I confess, I love fabric. I love to chop up perfectly good pieces of fabric, sewing them back together into patterns--and turning it all into a quilt! Walking into a quilt shop makes my heart pitter patter a little faster. All the colors, all the FABRIC! There is something satisfying to me in turning piles of brightly colored fabric into something useful, a
ttractive...and cuddly. Here are photos of my most recently finished projects.Most of the quilts here are baby quilts. I started making baby quilts for the newborns at church in 1996 and have made about 10--12 every year since. Everyone seems delighted to have one and it is kind of a thrill for me to see so many of the quilts I make with those cute little babies at church each week. Baby quilts are my favorite. Quick and easy, with bright fun fabric--I can't resist making them. The quilt on the top, with the monkey (in a reversible matching vest, no less!) was just given to Jacob King, born last month. I loved that yellow banana fabric. The blue bed-sized quilt was made with five inch squares of lots of different prints. That was a fun way to use up fabric left overs! The last quilt here is made from Christmas fabric, all theme-related, "The 12 Days of Christmas." I am mailing that one off to a Canadian cousin soon. Hope she likes it.
While I love to make baby quilts (and have been putting some aside for the "someday" when I get grandchildren...who won't lack for quilts, that's for sure), my all time favorite quilt that I've made was "Liz's New Zealand Adventures." I don't have a digital photo of that one, but it was made with blocks that represented things my eldest daughter had seen--or things she had done--while in New Zealand. One block had legs and feet on it, the fabric was pink with pink spots--and I made little flies with embrodiery floss. Just tied knots with the ends hanging for the "flies." To remind her of the beach with the annoying sandflies! There were blocks with flora and fauna, a horse (for the horseback riding she did), Liz in an inner tube looking up at a speckled ceiling of a cave (the specks being glow worms) and more. It was really fun to create my own blocks and put everything all together like a puzzle for that quilt. I quilted it on my quilting machine (home version, a Grace frame with a Juki 98E) and at the very bottom, I quilted words like "Liz's mom loves her" Not sure if that was exactly what I quilted, but it was a message...that she didn't find for a couple years. On the floor one day, doing push ups, she happened to glance over at the quilt on her bed and spotted the secret message! HA!!!! Gotcha, Lizzy! (snicker)
If I wasn't a quilter, I guess I'd have to go out and get a job---I'd need something to occupy my time. I feel fortunate to not only have a hobby I enjoy, but the time to pursue it.
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Since posting this, Liz posted photos of her New Zealand quilt on HER blogsite! If you don't feel like going there (although I would recommend it, as Liz is very interesting!), here are the photos. Thanks, Liz!
2 comments:
It is such an amazing quilt to! I posted pictures of it on my blog, for anyone who is interested.
It is very clever, and artistic. That's what makes it so amazing! I also like the quilt you made for Liz when she went off to school in Alaska. I remember it from visiting her room as a freshman...even all these years later when I visited her I looked for my favorite squares - the aurora, the mosquito full of blood, the outhouse, the moose! You are truly an artist Yvonne. I quilt too, but not nearly at your level. I
make a lot of baby quilts too(more like 5 per year) because they are easy, fun and don't take too much time. You are right that having the time to quilt is a blessing. One I wish I had!!!
Thanks for the nice blog Yvonne!
Shan
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