Gallery

ALMOST 1000 CRANES

I entered this quilt into a contest and won!  The contest was to design and write the pattern for a unique quilt block.  I came up with the “crane”.  I also designed the accompanying block and then put them all together.  As the winner, my quilt pattern was published and sold in one of my favorite quilt shops.  I was tickled pink!  I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for people who write their own patterns – it is hard work!!

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CALCUTTA CASTLE

This quilt was named by my friend Ani who grew up in Calcutta.  She saw this quilt when it was on my design wall and immediately said it reminded her of Calcutta at night.

The castle idea came from the back over of a quilt book about paper piecing dragons and stuff.  I actually have to clue on how to paper piece, but the castle on the back cover totally tickled my fancy.  So I just started cutting and sewing pieces together so that they would resemble a castle.

The rectangles bordering the castle are kind of like windows at night, followed by pinwheels on the next border.  I had so much fun making those pinwheels!  Plus I discovered something important about color value on this one.  After I had made about 25 pinwheels and put them on my design wall, I noticed that I had only used medium color value prints with barely any lights or darks.  So at this point all of the pinwheels kind of ran together in a big color blur.  However it only took a few minutes to figure out what I did, so I made a bunch more using both light and dark prints.  What a difference the color values made!  Plus now I had a bunch of extra pinwheels for another project!

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DICKIE’S HOUSE

A few years ago we had three pet rats, Jimmy, Dickie and Ray.  We adored them because they were cute and fun.  I think one of their favorite things was our morning routine where I would share my toast and jam with them.  As soon as I called out the word “toasties”, they knew to run to the food area for their morning treat.  Anyway, Dickie was our first rat to go to the great beyond and so I decided to make a quilt in memory of my fury little friend.  Dickie is in the house with a hotdog on the roof.

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POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO

Just a very simple quilt where I could showcase some of my favorite animal fabrics.  I saw the shadow box idea at my local quilt shop where one of the women had a class sample hanging.  Easy to make up your own measurements and put together,  Plus, it’s super fun to look at.

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BRICKYARD COVE

This quilt was certainly influenced by my classes with Freddy Moran.  In fact, she had given me the “homework assignment” of using an unusual background fabric and then combine it with blocks that are more uniquely mine.  The sailboats and funky patchwork are definitely “me”!

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INSIDE OUT

When I made this quilt, I was trying to see how it would turn out if I made it inside out – meaning the center of the quilt (my starting point) was made with a fabric I would normally use as the binding.  From there, I used the blocks that I like to use as my border and then built the quilt out – just in the reverse order of where I normally place things.  I like how it turned out!

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7th GRADE DANCE

I got a huge kick out of making stick people quilts.  I like stick people because they’re super easy to make and they can do anything – dance, stand on their heads, swing upside down, or just sit around.  They are quite cooperative.

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MISS JOSEPHINE’S QUILT (made at a Freddy Moran class)

I really love all of the classes I have taken with Freddy Moran.  This is one of the earlier classes I took with her.  The first house I made in this class was a polka-dotted house with a helicopter in the window.  You can’t miss it!  The little rectangle blocks are called “gardens”; I think these are Freddy originals.  When I am in a Freddy class, I am always so excited about what we are sewing that I don’t even stop for lunch.  My husband always packs lots of cheese slices and nuts in my lunch bucket so that I have plenty to nibble on while I work.

This quilt has always been a favorite of mine because of all the bright colors and fun fabrics.  But now it has a cool story to go with it that makes the quilt all the more special.

A few years ago, my daughter’s school got involved with a gift giving program for a battered women’s shelter.  It was a really neat program because the women who were currently in the shelter were asked to write down a few things that they would like for themselves and their kids for the holidays.

These lists were then put on a website so that people from my daughter’s school could sign up to purchase gifts for them.  When we looked at the list, we noticed that one of the women was over 80 years old.  Her wish list was so simple and consisted of the most basic necessities.  We were touched by her requests and wanted to help her, even if it was just in a small way.  We purchased most of the items on her list including a backpack.  But then we thought we could take her list a step further.

That idea led to the idea of filling her backpack with surprises.  We filled the front compartment with everything from warm socks, to special hand lotion, to a box of chocolates.  Then in the back compartment, I folded up this quilt (freshly washed and fluffy) and zipped it in.

We turned in all her gifts to the school and the committee people took over from there.  We didn’t tell anyone what we had done and we weren’t part of the delivery committee so we never met Miss Josephine.  However, I did ask someone about it a few weeks later and found out that Miss Josephine had to be coaxed out of her room for the party because she didn’t think anyone would have picked up her list.  The staff members did manage to get her out, but by that time the people from our school had left so no one knew what her reaction was.

My hope is that Miss Josephine had a fun surprise and has been using the quilt.  Anyway, that is why that quilt is one of my favorites.