Graduation Quilt

Since I'm fairly new to "Blogland" I hope it's okay to post about past projects. This is a quilt I made for my youngest niece when she graduated from Florida State University. I love Karla Alexander's books. I've made several quilts from these books and they are fast and fun. And, they look much more complicated than they really are.

This is the pattern I used. It looks so different done in soft earth tones.

This quilting design is based on the methods in Meandering Magic by Suzanne Earley. I'd never done it before, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

You can draw a stem line freehand, but I drew one out on paper first and then traced it. The feathers are done freehand and I promise you, this looks so cool.

For each graduation quilt, I have either appliqued or embroidered the name of the school and the year.

She and her husband still work and live in Tallahasse.

Until next time,

Karen

Tree update

Thank you for your opinions about the inside quilting. I have decided to leave well enough alone. Since I hung this quilt on Monday, I've become very attached to it. It's so different from what I usually do and it just makes me smile. There have been a lot of positive comments from my co-workers. I may have also picked up an order. One of my friends here may want me to do a custom piece for her (same design, different colors). I've also had some ideas about another tree .... so keep watching :)


Until next time,
Karen

It looks like a tree to me.....

Here is my newest office art. This quilt represents my accomplishment of several things. First of all, I really can't draw much of anything, but I drew this all by myself (I sound like I'm in first grade LOL). I tried not to over-stress about it, but I do think it looks like a tree. Since I will probably never get to Australia, I'd like to thank Kellie for her wonderful blog Don't Look Now and for providing the inspiration for this quilt. How I would love to attend one of her classes, but for now, this may be as close as I'll ever get. My hanging system is not perfect for a piece this small, but considering I get to hang quilts at all, I am not complaining Secondly, I've never done a piece using only fusing techniques. I bought this book about 3 years ago and have not been brave enough to try any of the projects. Being a hand applique' person, fusing just seemed foreign to me. Laura's quilts are so wonderful and this is a great book. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I charged ahead.

Thirdly, I've always wanted to try this quilting design from the book. So after many, many doodle pages I felt like I was as ready as ever. It's amazing to me, that when you actually start quilting on a "real" quilt instead of a practice sandwich, your quilting does improve. The pictures in this book are incredible. Thank you Laura for a great book!!

Lastly, I didn't buy a single piece of fabric, but used only those fabrics already in my stash (that feels so good sometimes). Not all the fabrics really worked, but I was running out of Wonder Under, so I left them in. Now that I'm looking at these pictures, my quilting isn't exactly the same as Laura's, but for my first try, I'm pretty pleased. It looks really happy and springy in my office.

And finally, I need an opinion. Should there be any quilting inside the branches between the leaves? I outlined each leaf and branch, but nothing else. I'm not sure what to do. Any advice??

Until next time,

Karen

A new beginning and an ending

Last year, my assistant at work lost her dad. A few months later she asked me if I would make a quilt out of her dad's ties. It was to be a gift for her mom for Mother's Day. Having never done a tie quilt before.... I said sure. (Sometimes I have trouble saying no, and I love a challenge) How hard could it be?? As it turned out, not hard at all. And what would we do without the internet? A few clicks, and there was everything you could possibly want to know about making a tie quilt. The hardest part, was disassembling the ties. Those silk threads were pretty tiny.

This is my friend, Barb. She was so thrilled with the results and her Mom uses it regularly. It's a very special thing to make a remembrance quilt for someone at the end of their long life. At the other end of the spectrum, is a new baby. This is the quilt I designed for my newest great-niece, Kennedy Lynne. These are the colors and shapes of the fabric in the nursery. This is my sister Debra - she's the proud grandmother.

I just cut random 2 1/2" strips and then appliqued circles. It was so fast and fun and my niece was thrilled. It's a little hard to tell, but each circle became the center for a quilted flower motif. Lots of the fabrics had circles in them, so it was a happy quilt to work on. Yellow, green and brown is a little non-traditional for a baby girl, but this quilt was adorable.

Hope your day is sunny.

Until next time,

Karen

Found a few more

I know these are out of order, but I found a few more random pictures from the Quilt Show a few weeks ago. This is Cynthia England's newest quilt. She did a trunk show and workshop for our Guild last year, and came back as a vendor. She is a delight.

And her work is unbelievable. These pictures do not do her work justice, but it was awesome.

This was part of her booth, showing patterns available. It was like a little mini quilt show all by itself!

This is a Gwen Marston pattern I found in a calendar a few years ago. My friend Sheree and I did this for the Silent Auction.
I appliqued the top and Sheree did the quilting. It was so cute.

This is my friend Faye in front of her quilt. She enjoyed standing and watching people enjoy her quilt. She had never been to a quilt show before.

And finally, this is the picture of the quilt that inspired me to make "Upstate Beauty". Considering that the picture was about this big, no pattern, no nothing, I'm pretty satisfied.

Until next time,

Karen

Changing the Fireplace Quilt

Probably the thing I dislike most about my house is the fireplace. My DH loves it, but it's too dark and massive for my tastes. I've talked to several painters about painting the brick or the grout and they all said I'd probably make it worse. So several years ago, I came across this great frame and decided to do a series of quilts to fit inside the frame. What else do quilters think of putting in a frame??? I loved it!!

I started with this one. I had just started machine quilting and this was my first "major" project. The pattern appeared in American Patchwork and Quilting (my favorite magazine) as the alternative layout and I had all the scraps, so I had nothing to lose if I totally ruined it or I didn't like it.

I had just repainted my dining room a clay brick red, and needed to bring some red into the living room so this seemed perfect. It's mounted to a 24 x 36" foam board with a staple gun. It's not perfect, but for my first attempt, I was pretty pleased.

Here's a sample of my "wonderful" stitching - like I said, it was my first attempt.

But it seemed so wintery, that I knew I needed a spring quilt next. Probably the thing I love the best is baskets and leaves. I love to applique' and so I knew what the next project would be.

I brought in the red this time in the flowers. The gold adds a lot of warmth and kind of brings the quilt out. This one was hand appliqued and hand quilted . They're really small and I love to hand quilt. I had a blast doing this one.

So this is the spring quilt, and will be up for several months. You'll have to wait to see the rest, so far I've made 5. Still to come are my summer, fall and Christmas quilts.

This one absolutely makes me smile. My daughter loves dragonflies, and so these remind me of her. There is echo quilting around the whole thing. Framing quilts gives them such a different feel.

Happy Spring y'all (tomorrow), it's still chilly here - especially for Florida. But the sun is shining and I know the heat will be here too soon for me.

Until next time,

Karen

Thank you gift

About 10 years ago, a good friend of mine asked me if I would make a t-shirt quilt for her niece who was graduating from high school. I'd never done one before, but I said yes. I had it long arm quilted by a friend and I saved the little scraps from the sashings.

Several years later, she called me again. Another niece was graduating... you get the picture.

Four years ago I plunged into the world of machine quilting myself (not long arm) and so I started quilting those t-shirt quilts myself. I believe there have been a total of 7. With so many strings left, there was only one thing to make - a string quilt.

The colors are so wild, and I'm sure will bring memories of all her nieces. I'm delivering it tomorrow. Hope she likes it. I forgot to take a picture of the back, but it's very neutral so she can turn it over LOL.

So thanks for trusting me, and thanks for the memories.

Until next time,

Karen