A Quilting Time Machine

Now that my oldest son Andrew has moved to Denver, I've been working on returning his bedroom to guest room status.  I started by tackling the walk-in closet, which was in sore need of organizing.  Over the years the closet became a place to stash all manner of stuff - including costumes, clothes, quilts, and keepsakes.  

As I was sorting through the mess, I discovered several quilts I had made for him over the years.  I'm not sure why he left them behind, except maybe he thought they would be safer at our house than with him.  Hmmm.  Anyway, it was a bright, sunny day so I decided to take pictures so I'd have documentation of the quilts.

This is one of the first quilts I made as a beginning quilter, probably in the late 1980s.  I started by making 4-patch blocks, then assembling them in rows.

The layers were machine quilted using gentle curves along the seams.  This was a technique advocated by Robbie Fanning in The Complete Book of Machine Quilting, an early reference for machine quilting. 

In keeping with the animal novelty fabric in the quilt top, I used a leopard print for the back of the quilt.  Interesting to me - I used a wider binding than I typically use now, and I didn't miter the quilt corners!

Another early quilt was this red and green Log Cabin quilt - a Christmas quilt.  Again, not sure on the year it was completed (no label - I'll have to remedy that!), but probably early to mid 1990s.  

I used the services of a local long-arm quilter for this project; I think I wanted to finish it in time for Christmas!

Close-up of the quilting, binding, and backing.  Still using that wide (2.5 inch?) binding.  Amazingly, I still have scraps from this quilt in my stash!

I've shared the story of this quilt before.  Andrew took this quilt with him to Denver, but I'm including it here as it's part of the story.

This memory quilt has also been documented on the blog.  I know Andrew was worried about his dog chewing on this quilt (see the red and black quilt above), so he kept it stashed in the closet where the dog couldn't get at it!

This final quilt was not stashed in the closet, but has been waiting for its photographic opportunity before being shipped off to Denver.  

I remade the Endless Chain pattern in black and gold fabrics to remind Andrew of his New Orleans roots now that he's far from home.  Black and gold are the colors of the New Orleans Saints football team, and most of the fabrics have fleur de lis images (the fleur de lis image is associated with New Orleans - it's even included on the city flag and logo).

I got a little sentimental with the label.  The quote on the quilt is from Hodding Carter, and it's been part of a family history/photography display in our house for years.  I thought it was a good thought to send off with my wandering son!

Dear Husband's Log Cabin Quilt

In the summer of 2014, I started working on a Log Cabin quilt for my Dear Husband.  

It was his first request for a quilt, and he chose the colors and general layout scheme.  He has always had a thing for log cabins (the structures), and this may be as close as he ever gets to having a log cabin of his own!

 

By the end of November 2015, I was stitching down the binding.  The quilt was finally finished in time for Dear Husband's early December birthday, but I didn't get an opportunity for photographs until last weekend.

 

Once again, my LAQ Cindy Braiwick did an amazing job on the quilting.  There are several different designs throughout the quilt, but these pinecones are one of my favorites.  And how lucky was I to find a backing fabric with log cabins?

 

This block has a wreath of oak leaves surrounding a dog's face.  Hard to see, despite my best attempts at photographing.  Dear Husband is a dog lover, so Cindy was sure to include Man's Best Friend in her quilting designs.

 

Dog bone in the quilting!

 

The full quilt, hanging from the balcony at our camp (the white diagonal strip on the bottom left corner is just the stairway railing).  Dear Husband has been enjoying the quilt for weeks, and judging by the amount of dog hair it has already accumulated, so have our dogs!

 

 

 

Circling the Log Cabins

Although I may not have lots of stitching time in December, I do have some slow stitching projects to turn to keep my hands occupied and sanity intact!

