Glorious Quilts

I'm seeing Frogs

2011-10-12T17:41:00.008-06:00

Just finished a quilt that has frogs all over it. It turned out pretty fun, but I am seeing frogs in my sleep. This is a quilt for a customer's grandson. I think it is just the kind of quilt that a little boy would like.

When you look at the back, you see froggies, froggies, froggies and the lilly pads they love to jump on all over the place. What fun!

I did a quilt for her earlier this year and it was a jungle theme. It was fun to quilt and is one of those stack and whack kind. I loved it. I have quilted some others for her grandchildren this year. They are supposed to be Christmas presents. I think they will love it. Kids always love cuddly minke quilts. Just wish I had remembered to take pictures.

Wow! Does Time Fly!

2011-09-23T23:07:00.005-06:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything. Life just seems to keep on rolling along, even if you wish it would slow down a little. My husband retired, and that seems to have taken time with the planning and all. We went to a family reunion and planned on an extended vacation, but then he hurt his knee and had to have surgery and needless to say that has kept me extra busy.

Inbetween all the regular life stuff I have quilted some fun quilts and just haven't had time to post them. I did a couple of Cancer quilts. The first was for a lady who pieced the top last year and I volunteered to quilt it for her. It was kind of fun to do.

My daughter and I also quilted a quilt together again this year. The blocks were done by a lot of different ladies last year and then she put them all together in a really fun quilt and I quilted it. I hope the ladies like it and that they sell lots of raffle tickets for it.

I didn't get very good pictures of it, do guess I won't add one. We love "Quilting for the Cure!"

Newest Grandchild

2011-03-12T13:51:00.007-07:00

February brought our newest grandchild, and so a new quilt was in order. I just used a yard and a half of printed fabric and a jazzy color on the back. Then with a flowered overall quilting pattern I was all set for the new little one in no time at all. Actually, I hate to admit it, but it took me a month to get it done.

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Another Grandmother was getting a new grandchild as well, and so I needed to finish her quilt first. She opted for a hearts over all pattern with a soft minke back. What a nice was to say, "Welcome to your new home!"

Heritage Quilt

2011-03-12T13:44:00.004-07:00

Did a fun Heritage quilt in the last little while. I woman made it for her mother-in-law. It had a wedding picture and the pictures of all her children on it. It was a lap quilt for her to use in the evenings, etc. It had that really soft Minke on the back. I hope she really enjoys it.

Finally!

2011-02-15T08:45:00.008-07:00

I have finally finished a quilt I started last fall. It has ended up being a lot more work than I thought it would be, but it has turned out beautiful. I can hardly wait to see it all bound and on a bed.

It was started in Oct. or the first part of Nov. and had to be taken off the frame so that I could finish up all the Christmas quilts. Even after I got that finished, there were the two wedding quilts to finish. Finally I got it back on the first part of Feb. and got it all finished last week. Thank Goodness!!

I love Weddings!!!

2011-01-31T22:49:00.010-07:00

I just love weddings - Especially family weddings. And granddaughters are probably just as fun as daughters and not quite as much work. All I had to do was quilt for about a month solid. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun.

This is granddaughter #l's quilt. It is very graphic and bold and modern. Quite matches the girl. She is the oldest and the first to be married - on Friday.

Since the bride loves purple, I put purple on the back and the flowers and leaves and swirls showed up quite well.

Granddaughter #2 was married on Saturday. It was quite the week-end, but at least family that had to travel from out of town got to attend both weddings with only one trip. It was well worth the effort and enjoyed by all.

Granddaughter #2's quilt is more traditional, but just as colorful and fun. She really loved it. I had so much fun quilting this one.

I'm sure they will have many cozy evenings cuddling under the quilt! I love you both!

More Christmas

2011-01-19T09:09:00.001-07:00

Way Past Christmas Time

2011-01-19T08:36:00.006-07:00

I know it is way past Christmas Time, but I did want to post a couple of pictures so you could see what I worked on in December.

I am working on a quilt for my daughter, and it is taking way more time than I thought it would. (Why do we always do that to ourselves. Anyway, I had to take it off in order to get to the Christmas gifts.) I'll post more pictures after I finish it up.>

This is a quilt that my youngest daughter made for her husband's Grandmother. We were both pretty proud of her efforts. It is her first quilt (other than a baby quilt). Grandma really liked it.

