Favorite Things

I am joining in the fun as a first timer! Go over to Amy's blog and see what it's all about. This was my quilt I made for the Moda Challenge in 2004. My friend Kim and I worked for months as we appliqued blocks, shared fabric and dreamed about winning the contest. We didn't win, but we had so much fun and we ended up with two awesome quilts. And I will add that Kim and I both submitted our quilts in 2 successive quilt shows, and both won blue ribbons. What special memories.

This is the deacons bench in my foyer. This quilt welcomes people to my house.

Favorite Things was made in a modified row by row layout. I love row by row quilts. And see all the log cabins? Another favorite.

I originally thought that I'd do rows with the words from the song "These are a few of my favorite things". Instead, I just did rows of my favorite things.

I loved the teapots and cups row. So much fun.

And of course, folk art angels.

And here are my "boys" in order left to right: Sir William Wallace, Rodger (who was 6 months old at the time), Spock, Cami and Hummer (our cat that died of Kitty Aids -see the angel wings??).

Of course, you know I love baskets and flowers. The dragon fly is for my daughter -she loves them.

The top angel block is my favorite. I love how they share the stars and the quilting all radiates from the center star.
Thanks for letting me share.

Until next time, make something beautiful,

Karen

Makes me Smile

Well, at least for a while, Beauty for Ashes has a home. I've had a lot of good comments from co-workers since I put it up yesterday. They are always so sweet and encouraging. It's funny that it looks so good with the wall color. This must be a great green, it goes with a lot of things.
I've been wanting to do a spring/summer wallhanging for quite a while. I think this is actually the perfect size for the space.

This is the view as I walk down the hall from the main part of our office. I can't imagine how bare that wall would be if I wasn't allowed to hang quilts.

I still can't believe that after all those years, this quilt is actually done. That does make me smile. Out of the drawer and into the world. I should do that with more of my UFO's. LOL!

I do kind of miss my tree though :).......

Until next time, make something beautiful,

Karen

Beauty for Ashes

Many of you may remember last month when my DH was stranded in Scotland due to the volcanic ash. I started working on a pile of blocks that had been in a drawer for many years. Beauty for Ashes is done!! I still need to do a label telling it's story.
The name comes from a verse in the Bible - Isaiah 61:3 that says "..[He] will give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." That perfectly described me for those few days. I needed a garment of praise for my spirit of heaviness. I claimed that verse and after 5 days of being stranded, my DH came home.

I always knew I wanted to add a basket of flowers to these blocks. It's a little bit of an odd shape, ended up being almost square. I will be taking this to the office, I think it will look great on my wall. And I'll get to enjoy it all day.

I had to go buy a few 1/8 yards of fabric for the flowers. This particular line - Secret Garden by Robyn Pandolph, has a very different coloring. Not very many things go with it.

I used a yellow thread for the machine quilting and I'm very pleased.

The flowers are some that I've used before, they are just perfect for me.

One thing I always do (for almost 20 years) is hide a cat in my quilts. Sometimes it is in the fabric (see the center) and sometimes when I can't find suitable fabric, and I add a cat at the end.

Here is the original Secret Garden quilt I made. This is hanging now in my Living Room. While antique shopping in Greensboro, NC with my Dad, we found this hanger. It's actually the back of a dresser. My Dad added a dowell and it's been used to display quilts for many years. I change them out seasonally, or as the mood strikes me.

I couldn't find any cat fabric to match so this got the cat at the end. So this is the end of my volcano saga. We are now dealing with the threat of the oil leak on Pensacola Beach. I don't even want to think about that.

So, until next time, make something beautiful.

Karen

How Many Circles??

This is one way I get to enjoy all the quilts I've made over the years. You already know I hang quilts on the walls, I put some over the fireplace and I have some draped over furniture. But I also always have one at the foot of my bed and change them out seasonally or whenever the mood strikes me. I used to make quilts for all the beds in the house. That ended when I was constantly getting upset when my DH or the kids sat on it with dirty clothes, or the cat had a hairball incident, etc. So I bought a coverlet, and now I just throw this in the washer when it's dirty and everybody is happy LOL!
I made this Yo-yo quilt about 18 years ago. As you can tell from the close ups of the fabric, these are vintage 1980's and 90's classic calicoes. It seemed I carried a bag of circles around for years. I carried them to soccer practices, little league games, dentist appointments, cheerleading practices, church softball games, family vacations, basically to everything my two children were involved in as they were growing up. They are now 34 and 31 so it has been awhile.

Most of the Yo-yo quilts I'd seen (and I hadn't seen that many) were made in a four patch layout. That is, they were only attached on the sides in a North, South, East, West orientation. This left a lot of open space showing, which I didn't really like. Even back then, it seems I didn't want to do anything "normal". So I set this in a Grandmother's Flower Garden layout (which I had never seen, but thought looked better) - that is, attaching them on 6 sides instead of 4.

Here's a picture of the back. Don't you recognize a bunch of these?? I hate to say I still have some of this fabric, but I've got a plan for that. Stay tuned for a future post :).

I think one of the neatest things about this quilt are the memories I have of my children's teenage years. In this scope of things, this quilt is not in the top 5 I'd carry out of a burning house..... but it is very special to me.

By the way, the circles are 1 1/4" finished and there are over 1,100 circles.

Until next time,

Karen