10 Minute Block Quilt

Fall Greetings!

It's always good to take some time to be thankful, and this time of year reminds us to do so. I am especially thankful to have been born in a country that allows such freedoms, and for those who fight to protect those freedoms! ( A hardy thank you to all our veterans!!!!)

Although I have experienced poverty, I have always had a roof over my head; although sometimes there was little food for all of us, I have never gone hungry; families have issues, but when times have been tough, our family has always been there for each other. This is just a few things on my thankful list - I am very aware I am greatly blessed - but just wanted to get you thinking. No matter what difficulties we face in life, we can always find something to be thankful for!

 I am also thankful to those of you that entrust your quilts to me and allow me to get creative with them. I have quilted 10 minute quilts before, but I really had some fun with this one. It could be because I just loved the colors, or the owls, bunnies, and hedgehogs, or perhaps I just saw this one in a different light. At any rate, here is the result.

The colors have a contemporary feel to them, so the quilting needed to continue this.To keep with the arc pattern of the cathedral window portion, a melon or orange peel pattern was used, with various fill patterns within. This left a sort of compass pattern down the middle, so to counter all those curvy lines, a crosshatch pattern was placed in these areas.

Within the "window" areas, a continuous curve pattern was placed in the center, with a small circles as a fill in the centers. This kept the 3D effect, as well and nailed down that bulky area that is caused by all the layers underneath the center.

Well, I have to get on to my next quilt (it is the holiday season after all). May each of you enjoy a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
(And, until next time, happy quilting!!)

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." (Colossians 3:2)

Ride the Waves

A More Contemporary Quilt

"Ride the Waves" quilt as it came
off the longarm machine.

I actually started this quilt about a year ago. This one was a kit I had purchased about 4 years ago, and when my granddaughter asked me for a quilt, I went through my projects and thought this one would be perfect for her. However, it did not take me long to determine I was short of fabric - hate when this happens - and so I had to hunt down the now not so available fabrics on the web and wait for them to come in to see if they matched. By the time all this was sorted out, this project did not get into full swing until around April. To start, things were quite simple - all I did was sew a bunch of strips together! (Yes, simple, but I get bored easily, so it took me a while.) I actually completed this one before I started on my "Chain of Fools" quilt, but did not think about blogging my own progress until later.

Leftover scraps

Once my strip piecing was completed, I used a template to cut them diagonally into blocks, and this left a lot of wasted material. I cut them all into triangles, when possible, and other various sizes, as the scraps allowed. I knew there would be enough scraps to make another quilt, so I saved everything until I figured out what I wanted to do.

Border added to top and bottom
to make the quilt longer.

In the meantime, I pieced the blocks together - with care!!! (Everything was cut on the bias, so it was too easy to stretch them.) The finished quilt pattern was square, and I wanted to make it longer, so I took some of those left-over pieces and created an additional border at the top and bottom.

Close up of quilting pattern.

Since the patterns in this quilt were so busy, I opted for an edge to edge pattern that reminded me of ocean waves. (And, quite honestly, it is hard to fit my own quilts into my schedule, let alone try to do them as a custom!)

Pattern used for leftovers

As I was sewing the binding on this one,  I found a triangular pattern in a magazine that I could use with the triangular scrap pieces I had reserved, so I laid out my them out accordingly, and then sewed them together. There were enough scraps leftover to make a 45 X 61" quilt, and I still have scraps - I'll have yet to figure out what to do with the rest of them.

The finished 45 X 61" quilt
made with the leftovers

Well, that's all for now. Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful summer - I can't believe school has started already!!!
Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." Colossians 2:9-10

Carol's Stars

Before quilting

When this blue and yellow quilt was brought to me, Carol told me the pattern was supposed to form circles, but neither of us could see them. The top of the quilt is shown at right as it was draped over my machine (with a few sticky notes attached to remind me of what I planned once the quilt is loaded.) The pink contrasting stars are a "cancer awareness" reminder.

colored pencil sketch to help me think

Often,  I draw the quilts out on graph paper so that I can play a bit and get my creative juices going. When I drew this one out, the circles really popped out at me, so I sketched them in and started playing with some possible patterns.


