Keepers

While many of the quilts I've enjoyed making have been done specifically as gifts there are some I did just for me.  I call these the Keepers.  I don't have good pictures of all of them and certainly not many pictures of the process but this page is all about the ones I've kept just for me.


Christmas Trees

Similar to the "Pumpkin Quilt" this quilt uses the "stack and switch" method to come out with a "scrappy" look.  I made this one after I started blogging so I have several posts describing the process which you can see in these posts starting with Stacked Christmas Trees, then making the Trees, details of the White Tree Blocks, putting it together Row by Row, and adding the The Borders.

Pumpkins

This Pumpkins quilt is one of our favorites for snuggling up on a cool fall day.  I had hidden it away so the cats wouldn't destroy it but its such a shame to have something so petty out of sight.  So one fall day after clean the living room I put it out on the back of the sofa.  Naturally, when Mr. Wonderful decided to take a nap he reached for the quilt.  He fell in love with the fact that it was long enough to cover all 6' 5" of his slender frame.  He had been used to the Scrappy Stars quilt which is quite a bit shorter.  After that day it has been really tough to get it away from him even long enough to put it through the wash.  And all that use has made it soft and cuddly.

Road To Oklahoma - Pictures coming soon!

Scrappy Stars - My First Quilt

In 2000 my sister Dutchy introduced me to quilting.  We signed up for a class together then join some friends on a bus trip to Lancaster County PA.  I collected a bunch of fat quarters to use in that class including two I won in a game on the bus ride. Without even taking a class I knew I'd be hooked!  

Because it was the year 2000 I wanted to do something patriotic.  I choose red, cream, and blue in rustic tones of the Civil War era.  

I used a cream with white to create the stars and some flags and sparkling fireworks to brighten it up!

 Here’s just a sampling of some of the other different fabrics I used.

This is the instructor, Charlene, explaining how to measure for the borders.  It took me a while to catch on but I can do this part no problem.  It’s the binding that I STILL need to read the directions on each time I make a new quilt. 

I had never worked on anything this large before.  It’s only a lap quilt but at the time it seemed GIGANTIC!  We each laid our quilts out on the huge table in the shop classroom and tied them.  I was overwhelmed with how beautiful the top came out so this perfect option for quilting my first quilt. 

When it came time to make the back there was one fat quarter that I had yet to incorporate.  It was a piece of cream fabric with the words to the Pledge of Allegiance on it.  There wasn’t enough of any one piece to make the entire back. By this time I had decided I’d spent enough money on fabric and refused to buy another inch!  Isn't quilting supposed to be about re-using what you have to make something new?  It was time to get creative.  The results . . . a FLAG!  The ‘white’ stripes are the Pledge of Allegiance fabric, the red is plain red, and the blue field has cream colored stars.  The tan is show above, it's got tiny flowers on it.  The border is the same plain navy blue used on the front.  The corner stones are the cream with the year 2000 and a small shield.

When it was all finished I was so proud!  To this day I keep it on the back of the sofa in my TV room.  People can’t believe it’s my first quilt. It was my first but certainly just the beginnin.

PS  Because it was so special and I was into scrapbooking at the time I created these two pages in my Quilting Scrapbook.  I actually pasted pieces of the fabric in the book.  Even though I enjoy blogging about my quilts, this scrapbook is one of those projects that I would love to keep up.  The tactile nature of the book, fabrics and photos really makes it feel like a permanent record.  Now if I could just get to it!