Quilts from Two Exchanges

For the last 3 years my quilting friends have participated in an exchange at Christmas of fabric squares. Year one was black and white prints, year two was beiges and browns and last year was circles and swirls. Each of 20 friends brought 2 piles of 8" squares of each type. The beiges and browns became a king size wedding quilt with additions from my stash. 

The black and white top was made with no one in mind and hung in my closet for 3 years. I chose to use the pattern "Chop Stix Strips" that was shared in our quilt class. My friends and I had already used this pattern for a retiree's quilt. 

A good friend's daughter is getting married this fall and it will be the perfect wedding gift for a modern girl. This goal gave me the incentive to sandwich and finish machine quilting it.

The "CIRCLES & SWIRLS" quilt turned out to be very bright and striking. The only guidelines for fabric choices were no poke-a-dots so the color choices were wide open. The challenge was to coordinate the colors in each square. Again I supplemented a few circles and swirls from my stash.

I chose a free pattern from McCall's called "Spice Market", a modified log cabin. I added the last black strip to the block to separate the squares and set off the colors.

This quilt will be a gift to my husband's secretary who is retiring this fall.

"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.

"RIDING THE RAILS"

After completing a quilt for my younger son, the oldest asked me to make him one. He requested a vintage train theme. I began my search online finding the cost of shipping really adding up so I asked my friends to be on the lookout. They came through. I also searched every shop I visited. Soon I came up with a variety of train fabrics.

I love the challenge of coming up with my own design, putting together different size prints and tying it together with coordinating fabrics. I modeled it after an airplane themed quilt I designed for my husband. 

 I machine quilted each area following the outline of the images, pattern of the fabric or the block design. 

(You can click on the images to enlarge and see the stitching.)

This train track fabric made the perfect border.

I backed it with cozy shirt flannel.

"GO DUKE"

In honor of my son receiving tenure at Pepperdine University, I made this quilt in the colors of his graduate school, Duke University, where he spent the first 7 years of his marriage earning his doctorate and where our grandson, Benjamin, was born.

Although the strips are straight, the arrangement gives it an optical illusion of curves.

"D" is for the Duke Blue Devils with its outstanding basketball team and coach "K".

I machine quilted triple diagonals and hand embroidered my congratulations.

The pattern came from Best of the Best Quilts by Leslie Beck, 

pg. 106, called "Autumn Lights".

Collaborative Quilts

I.  Jigsaw Puzzle (designed by Alyssa Clancy)

Every year my church quilting group makes a quilt to raffle at the Women"s Retreat to support Women's Ministries at Pomona Baptist Church. 

The theme this years was "70's".
We went into our stash and combined
oranges, pinks and greens for this retro look.

II.  Chop Stix Strips

The retired teachers from my former school have continued the tradition of making quilts for retirees which we started while we were still working at South Pointe Middle School. We see each other twice a week to work on our own projects but also to plan and piece these two quilts.

Claudia, English and ESL teacher, is moving to Arizona. We took the colors for her quilt from the tile in her new house.

III.  Simply Cakes 1.2.3 (Me and My Sister Designs)

I found these fabrics that reminded me of 50's prints and knew they were perfect for my friend Marsha, who is retiring this year. She has been part of our teacher quilter's group from the beginning and has helped make all the retiree quilts. We will miss her since she will also be moving to Prescott, Arizona but we are already planning a gals quilting retreat to her new home.

"SIMPLY CAKES"

Lauren, my grandniece, is ready for a grown up quilt. 

This modern design by Me and My Sister Designs was the perfect choice. The design looks best with bold prints. Although the pattern was designed to use cake layers sold in coordinating colors and patterns, I chose my own fabrics. 

 Burrito

The other night Lauren and her sister Lilly decided to spread out all the quilts I've made for them for movie night. It tickles me to know that they love them all.

"EYE SPY"

 This quilt started as a class challenge. We exchanged 60 5" squares for a variety of prints. The original design called for black background but I wanted a lighter, youthful feel for my granddaughter, Grace, on her first birthday. Pictured here is our grandson, Benjamin (6yr), finding all the insects, candy, animals, etc.