This is an adaptation of the same quilt that I made for my brother and his wife for Christmas. I quilted all over holly and berries.

Here is a fun quilt made from a panel. It was for my husband's brother and his family. I love Christmas and snowmen!!! Don't you!

Quilt for Cancer

2010-11-18T10:42:00.008-07:00

Amber and I worked together on another quilt in September for the Breast Cancer effort with the Utah Quilt Guild. I decided to try feathers on this quilt and it was a lot of fun.

Gray and Lisa got in on the fun with their embroidery machine and it really added a nice touch.

I thought it turned out really nice. We have no idea how much it raised, but every little bit helps.

Summer is the time for weddings

2010-08-01T20:11:00.008-06:00

Finished a wedding quilt last week. I loved the color combination. This quilter really has an eye for color. Not many quilters will choose to put purple and orange and lime green together, but this quilt turned out to be really eye catching. I hope the bride likes it as much as her mother and I did.

It is a king size, or a queensize bedspread, so it was about as big as I can put on my machine. I really like to see them all mounted and being worked on. It is almost as fun as seeing the finished product.

Of course it is fun to see them all spread out on the bed as well. Makes me wish I had pillow shams to match each quilt. Oh Well!

And as always, the back is fun too! Makes a good ending for another beautiful quilt.

2010-07-29T09:03:00.004-06:00

Life sure whizzes by! Somehow, I thought that once all my children were married and gone I would have more time to do whatever. Not so! We seem to spend most of our lives thinking that Life is going to change; get slower or better or happier or whatever. You'd think that we would learn a little sooner that life is just life and that we'd better be happier now, or make time for whatever now, or slow down and enjoy it more NOW!!! Well, enough sharing my great wisdom with all of you. On to the quilt.

I finished another quilt in the last little while and really liked the way it turned out. I was able to use some of the same feathers as the last one and even tho the quilt is entirely different, the effect was still lovely.

2010-07-20T22:18:00.006-06:00

I worked on a beautiful quilt recently. The workmanship was exceptional and the result was really lovely. The piecing was precise and the colors were well chosen. Together the effect was soft and appealing. I enjoyed working on it very much and choose to use feathers on the whole top.

Since the fabrics used were rather scrappy, I didn't think formal feathers was quite the thing, and so I used a feather that I have worked to develop. It is a feather with a swirl and a leaf incorporated, so it is less formal and more fun.

As per usual, the back is fun too.

I didn't realize until the quilt had been returned to the customer that I didn't have pictures of the ends of the quilt. These pictures were taken before the quilt was turned to do the scalloped ends. The scalloped turned out really pretty. Wish I had remembered to take additional pictures when I was all done. Guess I must have had a senior moment!

2010-06-26T11:15:00.010-06:00

Had a lot of fun recently quilting a "camp" quilt to be used as an award at a girl's camp. It turned out to be kind of artsy and was different than most of what I do, but I really had a good time doing it. It was kicks!!!

It was quilted like a "River of Life" and had cattails and fish and other fun things. The fish were mostly hidden, with this gold fish showing up more than the rest of the fish.

The cattails looked kind of cool from the back too. I guess this could be called thread painting.

She also made some little wall hangings of young women. They were fun too. I think the girls will enjoy getting them.

Feathers, feathers and more feathers!

2010-05-20T19:37:00.004-06:00

Finished a baby quilt today that I knew was going to be given to my new granddaughter. It seemed just made for feathers, and so that is what I did. It was lots of fun and I really enjoyed doing it. The customer thought it was gorgeous and my daughter liked it very much as well. The baby is too little to ask for an opinion, but I am sure that she will love it a lot in the years to come.

As usual the back was a lot of fun too!

Wow! What Fun!

2010-05-14T09:50:00.003-06:00

Last week was a lot of fun for me. I attended the Home Machine Quilting Show in Salt Lake City. It is a national show that comes in May every year and I have attended the last three years. I love to volunteer and help the judges judge all the quilts. It is fun to hear their comments and see all the awe inspiring quilts. I mostly enter mine because if everyone waited to quilt prize winning quilts before they entered, there would be very little to look at, so I enter but never hold my breath.

