Memory Quilts

I was approached toward the end of last year with the idea of making two memory quilts.  These quilts would be made with the father's favorite Hawaiian print shirts.  The father had passed on and the mother wanted two of these memory quilts made for their two daughters.

This is such a fabulous idea!  I worked with the woman for quite awhile on pattern, design and color.  We decided on the Turning Twenty pattern for the two quilts.  I like that this pattern uses large sections of the fabric and really showcased the Hawaiian prints.  I added a sashing between the blocks, which you usually don't see in the Turning Twenty pattern, but it really showed of the prints better.  She also added two dresses of her own with Hawaiian prints as well.  Taking my suggestions, she incorporated several different cottons for the final pieces.

These were completed in time for Christmas gifts for the girls.  They loved them and have a very special memto of their father now.

One of the quilts had a more purple theme.

Close up of wave quilting.

The second quilt was more in blues.

Close up of blue quilt back.

I was able to add a pocket from the shirts into each of the quilts.

Back of purple quilt.

I also made custom quilt labels for the memory quilts.

Binding Project Number 6 & 7

Binding, binding, binding!  It's a good thing that I love hand word.  More binding projects from Mom that were pieced from the fiber artists in San Francisco.

Love this one with the stripes and circles.  Or is is bubbles?

The art quilt binding on the back blends right in with the fabric.

Close up of bubbles!

This reminded me of a beach scene with water and sand.

Close up of binding.

Comfort Quilt Number 1

I've actually done quite a few Comfort Quilts for our local quilt guild (Independence Hall Quilters). These quilts are made by the guild and donated to local hospitals, fire stations, child protective services and families in need.  It's a group effort by many women in the guild who donate their time to complete these Comfort Quilts.  I donate my long-arm quilting services towards the completion of these quilts.

This is a Comfort Quilt that I completed recently with a cute horse theme.

With the close up you can really see the quilting.

Back of the Comfort Quilt.

Boutique Quilt Number 2

This was a cute little quilt that I quilted for the boutique at our upcoming show.  It had the Holiday fabric so I used the holly berry pattern and love the way it turned out.  The small greenish border and the backing were a knit fabric, so I didn't trim it up after I finished it like I usually do.  I suggested binding it first and then trimming it, because if you trim it before hand, that knit fabric will curl up and make putting on the binding a real pain.

Our Independence Hall Quilters show is this weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys.  Come by and check it out!  There will be some great vendors this year, and some beautiful artwork and this boutique quilt will be for sale!

Back of the quilt with the knit fabric.

Binding Project Number 4 and 5

Two more binding projects from mom!  These are also from the fiber artist lives in San Francisco.  She definitely has a specific style and mom is quilting them all with straight lines.  She wants them all with the art quilt binding as well.  She is apparently going to have a show soon with these pieces.

I love her use of color

Art quilt binding, back.

This one looks like the forest





Love the look of the binding fabric with the backing fabric on this piece.



Binding in progress...





And mom gave me another quilt from this woman to bind just today!

Fabulous Flannel Quilt

I had the privilege of quilting this beautiful flannel quilt for Lois, who lives in Monterey.  I have worked on a number of her quilts now.  I just love the look of flannel after it has been quilted! 

Flannel quilt front.

In the 9-patch center, I quilted a meandering pattern with trees.  Then I did each of the additional five borders with a different freehanded pattern including leaves, swirls, meandered stars and clouds.



Detail on borders.



Back of quilt.

The freehanded meander stars looked great on the back of the quilt too!

Bed Scarf

I had never really heard the term 'bed scarf' before this client brought me this piece.  I thought at first that she said, 'bed skirt' as I had actually just finished one of those for another customer.  But a Bed Scarf drapes over the foot of the bed.  Purely decorative, but what a great idea!  I actually quilted the quilt that this woman has on her bed as well, so the bed scarf is going to match.  I just love the batik fabrics that she uses!

Full length of the bed scarf.

I quilted an overall pattern in the middle of the bed scarf, but because she has that little greenish flange between the outer brown border and the next lighter border, it couldn't be an edge-to-edge pattern.  I freehanded a vine with leaves in that last brown border, so now the flange stands out as it should, and isn't sewn down.

Detail of quilting.

Back of bed scarf.