Stack...and comments...

I learned on the help line that one reason I can't post comments on this blog is that I'm using a mac. That's as far as I got. Love the intensity of Nifty's red quilt and am so delighted to see Sujata's family examples, though that reverse applique is way too much...yikes.

Last week my show of paintings and work on paper opened at the Bush Barn Art Center where I've been artist in residence since February.



The gallery curator wanted 3D work, but I don't do that so I brought in a stack of quilts. It turns out they are way too tempting...everyone wants to untie the bundle and buy the quilts. In October Kay and I are going to have a small show of quilts...a "quilted Conversation" as it were.

reverse applique

This is a king size coverlet made with two pieces of whole cloth. 

  These patterns are also found carved in wooden and stone windows in rural India and old architectures like temples and palaces.

Simplicity at it's finest!

A quilt in my office

This week I hung this quilt in my office, and decided I really like small wall quilts. I love the way the lighting shows off the stitching.

Goodbye Lone Star

Today I will give this quilt to my step-mother, as a wedding gift for she and her new husband. I made it in a Freddy Moran class. Lesson #1: You go to a Freddy Moran workshop and you come out with a Freddy Moran quilt.

Wow!

I was only gone for three weeks but it seems like I missed out a lot! You all have been very busy! It has been a treat to come back to these gorgeous quilts! This is what I saw one morning looking out from my brother's home!

Must Make Pennies

Here's the inspiration

Nifty Quilts does a strippy

Buffy's Quilt from Gwen Marston Workshop

Done without ruler or rotary cutter for fun. Applique done before workshop for head start.

Cat motif from Dover book on Folk Art from India.

BONNIE'S GWEN MARSTON WORKSHOP QUILT

Vintage Wheels, 67"x66"

Inspired by similar quilt in early Kaffe Fassett book. He made his version from antique blocks. This has vintage scraps, friends scraps, and a few pieces from stash. Background from Goodwill.

Circles are pieced into background and into each other, thanks to technique learned in Ricky Tims workshop, last summer. Red centers are machine applique.

Tina's Quilt from Marston Workshop on Solids, March 2010

Cool Idea...

At the Portland Modern Quilt Guild last night this terrific young woman stood up with a show and tell. She got the idea from watching that modeling/design show called Runway something or other. One of the guys on the show was making extensive gathers and that gave her this idea. She got the red and black striped fabric and just made kind of gathers or pleats, sewing each square at the side. She said it took about 6 yards of fabric to make this quilt. Very original.

Thrift Market Neighborhood, 59"x76"

Inspired by Thrift Market Houses, a quilt in collection of Beverly Dunivent. That was the quilt that started me on the thrift market quest. Made house blocks a couple of years ago, mostly from thrift market shirts, and found the setting fabric only recently. It is a furnishing fabric and appears to have been a tablecloth in its first life.

Reluctant Log Cabin 42 x 47"

This is inspired by one in the book, Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest, The Sara Miller Collection, by Smucker, Crews and Welters.

Guatemalan Pillow II, 16"x16"

Started with soiled, stained, frayed huipil (we-peel). Washed, soaked in BIZ, taken apart and ready to use. Combined sleeve section with 2 small strips of hand woven fabric, purchased from Priscilla Bianchi, and a larger piece of solid hand woven for pillow. Fun to do a 2 day project. Wasn't so long ago that it took me a year to hand piece a quilt and another year to hand quilt it. Now what happens to other sleeve piece, and the main central piece? These huipiles are woven on backstrap looms and the pattern is a weft inlay, a very labor intensive process. An individual woman might only own one or two of these blouses, and wear them for many years. Laundry is done in a lake or stream as a community activity. The neck on this huipil has a sunburst of embroidery. The black area is a small placket with a snap.

Guatemalan Inspired Silk pillow I

Guatemalan hand woven textiles from museum. I really liked this folk art motif. Pillow inspired by the museum textiles and made from a thrift market silk blouse. The buttons and pockets are on the back. I wanted some white images too, but no thrift market silk in white, yet.

Pillow for the office

I found a stray block from a class with Kaffe Fassett called "Square Clamshell." It took about 30 minutes to make it into a pillow cover. Today I'm going to place it in my therapy office. This is a big deal for me. So far, my office has been decorated nicely, but with very little of my personality. Therapy is supposed to be about the client, not about me. Right? But now I'm exploring ways to bring the two big arenas of my life together--therapy and quilting. I've told a few clients that I do quilting for relaxation. I doubt they'll notice the pillow. But it will be nice for me to see it there.