"Spare Parts"

"Spare Parts"  87" x 87"

I finished this quilt top recently.  It's all made from "orphan" blocks,

(meaning parts that didn't make it into other quilts.) 

It was on my design wall for three solid months, finding it's way to completion.

It all started out as an attempt to use all my orphan blocks that fit into 

 this color range.  

The baskets are from Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran's book,

Collaborate Again.

They seemed to need a border, so I pulled out some sawtooth strips from

a block exchange I participated in years ago.  

What next?  I had some words I'd made from Tonya Ricucci's book,

Word Play Quilts.  

"Moderation" fit the color scheme, but I saved it for another day.  

Besides, the word "moderation" in this mess seemed a little TOO ironic!

I loved those green and white fans all lined up, and the Freddy chickens. 

But something wasn't right.

The fans are extras from my "Eyelashes" quilt. 

So I took them out, and added more spools and simple log cabin blocks.

You can find the spools and basket quilts here.

Better, but...

Still, something was not quite right.

At least I found a home for some of the fans.

I realized it needed a little calming down, so I added solid red.

I had lots of string pieced leaves, cut out years ago, 

and some extra basket handles for the vines.

A couple of weekend road trips, and the leaves were appliqued on.

Now, if I just made it a little bigger, it would fit nicely on a queen size bed.

Ah-hah!  I had lots of leftover blocks from the

"Organized Chaos" quilt.

Ta da!

And I still have plenty of spare parts leftover for a rainy day.

Good thing.  We're having lots of rainy days around here.  

Carnival at Night Fini!

Carnival at Night, 75" x 75"

This quilt began in a class with Freddy Moran over a year ago.

It all started with my large print fabrics that had black backgrounds.  

I wanted them to mush together with sparks of color.

Eventually, it needed a little lightening up, 

so I added a few prints that didn't have black in them.  

It was fun to finally use those little comical faces.

Besides picking the fabrics for this quilt, 

the most fun I had was doodling around the dots!

The Lone Star pattern comes from Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again, 

by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran.

Feast for the Eyes

I went to the show of Freddy Moran collage quilts at La Conner Quilt Museum yesterday.

WOW!  She is so very inspiring.  

Inspired by Edrica Huws, Freddy began making collage quilts when she turned 80.

She applies fabric pieces with a glue stick, 

and Judy Irish stitches them on with her playful quilting.

Enjoy the show!

Are you itching to get out your scraps and glue stick?  I am!

Cowgirl Dreams

"Cowgirl Dreams" 80" x 80"

This is one of those quilts where I can honestly say,
"The fabric made me do it."

Since before I started making quilts, I've been collecting fabric with a cowgirl theme. 

Some of it goes back to 1997!

I think it's because of watching all those TV Westerns as a kid.

  

One of my favorite things about this fabric is the names of the characters.

The cowgirls are Emmy Lou, Grace, Red, Ma, Kitty, Ginny, Nell, Jesse, Jolene and Rosa.

The cowboys are Hal, Hap, Slim, Squirt, Tex, Luke, Jeb, Rey, Gus and Pole Cat.

The horses are Sadie, Smoke, Maverick, Rio, Blanco, Big Star, Cookie, Juniper,

Mojave and Freckles.

A cowgirl needs her boots, too.  So they fit in the corner stars.

I decided it needed fringe, and found this fake buckskin.  Perfect!

I'm looking forward to quilting on those rope lines.

I think the cowgirl spirit might fit for all of us quilt-makers.

The pattern for this quilt comes from the book, Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again, 

by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran.

It tells how to make the large center star.  I added the corner stars and border.