This year I entered a quilt challenge. A quilt challenge works several different ways, but this one was sponsored by Sew Batik Fabric. The sponsor furnished the fabrics and the pattern and everyone had to piece the same exact quilt. It was about 39" x 39". Then each quilter got to quilt the piece any way she wanted. I thought the fabric was beautiful and so quilted it quite simply to enhance the fabric and not use it as an opportunity to showcase my quilting. My belief as a quilter is that my job is to make the quilt look the very best that I can, and so that is what I set out to do.

Then Thursday when the show opened, I headed for the exhibit to see what everyone else's quilt looked like. There were 18 of the exact same quilt, but what a difference there was. Wow! Did they ever go all out. There were elaborate borders and crystals and all sorts of things. I looked at them and figured that my chances were just blown out of the water. Oh Well.

Thursday evening was the awards ceremony and I was totally floored when I won first place. I couldn't believe it! I got to go up on the stage and claim my ribbon and the whole thing! Amazing! I guess the sponsor appreciated being able to enjoy the beauty of the fabric. I'm glad that the sponsor was a judge and not a quilt judge as the quilt definitely had some weak areas in that regard, but it was certainly exciting to be able to bring home a ribbon.

Here is a detail of what I quilted. You can see that it was quite simple. It was the first time I ever quilted feathers. Some of them turned out pretty nice and others looked like they could use a little help. I guess we are out own worse critic. Lee said it was an amazing quilt. Needless to say, he is my best fan. It must be one of the reasons that I love him.

Time to Post

2010-05-14T09:43:00.004-06:00

Well, time to get posting again. If any of you follow Amber's blog, you know that I finally finished a quilt for her bed. I have had it quite awhile, but what with customer quilts and others that had to be finished, it took me a long time to get to hers. Here is a picture in case you haven't seen it on her blog.

It was a real challenge to figure out how to quilt it. You can see from the picture that it is rather unusual. This side piano keys turned out to be her favorite.

Having Fun

2010-04-08T10:12:00.008-06:00

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I have been having lots of fun lately. I quilted a table runner for a customer. It was beautiful and went pretty fast, which is always a plus. I thought she did a wonderful job of choosing fabrics for the tulips. It was a breath of Spring, which I really appreciated.

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I also quilted a baby quilt for my youngest daughter's soon to be born baby. My oldest daughter pieced it and it was sure a lot of fun. Everybody loved it and I am sure the baby will too!

Itching to get Quilting!

2010-03-15T17:23:00.002-06:00

Now that I am feeling better, it is time to get quilting again. I was ill for three weeks, so I was getting itchy fingers! My husband made fun of me!! Can you imagine!
I finished a double wedding ring quilt for a customer. She wanted to use templates that her mother used. I thought they turned out really nice, and so did she! This quilt was for her bed and she was delighted!

2010-03-15T16:58:00.003-06:00

It has certainly been an eventful month for me. I was pretty sick for about three weeks. Thank goodness that is over and I am feeling almost back to normal. I have finished a customer quilt. It was a double wedding ring quilt and she had me use the templates that her mother used to use on this type quilt. I thought it was pretty when it was all finished and my customer was pleased.

Amazing Experience

2010-03-09T08:41:00.004-07:00

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted anything. I spent almost all of February sick. I won't get into any of the details, but I was beginning to think that I was going to be an invalid forever!!!!! It is nice to fell better, and slowly, day by day, my strength is returning.

I have been feeling better just in time for an unusual experience. We had an 8 month old baby in our church die of SIDS last week and they asked my if I would be willing to do a burial quilt. All of the women who wished to contributed a square of white fabric and my daughter put is all together in a beautiful quilt top. I think it turned out lovely. It was a joy to be able to do something that expresses the love we all feel for this good family.

Something New

2010-01-29T16:57:00.005-07:00

Well, thought I'd post the latest Quilt of Valor and then move on to something new next time. Why does life always stay so busy. I guess I shouldn't complain. January could do a lot worse than being able to stay busy. At least it is not depressing!!!

Quilts of Valor

2010-01-09T16:00:00.009-07:00

This posting is just for my granddaughter who had a math assignment where she had to choose a quilt block and sew it up, and had to have a picture of a quilt and tell its story. She went to a friendly neighborhood quilter (she lives in a different state) and did up the quilt blocks. They sound wonderful and I can hardly wait to see them. She plans to make a pillow out of the four blocks she did.

