Grandma's Peaches

"Grandma's Peaches" 46" x 62"

It started with a peach print blouse and thoughts about 

my grandmother, a Texas farm girl.  

One day she ate a peach while sitting on her front porch.

It was so delicious, she wondered if she could grow a tree of them. 

So she planted the pit in the ground.

A tree did grow, and then another and another.

One was planted in our backyard, 

but it was unhealthy and 

had to be taken down.  

I started the top in 2011 with Stella Pettway in Sisters, Oregon,

And finished it in 2013 with Loretta Bennett in Arlington, Washington.  

They both liked the story about my grandmother.

I finally got around to hand quilting it this year.  

I used Perle 8 cotton and Barb's Baptist fan stencil.  

I had fun working around the shirt pieces that I left in the quilt. 

For binding, I folded the backing fabric around and stitched it,

like the Gee's Bend gals do.  

Maybe the pocket will hold the next delicious peach pit

until it can be planted in the ground.

White and Red and Stitched All Over

I was at the beach last weekend, and used the opportunity to photograph my recent finish.

This quilt was started over three years ago! 

Most of the quilt is stitched in ivory perle 8--hard to see in the photo, but lovely up close.

The top row is stitched in red perle 8.  

Here you can see the large Baptist Fan design from Barb's wonderful stencil.  

The border is a table cloth I found in a thrift store in Norway several years ago.

The back is another thrift store find.

"Quadriga Aprinette?"  According to Google, it means "five sided apron."

Some good reminders from the beach.

"Garnet Hill" is finished!

"Garnet Hill" 68" x 52"

The making of this started over three years ago.  

The inspiration came five years earlier, 

when I tore out a photo of a rug in a Garnet Hill catalogue.

I liked the folk art feel of the rug.

And decided to go with a similar color scheme.

It was fun choosing fabrics for these blocks,

Throwing in some shirt plaids.

                                                         I appliqued the flowers for about a year, off and on.

When quilting time came, I thought I'd do it quickly, just outlining the flower edges,

                And the seams in the log cabin blocks.

I wasn't happy with the outline-only result, so I added many more rows of stitching.

It took a lot longer, 

But I'm very happy with the result!

Half Done!

I've been stitching this in the evenings with black perle 8 thread.

At first I only stitched around the appliqué edges and pieced seams.

Then I was inspired by Sujata's recent travels in India, and added more thread.

The lines are about 1/2" apart.  

I'm always astonished by how texture adds so much to a piece.

I'm so glad I spent the extra time.  I love running my fingers over it.

There are 48 blocks total, 24 more to go.  

Probably done by April.

Finished!

I finished quilting and binding this quilt over the weekend, washed it and took a nap under it today!

75" x 66"

Here's the quilt that inspired me.  

It's from Roderick Kiracoffe's collection shown in his fabulous new book,

Unconventional and Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar-1950-2000.

I wish I had the opportunity to meet this quilt maker.  

I'd love to talk to her about her brilliant design and the fabrics she used.

One can only imagine her process.

Mine is made mostly of shirt scraps.  I imagine hers was too.

I pieced the scraps randomly in strips of darks and lights. 

Looks like she did too.

For quilting, I couldn't tell how she did hers.  Roderick said it was done in purple thread.  

I decided to stitch in the ditch by machine, and add some hand stitching in just a few of the large blocks.  

The hand stitching looked so good, I had to keep going!  

That added another month of evenings to the process, but it was worth it.

Here you can see before and after the hand stitching.

The idea for knots on top came from the lovely and talented Carolyn at Material Obsession in Australia. 

I love the little bit of added texture they provide.

The binding is corduroy, nice and soft to touch.

I love how it looks when folded on the couch.

Every new lap size quilt at my house gets it's debut here.

I've thought of several names for this quilt:

"Many Thanks to Roderick"

"Hour Glass"

"Courthouse Steps"

"Day and Night"

"Dark and Light"

None of them have stuck.  That's fine.  

I doubt the original maker named her quilt, 

so maybe I won't either.

Still Here

Just finishing a few things.  

One in the machine,

And one in the hoop.  

Only 18 blocks to go, out of 64.  As long as I quilt one block each evening, 

it'll be finished in time for the quilt show next month!

A Finish and a Start

Finally finished hand quilting "A Bold Expression."  It's been "in the hoop" for over a year.

It didn't take that long to quilt it.  I'd set it aside for several months between start and finish.

I started out with one of those large frames that's the size of a small table.  

I found it hurt my arm and neck to quilt that way.  

So I went back to the hoop, and finished it in a number of weeks.

I love the corduroy binding.  It's fun to rub your fingers on it.  

Next up, "Eyelashes."  

I'm hoping to get it finished for the local show in early March.  

WISHING YOU A FUN, HEALTHY, INSPIRED 2014!