One more finish

"Pinwheel Star" for Rhys.  Pattern is called Solitary Stary by Maria Umhey (in Quiltmaker #192). It was a quick and easy pattern, and I got to use a bunch of fabric I already owned.

This is my great-nephew, Rhys!  He is a sweet, happy, bundle of energy! He is also 3 years old and I was overdue in making him a baby quilt.

I love the happy nature of this quilt.  Even though Rhys is no longer a baby, he can still use if for floor fun, naps, and maybe as a Batman cape.

I think he likes it!

 

Three quilts and a baby!

 When I retired from my day job a few months ago, I realized that I need to make 5 baby quilts soon!  Two of our daughters, Emily and Hannah, were expecting babies, another family member was expecting too, and I was overdue on making baby quilts for 2 others toddlers.  Time to sew!

"Starry Starry Night" for Benjamin Prindle, our grandson, born two weeks ago! I had seen this design on Pinterest years ago, sorry I could not determine the designer.  It was fun to make all of these wonky, colorful stars!  I varied the background colors, inspired by the original design and also by the awesome way that Hannah painted the nursery's ceiling!

Doesn't this room look amazing?  Hannah and Danny used 5 different dark blues and swirled them together to create the night sky.  Then they used the handle tip of a narrow paint brush, dipped in white paint, to achieve the stars.  Hannah really has a flair for decorating!

Here is our newest grandchild, Benjamin Robert, born 2 weeks ago today!  He was 7 lbs. 14 oz., 12 inches long.  And oh, those cheeks!  We think he's pretty great.

We are lucky that our kids all live close by, so we can visit often.  I think I held Ben for an hour yesterday, it felt so good! 

"Sweet Dreams" made Hannah's sister-in-law's baby, who was born two weeks ago also!  Baby Natalie Rose was born one day before Benjamin, so Natalie and Ben will be like cousin twins!  Exciting times for all! 
I made these simple stars out of some leftover Moda fabrics I had (another jelly roll, I think), so soft and sweet.  I knew that the parents had painted the nursery a very soft pale pink so I am hoping this will blend with their decor.

"Pastel Hearts" for Emma, who is already 2 years old!  Emma is big sister to new baby Natalie, whose quilt is shown above.  These floral and dot prints were from a jelly roll I purchased a few years ago and have used for a couple of other baby quilts.  I love the pinks, greens, beiges, and grays.  The simple 4-patch heart blocks go together so quickly! It's a great way to use up scraps. 

Three baby quilts done since April, and two to go!  One is in progress, and will be for my other daughter's soon-to-be-born third child!  More on that quilt later, after the quilt is done and the baby is born.  Quilt #5 has not been started yet.

Finishes - 2021!

 Wow, I had NO IDEA how many projects I finished in 2021 until I gathered them together and counted them!  I guess those little short sewing sessions added up to many completed quilts and other items! Note, some of these have not been blogged about yet, their stories will follow.  Here we go:

Oh Christmas Trees - table runner made for my niece, Collin. I drew Collin's name in our Secret Santa drawing this year.

I didn't make this awesome album quilt, but I re-bound it for my niece Collin, and her husband, Austin.  It is a well-loved quilt, made maybe in the 70s, it felt like silk working with it! I ripped off the original binding and added a fresh, new bias binding of muslin.  Ready for lots more snuggling!

I made a couple of Christmas pillow covers to add a little more Christmas fun to my holiday decor! 

One more little star pillow!

Sweet Baby Rose - made super quick for my coworker's new baby.  Rose made an early arrival so I quickly made this of saved extra equilateral triangles from another project. I love how the quilt gets so soft and crinkly after washing.

Hugs for Deb - finished quilt top, I never got a photo of the finished quilt! I tied the quilt to keep it super soft and fluffy.  This was a gift for a special friend who need a big hug. 

Rocky Mountain Love - baby quilt for little Owen (son of Cara K.) who lives in Colorado.  

Sweet Little Hearts - dolly quilt for my granddaughter, Kate, to celebrate her first birthday.  I have started a tradition of gifting each grandchild with a baby quilt when they are born, and a matching dolly quilt when they turn 1.

Sweet Little Hearts - dolly quilt for little Henry's first birthday. 

Siddhi Quilt - started in Sujata Shaw's online class from 2020, finished early in 2021.

Another project worked on this past year was going back and adding labels to all of my quilts.  I'm almost done with that.

So that's my year 2021 in review!  I know we all have busy schedules.  I work full time and also teach piano lessons to about 15 students each week.  It's important to me to fit quilting into my schedule.  I just love it, it feeds something inside me and makes me so happy!

Work in Progress

Do your quilt projects end up the way you planned them? Mine seldom do!  I enjoy the design process about as much as any other part of quilt-making.  

I started my latest quilt project with a pack of a bunch of Kaffe Fassett 6" in squares, all colors and patterns.  Yummy, gorgeous fabrics!  I planned to use them in a quick throw-size quilt to comfort a friend who has suffered the loss of her husband.

