My sister's quilt

Fair warning - If this blog was written on paper, there would be tear stains on it.

In 2008 I posted about a quilt I made for my sister in 2005. The beginning of the red quilt
It was a simple quilt made from 10-inch squares and hand tied. My sister and her husband liked the quilt but their dog Sadie LOVED the quilt. She would growl if they tried to make her move. She had never been that way about any other blanket but she loved the red quilt.

In 2014, I blogged about the quilt again Remaking my sister's quilt

In 2015 my sister mentioned when the time comes she wants to bury the quilt with Sadie. Honestly, my first reaction was a bit of shock. Then I thought about I made the quilt to comfort my sister and if that brings her comfort then she should do it. A few days later I came up with the idea of dividing the quilting into two quilts. My sister was all for that! She said she had thought of it but hated to ask. 

I had not put the ties close enough together which caused the batting to disintegrate. I cut the quilt, replaced the backing and batting, and machine quilted each piece. Now Sadie had her quilt and my sister could use the other half as a lap quilt.

Earlier this year the time came for Sadie to take a final trip to vet. She had gotten to the point where she only slept and ate. She had been having seizures and other medical problems, was practically deaf and blind. My sister and BIL decided to have her cremated instead of buried. They took Sadie's quilt with her on that final car ride. She laid on it while they said their good-byes and the vet helped her cross over. I cried and still cry to think of sweet Sadie Mae. She had been with them since she was a tiny pup and was such a good dog. 



Early in June my BIL went on a solo camping trip that he had been planning for months. He did not return when expected. A search was planned for the morning of June 7th. Sadly his body was found the evening of June 6th. We are all devastated. He was 61 years old. He and my sister had been together over 19 years. They completed each other. Between the two of them they have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. 

He loved the outdoors so his memorial service was held at a location that held special meaning to him and my sister. It was a very informal service. He was also a musician so some of his musician friends came and played music that reminded them of him.

When my sister arrived for the service she brought some items that he loved. I turned around to see the following:

She had brought one of the red quilt's because he loved it. I've never been so touched and happy to see one of my quilts. (I'm crying again) He was also a craftsman. He was always very complimentary of my craft work. 

Now there are quilters who are appalled at seeing quilts used as dog beds and put on the ground. But not me. As I wrote in 2014, I made the quilt to be used and to bring comfort to my sister. I think it now brings comfort to her in ways I never imagined. It may have not been made from the most expensive fabrics nor did it take thousands of hours to make but I know I will always remember it. 

RIP Sadie Mae and Push
 

Pillowcase from leftovers and a remade quilt

Going through my scraps I came across these quilted strips that I had trimmed from a lap quilt I did a few years ago. I have no idea why I trimmed such large pieces after quilting. I must have really messed up with my basting and things shifted.

 

 I sewed the strips together. Added some white quilted pieces and made myself a pillow case. I'm pleased with the results.

In 2005 I made my sister a large quilt from 12-inch squares of fabric. Instead of quilting, I tied it. Her dog, Sadie, decided right off the bat that the quilt belonged to her. You can see the quilt and Sadie in this post  http://craftypat.blogspot.com/2008/11/for-many-years-i-had-good-intentions-of.html

Sadie is now getting on in years and everyone knows she won't be around forever. A few months ago my sister mentioned when the time comes she wants to bury the quilt with Sadie. Honestly, my first reaction was a bit of shock. Then I thought about I made the quilt to comfort my sister and if that brings her comfort then she should do it. A few days later I came up with the idea of dividing the quilting into two quilts. My sister was all for that! She said she had thought of it but hated to ask. 

When I got the quilt I kept thinking it seemed very thin. When I took it apart I found the polyester batting had disintegrated! Apparently I had not put the ties close enough together. 

I cut the quilt top in two pieces. Removed the backing and batting. With new batting and backing, I machine quilted each piece using straight-line quilting. I then used solid red for the binding.

A few weeks after finishing them I went to visit my sister and return her "new" quilts. Sadie approves:

Her sister, Ruby, had to also test out the quilt.

More quilts for little ones

More quilts for little ones! These two went to a 3-year-old great niece and her new baby brother.

This was made from 6 fat quarters using the Turning Twenty Pattern.

Here is the back of it:

Here is the one for the new little boy. I just cut squares and rectangles to make this one.

 

A close up view:

A view showing the backing:

Two little girl quilts

Today is about more baby quilts. These two quilts went to sisters.

This one took me a lot longer than it should have. I just was not in the quilting mood for a long time. But I did get it to her before she started to school :)

Isn't she a cutie?

When the little sister was announced, I got motivated to finish the one above and make one for the youngest.

This was the "Turning 20" pattern but with 6 blocks instead of 20 blocks. 

Back to blogging!

So it's been years since I updated my blog, oh well. I'm not even going to try to recap the last few years but just focus on I've gotten my sewing mojo back. 

My nieces and nephews have produced a few children in the last few years, so I will start with some pictures of baby quilts. 

The oldest great-nephew in this picture already has a quilt so I made him a fleece blanket.

