My Quilt Parade

I made these patriotic quilt tops to donate to Jessica Porter for her Operation Homefront Quilts , which provides quilts to the immediate family members of each U.S. serviceperson killed during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Jessica was only 19 years old when she started her project in May 2003, just about the time President Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.  But the soldiers continued to die, and Jessica’s grassroots efforts continued to grow. Jessica’s requests were simple:  donate completed quilt tops and/or material.  She would finish them and forward the completed quilt to the recipient families. A year later, in 2004, the American Professional Quilting Systems donated a brand new professional longarm quilting machine to help Jessica keep up.  She could now finish 7-8 quilts a day instead of just one.   By 2010 Jessica, aided by her mother and thousands of volunteer quilters across the USA, had made...

Six MORE quilts for Project Linus 2003!  I made two additional quilts with preprinted panels of Raggedy Ann and Andy.  These are not big quilts … they are crib- or lap-size quilts and I can make a couple in one weekend. Total to date:  24 kids' quilts

Bouillabaisse Quilt 2003 Here’s another quilt that my BQFF Brenda and I saw at the LQS.  We fell in love with the store sample and immediately signed up for the class.  This quilt was made from a kit I purchased for the class, and the pattern is Bouillabaisse by Pie In The Sky Quilts. I made the top in 2003 but didn’t finish the quilt until 2004.  I really enjoyed making this easy pattern and thought the colors of beige and black made this a masculine quilt.  So I gave it to DS#1 for Christmas 2004: I think his expression says most of it!  ( Okay, it was very early Christmas Day and he hates to take pictures.) I know he appreciated the thought and love, but I just knew he didn’t really care for the quilt.  No problem!  Just because I like the quilt doesn’t mean he has to … it just means I have to make him another one … someday. December 2004 So in August 2005, I went to Tennessee to visit my daughter and her family and took quilts for...

For Christmas 2002, my BFF Brenda gave me "The Double Pinwheel" quilting book from Quilt In A Day.  I loved this book so much that I decided to make a quilt right away.  I used my stash of 30s reproduction fabric that I'd been collecting for a while. I knew how much Brenda loved this pattern, so as I worked on the quilt top, I decided to give it to her. Although I finished the top in February 2003, I waited until her birthday in June to give it to her. The expression on her face was well worth it! I don’t know how it is that I didn’t complete the quilt in time for her birthday.  It’s a good thing that she is also a quilter, so she was able to finish it. She has it on a quilt rack and I get to see it every time I visit.  I do love that quilt! June 2003

Auntie Rosie’s Quilt 2003 I bought this Quilt In A Day kit in October 2002 during a weekend of quilting workshops held at Orange Coast College.  I went with my BQFF Brenda, and we had so much fun -- not even the rain could dampen our spirits! It wasn’t until May 2003 that Brenda suggested we take our kits and make the quilts for Mother’s Day.   So we worked on them at home and also spent a few lunch hours putting our quilts together.  This pattern turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated.  But with both of us working on our quilts at the same time, we were able to help each other when we ran into a problem.   We were so proud when we finally finished!  She gave her quilt to her mom for Mother's Day.  Sadly, my mom had passed so I kept mine until I could find the perfect person to give it to. May 2003 UPDATE:  My mother was originally from Texas and moved to California when she married my father. All of my mom's sibling...