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.

Crown of Thorns

Many years ago when I first was learning about quilting I choose this pattern to make a queen sized quilt. Of course I had no idea what I was doing and what I was getting myself into. But I jumped in anyway. Now here it is 16 years after purchasing the fabric and I'm still not finished! Yes, I said 16 YEARS. I finished piecing the top about 10 years. I now have returned to hand quilting the sucker. Yes, hand quilting -- I said I didn't know what I was getting into.


The pattern is called Wedding Ring or Crown of Thorns. I'm about half way through the quilting. Here a block on the quilting frame. It is set on point with alternating white squares. The squares are about 10 inches or so.

Today I learned a valuable lesson -- always use a sharp needle! I was getting frustrated with the quilting and decided to try a new needle. WOW! What a difference! Suddenly I'm zipping along like crazy. Needles are cheap. Must remind myself to change to a new needle every so often.

I'll post more pictures of the quilt in the next few days.

Note: Cats think quilts on quilt frame is kitty hammock - Bailey The Cat relaxing

Quilts in the Mountains

My sister lives in Western North Carolina. She doesn't like to sew but does enjoy collecting quilts. Last weekend I went up to visit and we went out to photography quilts. We went to a few public places that had nice country backgrounds for quilt photos. Here are a few of the photos we took.

This first one is a quilt our Grandmother made in the late 50's or early 60's.

This is quilt my sister bought somewhere. It is beautiful!

This is a lap sized quilt I made a few years ago.

I'm back!

Okay, so I haven't updated my blog in months. Was busy with personal stuff, school and work. I'm now in my last semester of graduate school and unemployed. I've been catching up on sewing projects.

One of my nieces is expecting a baby in October. She is doing the baby's room in yellow and brown. I made this quilt for the baby (it's a boy) using the Snapshot pattern from the book "Happy Hour". Thanks to the Jeanne at Quilts 'N Fixins for helping me pick out yellows and browns.

Sewing Update

After many months in the shop, my Viking Quilt Designer II is back home and sewing nicely. Last all it developed a problem of raising and lowering the presser foot randomly as I sewed. After trying a few different parts replacement, the step motor had to be ordered. I seriously think they had to have it shipped from Sweden because it took 2 months! Thank goodness I still own my trusty old Pfaff 7510 and could still do some sewing. Also, thank goodness for the warranty coverage on the Viking - I didn't pay a dime to get it repaired.


I recently made this basic blouse. I will be making it again in other fabrics and with a longer shirt tail. This one is short because I messed up when cutting the fabric out. This is a shirting fabric I got from Hancock's for not much money so even if I just give it away it was money well spent to try out the pattern and getting the fitting correct. Patter is McCall's 5052.




I also have been working on a fleece jacket that hopefully will be done soon. I had to do a lot of resewing to get the shoulders to fit the way I wanted them to. I got up enough bravery to cut the garment back, front and sleeves based to bring the sleeve-shoulder seam up to a higher point on my shoulder. The pattern was loose fitting with dropped shoulders. On me, it just looked like it was way too big and bulky. It's looking better but not complete.
I also ordered some Melton Wool last week. Now I'm afraid to cut into it since it was $16.00 per yard, which actually is an excellent price but more than I'm used to spending on fabric. It is heavier than I expected so I'm waffling on which pattern to use. My original idea was the short version of Vogue 8089 but now I'm thinking Butterick 3573 . Decisions, decisions!