This really looked like a wedding ring quilt in my drawing, and I had to stare at the actual quilt for a while to allow the pattern to set into my mind.

finished quilt

Once I had the pattern fixed in my head with a few ideas going, I loaded the quilt and got to work. I did the circles first, since the remainder of the patterns would depend on them. These were very large circles - I think 26" - so I had to do them as 1/2 circles to fit into my throat space.












When all the large circles were complete, patterns were placed into the shapes formed by the overlapping circles.

circular pattern detail

My quilts usually evolve as I work, since they seldom end up like I thought they would when I began. Line patterns were designed to fit into the outlined areas, and, in this case, I felt some background fill was needed around the star areas, so I used a pebble pattern.

"Pillow" area

star detail

back of quilt

"Chain of Fools" on my design wall

This quilt took me a while to complete, but I really like the finished look, and I hope you do too.



On another note, my "Chain of Fools" quilt is coming along. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have had to take things apart because I got the triangles turned the wrong direction, but I think I am about two thirds of the way done!




That's it for now. Until next time, happy quilting!!!

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware." (Heb 13:2)

Skyrocket

Colorful and Scrappy!

This quilt uses batik scraps to make the "Skyrocket" pattern. My husband thought it was a bit too colorful, but I think it's wonderful.
The bright colors just give it such a cheerful look.















The blocks were connected through the white space, so I created a line pattern to fit, and incorporated the same design used in the sashing.
















Because the "Skyrocket" areas were so colorful, I thought simple would be best for these, so I incorporated straight lines and curves to fit the pattern.










The colorful border - picked to try to incorporated the many colors in the quilt - needed something to tone it down a bit, so  a detailed star pattern was used with a dark blue (toning down) thread.

The back of the quilt shows up all the designs quite nicely.











Until next time, Happy Quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the week: "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel." (Ezra 7:10)

Red, White and Black Bandanna Quilt

Left This Out!

What can I say - I was in such a hurry with my last post that I left this out - now you know how feeble my mind is!

This one was quilted with a feather panto using red thread - sounds a bit bold, but the end look of it is fabulous. Sometimes dramatic is the way to go!

Until next time, Happy Quilting!
Cathy

February Pantographs

Dear fast and furious quilters,

I know you have been hard at work during our cold and snowy winter, since I have so many quilts in my queue! February was primarily edge to edge work, so I thought I would show you what I have been busy with.

For this quilt, K wanted an all over pattern, but I did not want to mess up her beautiful embroidery, so I did a meander instead. (If you do not know what this is, basically, I decide on what motifs to use, how I will connect them, and then do an all over free motion quilting pattern.) This works really well when you have specific areas that you do not want any quilting to cover. It costs a bit more than edge to edge, but less than custom.

This one is a contemporary baby quilt. The large fabric area allows the quilting pattern to become part of the look of the quilt.


















This is a vintage Dresden plate quilt done by B's mom. When her mother passed away,
the family found several quilt tops and split them up among the family members. (It is my hope that someday my family will think my quilts are just as precious and B does.) Since B did not want to spend a lot of money on the quilting, she decided to do and overall pattern. I think what she selected for this quilt works very well, and allows the actual piecing details to really stand out. You see -  it is okay to have an edge to edge quilting on something of this vintage, and is certainly better than leaving the quilt top in the closet where it cannot be enjoyed!

before quilting

after quilting

B had two of her mother's quilts, and the blocks on this one were apparently done by members of her quilt group, as there were several signatures found on the quilt. Some of the blocks had some issues (see photo - before quilting), so a more dense quilting pattern was selected in order for the ripples and bulging  to be disguised. I'm sure B's mom had quite the time trying to fit varying block sizes together. Now we have ways to insure our 1/4 inch seams and piecing squares are more standard, but it is still sometimes difficult to fit together blocks done by many hands!

After quilting, the creases and ripples seem to have disappeared - oh the magic!

J's quilt is planned as a gift for her son (who is in the service - bless our military!) and his wife. This one is a sampler quilt, and looks great with an overall quilting design.


This last quilt is a simple block quilt, but the colors are wonderful. She picked an all over feather pattern, and it has some secondary patterns that show up throughout.









Well, that's it for now. The weather is showing signs of spring, and I can hardly wait to begin working in my garden!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy