My Quilt Parade

Hallelujah! My “quilt of errors” is FINALLY finished!  Well, at least the top is finished … I am so happy to finally get it done.  I’m also happy to report that I used up all my patriotic strips/scraps on this top.  Read about my progress here . I really like the border with the delectable mountain blocks and needed to improvise because I didn’t have a pattern.  The blocks were not so easy to make and are definitely not perfect. The top is much bigger than I anticipated, finishing at 85” square.  I’m sure this will nicely cover a queen-size bed.  There are nine blocks with 16 units each, and each block measures 26-1/2 inches.  Can you believe I was originally going to make it with 12 blocks?!  Anyway, making this quilt top was definitely a learning experience. August 2010 UPDATE:  Sold on eBay in 2011 for $90

Rita’s Quilt of Valor In March 2010, I visited with my friend Mary and her quilting group, The Atherton Quilters.  I had so much fun that day and everyone was so friendly that I joined the group! Here they are with the Quilts of Valor they made at their January retreat: The Quilts of Valor were taken to Sew Vac in Long Beach where they’ll be quilted by a volunteer longarm quilter and finished into a beautiful quilt for a veteran or service member. Even though I wasn’t part of the group for their January retreat, I wanted to make my own QOV, which I’ll be sending to Sew Vac. Every Thursday afternoon, volunteers meet at the store to cut, sew, and press QOVs.  During Disney’s 2010 “Give A Day, Get A Disney Day” program, volunteers received one free admission ticket to Disneyland.  How awesome was that!  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and free Disney tickets are no longer available.  But Sew Vac continues its good work! July 2010

I just completed my fourth quilt for the Downy Touch of Comfort Quilts For Kids project.  Three are from requested kits and the fourth is from my fabric stash.  And, for now, this completes my contribution to this worthwhile program.  I’ll continue to make quilts for kids through Project Linus, which keeps my donations locally; and, I can also deliver my finished quilts to one of my neighbors who helps coordinate the local chapter … no shipping costs! The Touch of Comfort project was so much fun, and the quilts were fast and easy.  It was always exciting to receive the kit in the mail to see what fun fabrics had been sent.  I do hope they reach their goal of 10,000 quilts before the end of the year. July 2010

I've wanted  to make a quilt for my son David for a while.  I had a collection of plaids and homespun fabric that I thought he might like, but I couldn’t decide on a pattern I thought he would like.  One day I was flipping through my old quilting magazines when I stumbled upon this plaid dorm quilt from a Fons & Porter magazine. Plaid Dorm Quilt from Fons & Porter I thought this dorm quilt would be perfect since he is now living in a dorm after recently transferring to Cal Berkeley.  I hope this quilt will bring him some warmth and comfort during the cool fall & winter seasons while he’s away from home. The quilt has 168 five-inch finished squares and has a 12 x 14 setting.  It has a soft flannel backing and measures 58” x 66”.  I used Warm & Natural batting and quilted it with a simple line design. I’m happy with how it turned out and hope David will treasure it forever! July 2010

My bouillabaisse quilt top is FINALLY finished!  I started it in September 2009 and have  been working on it off and on.  And, in July I committed to finishing it.  It has twenty blocks and each block is 20-1/2 inches.  It measures 97 square inches, with a 6-1/2 inch border. This is the second bouillabaisse quilt I’ve made, but I had so many issues with it! It seems that no matter how many 1-3/4” strips I cut, it just wasn’t enough!  But the real dizzies were the points and bias edges … OMG, by the last few blocks, I couldn’t care less whether anything matched:  I just wanted to get ‘er done!  It’s shown on a queen-size bed, and it’s the second queen-size quilt top I’ve made. I’m not sure yet whether I will quilt it myself or send it out.  I’m definitely keeping this one so I’m really leaning towards sending it to a LA quilter.  But, for now, it’s in my “To Be Quilted” pile! This is a picture of the original bouillabaisse quilt I made in 2003.  I bought the fabric kit and w

I made this top from a kit I purchased at my LQS a couple years ago.  I saw the sample in the store and fell in love with the fabric and design.  However, the store ran out of the kits, but I bought some yardage and received the pattern for free. It’s such an easy scrappy design that uses one charm pack plus one jelly roll.  The block is a four-patch of 2-1/2” squares, plus four 2-1/2” strips, which are sewn to the 4-patch in a log-cabin style.  I started this last week and just finished it yesterday. July 2010 UPDATE:  Sold on eBay in February 2011 sold for $65