Donna’s Blue and White Quilt with Cranberry Borders

Mother and Miff Unpacking the Quilt in August—EGADS!

This quilt, through no fault of Donna or the quilt, had several problems. The biggest problem was my 2 torn retina surgeries that greatly delayed and added to the complexity. I actually started quilting it between the 2 surgeries, but there were problems with the stitches (the quilter was not forming stitches due to the tight weave of the back) so all the initial quilting had to be ripped out! I found that straight horizontal stitching or horizontal stitching with a slight wave worked beautifully rather than the all over floral and leaf design I imagined. So, horizontal lines—straight and wavy—became the quilting style for this one. In fact, the stitches on this quilt are some of the best tension-wise that I have ever made. Sometimes Plan B works better than the original thought! 

However, due to the color contrast between the borders and the main body of the quilt, the horizontal quilting required thread color changes, which in turn resulted in many thread ends to bury and added a lot more time to the quilting.

The first problem with the quilt was the backing was a batik and like many batiks dye remained on top of the fabric. The blue dye was rubbing off on everything, including my hands, and would have rubbed off on the mostly white top. So, I had to wash the backing 2 times to remove most of the dye. The backing was already a fairly tight weave, as most batiks are, and the washing shrunk the fabric pores even more, causing the stitching problems on the long arm when I tried an all over loopy design. I could go into a technical description about how a hook mechanism works on a sewing machine and how the movement on a long arm moves you into and away from the hook, but I’ll spare you that lecture and simply suggest you Google it if you need more information. 

In the end, the eye improved and the quilting style worked well. So, all’s well that ends well, even if it took too long.

• 81 1/2" x 95 1/2"  Double bed size
• Quilting: Quilted in straight and slightly wavy horizontal lines. Used navy blue, cranberry, and white 100% polyester threads (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Navy Blue”, “Cranberry”, and “Bright White”). Straight quilting and wavy free-form quilting. 10 bobbins (1 navy blue and 9 white) Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Blue batik supplied by Donna
• Batting: 100% cotton Warm and Natural
• Piecing by Donna
• Pinned into frame October 11, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter October 14–December 19, 2019. (Patty)!
• Binding to be done by Donna
• QC by Sally and Mother

Shows my bruised nose from a closet accident. Luckily, my bad eye wasn’t damaged.

Sally QC’ing the Rabbit

Mother Doing the Final QC

Best Laid Plans of Quilters and Little Old Ladies

September 27 I had a vitrectomy in my right eye for a detached torn retina. Then, it tore again in another spot. So, October 16 I had the same surgery again. The eye problems brought a halt to all quilting activities. Good thing I already had a lot done this year or I would be too sad. Here’s hoping next year is eye problem free. 

Zigzag (Continuation of New Technique)

All the blocks are on point in this quilt, so I learned how to piece a quilt with diagonal rows and make end caps for each row and the corners. It’s surprisingly hard to do, a real mental exercise. However, the resulting quilt is quite attractive. This is a continuation of what I learned from Sharon’s quilt. See Sharon’s Tulip Beds from March of this year.

I used fabric left from the unicorn quilt and some blue print fabric from my stash. See Catch Your Dreams from July of this year. The pattern came from the Modern Baby book; a book I used earlier for the fish and bubbles appliqué quilts. See Bubbles 1 and Bubbles 2 from August 2013. The book must be a good one that provides several quilt inspirations! The pattern from the book is called “Daddy’s Little Girl.” I left off the words and side piece. The back is a soft blue flannel printed with white dots from a fabric.com sale. The binding is the blue print fabric from my stash used for the quilt blocks.

This quilt will be donated to the guild. They used to give baby quilts to the neonatal unit at Lucille Packard’s Children’s Hospital at Stanford. The hospital no longer takes quilts from the guild. So now they are donated to San Mateo County to give to low income families who bring their infant to the clinic for the child’s first well baby check up. 

