Aunt Linda's Stars

Aunt Linda left 2 quilt tops for me to quilt. This is the first one. The pattern is a star sampler. I quilted each block differently to make it a star and quilting sampler.

Size: 58" Square, Throw size
Quilting: Quilted each square differently. Quilted a loop-de-loop design in the borders and sashing. Had to remount the quilt to do the vertical borders and sashing. Used white polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Bright White"). Free form quilting. 6 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.

Backing: Fabric from Aunt Linda's inventory. 

Batting: 100% cotton. Warm and White.

Binding:  TBD by Aunt Linda
Pattern: Star Sampler

Piecing by Aunt Linda.

Pinned into frame August 31, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter September 2-4, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Aunt Linda. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Incipient Scientist

Tomiko wanted one more quilt lesson, so a long arm session was scheduled. I made a whole cloth quilt to make a good "canvas" for practicing a lot of quilting patterns. She selected a minky back because she loves soft things. The main fabric of the quilt was a cartoon print of animals working in laboratories, perhaps a bit juvenile for a 13-year old girl, but Tomiko spent a few weeks at a science camp at Sonoma State this summer, so at least the science theme was appropriate. I used a bright pink fabric from my inventory to complete the quilt and I used it as the binding.

Tomiko was a natural at long arming. She mastered it quickly and did a superb job. It was fun watching her get in the groove of long arming.

Size: 55" x 80" Single bed size
Quilting: Various styles including straight lines, cursive e's and l's, loop-de-loops, meanders, and squares. Meanders were her favorites. Used purple polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Purple Jewel"). Free form quilting. 5 bobbins. Quilting by Tomiko and Patty.
Backing: Tan minky with woven "dots" from my inventory.

Batting: 100% polyester, Soft and Bright by Warm Company. This is the best polyester batting we ever bought. I will have to buy more.

Binding:  Bright pink print from my stash.

Pattern: Whole cloth, 2 pieces sewed together lengthwise.

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame August 17, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter August 19, 2015. (Tomiko). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

Quilted Dog

Location:County Lines Quilts

Blast Off (the Blue Twin)

This is the second of the Twins' quilts. Though, red is my favorite color, I think the blue quilt, made in the pattern's color scheme, is the better looking quilt.

Size: 64" x 82" Twin-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple . Used light gray polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Silver"). Free form quilting. 7 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Bright Blue-colored flannel print from the Laurel Leaf.

Batting: 50-50 cotton and polyester.

Binding:  Dark blue plain cotton from the dark blue sashing in the quilt. 
Pattern: "The Incredibly Cool Cosic Rocket Ship" by Joan Hanson from "The Joy of Quilting" book by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey.

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame August 14, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter August 14, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

Bunny Basking in Moon Beams

Location:County Line Quilts

Bound for Mars (the Red Twin)

I've always wanted to make quilts for twin beds like a pattern in "The Joy of Quilting." The pattern had stars, a moon, and a rocket ship. Don't ask me why I imagined the pattern being used on twin beds, but I did. Mother wanted to make quilts for her financial guy's 6-year old twins. It seemed like a natural melding of ideas. The only hitch was that one twin (George) only likes red and the other twin (David) only likes blue. Since the quilt is pictured in blues, I had to make color adjustments for the Red Twin. These quilts took a long time (months) to piece and bring together. The technique I learned for this project was making mitered corners. Each window frame has a mitered corner, as well as each corner in the borders. The pattern also had a unique way to piece the triangle blocks for the Stars' arms. It involved making a sheet of diagonal strips and cutting the sheet into the desired triangle size. It was tedious and I'm not sure I'd do it this way again.

I delivered the quilts in person, but we never got a thank-you or feedback. Maybe we shouldn't have spent all the time making these quilts. At least I accomplished my bucket list goal of making twin quilts using this pattern.

Size: 64" x 81" Twin-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple with a wavy, ribbon-like pattern in the border. I had to remount the quilt to turn it 90 deg. to do all four borders. Used gold polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Goldenrod"). Free form quilting. 7 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Bright Red-colored flannel print from the Laurel Leaf.

Batting: 50-50 cotton and polyester.

Binding:  Bright red plain cotton from my stash. 
Pattern: "The Incredibly Cool Cosic Rocket Ship" by Joan Hanson from "The Joy of Quilting" book by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey.

Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame August 7, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter August 10 - 12, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

  

The Rabbit Jumped Over the Moon

Location:County Line Quilts

Tomiko's Wonky Star

  

This summer Tomiko asked for quilt making lessons. She was a very quick study and very fun and delightful to have around. Plus, she so thoroughly enjoyed (and uses!) what she made, I sure hope our lessons continue next summer. 

I selected an easy pattern, called "Big Wonky Star" from Missouri Star Quilt Company, and 10" precut flannel squares. I chose flannel because it is easy for beginning sewers to handle and is "forgiving" fabric when little errors are made.

   

The quilt sandwich was spray basted and quilted using the walking foot on the domestic. It was difficult for Tomiko to handle the quilting, so I did most of it. It was quilted in the ditch, diagonally, horizontally, and vertically. In addition, some of the blocks were quilted with a star that Tomiko designed. 

Size: 57" x 66" Throw Size 
Quilting: On August 11, 2015. Basted using spray basting. It worked very well. I'll use it again. Used variegated  100% cotton thread from Connecting Threads. The colors ranged from orange to green to purple.

Backing: A dark blue flannel from a JoAnn's sale. 

Batting: 50-50 polyester. 

Binding: Gold print that Tomiko purchased at the Laurel Leaf

Pattern: "Big Wonky Star" from Missouri Star Quilting Company

Quilting on my domestic machine August 11, 2015. (Tomiko and Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

 

Tomiko wanted to make a lunch cloth (napkin) for her school lunches, using the quilting thread and the fancy stitches on my "domestic". The above is the result. 

Location:County Line Quilts

Aunt Linda's Strippy Quilt 2

The difference between this quilt and the second one Aunt Linda long armed is the arrangement of the strips. The second quilt had the strips arranged horizontally. This third quilt has the strips arranged diagonally on a square foundation piece of muslin. The squares are pieced to form a diamond pattern. Very pretty!

Size: 60" x 85" Single-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in meandering loop-de-loops. Used light yellow polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Light Lemon"). Free form quilting. 5 bobbins. Quilting by Aunt Linda.

Backing: Fabric from Aunt Linda's inventory. 

Batting: 100% cotton. Warm and Natural.

Binding:  TBD by Aunt Linda
Pattern: Fabric strips arranged in diamond shapes

Piecing by Aunt Linda.

Pinned into frame August 2, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter August 3, 2015. (Aunt Linda). 

Binding by Aunt Linda. 

QC by Papa.

Location:County Line Quilts

Aunt Linda's Strippy Quilt

The difference between this quilt and the first one Aunt Linda long armed, is the first was made with flannel strips and this one is made with regular fabric strips left from Aunt Linda's many quilt projects.

Size: 53" x 62" Throw size
Quilting: Quilted in meandering cursive e's and l's. Used light yellow polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Butter"). Free form quilting. 3 bobbins. Quilting by Aunt Linda.

Backing: Fabric from Aunt Linda's inventory. 

Batting: 100% cotton. Warm and White.

Binding:  TBD by Aunt Linda
Pattern: Random fabric strips.  

Piecing by Aunt Linda.

Pinned into frame August 1, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter August 1, 2015. (Aunt Linda). 

Binding by Aunt Linda. 

QC by Aunt Linda.

Location:County Line Quilts

Aunt Linda's Strippy Flannel Quilt

Aunt Linda came from Santa Barbara for a week-long visit. She brought 5 quilt tops. We got 3 quilted during her visit and she left the other 2 for me to work on later.