As much as I love these fabrics, I couldn't figure out what to do with them.  So - off to one of my favorite local quilt shops (The Quilt Merchant in Winfield). 

I was trying to create some kind of color scheme out of these varied fabric squares.  I bought a bunch of the glorious Kaffe print, and several other fabrics to add in for...I didn't know yet.  Would I make star blocks?  Square in a square?  Hard to say.

But when I got the fabrics home, and started throwing the fabrics on the wall, the fabrics told me to tone it down.  Too much color variety for a calming, comforting quilt.  So - I pulled out only the blue and purple print squares, and went to my stash to find more.  Plus, I added in the three newly-purchased fabrics on the right side above, and the Kaffe print, too.  I cut them all into more 6" squares, and settled on a streak of lightning set.  Sometimes simple is best.

I'm sewing the squares together into a web, adding one vertical row at a time.  First, I designed the quilt on the design wall (forgot to take a photo), and then took down all the rows, carefully labelling each row.  It's risky to leave a whole wall full of squares on the design wall - sometimes you come back the next day and half of them are on the floor!

I got half of the squares sewn together in one direction.  I will add the other half of the squares tomorrow, then press, and sew the crosswise seams.

 

Quilts & Human Rights

Scott and I attended the Quilts and Human Rights exhibit at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, this weekend.  It was a stunning exhibit - excellent - and powerful. Highly recommend!  The exhibit has been extended through May 11.  Here is the link.   Quilts portrayed human rights issues of many types, including racial inequity in the US and around the world, discrimination, and acts of violence and hatred.  

I am sorry you cannot zoom in on the captions, the backstories were so powerful.  My own iphone died on the way to the exhibit, and my husband's phone's photos were not very sharp.  I am sorry I do not remember the makers of these amazing works.  I was hoping to have that information in my photos.  You could contact the museum for the details.  

This was about Native American issues in Minnesota. 

This was a photo collage of many (hundreds) of quilts made in response to the killings at the Pulse (gay) nightclub in Florida.  

The story of the Hmong people. 

About atrocities in Laos.

This museum is on the very site where 5 innocents were killed, and others were injured, in a campus shooting 10 years ago.  This is one of 5 memorial quilts made to commemorate the lives lost. 

About survivors of the holocaust. 

Making a statement about the garment industry, and unfair labor practices. 

One woman's journey, after being attacked - from victim, to survivor. 

American Civic Rights heroes. 

Made by Denyse Schmidt, the original was made in response to Barack Obama's campaign, and his message of hope and change. The original was won by a donor to the campaign, and this copy was commissioned by Michigan State University, and is part of their permanent collection.   

Made by Jacquie Gering, called "Aftermath", in response to the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

A powerful and important exhibit, about a topic so much at the forefront in today's news - and in all of our lives.  

Farm Quilt - inspiration to finished!

"The Farm" - finished!

!

I had so much fun with this project, from inspiration, to design, to completion.  Much love was sewn into the quilt!  Made as a gift for my cousin, Julie, to honor the memory of my aunt, Marilyn, and to my grandparents' farm in Wisconsin.  After my grandparents were gone, my aunt and uncle moved to the farm after their retirement.  

Starting the design process.  For the most part, I made this quilt with my scraps ONLY.  I feel it pushes my design skills to use what I have, and I feel connected to my grandmothers, who were both quilters, and did not usually purchase fabrics for their quilts.
I started designing the sky in horizontal strips of hand-dyeds and batiks, but not loving the look.  The rust batiks would become the windmill. 

It is so quiet at the farm...you can see so many stars...and the sky is so blue!  The air is so fresh!
I spied these quilts by Terry Kramzar on the internet (you can find her website here) and was just drawn to them!  I love the pieced background technique, which I adopted for my sky.

Sky completed (much better!), starting to add the borders.  The log cabin scrappy blocks below are leftovers from my grandma's quilt!  

I kept my inspiration pieces close by while designing.  The farm's actual windmill is at the top - no vanes remaining!

Getting there!  The dark blue print edge triangles were in my stash - leftovers from a previous project, which I had cut the wrong size! Twice! So I had lots of them. :)

I like to insert all of the pins before closing them.  I feel it keeps the quilt-batting-backing layers nice and flat, and the finished quilt, if a wall quilt, is flat, square, and smooth. 

Basting the quilt prior to machine quilting.

I added an applique border on left and top, because of Marilyn's flowers growing at the farm, so graceful and wild and free.  I also added a thin orange/red print piping, a favorite design technique of mine.

We visited Wisconsin to deliver the quilt to Julie.  While there, we drove down the road to Anderson's Maple Syrup business, owned by descendants of my godparents, who started the business.
I don't think I had ever met Christine and Jan (her mother) before, but they were so warm and welcoming, and we felt and instant connection.  Christine has since visited us in Illinois.
Julie, me, Christine, Jan

"The Farm" photographed at the farm, where it belongs.