• 42 1/4" x 44 1/4"  Baby size
• Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple. Used light turquoise 100% polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Light Turquoise"). Free form quilting. 4 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Blue flannel with printed white dots from fabric.com. 
• Batting: 80% cotton/20% polyester Winline “Comfort Blend”
• Binding:  Blue print cotton from my inventory
• Pattern: “Daddy’s Little Girl” from Modern Baby quilt book
• Piecing by Patty
• Pinned into frame September 11, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter September 13, 2019. (Patty). 
• Binding by Patty. 
• QC by Mother and checked by Spencer.

Block for President’s Quilt

Every year the past president makes a quilt for the retiring president of the guild. Often the past president asks members to contribute a block. This is my contribution this year. Mother, who always has to say something very negative, thinks the red stripe overpowers the others. However, according to the past president the block will be cut down the middle of the longest diagonal stripe. So, I think the red will be less overpowering in the finished quilt. 

Repaired Baby Quilt (New Technique—Bind Round Corners)

My friend Noe asked me to repair the back and binding of her daughter’s baby quilt. Her daughter is in college and says she needs the quilt to get through her last year. The top is also in bad shape and I tried to convince Kiley to keep it in a zippered case to protect it rather than fix it. But she really wanted the back and binding repaired. So, I did. The back was never quilted to the front, so it was fairly easy to repair. I “quilted” with an iron, using Misty Fuse to bond the top to the new back. I used white flannel for the back which was in my stash, left from a baby quilt project many years ago. The white fabric for the bias binging was also in my stash. I had Misty Fuse and white thread, so nothing was purchased for the project. I rather doubt that the top will last one more washing, but maybe Kiley will be finished with college by then. Binding the round corners was not a perfect job. I need more practice.

• Size:  31" x 37"
• Quilting: Quilted by iron using Misty Fuse
• Backing: White flannel from my inventory
• Batting: None
• Pattern: Repair a quilt
• Binding:  White fabric from my inventory. Bias binding to go around rounded corners.
• This quilt is self-certified. QC by Patty.

Back and Binding Before Fix

New Back and Binding

Top Showing a Lot of Wear

Samosas

I made this quilt to donate to the homeless shelter, Life Moves. The inspiration came from a Crafty Gemini series of You-Tube videos where she demonstrates how to make a bright “Samosa” quilt. I already owned the 10” slicer tool that she invented and I had a couple bright layer cakes in my inventory. I like to donate bright quilts to add cheery color to a room. I remember Shirley Landsman saying that when she felt depressed she’d go to a colorful Mexican restaurant, because it’s impossible to be sad surrounded by color. She also didn’t like beiges, grays, tans, and other neutral colors. She called neutrals Puritan colors and she thought people should wear and decorate with brighter colors. Shirley was a wise woman. I miss her.

• 68 1/2" x 90 1/2"  Single bed size
• Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple. Used black 100% polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Black"). Free form quilting. I left the “samosas” (triangles) unquilted so they would be more 3-D. The black thread really pops on the bright blocks. The color (absence of color?) was an excellent choice. 8 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Dark fabric printed with bright colored concentric circles from a fabric.com sale of wide backing fabric.
• Batting: 100% cotton, Warm and Natural
• Binding:  Medium blue print cotton from my inventory
• Pattern: From Crafty Gemini’s You-Tube tutorials.
• Piecing by Patty
• Pinned into frame August 5, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter August 7-9, 2019. (Patty). 
• Binding by Patty. 
• QC by Spencer.

Catch Your Dreams — Dani’s Quilt

Seven years ago Suzanne requested a quilt for her grandchild, a boy Cole. See “Grandma’s Boy” October 2012. Well, time passes and now she has a granddaughter, Dani, and she requested another quilt. This one she wanted “unicorn-ish”. I didn’t have any unicorn fabric, but fabric.com came through with this line. I bought a fat quarter bundle and yardage for the unicorn feature, sashing, backing, and binding. The simple pattern was taken from a quilt kit I saw on the internet. The pattern is simple squares and rectangles. The hardest part was getting all the hearts, unicorns, rainbows, and castles pointing the same direction, but I did! The pattern had to be easy because Mother had just broken her neck and with all the hospital, doctor, rehabilitation visits I didn’t have much time. Seven weeks after the request the quilt was done! It must be some sort of record given all the impediments to my sewing and quilting time!

