Picket Fence

The pattern for this quilt came from the book "Yes You Can Make Stunning Quilts From Simple Patterns", by Judy Martin. It's called "Picket Fence".
I gave this quilt to a person at work who retired, the other coworkers chipped in to help pay for the fabric and batting. At the time, the colour burgundy was all the raqe. It's funny how colours come and go in popularity, but I'm sure burgundy won't stay away for too many years. At least it's 1000 times better than dusty rose.

Tapestries from Japan

Years ago, I took piano lessons. I tried really hard, but never got anywhere with it, I thinbk it was mostly stubborness and not enough talent to make a go of it.
Anyway, my piano teacher had these old tapestry panels that her mother got from Japan many years ago. She never knew what to do with them, so she asked if I would put them together into a wall quilt. This is what I came up with.
I borrowed the quilt back for one of our guild quilt shows. Lynda Balas was standing there looking at it and thought the spider embellishment was cute- until it moved, lol!

Navajo Dream

This one is still a top, a UFO that has been ripening for several years.
It has curved strip piecing, an interesting technique. The edges of the centre strip are appliqued on. I'm planning on sewing a fringe of pony beads onto the bottom when it's done. I need a kick in the pants so I can get these projects completed!

Table Runner

This is a table runner and two chicken dolls that I was trying to sell at a craft show a long time ago. I ended up givng them away for gifts because they didn't sell.
That reminds me, I better get busy making a quilt for a Christmas gift. Usually I start in the summer and somebody will get a quilt the following Christmas. I think I've decided on the recipient for this year. Everybody gets so saturated with quilts that they're probably hoping I win the lottery so I can buy presents instead, hehe!

Harmony

This was my entry for a black and white plus one colour challenge we had in our guild. The quilt also had to contain 3 different quilting techniques. My techniques were hand applique, seminole piecing and machine applique. There is a 3-D chicken and cow between the people. I had to paint them with white acrylic paint because they were cream colour when I bought them at a craft shop. The back of the quilt is a fabric that has black and white cats, I'll send a pic of that another time.
The light part going across the quilt is the sun coming in through a window.

Comfort Quilt

This is another comfort quilt that I made for the QFT group. I wish there were more hours in a day, it's hard to come up with time to sew these days. Probably because I work in a different town, then only get to come home on my days off. When I do get home, the lawn needs to be cut, along with all sorts of other chores. I get tired because I've worked all week and have to catch up on my sleep. I'm not one of those Martha Stewart types that can survive on five hours of sleep per night.
If I don't get to sew or work on creative projects, I end up feeling like an empty shell because that part of my life isn't being nourished.
I need to come up with a healthy balance so the right side of my brain doesn't wither up and die.
Winning the lottery would be a great solution because I'd never have to work again, then there would be lots of time to feed my creativity :D

Elsie's quilt

This is a picture of Elsie's quilt hung up on the wall in a bedroom. The bed covers up where the purple fabric bled into the white.
Four years of work and the quilt gets ruined when it's washed- WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Elsie's quilt

This quilt, made for my friend Elsie, took four years to complete! I figured out the layout of the blocks myself, it's an original deisign with traditional blocks, if that makes any sense.
It is hand quilted with lots of feathered wreath type designs.
Because it was handled so much when it was being made, I needed to wash it. Much to my horror, the purple fabric bled into the white along the border even though all the fabric had been prewashed. I tried everything to get the extra dye to come out, but it only faded it a little. It's the worst along the bottom where the folded up part is. I've been leary of making quilts with a lot of white on them ever since, but this one remains the biggest quiltmaking disaster in my history.
Elsie hung the quilt on a bedroom wall, the bed is in front of the bleeding dye part of the quilt. I'll send a picture tomorrow of it on the wall.

Raffle Prize

This was a raffle prize we made a long time ago to raise money for our guild. One of the members made the doll and clothes, another person got her husband to make the wooden chair, I made the quilt. Since I was at liberty to make the quilt however I wanted, it just had to match the doll and clothes, I chose chicken fabric :)
Do kids even play with dolls anymore? I think adults like dolls more than kids do.

Yellow Brick Road

I made enough Yellow brick Road blocks for two baby quilts out of these fabrics. One of them was completed and given away, the other is still a top. I don't feel guilty about having at least 29 quilt tops sitting in boxes. They come in handy if I need a gift for somebody, then I can pick out out and finish it for the occasion.
That doesn't help for the ones with the fabric that has gone out of style, though, nobody would want one of those. I'll have to wait until 80's colours come back in style, lol!

Challenge Quilt

We had a challenge in our guild a long time ago, to make a quilt that included a tree, a mountain and a creature. I also made mine a charm quilt, with every triangle a different fabric. Many people couldn't figure out my abstract mountain scene. The tree is machine embroidered with lots of beads sewn on. The bird in the tree is hand applique.

Feathered Log Cabin

This quilt was an exercise in patience, to say the least. Each tiny half square triangle unit around the log cabin blocks measure 1 1'2" finished. Half of them had to have the dark sections facing one way, the other half facing the opposite way.
The back of the quilt is made of giant pieced log cabin blocks.

Jewel Box By Linda H.