Now for the quilt and story. Several years ago a group was started (I believe it is a foundation) who's goal was to quilt a quilt for every person who served in the military services. The focus began with the wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, but has expanded beyond that. They put together people who wish to donate materials with those who like to piece the tops and then found people who would take the tops and quilt them. Then the foundation is notified when a quilt is finished and the quilt is then sent on to wherever there is a need for a quilt.

The quilts are sent in a presentation case with a journal that talks about the experience or feelings of the people involved in the quilt. I have really enjoyed being a part of that process.

This is the first quilt I did for QOV. It was done by a church group that meets monthly and quilts as many as they can in a year's period of time. The congregation donates all the materials and the women make the tops. Then they are sent out for quilting and once a year all the quilts are displayed in the church for everyone to see and then they are sent overseas. This particular year 35 quilts were made and sent.

This quilt was made by a mother who has two sons in the military. She has learned to quilt since one has been posted in Iraq. She says it keeps her busy at night when she wakes up worrying.

I especially liked this one. It was a beautiful top and was fun to quilt.

I was not overly happy with the way this quilt came out. Oh well, live and learn I guess. You never know until you try something. This is the last quilt I finished, complete with presentation case. I as grateful to have a way to say thanks to the brave men and women who are ready to lay down their lives that we might be safe.

2009-12-03T20:17:00.007-07:00

Needless to say, I have been busy, busy, busy; I am sure you have been too. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoyed a day with your family and friends. We had a lovely time. At was well worth the days of effort ahead of time and the cooking, cleaning, etc. We spent a long weekend just relaxing and enjoying the kids and grandkids.

I did get another quilt finished in the little spare time I had and it turned out Pretty and Pink. SSSShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It is supposed to be a suprise for Christmas, and I have several more quilts to finish before Christmas, so I will surely be busier than I would like to be, but having fun just the same.

I thought that you might like to see a picture of a quilt on the machine.

Here it is all finished and ready to return to the owner to be bound and wrapped for Christmas.

A picture of the back is always fun! It is always thrilling to have a quilt finished!

Christmas Holly

2009-11-18T22:18:00.009-07:00

I've done two Christmas themed quilts in this last week. One was a Christmas tree skirt, which was really fun. I love, love, love doing "holly", and that just filled the bill for these two projects.

The back to this one was really fun!

Now I have to get busy and quilt several quilts that customers want ready for Christmas giving. It is a real thrill to quilt something beautiful for others to use and enjoy

Boy's Quilts

2009-11-03T10:19:00.007-07:00

Well, finished another quilt for a grandchild. His mom wanted it done for Christmas. Actually she wanted it done earlier, but I have been a little slow getting it done, so now it is for Christmas. She has had a lot of fun piecing quilts this last year and a half, and as they have to be done between customer quilts, sometimes it takes me awhile to get them finished. This is another boy quilt and I thought she did an excellent job. Boys are not always the easiest to do a quilt for, but her color choices and design choices seem just right for a teenage boy.

It is always a challenge for me to know just how to take a picture of a quilt so that it looks nice and shows the features of the quilt, etc. The first picture was taken out on the rock wall. This picture was taken on the trimming table because I thought it did a nice job of showing off the puff of the shapes. It should look really nice on the bed.

This picture is over the screen door. Ok, so I was getting desperate. The closeup below shows some detail of the border from the back. The sunshine really cast some nice shadows so that you can see it pretty well.

Just in Time

2009-11-02T08:47:00.009-07:00

At last! The canning is all finished for the year. The peaches are in the jar, the grape juice is done, and the applesauce is on the shelves. Just in time to start getting ready for Christmas! Where has the year gone! It has been a busy fall, but we are so grateful to have the shelves full and are ready to settle in by the fire with a good book and enjoy the winter. Boy, doesn't that sound peaceful! Too bad real life is never quite that simple. Oh well, we can always dream!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-29T21:14:00.008-06:00

I have had a little wall hanging panel on hand for some time and decided that since Halloween is Sat. that the time had arrived to get it done. I had a lot of fun doing it and tried out some new metalic thread (spiderwebs) and a new binding technique with piping. No better place to try out something new than on my own quilt. Right? Right!

My Husband says he likes the back best. That's where the stitching really shows up!

2009-10-29T20:56:00.008-06:00

Happy Halloween!
This week I decided to take a break and quilt a little wall quilt for my house. It was really a lot of fun and let me play a little with metalic threads (spiderwebs) and a special binding technique that I learned using piping. It was a bit of a challenge, but what better place to try something out than on my own.

My husband says he likes the back the best!

I also finished the canning this week and it is wonderful to see the applesauce and grape juice on the shelves.

Regrets!

2009-10-22T09:57:00.007-06:00

Thinking about what to post on the blog next, I decided that quilts for the grandkids has not been covered fully. Early on I helped a granddaughter quilt her own quilt. She came to visit for a month in the summer, and we sure had fun. She knew before she came that she wanted to make a quilt, so she had already picked a pattern and material with her mother. We went to work right away picking a back to match all the fabrics and then on to the cutting out and the sewing. It was a work in patience for both of us. She had to slow down and learn that accuracy was important. We had a lot of fun working together, laughing together and enjoying a feeling of success together when she won a ribbon as a youth quilter in the state quilt quilt show.I regret that I didn't taken more pictures of the process, and especially a picture of Megan with her quilt. Alas, hind sight is always better than fore sight, and the only picture I have is one with her mom and me beside HER quilt. Darn!

A Busy Time of Year

2009-10-20T19:51:00.006-06:00

What a busy time of year. Time to get the canning finished up and the garden put to bed. Everything seems to cut into my time to quilt and blog. Oh well, that's life I guess.

I did get this customer quilt finished. It was for a friend and she was really excited because it was her first quilt. Two days after she picked it up it was bound and on the bed. Good for her! There is nothing quite like the thrill of seeing your first quilt actually on the bed!

Birthdays are FUN!

2009-10-09T14:21:00.005-06:00

Today is my granddaughter's birthday celebration! Birthday's can be great, especially when you are young. Her Mama made her a quilt and I just finished quilting it. It is pretty upbeat and has lots of fun color combinations. She should like it as she picked out all the colors months ago from her set of colored pencils. (I thought that was a pretty clever idea!) Here it is all ready for the binding.

I can never resist laying the quilt out on the bed to see what it looks like. This will go on a double bed, so it is pretty much bedspread size. There are pillow cases to match, but they are not finished yet. Mama had to work this morning.

Sometimes it looks fun from the back too. We didn't want to make it too "flowery", just a little. She is a girl after all!

What a fun week!

2009-09-29T21:35:00.005-06:00

Wow! What a week. We had Quilt Fest here in Utah and I took a lot of classes that really worked my brain. I decided to take some piecing classes and they were a real challenge. It did learn a lot, including an increased appreciation of the women who piece all those beautiful quilt tops that I quilt.

I did enter the two quilts that I had in the fair and won a judges award on Taylor's Quilt. It was a real thrill and totally unexpected! Amber was super excited as she was actually at the quilt show and was the first one to see that we had a ribbon. What a fun day!!

Who's Studio???

2009-09-18T15:27:00.009-06:00

I just finished a quilt that I have been looking forward to doing for some time. Last year I designed some quilt blocks to donate to the state quilt quild for the Breast Cancer Foundation. At the first of the year they called and asked if I would like to design a quilt with these blocks in it to donate to be raffled this year to raise funds for the same foundation. I said sure, and then wondered where my mind was. I have never done anything like that before and didn't really know where to start.

When in doubt - SHOUT! So I called my daughter Amber. She has a knack for changing quilt patterns around until they suit her, so I figured that was only one step away from designing a whole quilt. Right? Anyway, she accepted the challenge and the first thing you know we were out shopping for material to complete the project.By that time I had quilts to do for others, so I put off getting my charity quilt started until the co-ordinator called the last of August and asked if I had it finished yet. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it wasn't even started yet, so just asked when she needed it and assured her it would be ready in time.Well, at that point things kicked into high gear and as soon as I was finished with canning the peaches, I sat down to quilt in earnest.Thank goodness for e-mail. Over the next couple of weeks the e-mail and the phone kept Amber and I connected several times a day discussing various aspects of the quilt and finishing the details, etc. All in all we had a lot of fun doing it and both of us were pleased with the results!

It always makes you feel so good when a project comes together. I hope someone wins it who really loves it. My husband just laughed at me when I said I was going to buy tickets for it. He thinks its really something to make the quilt and then buy it back. Oh, well! The really funny thing is - I think Amber is going to buy some tickets too! It would be so fun to see it hanging in my quilt studio (or hers).

My, How Time Flies!

2009-09-09T14:19:00.010-06:00

Boy! Does time fly! I have been so busy that I forgot to post and when I remembered, I didn't have time. The customer I did the double wedding ring quilt for had two sons getting married within two weeks of each other. (And I think I have been busy). Consequently I had another wedding quilt to do right behind the other one.

Things really began to get out of control when a friend brought us his extra tomatoes and peppers and I knew that making salsa couldn't be put off any longer.

Such beautiful tomatoes and peppers just had to make beautiful and delicious salsa!

Right!

And then my husband bought a solar oven that he was anxious to try and so today I made bread in it. It was kind of fun, and so delicious that I won't even tell you how many slices I ate! I will say that it is a good thing that I had to keep running out to the back yard to see how it was doing. Hummmm, maybe I'll put in a casserole for supper.

All that and I did get the second quilt finished. Thank goodness it didn't take quite as long as the first one. It turned out nice and my son-in-law really liked it. Her choice of colors was beautiful!

Well, back to the kitchen! Lots to do this time of year!

Finally Finished!

2009-08-30T22:09:00.006-06:00

Finally finished the double wedding ring quilt. It turned out pretty nice I thought. The customer gave me permission to put pictures of it on the blog and promised me a picture of it bound and at the reception. It was the first double wedding ring that I have done, and took longer than I thought, but it was worth the effort.

This is on the machine. It sure looks big! It sure was big!

This is on the bed. I would love to have it on my bed!

All the swirls and leaves turned out very pretty.

What a Week!!!

2009-08-14T22:17:00.008-06:00

This has been a busy, busy week with a few surprises thrown in just to make life exciting. I have been canning all week and have done green beans, apricot jam, raspberry jam, dill pickles and sweet pickles and even processed pickled beets for my daughter, Angel. All that plus working on a double wedding ring quilt for a customer.

Last Saturday I took two quilts over to the County Fair. I have not entered a County Fair before and so I was a little nervous, but decided that I might as well give it a try. I had shown some of my quilts at our community Heritage Days for the last two summers and a favorable response gave me courage.

On Tuesday, I couldn't wait any longer. I had to find out if I had received a blue ribbon or what. I decided that I would stop in and see if I could get in because I knew that the vendors would be setting up that day for the opening on Wednesday. As I walked into the building I got so excited. There was my quilt hanging right out front with a big beautiful ribbon on it! Wow! What a thrill! My quilt received a "Best of Division" ribbon.

I say "my" quilt, but in truth, it was pieced by my daughter Amber and quilted by me. We were both thrilled. The quilt that I had quilted for my Grandson, Taylor, received a blue ribbon. That was neat too, even if they did hang his quilt sideways. Amber pieced that one also. She has become a talented quilter with a keen eye for color. I have been grateful to be able to work on her quilts.

This is not a very good picture, but I just had to have one of it hanging there with the ribbon on it and all.

This is a somewhat better one of it a few weeks ago at our community Heritage Days celebration. My sweet husband made the stand for it and it hung outside of the building to let people know where the quilt show was.

I just love it when I can get a picture that really shows how it was quilted. Amber gave us the quilt top for Christmas and it is so beautiful. I didn't quilt it for quite awhile because I couldn't decide just how to do it. When it was all finished I decided to name it "Dancing Dogwoods" because the quilting added so much movement.

What a week! I'll post some pictures of Taylor's quilt when I get it back and get to take a few pictures. (And thanks Taylor, for letting me borrow the quilt off your bed for a week or so).

About Grandkids

2009-08-07T17:29:00.008-06:00

Well, its been a busy day. I have been thinking as I've been quilting and my thoughts turned to Grandkids, as they often do. I have quite a number of Grandkids and have really enjoyed being a Grammie. We have moved around a fair amount and this is what I told my children that I wanted my Grandkids to call me. In the south Grandmothers are called Maama, but that seemed foreign to me, not being from the south (even tho we lived there for 20 years). In the east my grandkids call their other Grandmother Nanna, and my husband's mother was Grandma Gifford, so that didn't seem to fit. Anyway, Grammie it is.