• 48 1/2" x 58 3/4"  Crib size
• Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose loop-de-loop with occasional sloppy hearts. Used light yellow 100% polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Light Lemon"). Free form quilting. 5 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Castle print fabric with a unicorn side piece from a fabric.com. 
• Batting: 80% cotton/20% polyester Winline “Comfort Blend”
• Binding:  Aqua print cotton from fabric.com.
• Pattern: Lifted from an advertisement for a quilt kit that I saw on the internet.  
• Piecing by Patty
• Pinned into frame July 7, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter July 7, 2019. (Patty). 
• Binding by Patty. 
• QC by Spencer.

Aunt Joyce’s “Denim” Bedspread (New Technique)

Aunt Joyce designed this bedspread for her bed at her cabin in the mountains. It looks rustic and “cabin-ish”. She wanted it quilted with bright red thread and maybe with some flower designs. She also asked that the backing be turned to the front to make the binding, a new technique for me. I watched several You-Tube videos about binding quilts this way, all pretty much gave the same instructions. It’s basically a glue stick and iron job! It was actually quite easy to do. Here’s what I learned: 1. the edge basting doesn’t get hidden in the backside, so learn to live with it (my choice) or pick it out; 2. the thread anchoring tacks on the sides do not get hidden on the back, so do a neat job (next time) of retracing the stops and starts. 

• Size:  102" x 110"  Queen bed sized bedspread 
• Quilting: Quilted in loose free form stipple, with occasional flowers, leaves, and a couple butterflies. Used bright red 100% polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Neon Red"). 11 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Same denim printed fabric front and back.
• Batting: 80% cotton/20% Polyester Comfort Blend from Winline. 
• Whole cloth quilt
• Pinned into frame July 1, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter July 3-10, 2019. (Patty). 
• Binding by Patty, using bring backing to front technique.
• This quilt is self-certified. QC by Patty.

Moon Over the Mountain—QAYG (New Technique)

In May I took a PQG workshop to learn how to do quilt as you go (QAYG). The workshop was taught by Carol Stapleton. The pattern I selected was a traditional appliqué block called “Moon Over the Mountain”.  People in the sewing group I attend think the quilt looks “Japanese” and call it Mt. Fuji and Full Moon. Go figure! The gold squares in the corner are the “pop” of color and are part of the instructions from the class.

• 32" Square. Table topper size.
• Quilting: Quilted on the domestic machine using a walking foot.  Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Dark grey and black mottled print from my inventory.
• Batting: 80% cotton/20% polyester Winline “Comfort Blend”
• Binding: Black mottled print from my inventory.
• Pattern: "Moon Over the Mountain" traditional block found in many quilt books.  
• Appliqué by Patty
• Quilt as you go (QAYG) by Patty
• Binding by Patty. 
• This quilt is self-certified. QC by Patty.

Twists and Turns

This quilt was made to use up some fabric (Layer Cake and Fat Quarters), to have a project to take to a sewing group I recently joined, and to have a quilt to donate to Life Moves through the Quilt Guild. The pattern came from the book Skip the Borders by Julie Herman. She calls the pattern “Four-Patch Shift.”

• 63 1/2" x 82" Twin bed size
• Quilting: Quilted in a meandering loose stipple with design in the 4-patch. Used light gray 100% polyester thread (Omni from Superior Threads-named "Silver"). Free form quilting. 7 bobbins. Quilting by Patty.
• Backing: Blue print fabric from a Connecting Threads sale. Fabric was bought some time ago and never looked pretty enough for a back. However, it washed and dried beautifully and did not require ironing. I’m sorry I did not use the back sooner.
• Batting: 80% cotton/20% polyester Winline “Comfort Blend”
• Binding: Light gray solid cotton from my inventory.
• Pattern: "Four-Patch Shift" by Julie Herman from her book Skip the Borders.  
• Piecing by Patty
• Pinned into frame May 8, 2019. Quilting on long arm quilter May 10, 2019. (Patty). 
• Binding by Patty. 
• This quilt is self-certified. QC by Patty.