Civil War/ 1800's Quilt

I've started a new quilt! AGAIN! BUT, this time I finished a quilt before I began a new one so I feel okay about it. This is the start of my Civil War Fabrics Quilt. I am SLOWLY collecting some very pretty civil war and 1800's repro fabrics.

I'm not sure how I'll be putting this together just yet. I have two options... I might make 16" blocks with this plate in the center and then just do a straight setting OR I might use this as the medallion center and work lots of different blocks around it. I'm leaning towards the second way since I get bored easily. I would be able to do some hand worked blocks and some machine ones to surround this.

I still need to decide on a background to set this on. I'm leaning toward a lightly printed muslin if I can find one in civil war prints that I like. Otherwise it'll be plain muslin. I also need to decide on a fabric for the center circle. I'll applique that to the plate, after I applique the plate to the background.

Pour mes visiteurs français .... Merci beaucoup de votre visite sur mon blog.

1/29/2014 Update: I've had LOTS of questions and interest in this block. This is my own design but there are some patterns out on the market that are similar. I have an old Russian sunflower block pattern (1950's or older) that inspired me. I used a template for the petals from a company that is no longer in business but you could use any Dresden template. I folded long thin triangles in half and inserted them into the seams to get the white part. This quilt is one of my UFOs now... I used this as the center of a large block and have added rows to surround it. I am slowly making a medallion quilt. One of these days I will update with a picture. Thank you for all the interest. 

Al's TV quilt made by Lisa!

This is the quilt Lisa made for my hubby, Al, for his TV/movie room. The sashing looks a little pink in my picture but it's kind of a gray/beige.

Al is a car guy, a fix-it guy, and a former state champion of foosball (we're talking WAY former ... as in the 70's). Lisa put all of his favorites into this quilt. He loves Ford cars and trucks, sports, Dots candies, and Route 66. She made this as a gift for him to have in his movie/tv room downstairs. She loves vintage/retro stuff so the TVs are designed as vintage ones. She put paper pieced foosball guys in two of the corners (her and I designed these just for him) and she put some really nice embroidery into the other two corners. One is a Corvette emblem and the other is his nickname, done the way he had it painted onto a shirt back in the 70s. Can you tell she put lots of love into this?! He's crazy about it, of course!

Here's two more stocking I finished for the swap on BC. I have two more that are done except for trimming the blocks and cutting off the threads. Tomorrow, if I have enough time, I plan to take a picture of a quilt my youngest daughter Lisa made for my husband. She did an amazing job on it and it's time to get it posted here. OK, JENELLL!!!!!???? LOL... It's just one of those things.... meant to do it LONG ago.

Jenns second quilt

I just had to show all of you my daughters second quilt (not quite finished, she still has to bind it with the navy). Her first quilt was a gift to a friend for her wedding and this second quilt is going to be a house warming gift for her boyfriend. She made it using, mostly, a Moda Layer Cake. It's a paper pieced star that the two of us drew up. She quilted it herself on my Pfaff (no stitch regulator or anything fancy). Yes, you're right, Im ONE PROUD MAMA! This is the back of the same quilt. She had planned on adding a checkerboard border but after getting quite a bit of it done, she decided against it and added the other borders instead. SO, instead of scrapping these, she decided to put them together to make a two-sided quilt. I think it's a wonderful surprise to see this on the back.

Grandmas 100th Birthday Roses Quilt

This is my entry into the Park City Girl's Quilt Festival. I made this quilt as a gift to my grandmother on her 100th birthday. I wanted something that had lots of meaning plus something extra special since she was the one to teach me to sew. This quilt has 100 rose buds blocks in the center. I grouped them in fours. The 4 borders represent her 4 sons and families. The rose buds on each end of the vine are her sons and daughter-in-laws and the flowers are the children of that union. My father is the one with 6 flowers. One son died young and only had one daughter so I added some berries to help fill the vine in a little more.

I gave this quilt to her a year ago. We had a family reunion party at our house with all the cousins to celebrate her birthday. It was a wonderful chance to see family that lives in California, Washington and other parts of the US.
Grandma is turning 101 this month.