So, as I got thinking, I thought about the quilts that I have done for Grandkids. I was not quilting when many of them were small, but the last one was born after Grammie got rolling with her long arm and so I have quilted several for her. She is a sweet one year old with a three year old sister. I did several for her when she was born, one from Grammie and one from Aunt Am. I also have quilted several doll quilts for her older sister.

This is the quilt which Am pieced for Iyla. I loved the colors, and so does Iyla!

This is the quilt that I made for her. I love Beautric Potter and when I saw this material, I just had to make it. I loved doing all the tiny leaves in the sashing and the larger ones on the border as well. It was pre-printed, so there was no piecing involved, which just seemed to fit my busy life and so it seemed the perfect choice.

This is the doll quilt made for Isabella's birthday. The little bears were trapuntoed (is that a real word? Maybe I just misspelled it), so they stand out a little. I understand that this blanket gets drug round the house a lot. That delights me! I got to know these two little girls much better this summer at the family reunion and what a joy that was!

Home at Last

2009-08-03T14:46:00.005-06:00

Wow! I'm home at last! I really enjoyed my trip, but I missed quilting everyday. I have to get busy now as I have a number of quilts to get done. I enjoyed the break, but it is always nice to be home in your own bed, if you know what I mean.

It was fun to come home and see the comments on the Blog. Lisa commented about "Pirates Treasure" and so I thought you might like to see it.

This was Logan's mom's first quilt and I think it turned our really nice. Logan loves it and that is the most important thing of all!

Well, guess I'd better get busy. The new quilt is calling my name!

Vacation and Family Quilts

2009-07-24T11:17:00.010-06:00

This last couple of weeks, I have been visiting a daughter and her family in Massachusetts.
We have been visiting historic patriotic sites and I have so enjoyed seeing the places where our country was born. There is still such a spirit of freedom in those areas. I do however feel that most of the visitors centers would benefit by the added color provided by historically based quilts mixed with the other displays. Women also played a large part in the birth of our country.

It was fun for me to see the quilts that I have sent to her family being used and enjoyed. In fact, I have been sleeping under the circle quilt during my visit here. This quilt was pieced by another daughter for a Christmas gift and I quilted it.

Amber appliquéd the many circles onto individual blocks for the top. I decided to continue the circle theme and quilt circles over the whole quilt top. I used a Hartley Fence and really enjoyed the way it turned out. I continued the feel of the circles with a scalloped motif in the borders and then used piano keys in the striped outer border. It is not perfect, but I think it turned out really fun. It was the first time I have tried something like this.

The little bears quilt was made for the little bears in her family (3 active boys).

The squares with the bears were printed on the material and so the quilting was easy - just quilting around each square and adding a swirl in the empty spaces. The checked border offset the plaid back. It really looked fun and the boys love it.

It is always nice to see the quilts you have worked so lovingly on being appreciated and loved.

2009-07-24T11:17:00.001-06:00

This last couple of weeks, I have been visiting a daughter and her family in Massachusetts.
We have been visiting

I am a self proclaimed Fabric Junky!

2009-07-24T10:13:00.003-06:00

My name is Glory Gifford and I am a Fabric Junky! I absolutely love fabrics. The texture, the colors, the way they look in different lights of the day. Even their smell! I like walking into a fabric store and inhaling that almost palatable scent. All my senses are awakened and I feel alive! For years I have kept boxes and boxes of fabrics piled in my basement. Many are remnants, some are from the poorer years when we gathered from textile dumpsters, and others are full pieces that I had to have, but have never figured out just the right project to use them for. Occasionally one of the kids will bravely sort through them and I hear mutters under their breath, wondering why Mom has so much fabric that she never uses... I just have to have fabric that I can use whenever I want to. One of my favorite dreams is to get fabric from old swatch books from designers or stores. There are so many varied textures and colors; it would be fabulous! I don't know if I can adequately convey to you the feelings fabric evokes, but if you know what it is I'm trying to say, then maybe you too are a Fabric Junky!