"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".

"HEXAGON JEWELS" Wedding Quilt #7

This quilt will be set aside for Lauren's wedding day, age 10, my sister's granddaughter.

On my bucket list was to make a kaleidoscope quilt. I found this book, Precision Patchwork for Scrap Quilts by Jeannette Muir, in a used book store with 8 different hexagon designs.

 I had already purchased (on sale) these coordinating fabrics with stripes, repetitive prints and large focus designs. It took larger amounts of fabric because they needed to be fussy cut. The finishing touch that tied it all together were the triangles, an idea that came from Eleanor Burns. 

My goal is to make all of these wedding quilts queen or king size and to hand quilt them. So far so good. 

There was only 6 yards of the perfect backing fabric so "killed 2 birds with one stone";  I was able to use up left overs and add to the width of the backing. 

"IRORI" Wedding Quilt #6

"IRORI", Japanese for the recessed hearth in traditional homes. These open fire pits are surrounded by tatami mats, arranged in auspicious pattern. This modified Log Cabin pattern came from one of my favorite books EAST QUILTS WEST, by Kumiko Sudo. I was able to use the last of my vintage and modern fabrics from Japan mixed with US fabrics that resemble Japanese style prints.

This wedding quilt is for my grandnephew, Adam, age 10. 

I am working on quilts for my sister's 7 and my 3 grandchildren. I've been making them now while my health is good and my hands still work. They are stored in breathable bags and marked with each child's name. Each one is meant to be an heirloom therefore I have chosen traditional designs. I know they will be appreciated because each of these children have received multiple quilts from me and they are used, loved and new ones requested as they have grown into their next stage of childhood.

Like the others, this quilt is King size, machine pieced and hand quilted. The border is quilted with pearl cotton in Sashiko style and designs.