Part #1 America the Beautiful

This is part one in a series of 6 of 'America the Beautiful' sampler Quilt from McCall's Quilt magazine 2011. There are four of us doing this using only our stash. We have given ourselves a year if we need it. It is challenging because you are tempted to purchase that 'right' material.You can see the finished quilt on the sidebar.The names are 'Fields Block'...'Shining Sun Block'...'Barn Block'....Designed by Lynn Lister.

Sampler Plus-Tacoma Challenge

Our quilt group had a drawing to receive 9 blocks and we could finish off any way we decided. These will be finished and displayed at the State of Maine Quilt show in July. I chose to add one more block and then use embroidered flowers that I had purchased at an auction a few years ago, which were made by a fellow quilter in my chapter.

I cut these down to 4" to showcase these as a center for this quilt.

Size is 51" x 65". Great to have it finished!!!

BOM Mini quilt

This is the first in a series of Monthly Mini quilts. 

Designed by Amy Heaton for Coun'try Junk'tion. The nose and Big Button are heavy heat 'n bond. All the other pieces are put on with lite heat 'n bond and then button hole stitched. It was a fun project. Heard about it on Quilt for Us.. I am a member. 

New Great-grandson

Had to show off my new great-grandson. My son's first grand child...9 lbs 5 oz. Nathaniel Xavier. BIG BEAUTIFUL BOY!!! Born yesterday Dec. 20....

December Finishes

This is a purse for my grand-daughter's 16th Birthday last week. She picked out the material. Design by Barb D. There are removable handles so you can interchange different purses. Very popular by those who has seen it. Bags for Great-granddaughters for Christmas. They have 3-D glasses that come with them and the fish look like they are swimming. Pretty neat!!
A quick baby quilt for a family at my church who are waiting for a son to be born.
A popular Strippy quilt. I have made several at different times...this one has little chicks for the focus fabric. Check out the backing(below)...wonderful!!!


This is the backing...elephants, hippo's and giraffe's. Colorful and perfect for a boy!

These were purchased fleece and made borders and put the children's names on each one and used fancy stitching. A quick fun project for a couple of kids 9 and 12.

That is it for the year at least the ones that are finished. Of course I have several waiting to be done as always...

"Nature's Rhythms" This is Clothworks collection by Johnny Karwan. A free download and decided I needed to do this...It is waiting to be quilted but I so enjoyed picking out the fabrics. Really like the dimensional look it has.

Size 54" x 57" "Christmas Cardinals" I really liked the pattern but not the original fabric used in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. November/December 2011. I was on a shop hop with my quilt group and saw these cardinals with a black background and then I built in my own coloring. Original design by Betty New....www.bettynew.com - size 18" x 52"

Close-up....I will be hand quilting around the cardinals and not exactly sure how I will finish it off.

Sparkling Stars Quilt

I began this in 2009 as a Block of the Month designed by Judy Laquidara and it has set in my UFO pile. I was very intimidated by the zig zag border. But finally dug it out and decided I could do it. I paper pieced the border with the instruction of 'how to' and it was time consuming but very easy. There are 7 borders but it is done and I am very satisfied with it. It is 92" x 92" and I had a friend Ann quilt it for me. It will be in the West Gardiner quilt show this weekend.

Baby Quilt

I bought this baby quilt as a kit at the Maine Quilt Show in July. A great little gift for a baby girl. I was able to match the pink for the back. (This is a close up. Below is 29" x 35". Perfect for a carriage or bassinet. I had fun doing it.

Sashiko - Flag Runner

At the Maine quilt show I saw patterns called Sashiko by Pat. Of course they were displayed with beautiful Japanese fabrics. I purchased this one Chrysanthemum part of the Circle Series. It is just a basic running stitch. A no-brainer...I really enjoyed the process and then I added the stitches 1/4" from edge and framed it with some material from my stash.

This is a a Flag Table Runner. A friend did it and I just liked the look of it and had the material in my stash. I did everything on the machine except for the buttons. I took 2 buttons ...a beige and a star red button and put them together.

This was a challenge for me...I am a quilter at heart and usually find projects like this challenging. But, nevertheless I finished it and I like it hanging better than as a table runner...Farmyard Creations...Karla Eisenach 2001

Baby Quilt

What do you do on a really hot day in Maine when the temp is in the high 90's and high humidity. You stay where the AC is and head for the quilt studio. I have just organized everything changing some things around and what a joy to sew now. I found these 5" blocks and decided to just sew them together and then it took off from there. You will notice the inside borders are not the same...I used what I call 'funky' material and also backed it with that. It is really cuter than it is in photo...babies love 'bright'. Feels good when I finish a project.

