Three-Person Drunkard's Path Variation

The other quilt I quilted for Missy was a drunkard's path variation.
I'm updating this post with a copy of the photo Missy sent me of the entire quilt.  This is not a common setting, but it's really wonderful for the visual movement and for the quilter.

Over the decades I've pieced a lot of blocks from drunkard's path variations--a lot of variations--but it's not a pattern that's on my life list for an entire quilt.

When I lived in East Tennessee, there was a quilter named Lora Creasman, who pieced nothing but drunkard's path variations, always by hand.  In fact, as recently as the fall of 2011 her work was featured in a show in her hometown.  I just did a search which led to a couple of Facebook sites that featured photos of her and her work.  I couldn't find an obituary, so I hope she's still happily piecing drunkard's path variations.

I've made several small wall quilts featuring a southern turtle block made from drunkard's path pieces, and back when I taught for the chain of fabric stores, everyone who took the comprehensive quiltmaking course learned to piece those drunkard's path curves.

These blocks were pieced a few years ago by Pat Nordstrom during her mother's long illness.  She passed the blocks on to Missy Shay, who set them together.  Sadly, I don't have a photo of the entire quilt.  I tried to get photos for several days, but inclement weather got in the way.  I let Missy know I'd really like a photo of the entire quilt, so if she sends me one, I'll update this post.

 This quilt contains a glorious compilation of fabrics.  Although I like reproduction fabrics, I'm not a big fan who recognizes all the prints that have recently been on the market.  I'm thinking some of these fabrics may be genuine 1920s and 30s fabrics since they are the same quality as the pieces in my paternal grandmother's quilt, but I could be wrong.

 In any case, the wide variety of fabrics in the quilt inspire a lot of joy.

 I had the pleasure of creating new quilting designs.

 Missy is amazingly generous, but I do hope she keeps this quilt for herself.

In all the many, many hours I spent quilting it, I never tired of admiring the huge collection of fabrics.  It's a happy, happy three-person quilt.

Happy quiltmaking,

A Special Log Cabin

I admired log cabin quilts when I was growing up, but I never saw a log cabin except in photos until I had been quilting for several years. I quilted this one a couple of weeks ago.

When I taught quiltmaking for community organizations and a chain of fabric stores in the Southeast, the first block we pieced was a log cabin.  Some people went home and immediately pieced a whole bunch.  I pieced log cabin blocks for decorative items and for clothing, but I don't think I ever pieced a log cabin quilt.

I did quilt one for my dear friend Bobbie one summer when we spent several weeks at her mountain cabin.  You can see that quilt here.

When I saw this quilt top, I knew I wanted to quilt another log cabin and thought it would be great if I could quilt this one.  Missy said, "Sure.  I'll mail it to you."  That was last March; life intervened; then I suffered a case of cold feet.  I decided I really need to kick my creativity in the derriere.  She received it in the mail today.  She's going to put the binding on.

Here are more details of the quilting.

I quilted another quilt for her.  I like it even better--probably because it's now a three-person quilt, and in a world of unique quilts, that one is very special!

Happy quiltmaking,

Sweet Sister Quilts

I'm so lucky to be a quiltmaker and to absolutely love the quilting step!

 Here are a couple of sweet sister quilts pieced by Emily B. from her deceased mother's stash.

I absolutely love being able to quilt designs like these, create new designs, and add variations to more designs. These were quilted with Fil-Tec Glide.

And how wonderful that both Emily and her mother have been quilters and that Emily is investing many hours and countless prayers into these creations.

Of course, it's also wonderful for me that I get to quilt them.  Quiltmaking is definitely my "happy place."

Of course, it's also wonderful for me that Emily will bind these so that I can quilt more!

Happy quiltmaking......

Sweet Buttery Prayer Quilt

I'm not keeping up very well with posting my quilting.  This is a quilt Pat pieced for our Victory Prayer Quilt Ministry.

 I love, love, love this batik the color of winter butter.

