"Spare Parts" is Quilted!

Actually, it happened months ago, but I didn't have decent photos until now.  Meanwhile, it's been to two shows and it's been slept under a few times.  You can find the piecing story here.

"Spare Parts"  86" x 86"

It was quilted by the very talented Sharon Tucker.  

I just love what she did with it!

Here's "Spare Parts" with me at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show last weekend.

"Cowgirl Dreams" came too.  And she sold!

It's the first time I've put a price tag on a quilt.

It makes me very happy to know that some cowgirl will be sleeping under it soon.

That's Mary Keasler from Tennessee with me.

Here's Mary with her fantastic "Sunday Best" quilt.

Besides the classes, quilts and fun quilt-makers at "Quilter's Affair" in Sisters,

the best thing about it is the community involvement.  

It appears that EVERYONE comes out to help.

Even the fire fighters help hang the show quilts early in the morning.

Sunday morning, after a week of classes and the Saturday show, 

the friendly people were still working.

This is what I saw when I picked up my quilt--

and these are only SOME of the many beauties we saw in the show!

Ho Ho Ho!

However you celebrate the holidays, here's wishing you many sweet moments

with friends and family.  

"Santa and the Orphan Blocks" 50 x 72" Made in 2013

And peace and happiness in the new year!

Today, and every day, I appreciate you, my "blog family."

Here's to more creativity and sharing for all of us in 2017!

Vintage Scrap Lone Star

It all started in 2013, when Quiltdiva Julie sent me a box of crazy pieced vintage blocks.

There were 24 in all, and they came from a quilt top she'd bought on Ebay.

The seller said it came from Ohio.

I had saved this photo on my computer screen for some years before that.  

I don't remember the source, but it became my inspiration.

I sewed the blocks together and cut out the diamond shapes for the star.  

There were just enough leftover for the border.  

Then I bought some embroidery floss.

I learned a few stitches, and embroidered all the seams.

Eventually, it was ready for a background.

I picked this spring green solid, because it was the only thing that seemed to work.

I wasn't excited about the color, but thought I'd get over it.

Well, I didn't.  I just didn't like all that green!

I decided to remove it and find another background.

Several hours of stitch-picking later, I was ready for auditions.

I tried practically everything I had on the shelf.  

Here are just a few.

Too light

Too dark

Too brown

Too bright

Too busy

Too gray

A few dear friends suffered with me and my auditions for WEEKS!

Then I went to the Houston Quilt Festival and found what I was looking for!

It's one of the new woven plaids from Kaffe Fassett.

The top is about 87" square, plenty big for a queen size bed.

I finished it last week.

THEN, just yesterday, I went to the Farmer's Market, like I do every Sunday.

The woman farmer I always buy from gave me this!

She said her great-grandmother had made it from old family clothes.

What a treasure!  I tried to talk her out of giving it away.

But she said she had no room for it.  

So I gladly brought it home.  

While Julie's was sewn in blocks and not yet embroidered,

this one was sewn all on one sheet with embroidery.

Now I have TWO vintage scrap tops to quilt and to love!

News just in:  

Bill Volckening found where the original inspiration quilt came from.

The quilt was shown in the European Patchwork show in France in 2012.  

You can see it here.

Katell Renon's quilt group in France was also inspired by the original.

They made a beauty!

Do go and see it here!

"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.  

Organized Chaos

Here's my version of Sujata Shah's wonderful pattern,

"Organized Chaos."  

It's a joy to make, and a great way to use scraps.

The color scheme started with this home decorator fabric.  

A friend and I took on the challenge to make a quilt with it.

I thought I might use it as the border. 

In the end, both the fabric and the quilt shouted, "No!"

I quilted it with wool batting, and stitched in the ditch along the outside edge of each block. 

Then I added perle cotton 8 details.

Keeping with the scrappy theme, the back is a hodgepodge of large scraps.

You can purchase the pattern at Sujata's etsy shop here.

Meanwhile, I was fooling around with some "orphan" blocks. 

And the challenge fabric found it's home!  

The French Connection

Warning:  This is a sad post.

The Paris attacks on November 13 struck me utterly speechless.  

Like most of us, I mourned for the French people and for all of us 

who can no longer take our safety for granted.  

"The French Connection" 58" x 70"

I found myself compelled to make a quilt that reflects this sadness. 

I could not help but drop everything and make this over the last two weeks.

I used simple hour glass blocks.  I knew I wanted to make it quickly.

The somber colors would communicate my feelings.

I started with my small collection of French fabrics.     

The top right block uses fabrics given to me by Willemke and Katell 

when I visited France last summer.

The other fabrics are from my stash, including shirt stripes.  

The blue is another treasure from Willemke. 

The border is an old French curtain.  

Friday was France's official day of mourning.

Katell told me they named all 130 victims on the radio.

Most were in their 20's and 30's, from 26 nationalities, leaving 50 orphans.

I finished the top on Saturday.  

I will quilt it soon and use it all winter,

sending wishes of comfort and healing to the victims, their families, all Parisians, 

the people of France and all of us as we try to make sense of this changing world.  

I know you all are joining me in these wishes.

Peace.