Happy 2wenty Thr3e...

I knew I wanted to make a quilt for my dear friend, Kelsey. Back in June, I found this fabric on Etsy—antique cameras—one of the things she collects. I started with this as my base and found more fabric from the moda line 2wenty Thr3e and added some Comma and Fandango. I loved the bright and cheerful colors and prints. They so reflect Kelsey's beautiful personality.

A couple of weeks before, Wanda gave me a couple Villa Rosa Designs cards, and one of them (Intrigue) seemed perfect for this project. The pattern for our Oklahoma City Modern Quilt Guild's raffle quilts for Oklahoma tornado relief was graciously donated by Villa Rosa Designs (Tulsa Town). 

I got the whole thing put together and tried doing a little something different with the backing. I'd already bought the yardage so was a bit limited in options. I finally got around to asking Kelsey how old she was going to be this year. TWENTY-THREE! Well, it was all meant to be and I played it up to the hilt.

Again, Wanda quilted this for me. I loved the vines of hearts. Finally, I had lots of fun with the label on the back and the tiny piece of printed selvage appliqued to the front. I had so much fun making this quilt for an absolutely wonderful person! I love you Kelsey!

Consolation prize...

Back in May, before giving this quilt to a friend (she was right, it DOES go with the colors in her new house!), I decided to make this next one for myself. It's one of the first times I saw a quilt top at Quiltworks and immediately bought the pattern and the fabric on the spot. The pattern is Off Track, and the fabric is combined lines from Parson Gray (Curious Nature and Seven Wonders). Oddly enough, I'd bought a few fat quarters of these lines in December 2012 and more in March 2013. I'd certainly say the look grew on me.

Once I got the top pulled together, I had the thought that it would be perfect for another friend of mine who has a real appreciation for great color and texture. Wait! This is the one to take the place of the last one I just gave away. I've still got it but it may find itself heading west, someday.

Wanda also quilted this one for me. I am just loving having someone do the quilting. By the time I get to that point, I am ready to have it done and am happy to let someone who knows what they're doing and can get it done quickly, for not too much expense, finish it off. I am a bit on a kick of using orange-red for binding these days.

What's next? Kelsey's Birthday Quilt!

Trifecta...

(Forgot to post this on August 22nd!)

Three quilts done, Done, DONE!

One was finished and delivered on July 12. Another given as a birthday present on July 14. And, for now, the third one's MINE!

I started the first one earlier this year. You've seen it here before. People on Facebook are probably sick of seeing it. What's really changed is that I decided to give it to a friend AND I found someone to do the machine quilting. I didn't realize what a huge difference this single factor would make in my output.

I met Wanda Pinkerton-Holley quite by accident. I was at Savage Quilter for some fabric and Wanda was in there offering to quilt some charity quilts shortly after the May 20th tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma. She recently moved her home and business, Expressions in Quilting, from the the Wichita area to be closer to her daughter and grandbaby. Because I'd only had one other quilt quilted by someone else (Stars over Bali Skies BOM), I was not first-hand experienced with edge-to-edge computer-generated quilting until I visited with Wanda in early June. Within only a few weeks, she did these three for me! If 'done is better than perfect,' nothing's better than DONE!

I've got another in the works, just delivered to the quilter. I'm trying Wendy Wells, who has done lots of the model quilts at Quiltworks. I saw one the other day, and the interlocking circles pattern was perfect for my herringbone top. That'll be my next post.

(I'll show some details of these three, plus the fourth, in my post.)

T-shirt quilt...

This was the first I've ever done. When my friend, Denise, said she'd saved all of her daughter's T-shirts since she was little and wondered if I knew how to make a T-shirt quilt, I figured—sure. The learning curve wasn't too steep. Some parts of the process were definitely easier than others.

Part of my process is to layout my design on my computer first. I took photos of all the fronts and backs I was going to use. After I figured out some consistent measurements, I chose which designs/colors would be where. I presented Denise and Kayleigh the computer images for their approval. The chosen layout was without the sashing and border (bottom image).

Once I got all of the shirts cut, I adhered each knitted panel to fusible interfacing to stabilize each panel. After that, I joined together each column of panels and then each row together. And this is where it started getting heavy. Ah, ha. Add to that a layer of fleece (used as batting, and another layer of fleece for the backing, and you get one rather ungainly mass of fabric. After a couple of hit-and-miss tries (read: stitching and ripping out), I wound up hand-basting the entire quilt sandwich together. I think  this totaled ten rows of basting—multiple runs horizontally, diagonally, and vertically. And though that was a bit time consuming, it made quilting all the layers together much easier. I just stitched-the-ditch and called it done. I found I also need to make my binding narrower. This one wrapped a little wide over the backing. Somewhere along the line, I got the idea I needed to make 3" binding. After further investigation, I think 2.25" might work better.

Anyway, here's the finished piece. I appreciated them waiting over 90 days from start to finish. Rumor has it, another one of their family members wants a T-shirt quilt, too. Because I 'gifted' my labor, I have no idea how much I'd charge for something like this. Early in the process, I was thinking, while I was on a roll, I wanted to make one for myself. After I was done, I decided I needed a break.

Poppies...

Just wanted to get these posted so I could link to them on Pinterest. I started these in May 2010. The first ones were made from red and yellow Post-it Notes. From there, I pretty much just stuck with variations on the theme. I bought a bunch of artificial 'silk' poppies and used some of their leaves and reproductive parts. I had lots of fun with these. I still want to make some with organza and tulle.

I suspect I started these back when Gwen was creating some pretty special azalea blossoms. She's always such inspiration! Okay, friends, I scoured through her blogs and found I was inspired to make paper flowers by the one on 23 April 2010. Thinking back, I think this was a time I knew of Gwen, and remembered Naomi from a few years back, but before we got reacquainted later in 2010. Wow! Sometimes you think you've known friends forever and then you realize it's only been weeks or months or years. I treasure my bouquet of friends, always!