The top of the Americana "favorite block" swap is finally done (well, I might at side borders..not sure yet). I finished putting everything together and Im happy with the layout. Isn't it a beauty? I have to thank everyone at BC who made blocks for it because they all have such talent with picking designs and colors. These all look wonderful together and all the piecing of the blocks was perfect! Here's a closeup of some of the blocks. I added a year 2009 block , added BC in another and also my initials toward the bottom. This is my quilt to keep! I just love it :) I'll start quilting it next year because Christmas is coming and I've got quite a pile of things that need to be done first.

Here's a closeup of the top half. Time to pack it away for a few months but I just wanted to show everyone first. AND THANK MY FRIENDS!!

Purple and Green Quilt

The purple quilt is coming along. I've finished the center 49 blocks and attached them to each other. Next I'm going to make a group to surround this. I'm going to bring in a warm golden beige in the final border plus two shades of purple... a medium and a very dark.

Latest projects

We've finished our round robin quilt tops on www.thequiltandneedle.com. This is last one I worked on... it's Sherry's top and I didnt want to post it here until she received it. Isn't it a beauty?! The colors are so striking. I was lucky to find the pattern that she used in the center so that I could add smaller versions of the center star. This was another top that was hard to put in the mail... It's been brightening up my sewing room for a few weeks.
When my top comes home, I'll post of picture of it. From the pictures I've seen, mine is a winner also :) I plan to add a few more borders to mine to make it a larger quilt. I'd love to be able to use it on my bed.

Guess what I've been working on since the round robin ...LOL?! Yup, Christmas stockings. We're doing a Christmas stocking block swap on block central. I have to make about 14 stockings. We are all using the same sock pattern with our own design of cuff. We each will do our own thing as far as patching the fabric together before cutting out the sock. This has been a nice project to work on in the evenings when I feel like sitting on the couch with some handwork. The sock and the cuff are appliqued onto the background fabric.

I've also been working on my second Americana quilt. The top is almost done. I think I'll wait until spring to quilt it. I have SO MANY projects that need to be ahead of it. Lots of Christmas presents need to be sewn up.

Making friends

I had a fun month of August doing the "Friend of the Month" swap on www.thequiltandneedle.com. Nola and I were put together as friends and had a chance to chat back and forth and share recipes. At the end of the month we sent each other a little gift. These are my surprises from Nola. I just love all of it! The navy has already been cut up and is getting worked into my Americana quilt. The pin cushion has travelled to quilt meetings a couple of times now and SOON I will be using the nail file. Im trying to grow mine out a bit first (I have the horrible habit of biting them). I think it's time to get them looking nice and isn't that the best incentive... having a pretty nail file to use (MAYBE I'LL EVEN BUY POLISH!) LOL

Last night we had a quilt guild meeting and instead of our usual place, it was held in Bay View, Petoskey. This was a tea and trunk show. The picture below is the hall it was held in. The inside is just as beautiful.
Tammy Finkler was our guest speaker. She make OUTSTANDING "whole cloth" quilts. She is from Michigan and is not very well know, YET... Im sure that is going to change soon. Her work is very beautiful. It tried to take pictures (including a few close ups) but it's really hard to see the tiny work she can do.

This is a close up of the quilt that she's holding. It's a miniature version of an award winning quilt she had made. She tried out her ideas on this one before making the large one.

This last quilt took my breath away! It's done in regular old poly satin, that you would buy at JoAnns. She used two layers of batting and quilted it very close to bring out the details. WHAT A TRUNK SHOW!

Internet Americana UFO

This is what I was working on the past week. Im taking the weekend off from sewing because we have company coming plus some fun Labor Day parties. Yesterday the last block came in the mail (these are from a BC Americana swap I won). There were a total of 17, signed blocks. Didnt all the ladies at BC do a great job!?!! I wanted to create a quilt that uses all 17 and came up with this design. I'll be filling in the blank spots with piecing and different color pieces of Americana fabric. Bought a few this moring at the LQS ;) Hopefully, this quilt top will be done next week.