This little Jewel Box quilt was made by my sister, Linda Huntrods.
This is another pattern on my "to do" list. I've got so much fabric in my stash and leftover bolts of fabric from my store that I could sew for 20 more years and not use it up. But I'm planning on sewing for the next 50 years, so there will be trips to a quilt shop eventually, hehe!

Tiny Town

My sister, Linda Huntrods made this postage stamp quilt and named it "Tiny Town". I love it!
A good example of why the smallest scraps of fabric shouldn't be thrown away.
I started to make a 16 patch and pinwheel quilt, but haven't had much time to sew lately. The 16 patches are cut from 1 1/2" squares, the pinwheels are 4 1/2".
It'll take a ton of these to make a quilt, but I love the look of all the tiny pieces.
I noticed that there is a trend in quilting magazines lately to make quilts with huge blocks. Instant gratification, I guess. I suppose it's ok if you want a project done in a hurry. There's a time and place for everything, but I prefer something that looks like a little effort was put into it.
That's my 2 cents worth for today. :)

Better Picture of Nickel Quilt

I was looking through my picture box and found a better photo of the Nickel Quilt that I posted quite awhile ago.

Primrose Path

This was made using the Quiltsmart printed interfacing panels for the applique.
I made up my own setting for the blocks. I still have other Quiltsmart panels on bolts, the Double Wedding Ring, Rob Peter to Pay Paul, on point grid and straight grid. I'm going to have to live to be 120 years old to use all these things up!

Quilt Made in a Class

I took a class with **** ***** one time and I made this quilt. (I don't want to get in trouble by mentioning any names). I had just come out of the hospital after hernia surgery, and wasn't feeling very well, I had to get somebody else to carry my sewing machine. I didn't want to lose the money i paid for the class, lol!
I chose one of her house and yard patterns to make. Things went well, except she hated every one of my fabric choices in my quilt and made sure she let me know. It wasn't like there was a fabric kit we had to buy, we were using our own fabrics.
Oh well, I like to make my own choices and not have a clone of somebody else's quilt.
Shame on me! :)

Christmas display

This is a Christmas display we had at one of our quilt shows. I made the plaid rocking horse quilt for a baby gift for a friend at work. The Christmas Cats quilt, I made for myself. I had a chance to sell it one time, but I went into panic mode because I really didn't want to get rid of it. I put it away so the person who was interested in it didn't see it, then she forgot about it. It was an internet Christmas cat block exchange, lots of fun to make.

1930s

This quilt is made from 1930's reproduction prints and some original fabrics from that time period. I bought a big box of fabric for $20 from somebody at work. Her grandma was moving from a house to an apartment, so she was getting rid of extra stuff. There was a lot of odds and ends in the box- old sheets, junky stuff, but also some treasures. The border on my quilt was made from an old fabric from that box. Plus there are pieces here and there in the quilt that are oldies.
I love that old fabric, the prints are really interesting.

Yellow Brick Road

This quilt was made from the Yellow Brick Road pattern. I like to change the layout around and set the blocks on point, it looks more interesting. I had to sell this quilt and another one during a winter a few years ago to be able to pay my heating bill :(
I've made several Yellow Brick Road quilts, they go together quickly and they're easy to pick out the fabrics for- 12 fat quarters.
I think the next one I make will be made from black and white fabrics.

Radiant Nine Patch

I'm back home and have access to my pictures now. I'll have to get the bugs worked out of putting pictures on a disk, then I'll be able to take them with me.
This quilt is called "Radiant Nine Patch". The pattern I followed had the light area right in the middle of the quilt. I didn't like that so much because it looked like a bottle of bleach got dumped on it. I chose to grade the fabrics from darkest in one corner to lightest in the opposite corner. That's a lot of little nine patches, it was quite a challenge to find all the fabrics for it. I added a few "punch" fabrics to add some life to it. It's mostly blue and black, but a tiny bit of red and green appears here and there. I ended up giving this quilt to my brother for his birthday. He had worn out the other quilt I made for him. No wonder- he had it on his bed for more than 20 years!

Sharp Curves

Our guild had a challenge one time with the theme being "oxymorons". We had to make a quilt about an oxymoron, then they were all displayed at the Art Spot, the local gallery. It was a great time!
This is my sister, Linda Huntrods entry to the challenge, it's called "Sharp Curves"
It is also an advertisement for Minolta cameras- don't ever buy one! There was no way that camera could ever take a picture without cutting off part of it. The viewfinder was faulty, my daughter had a Minolta that did the same thing, but worse. What a rip off- pay about $140 for a camera and it can't even work properly?
At least now we have digital cameras, so we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Comfort Quilt

This is another one of the comfort quilts our guild makes for local kids who are sick. Donna Madden made the crazy quilt blocks and somebody else finished the rest of the quilt.
I feel like i'm slowly sneaking back into the land of the living. I had some kind of flu this week that knocked me right down. Me, not being able to eat? Unheard of! Me, not being able to drink coffee? Totally absurd. Last night, I was finally able to eat some soup, even though it felt like there were people on both sides, stabbing knives into my ears. The soup agreed with me, so now I'm on the mend.
Now I have to get up enough gumption to drive back home, go and buy 2 birthday cakes, strawberries and whipped cream to take to my mom's birthday party on Friday. I might have to just throw the supplies in the general direction of the building so i don't give all of them the flu! No, i'll just keep my distance and let somebody else serve the cake and stuff. I'll quarantine myself in the far corner.