Finishing touches

Finally got around to adding a sleeve onto this quilt - good to time catch up with some shows too.  I finished this quilt months ago, and had already delivered it to the recipient - but they wanted a sleeve, so they could display it.  You can read the story of this quilt here.

Do you use a thimble?  I do when I do bindings or sleeves - easier to push the needle through all those layers.  And less chance of injury, too!  I use the leather thimble with a metal tip inside, and a little space for your fingernail to peek out - if you have nails longer than I do, that is. :)

Another finishing touch - fresh flowers from my garden.  Lovely!

Second Finish of 2013

Gypsy John - my second finish of the year.  We finally had some sun yesterday, so I quick grabbed the quilt and ran out back to take some pictures (Scott helped!).
This is an original design, inspired by our friend, John, who is pictured on the t-shirt in the center.  You can read more about John, and how I made this quilt, here and here. Machine quilted (beautifully!) by Sue Pawlowski. 

I had the pleasure of delivering this to its owner today.  Didn't get any pictures of the event, but suffice it to say, he was surprised and pleased.

Quilt Tour 2012 Part III

So - I'm beginning to think that I have WAY too many quilts displayed around the house! My family is used to it, I guess!

Hannah's Sweet 16, made in 2006. It was done as a surprise for Hannah's 16th birthday - I got signatures/messages from family and friends, and traced them onto these simple blocks using a Mickey Mouse light box I got at a garage sale for $1. This was a challenge for me, as I used "Hannah colors", which are not my colors! Hannah's colors are, for example, olive green, salmon pink, teal, dusty purple, golds, and browns. I usually go for the jewel tones. Not a great shot of it, sorry but this is where it lives.

Brenda's Dresden, received in an online bee swap in 2011. The one I made lives with my new friend, Helen, in New York.

Lime Green with Hearts, made around 2002. I had collected the lime green fabrics (my favorite color) and was just playing with them. My only quilt with beading.

I figured I should include my studio's design walls - this is my Color Challenge blocks, just made this year. The challenge was issued by the lovely Victoria over at 15 Minutes Play.

My other work-in-progress on the wall, this is Gypsy John - a gift for a special friend. More on this later.

What inspires me?

The amazing and talented Victoria, over at 15 Minutes Play has dubbed this as Inspiration Week. All week long, fellow quilters have been posting what it is that inspires them to create!

As a matter of fact, I posted about one of my projects yesterday!

A big source of inspiration for me is people - people that I know and love. This is about our friend, John.

John calls himself Gypsy John when he is performing at open mics around the area. Word has it that he might even be thinking about making a cd soon - cool!

Well, over a year ago, John had a terrible motorcycle accident. He was in the hospital a long time, and his road to recovery was looking difficult.

John did recover - fully! He has been at home for over a year, he is back at work, and performing too!

We were given these t-shirts at his recent backyard music festival/birthday party. As soon as I felt the shirt in my hands, I knew I wanted to make a quilt out of it.

I went to pull fabrics that said "John" to me, something like shirting plaids and the like. I was surprised to have quite a few in my stash! But then, what to do with them?


Enter another wonderful quilter who I have met in blogland - Mary over at fiberliscious.
She was posting about one of her projects, and I just LOVED all of her stripped fabric rectangles. I knew instantly I wanted to use this techique for my Gypsy John quilt.

Stay tuned for the outcome!