 

It's been over a year since my Dear Husband asked me to make him a Log Cabin quilt.  He had never asked for a quilt before, so of course I had to make it for him!  He chose the color scheme and block size; I laid everything out in the barn-raising pattern and found a backing fabric with log cabins.  My LAQ did a fantastic job adding pine cones, pine boughs, acorns and oak leaves.  Now I just need to stitch down the binding.  It may take all winter, as the quilt wound up being 90" x 90"!

When I need break from hand stitching the binding, I can work on making Quilty 365 circles.   

 

These two are from the last couple of days; prepped and ready to stitch.  Hmm...it looks like I might need to tweak the blue one a little!

 

Sometimes I pick fabric for the color & pattern, sometimes for the subject matter.

 

Some circles are cut from favorite, hoarded fabrics.  And yup, I decided to vary my background color just a little. <g>

 

Have I mentioned I love toile fabrics?  I expect there will be lots of toile in my final quilt.

 

I didn't have an turkey fabrics in my stash, but I found this great Riley Blake print that seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving's block!

And now I'm off to my comfy chair for some hand stitching.  When my wrist needs a break, I'll be perusing all the other projects being lovingly hand-stitched at the Slow Sunday Stitching link-up.

 

 

 

 

Log Cabin at the Camp

This past winter, my Dear Husband asked me to make him a log cabin quilt.  He showed me a red, white and blue LC quilt he found online and said he would like one like it.  DH has really never asked for a quilt before, so how could I say no?

I knew I wouldn't be able to start it immediately, but I did start pulling fabrics from the stash.  Since January's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was blue, I even started cutting a stack of 2 1/2" blue strips while I was playing in the blue fabric drawer.

I made a sample quilt block using 2 1/2 inch strips, but I didn't think DH would like it, as the quilt he originally showed me had smaller strips.

 

The second sample block used 2" strips.  Much to my surprise, DH preferred the larger strips.  Maybe he knew I would finish the quilt more quickly using bigger strips!

 

By the end of July 4th weekend, I was off to a good start.

 

By today, I had completed 30 12" log cabin blocks.  Now I need to put them on the design wall at home to play with an arrangement.  I'm planning on a barn raising layout, but I'll need to play with the blocks for an even fabric/color layout.

 

I use a Singer Model 15 treadle at the camp.  I love sewing on it - the motion of the treadle is soothing and relaxing.  It's a great addition to log cabin therapy!

 

 

 

Log Cabin Therapy Goes Purple

I have been a fan of log cabin quilts from my earliest days as a quilter.  I think the appeal is two-fold:  the geometry and orderliness of log cabin quilt construction and the the therapeutic reverie induced by piecing log cabin strips.

One of the first quilt books I purchased as a new quilter was Carol Anne Wien's The Great American Log Cabin Quilt Book.  Published in 1984, this book pre-dates rotary cutters and suggests using a paper cutter to cut fabric strips!  The book has a generous helping of color pictures of log cabin quilts and I've thumbed through those pages countless times for inspiration.

Somewhere along the way, I started a stash of 2-inch fabric strips, ready cut for log cabin piecing.  When I had a hankering for what I call "mindless sewing", I'd pull out the strips and start piecing log cabin blocks - round and round and round the center square until my block was the target size.  I find there's something soothing about piecing in that round about fashion.  

I relied on log cabin therapy to help get me through some of the trying times caused by the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.  Our home was undamaged by the flooding and DH and I both had jobs to return to; we were back home within a month of the storm.  Our youngest son was still in high school and although his school took on over 15 feet of water, the administration made arrangements to hold night classes at another local high school that did not flood.  My job was reduced to just weekend hours for the first several months, so I had long stretches of time to fill during the week.  Out came the 2-inch strips and log cabin blocks were made with abandon.

I made one Courthouse Steps style quilt with yellow centers.  It turned out pretty cheery, despite its gloomy origins.  This one was gifted to a friend with whom I weathered several hurricanes in Florida.

