2013 started with a Fence Rail quilt for my son, Kevin.
My niece, Jillian, requested "something brown", and wound up with this. It went well w/ her neutral room.
Our dear friends, Rob and Linda, married off both their kids this summer. It was a fun opportunity to try some patterns I'd not attempted before. I tried to stay somewhere in the neutral range as I had no idea what their homes would be like.
For Katie & Michael
For Barry & Afton
I was itching to work with bolder colors. This is what I like to call a Picnic Quilt, a 65"x65" square for my daughter Hannah and her boyfriend Adam; something to sit on while at that gorgeous beach in Santa Monica, or at the outdoor concert in LA.
Two of my favorite co-workers decided to move on with their careers/lives...and leave us. 🙁 I should not have rewarded them, but I tried to take the high road, and made them each a memory of their days with us in that crazy office. And I suppose, to thank them for all their great help. Pillows for Kate, Crazy Quilt for Crazy Kat.
Then, I decided I had to try a medallion quilt. I settled on the ever so popular Marcelle Medallion, found in Liberty Love, by Alexia Abegg. There are so many to view on the web. I chose to work with mostly low volume fabrics, and mildly succeeded. That particular quilt is not listed here yet...since, in a weak moment, I decided to hand quilt it. Just one. Just so I can say, "Oh, yea, I've hand quilted a quilt before." BUT, with the remnants of that quilt, and to take a break from that quilt, I threw together this quilt, which I LOVE!. I had no plan, I wanted to try curves, I wanted a canvas to practice my longarm skills, and I ended up with a real homey looking quilt, IMHO. The wide, middle plaid panel is made with $1.00 shirts from the resale shop. I call it...Marcelle's Daughter.
Like the rest of the Quilting World, I seem to enjoy having two ongoing projects, one always a lot easier than the other. It's nice to switch gears. This is a quilt made for my friend, April, yet another cancer fighter. Nice to have in those cold hospital rooms. Simple 6" blocks, some half square triangles, some not. All scraps.
This little pretty is an inspiration from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts, always generous with her skills and patterns. This will be in my etsy shop soon...i'm holding off till I can at least get 3 things on there.
Crunch time...November. I'm trying to complete all WIPs before the end of the year, and most certainly before starting another project. I still have two unfinished Marcelle Medallions, but they are oh-so-close. In the meantime, I finished this baby quilt for Betsi; something for her to have at her house when her granddaughter comes to visit.
I did some quilting for a friend. She's had a few vintage quilt tops hanging around. This was a very fragile top, made w/ mostly sheer nylon material. It had the typical skewed, misshaped form that, to me, just adds authenticity to the quilt. I just added a neutral backing and stitched it w/ a large stipple. The whole time I was quilting it, I wondered how she had the time to handquilt this, and why did it go unfinished?
The Sister Quilts. Great story, read it here.
A Christmas Table Runner
The Marcelle Medallion....blogged here
Last, but far from least. I give you....The Notre Dame Quilt.