January Finish

 I’m on a roll! Since discovering that it is now easy to post a blog post from my iPad I thought I’d show a quilt I finished this month. 

This is “First Flake” a pattern from Janae Shearer of QuiltsWhats Hot on Etsy. 

I had a lot of fun making this quilt. 

The original pattern called for 2 1/2” squares but the place where I wanted to hang it wasn’t big enough for the finished quilt. So I reduced the size of the pieces to 2” and it fits perfectly. 

It’s a great skill to have to be able to work with a quilt pattern and make it work where you need it to fit. It takes lots of trial and error and practice but it’s worth the journey. But I’d like to say even though you think you could do something without a pattern if you are going to make a quilt that is based on someone else’s quilt please buy their pattern and give them credit. 

The quilt I made last year that was commissioned by my exterminator, shown in my last post,  has a tree in the center. I bought a pattern for that tree and you can see that up close and see where I gave credit to the pattern maker on my Instagram page @marie_atkinson. She liked my finished product. 

I love my quilting journey. 

I say all of this to say if you are not a quilter there is much more involved in making a quilt than just sewing some squares together, so if you are ever gifted a quilt know that you are receiving a special gift. 

And if you are a new budding quilter take time to enjoy the process. 

HAPPY QUILTING,

It’s 2021! Where did 2020 go?

 Hello! Welcome to 2021

Let’s see if we can catch up a little. Last year posting to this blog from my iPad was challenging at best. Let’s see if it’s easier now. 

In 2020 I finished a few of my own quilts, and I also quilted 75 quilts for other people. I put bindings on quilts for people.  I spent lots of time with my precious granddaughter. My daughter found the love of her life and we’ve been getting to know him. So while 2020 surely had its bad times, for our family it wasn’t the worst year. A few of us got the virus but praise God our symptoms were not life threatening.

So since I created this blog to focus on my quilting let me recap for you the quilts I finished. Some were in the post from last year.

I just uploaded the quilts from my album so the pictures are not in order.

First up is a cute little lap quilt I started at Hilton Head in 2019.  I bought the panels at Island Quilters shop on Hilton Head. For a little shop I always find so much fabric that just has to come live with me. The first picture is technically the “back” of the quilt, although you could just consider this a 2 sided quilt, or a reversible quilt. I think both sides are awesome. And of course the second picture is what could be considered the “front”. I started with that panel and found the other one and could not make up my mind which one I liked the best so I used both of them.

The next quilt is a free pattern by Riley Blake called Pixelated Rose. I believe I started this quilt in 2018. I cut each 2 1/2” square and each seam is pressed open. Then I saw on Pinterest where someone had finished theirs with a scalloped edge and thought it was so fitting that I researched how to do it and found a tool by Eleanor Burns that made it a piece of cake to do. I am so pleased with the finished product.

Next up is Scrappy Sunflowers. The pattern is by Lella Boutique. Fun quilt to make, and I stretched myself by quilting straight lines on my Longarm. 

The next quilt is called Butter Churn by Shannon Gillian Orr of Eva Blake’s Makery.  The cover pattern was done in yellow and white and and pink and I really liked it. I used a collection of novelty sewing fabric I had purchased in an Atlanta quilt shop that perfectly fit the bill.  I added the cutoff triangles from the churn dash blocks into the border and used the primary focus fabric in the line on the back. Fun quilt. 

I don’t usually buy kits, primarily because of sticker shock but I really loved the next quilt so much that I had to buy the kit. The pattern is Home Again by Lella Boutique, and the fabric line is Farmers Daughter also by Lella Boutique. I made the quilt top at a Hilton Head retreat and quilted and bound it in 2020. I quilted it with freehand clam shells.

Here is the back of Butter Churn. My goal has been to use fabric from my stash as much as possible and not buy more. The yellow solid was a piece of fabric I got from a family member. Since there wasn’t enough I added white from the front. 

The back fabric on Home Again was from the same fabric line as the front. 

This is a quilt that my daughter designed and asked me to make for a friend and mentor of hers. It has photo transfers in the four corner blocks. 

During 2020 I was commissioned to make this “family” quilt by the man that does our home exterminating. I wrote the names of each of his children and grandchildren on the quilt. It was a gift to his wife. 

Butter Churn up close 

Possibly the finish I am most proud of is this grandmothers flower garden quilt.

 This quilt has a very long story. Look back at the last post if you want to read all about it. 

That wraps up my quilting for 2020. Of course a lot more quilts were started and other ufos are being worked on. I have already completed one quilt and 2 quilt tops so far this year. It looks as if posting from my iPad is easier now so maybe I’ll post more often now.

One can hope anyway. As always Happy Quilting!