A Quilted Christmas

Heres the latest photo of the Hartmans:

 me and Sara are in the back and Matt and Fred in front.

 I made a few quilts as gifts this Christmas.  I had always wanted to make a "Tumbling Blocks" quilt, so I found a book online:  ABC 3-D  by Marci Baker. I used it as a guide to put together this table runner.  Marci Baker does an amazing job explaining how easy it is to put together something that appears so complicated!  This is definitely my new favorite quilt pattern!  I used the beautiful Japanese taupes and bought enough to make one for myself!  This one went to Fred's dad, Dennis.

Here's a close-up of the quilting.  That was a lot of fun - I got to practice using my ruler on the long arm.  It was much easier than I had anticipated! This table runner measures 16"x48".

 Working with the Japanese taupes, I realized that Siamese cats would look amazing in those same fabrics.  So, I found a few different quilt block patterns online and put them together to make this little kitty quilt. I had to modify the cat pattern to make it a Siamese cat .  It measures 26"x26".  This one was for Carole and her Siamese kitty "Muffin". I chose to make four Siamese cats because over the years, Carole has had four Siamese cats - Jataka, Sobeit, Tree(sp?) and Muffin being the fourth.

The most challenging quilt project of the year was repairing and finishing a vintage quilt that was started in the 1950s by Fred's grandmother, Alberta Haseman.  Fred's mom, Vernice, asked me if I could finish it last Christmas.  For 6 months I stared at it and waited for some divine inspiration!  In October, I found the fabrics I wanted to use for the borders and backing.  I then spent several more weeks looking at it and agonizing over how to repair the batting and backing.  It appeared as though they had both shifted while Alberta was handquilting the blocks.  The blocks happen to be made up of fabric from  house dresses she had worn back in the '50s.  Vernice said that the one striped block (lower right corner) was the fabric used in a pair of her (Vernice's) pants that she wore as a child. I knew that I didn't want to disturb the hand quilting that Alberta had patiently applied to all of those blocks.  But, I decided that I would carefully pull out the outermost three inches of stitching around three sides so that I could splice in a piece of flannel (which is what she used for the batting) onto the original flannel.  I used some of her scraps to repair the backing so that it covered all of the batting.  I then re-stitched her quilting.




To finish the quilt, I decided to bring out three of the most prominent colors in the quilt by adding three borders.   I then determined that the backing was too thin to endure any kind of use - it was very fine and sheer.  So, I backed the whole quilt with the same grey-blue Kona cotton that I used in the middle border. I quilted the whole quilt by stitching in the ditch (leaving all of the hand quilting in place).  I stitched a leaf design (that I took from one of the fabrics) in the middle border.  I stitched a ruffled flower in the outer border - a design inspired by one of the flowers in the fabrics used throughout the quilt center.   I think it turned out beautiful!  It looks like a modern quilt - Alberta was ahead of her time!

The bottom picture is what it looked like when I started.  60 years later it has finally become a quilt that can be treasured!  I gave it to Vernice for Christmas.

I have been keeping up with my goals for the new year. Although,  I missed a blog post - I think I made up for that today!  I have been doing something creative everyday.  I quilted a large  panel of upholstery fabric with an all-over  meander pattern (on the longarm).  I will be using it to make the new slip covers for my sectional couch.

I also made a few surprise gifts for a special friend.  Can't tell you what just yet - they've been mailed and when they arrive, I will post photos.

Tomorrow I start my new quilting class at Fat Quarters Quilt Shop!  I'll show you what we will be working on in tomorrow's post!

Good Night!

Sandy