This batch of traditional red center blocks were laid out barn-raising style.  I gifted this one to my friend Michele, who lost everything in the post-hurricane flooding.  When it came time to bind this quilt, I found The Perfect Fabric hiding in my stash - a red and black hot pepper print.  Perfect, as Michele loves hot, spicy food!  I brought it to her in December, 2005, at her temporary home in SW Louisiana.  

A recent log cabin post from Barb, of Fun with Barb, got me thinking about the solace of log cabin piecing again.  I decided I needed to try building some log cabins in a little more improvisational manner. 

I already had a pile of purple strips from another project.  The strips are different widths and not necessarily cut straight.  I started with two pieces that were roughly square and just started adding strips, log-cabin fashion, until I had a piece that could be trimmed to 6.5".  I probably should have made slightly larger blocks, but 6.5" is the width of my rotary cutting ruler, and that just made life easier.

Not the wonkiest log cabin blocks, but I'm happy with the result and the therapy was good, too!

I went back and added some pink LC blocks to the collection as well - so these can become part of the 2013 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Saturday is RSC share day, so do visit Soscrappy's blog to see what the other participants have been up to this week!

Last but not least, I do have one last purple house to share this month.  I didn't make any additional scrappy house blocks this month as I already have a bunch from last year.  But since log cabins are also houses, I figure I can sneak in one more!  This is a classic "shotgun double" - two residences side-by-side in a long, one-story house.  What caught my eye about this house (besides the color purple) was the stained glass windows - just a slightly different twist.  Can't wait to go hunting for next month's house color - whatever it may be!

Inspired by Christmas

I received one of the best Christmas gifts ever in 1988 - my youngest son was born December 14th of that year.  I knew I wanted a Christmas-themed baby quilt to welcome my little one home, but I couldn't find a single ready-made baby quilt with a Christmas theme.  I decided I would have to learn to make quilts, so my December baby would have a Christmas quilt.  I signed up for my first quilting class at the local quilt shop and I have been in love with quilts and quilt-making ever since.

This is the Christmas quilt I eventually made for my son.  I began the quilt in 1988, and I sadly confess I did not finish it until December, 1992.  Poor boy was 4 years old by then!

If I remember correctly, I used coloring book drawings to create the teddy bear appliques.  I used a fabric fusible to anchor the fabrics and machine satin-stitched the raw edges.  The facial features were hand-embroidered.  I outline quilted around the bears and stitched in the ditch around the blocks.  The finished quilt measures approximately 40" x 40".  Not sure what possessed me to put a ruffle on a little boy's quilt!

A few years later, I decided my oldest son needed a Christmas quilt, too.  I remember picking out some of the Christmas fabrics for his quilt at Mae's Fabrics, a discount fabric chain where I loved to hunt for bargains.  I've become something of a fabric snob since then, but at that time I had yet to be burned by poorly-made fabric!

This was my first log cabin quilt - log cabins are still one of my favorite patterns.

Do any of these fabrics look familiar to you?  I don't have an exact date for this quilt, but the fabrics are definitely late 1980s to early 1990s.  I wanted the quilt to have an ageless appeal, so I didn't use any novelty fabrics.  The quilt was long-arm quilted and measures 54" x 76".  

This feathered star wall-hanging was a gift for my mom, circa 1997.  The feathered star was inspired by a Radiant Star pattern in Marsha McCloskey's Christmas Quilts (That Patchwork Place 1985 - apparently reprinted by Dover Books).  I remember hand-piecing the star while my kids were at swimming lessons in the summer and hand-quilting the quilt during soccer practice in the fall!

More recently, I gifted my Dear Husband with this old-fashioned Santa wall-hanging.  My DH was also born in December, and his love of Christmas led to an ever-growing collection of Santa Claus figures.  We've run out of display space for more Santas, but we haven't covered all the walls yet!  The pattern was a kit from a local quilt shop:  Bright Hopes Quilting.

Old-world Santa

Snowflake and swirl machine quilting by Annie Kusilek.

  Wishing you joy and that special serenity of spirit that occurs during this most inspiring time of the year!