This first quilt was made from scrap strips from her numerous flannel and rag quilts. Aunt Linda did most of the long arming. She learned quickly! 

Size: 60" x 71" Single-bed size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple. Used light yellow polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Butter"). Free form quilting. 3 bobbins. Quilting by Aunt Linda.

Backing: Flannel from Aunt Linda's inventory. 

Batting: 100% cotton. Warm and White.

Binding:  TBD by Aunt Linda
Pattern: Random flannel strips.  

Piecing by Aunt Linda.

Pinned into frame July 31, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter July 31, 2015. (Aunt Linda). 

Binding by Aunt Linda. 

QC by Mother.

Location:County Line Quilts

Tangerine

Mother had a couple pieces of fabric in her inventory that were crying out to be used and she had a desire to make another quilt like Leo's. We played around with several names for this quilt, but "Tangerine" is the only one that stuck, named for the colors in the fabric. Mother wanted to have this one ready to bind during Aunt Linda's visit. I quilted it in time for her to do the hand work while she visited. See "Leo's Quilt" for information about the pattern. This quilt was given to Cynthia for her Mother.

Size: 68" x 80" Throw size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple. Used light yellow polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Butter"). Free form quilting. 7 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Cream-colored print from Mother's stash. It was a wide, quilt-back sized piece, bought from a fabric.com sale.

Batting: 50-50 cotton and polyester.

Binding:  The dark green print used in the quilt, from Mother's stash. 
Pattern: "Chain Reaction" by Liz Porter from the Winter 2014 magazine Easy Quilts.  

Piecing by Mother.

Pinned into frame July 22, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter July 24, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Mother. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Get Your T-Shirts While You Can

This is a "gather ye rosebuds while you may" type of quilt. The shirts for this are from many years ago when I actually did things like AIDS Walks, Bay-to-Breakers, etc. Before my knees gave out!

I used iron-on interfacing behind the shirts and each shirt was "framed" with a contrasting or matching print woven fabric. The quilting was a loose meander or I tried various patterns from the internet class I took. In some cases I quilted around the design on the t-shirt. 

This one was fun to make. And it's a rare example of a quilt I will keep. Spencer will use it on the couch and in the car.

Size: 61" x 72" Throw size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple, tried different quilting patterns from the Internet class in some of the blocks, and quilted around the designs in other blocks. Used white polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Bright White"). Free form quilting. 5 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Red and White print from a JoAnn's sale. 

Batting: 100% Polyester. 

Binding:  Tan print from my stash. I used a different technique for this binding. I sewed it on the front, basted it on the back, and then did the second stitching on the front (catching the back) using a straight stitch with a zig (no zag). This technique worked really well. I will try it again.

Pattern: T-shirt blocks with frames.  Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame June 26, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter June 29 -July 1, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty. 

QC by Spencer.

Location:County Line Quilts

Sweet Dreams

I made a quilt for Tai Wah's first grandchild, Sebastian Corral Chan. In order to get the quilt done quickly, I used 2 packages of charm squares from Missouri Star Quilt Company, called Lakeside Gatherings. To make the quilt a little special, I used a soft gray minky fabric on the back. The minky worked very well. I will use it again.

This was almost a 3-day quilt. It was pieced on Tuesday, June 23; quilted on Wednesday, June 24; and binding was almost finished on Thursday, June 25!

Lin, Sebastian's mother, sent us a very nice thank-you note.

Size: 36 1/2" x 41" Baby size
Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose meander, loose stipple. Used light gray polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Silver"). Free form quilting. 2 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
Backing: Gray minky bought for this project. 

Batting: 100% polyester. 

Binding:  Plain light gray fabric from my inventory. 
Pattern: Squares arranged in a diagonal pattern. Piecing by Patty.

Pinned into frame June 24, 2015. Quilting on long arm quilter June 24, 2015. (Patty). 

Binding by Patty.

QC by Spencer, front and back, because he needed to see how the minky performed.

Location:County Line Quilts