Pillow Cases for J & J quilts

I have been very busy re-doing my quilt studio...took out a rug and couch...purchased a 5 shelf bookcase/plastic bins and I finally have everything in place. Amazing what I found .....lots of unfinished projects. It has been a great experience..now I know what 'I have'. There are enough projects to last me the rest of my life. Now I am ready to get going.
These are my finished pillow cases to go with the quilts for the twins, Josh and Jake....their birthdays are Sept. 1.

Stack 'n Whack & BQ2 (2)

These have been in process and finally finished quilting and binding them. Brown/Turquoise is a stack 'n whack....did my own thing on it... I have twin grandsons and they wanted a quilt for their twin beds...it is BQ2 pattern. They both picked out their fabric. This is Joshua's and he chose motor bikes with blue/brown that looked like wood...he said it looked like a boy.

This is the back so it can be used both sides.This is Jacob's with a baseball glove/bat.

The background is map of US...(not true to placement)take note of the lobster (Maine)

Christmas Fantasy & Windmill Frenzy

Our Tacoma Quilt group finally had reveal day...Above is 'Christmas Fantasy' . It was a mix and match wall hanging. There were 5 elements. Theme: Christmas; Block: Sawtooth Star; Fabric: Plaid; Embellishment: Ribbon;. Nineteen of our group did them and had different choices that they drew. It is 24" sq.

Twelve of us finished this 35" wall hanging below. This was our mystery quilt that we received instructions over a 4 mo. period. We did not know what it was going to look like until the last instruction. Original name is "O Tacoma" by our Pres. Barb who designed it in EQ7. I decided to rename mine 'Windmill Frenzy'. It reminded me of windmills and I was frenzied a lot of the time...smile!!!

These were both fun to do. You can check out the rest of the designs on our blog for Tacoma Quilters

Black 'n White Mats

I really enjoy using the disappearing 9-patch. My washer and drier are in the kitchen which is black and white and this has added a wonderful touch. These are made from 9 patch using 5". You sew them together and cut in half and turn them the way that appears good to the eye. It is a delightful pattern and very easy to create.

Snowstorm April 1,2011

Camera set on wrong date..APRIL 1, 2011 SNOWSTORM Pics taken at 11:00am

Squares the Center Finished!

Finally finished 'Squares the Center'. This is the mystery quilt that was downloaded on Super Sunday 2011. I added an extra row on the bottom (shown on its side) to enlarge it. These primary colors are out of my comfort zone but do like it. Chose a very colorful backing with stripes and dots that match these colors. PlanetPatchwork by Diane Designs. Size 72" x 64"

Quilt Carry Bag

This is a Jelly roll Quilt Carry Bag done at a workshop for our quilt group....Takes 26 2 1/2" strips. I used a zipper in the top ....fill with quilts.....cords in the side to pull tight....Approx. 33" wide. Very easy to make and great to have something to carry my quilts to groups.
"Quilt Carry Bag", from the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott

Disappearing 9-patch

I heard about this technique 'disappearing 9-patch'. I had just purchased these fabrics in 1/2 yd cuts. I was ready for Spring colors and this was so much fun to do. The concept is built on 5" charm packs but I did not want to do something big so cut into 3" . You make a 9-patch and then make 2 cuts and then begin to turn them the way you like them. 18" finished.

I tried this 'disappearing 4-patch'. You make 4 cuts on this one after you make the 4 patch and then turn 4 pieces. Amazing what happen...will experiment more with it. This would be great in lots of colors....red/white....black/white....so much potential!!

Diminutive Vessel finished!!

This is my Diminutive Vessel that I did as a mystery quilt New Years day with Planet Patchwork. It is 35", a very nice size for my round kitchen table. Instead of cutting the corners off I just fold them under as I have a glass top. Looks great!! I quilted on my short arm and really like how it came out.

Twins Quilts - 12 yrs old

This is BQ2 by http://www.mapleislandquilts.com/ . My grandson, Joshua went with me one day to the quilt shop and saw the focus fabric with bikes and said, 'I want a quilt' so we found a pattern and he chose 2 fabrics that he said that looked like a boy. I tried to get him to the 'on sale' fabric but he did not see anything he wanted. He was insistent that these fabrics looked like a boy. He had them chosen in 15 Min's. ..amazing and lots of fun for me to watch him. He is all boy and like the trucks, trains, helicopters etc. I was at one of the kids basketball game and he turned to me and asked me 'have you got my quilt done'. Now I have to get it quilted.

His brother, Jacob wanted Red and Orange and I have been thinking about what to do. This was a mystery quilt that I did with planet patchwork. It is called 'Squares the Center' by Diane. When I saw it I thought great coloring.The black has multicolor dots with orange so will add. Now to decide how to make it bigger.