"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.

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. 

Ready for Hand Quilting

I was amazed that this quilt top went together so fast. With careful directional pressing, the seams locked together and lined up perfectly. I can now take my time hand quilting a grid diagonally across squares and add a motif in the open white spaces.

Postage Stamp, I am really quilt crazy

I saw this quilt in an antique store and I knew that I had found my next wedding quilt pattern. So....

I gathered scraps, asked friends and went through my stash. I cut 2" squares so my finished square is larger than the standard postage stamp of 1".  I cut 2 of each which I didn't realized would be very helpful in assembling the blocks later. I used all kinds of prints, some being fussy cut, and then stored them by color totaling 4000 squares.

I arranged the layout (2 squares together) on felt, covered them with a sheet square. I was able to fold and transport this sandwich and they stayed put until I was ready to sew.

I could sew one block at a time and still have the second layout in place to refer to. The decision to cut 2 turned out to be a great accident. Here's the project in progress. Only 13 more blocks to make a king size. I am quilt crazy.

"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.