POSTAGE STAMP Wedding Quilt #8

I finished hand quilting this wedding quilt for my grand nephew, Jack. He is only 10 but my goal is to make a queen or king quilt for each of my 4 grandchildren and my sister's 7. They range in age from 13 to 2 weeks. I have 3 more to make. 

The white spaces were quilted with a traditional motif. 

For the rest of the quilt, I followed the diagonal points of the squares, quilting every other row. I thought I would quilt every row but I soon realized that I didn't have the stamina nor did I think it was necessary.

 It's fun to look at the fussy cut squares and

 find the prints pictured.

I read online when storing quilts, they should be folded on the basis to avoid permanent creases. They are also stored in fabric bags (never plastic). I use large complementary laundry bags from hotels. 

"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. 

Planning Stage

I saw this quilt hanging in a quilt shop. I received the book for Christmas and have been waiting for the right person to make it for. Kerry and John are the daughter and son-in-law of our best friends. They are great kids and were made for each other. When they moved into their newly renovated craftsman home, I asked if I could make them a king quilt.

These are the focus fabrics I've found for the block centers. Each one will be repeated 3 to 5 times. Are there any in the group you would recommend not using. I still have another shopping trip on Monday and I chance to find more.



Here's the stack of complements to use in the borders and sashing. Again do you have any suggestions.

"IRISES and PEONIES"

As I've said before, my daughter-in-law loves purple. She also loves large bloom flowers. When she graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, I made this lap quilt for her. The pattern, Circles of the East, was presented by my Adult Ed. teacher but the applique technique was passed on to me by a good quilting friend.

After looking at photos and quilt images of irises, I drew my own representation. Each piece was traced and the final sheet of pattern pieces scanned. These were then printed on contact/label paper and cut out. The sticky side is placed on the right side of the fabric and cut adding seam allowance. Using a glue stick, edges are turned under with a pointed tool such as an awl. When dry, the contact pattern is removed so it can be used again.

To assemble the flower, place the original drawing inside a baggie (place a cardboard inside too). Glue base pieces to the plastic and top pieces to underlying fabric. The completed flower can then be pulled up, pinned to the background and hand stitched. Note: The glue doesn't interfere with the hand applique process, doesn't make the fabric stiff and will eventually wash out.

The remaining circles were fussy cut from as Asian fabric of peonies and koi. I then hand quilted around the flowers and an Asian pattern in the background.