I LOVE BROWN

Last Christmas my quilting friends had a beige and brown exchange. We ended up with 40 6" squares, enough for a small quilt but I had a larger one in mind. I added more light, medium and dark beige/browns from my sash and my sister's to make 145 squares with sashing. This will be another king size wedding quilt for my grandnephew.

The pattern I followed ("Illusion In Neutrals" BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting, Dec. 2009, pg. 94) instructed you to sew the sashing around the square before cutting the diagonal. By doing this corners had extra seams and bulk. Knowing that I would have to be careful with the bias, I chose to cut the triangles first, add the strips and then cut the angles at the tips.

The lightest combinations are arranged at the center. Moving out, combinations of lights and mediums are added next. 

I am now sewing medium and dark squares. They will be arranged in 2 rows all around. More to come.

"ANNABETH"

I'm a Grandmother for the 4th time and blessed with a perfect little girl. Each son now has 2 kids each, 2 boys for Tim and 2 girls for Andy. Of course I was making her a quilt while we were awaiting her arrival. I left a space to embroider her name, weight and birth day once she came.

I attend a senior class once a week. When someone wants to rid themselves of unwanted scraps or stash fabric, they leave it out for anyone to take. Most of the reproduction flour sack prints in this quilt came from those donations. They were small squares, strips and cut flowers. Using some of the left overs from big sister's quilt, I had enough to make this quilt.

"TEA TIME"

This table runner has been on my wish list for a long time. I found a quilt book Cups and Saucers by Maaike Bakker, on the SALE rack and immediately knew I wanted to use this idea. Unlike the book, I chose to applique the images rather than paper piece. I added some other images that a friend shared with me.

My husband and I travel a lot, many times on a cruise. This last trip lasted for 35 days with more days at sea than in port. I planned to take this project for those restful days. Unable to bring an iron nor wanting to use that technique, I used a glue stick to tack the edges under (Tutorial). This has been a very successful and easy way to prep my applique in the past. I was able to complete both turning the edges and hand applique before disembarking. The hand quilting was done during the last month while waiting for our newest granddaughter.