For the littlest one, I did this sea theme quilt:

This picture is showing the front and the back.

 For the girl in the family, I did this with flowers and butterflies on one side and ladybugs on the other side:

This is the braided edge on the fleece blanket. I got the instructions from http://www.piecesbypolly.com/2010/12/braided-fleece-blankets-tutorial.html 

I didn't use the bent paper clip like she did. I just used my fingers to connect the pieces.
 

This is my blanket/quilt tester. His name is Chuck Norris. 

More pictures to come in a few days!

Remaking an old quilt

A few months ago I bought a set of vintage quilt blocks from eBay. These had once been part of a quilt and were still attached in rows with sashing. There were 6 rows, each containing 8 blocks. The sashing was detoriating beyond thread bare, it practically fell apart in my hands.

The blocks had been machine sewn. I saw no remnants of actually quilting but some of the blocks are worn spots or torn fabric. I ripped what was left of the sashing. I think the blocks were originally supposed to be 9 inches finished. I say "supposed to be" because the seams were not straight and most of the blocks were less than 9 1/2" unfinished. I trimmed the blocks so they would all be 9 inches square before I put sashing back on them. Some were barely 9 inches! Talk about a challenge, this was!

I cut the sashing from white muslin at a size of 3 1/2 inches wide. I also added 3 1/2 inch wide sashing to the outside as a border. I'm pleased with the results. Hopefull later today I can get a shot of the whole top. Here are a couple of close ups.

It's finished!!!!!!!!!!!!

At last! The quilt that took 16 years. It is finished! I just finished hemming down the binding. It was the first large quilt I started when I was first quilting in 1993. The pattern is called Crown of Thorns or Wedding Ring.

It was machine pieced and hand quilted. Each white square has a design in it, the pieced squares have the quilting in the white parts. The finished quilt is about 80 x 80 inches. The blue print is brighter than it shows in these pictures. The backing is white muslin.



Here is a close up of the quilting design (sorry about the shadow)

Here is the whole quilt!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

It's DONE!! ::::Doing a happy dance:::::

A couple of more quilts

This is a quilt I made a couple of years ago. First is a close up of some of the fabric.


Here is the complete quilt with a matching pillow. The back of the pilllow has the same large floral as the border of the quilt. The quilt is about 48x36 - a nice size for a throw.

This one I posted about a few days ago -- I purchased the top in pieces and have sewn it together. The finished size is 39 x 48 inches. I did free motion quilting using my Viking Mega Quilter machine.

I pieced the backing with this large floral I had in my stash and some unbleached muslin. The binding is done in a solid dark blue.

My First Quilt Project

This was my first quilt. A wall hanging that is about 18 inches square. I machine pieced the top and then hand quilted. I didn't know anything about hand quilting and did the "stab" method like you do for cross stitch. This was done in 1993.


Bear Paw Quilt - 1993


Close up of Bear Paw Quilt Wall Hanging

Other people's quilts

I have some quilt tops and quilt pieces that I have bought off of ebay. This weekend I've been working on finishing some of these projects. The first one was a completed top that I bought. It is made from fabrics that look like they came from the 1980's and 1990's. I used plain muslin for the back and machine stitched in the ditch around each square. As you can see this is a large quilt. It's about 90 x 90 inches. The fabrics are not all 100% cotton, some are more of a sateen home decorating fabric. There is one print that I think I used myself for some home decorating project in the early 90's :)

a close up of the top

The next project came to me in strips of triangles sewn together. The original maker used the machine to piece it. Some of the fabrics are worn/faded but most look pretty good. Some of the triangles are pieced together. Some strips are long then others. I've sewn together all the strips and now will attempt to square the quilt up to some type of size. Looks like it will end up being a small lap quilt.

I love that brown print with the little leaves. Some interesting fabrics in there. This is a bit of a challenge since the original sewing is not consistent. Not all the points are going to meet but I'm determined to get something made out of it.

Crazy Quilt

More pictures of my crazy quilt. I did this quilt in 1999. I used 12 inch squares of muslin as a base to sew and flip scraps. The scraps are of various types of fabrics from previous sewing projects and quilts. The backing is flannel. Then I machine stitched in the ditched. This is a heavy quilt and gets a lot of use around the house. Since some of the pieces have needed repair over the years, it is always changing slightly as I patch it.

Drag around quilts

These are quick and easy quilts for little ones to drag around. I've made some in the past. Recently I made 3 for 3 little boys in a family I know. The oldest of the boys is 4, the youngest was just born a few days ago.

These are just 1 yard cuts of fabric put together with batting and then free-motion quilted. I try to quilt around the motif on one side of the quilt, such as around the Cars on the car quilt.



Baby quilt - letters on the blue side and circles on the yellow side.

Doggie quilt - Dalmations with fire hydrants on one side, little bones & balls on the other with a dalmation print binding.

The Cars quilt - with a small black & white check for the binding.

These size quilts are fun to do and kids love the size because it's easy to carry in the car or in a small overnight bag to Grandma's.