It's a very happy quilt and is sure to bless someone.

Happy quiltmaking,.......

A Second Shady Day Quilt

Judy handed me this quilt top several months ago because she didn't know how to quilt it.  I didn't either, so I just now got to it. (Well, I did have to place a thread order first.)

 Interesting colors, interesting prints.

 Very unlike anything I would have pieced, so it was a good exercise for me.

Also no border.  However, I do think it's interesting enough to draw in someone who is facing a health crisis.

Happy quiltmaking,

Shady Day Quilt

Last fall I asked members of the prayer quilt ministry to consider making some tops that would give me lots of room for quilting fun feathery things.

 Several months ago Ruth created this one and passed it on to me.  This may well be her original design.

 Ruth first suggested our prayer quilt ministry after she recovered from cancer and wanted a way to put her stash to good use.

 I'm sure many of us remember this brown pink from the early 1980s when a real pink could not be found in the fabric stores.

 I had to give this quite a bit of thought and had to give my pencil and sketchbooks a workout before tackling this.

Because of the wide and narrow borders I quilted a couple of different swirlies for the borders.  I seem to be using swirlies a lot lately because so often I'm given quilt tops with really narrow borders.

I love not having to make the drive into Albuquerque every day, but I'm not getting as much sewing, quilting, or housekeeping done as I had expected.  The days are just flying by!

Happy quiltmaking,

Travelling with the Old Crank

Singer 99 handcrank from the late 1930's.

 I took it along to my daughter's college apartment for the long weekend to make some covers for the arms of the living room chairs.  (They were wearing a definitely amateur fix.)

 I had quilted the yardage at home before I went.  She and the young woman who will be her roommate for this coming year share some favorite colors--most notably that pale teal or aquamarine.  My Sweet Teen is taking a summer class, working as a summer resident hall assistant, and working in the materials science and engineering department. (And I have a bit less than six weeks to be able to call her a Sweet Teen.  Where have these years gone?!)

This is one of the lovely covers on the chairs--corduroy and safety pins.

All four arms look like this:

Now they look a lot better!

That little 99 handcrank was amazing (as well as quiet).  I took along some size 16 and 18 needles, but it did a great job with the 14s I use for most piecing and quilting. However, the next time I plan to sew while visiting her, I'll take a TV table so I'll be cranking at a more comfortable height.

And in completing these, I fell in love with bias binding all over again!  (We usually use straight binding for our prayer quilts.)

Our solution for the really ugly sofa was to cover it with a large cotton painter's canvas from Harbor Freight.  Before I took the large one she had a smaller one that covered only part of the sofa.  She and her friends made some "chocolate bowls" last week, forming the bowls around balloons. One exploded, creating a chocolate mess on the canvas.  All the chocolate washed out and the canvas is whiter and had a lovely hand, so I'm sure she'll be willing to launder the new one too.  She thought she wanted the same covers for the sofa, but when we put the chair covers on the sofa over the canvas, we didn't really like them, so at some point I may make her some in an off white or cream color.  By happy coincidence, when I'd purchased some cooking tools for her kitchen, the store had some lovely sea-colored melamine, so I bought two dinner plates, two salad plates, and two bowls.  The smaller plates were the perfect size for a pattern for the front piece on each cover!

I'm eager to do some more quilting, but I spent this morning and a good hunk of the afternoon in Albuquerque getting our office ready to paint.  And I'll be back there to paint tomorrow.  Not nearly as much fun as quilting! But the robin's egg blue we chose will make our office environment a lot more soothing than the multiple shades of white and water stains in there right now!

Happy quiltmaking and knitting,

Photos 7 & 8 Prayer Quilt

More fun and happy quilts from our quilt dedication:

This Saturday we'll be sewing more quilt tops for more prayer quilts.

Yesterday I stopped in Joann's Fabrics for some fabrics to make accessories for the furniture in my daughter's student apartment.  I found what I wanted.  I even had coupons they wouldn't accept.  I got to wait in two lines for at least twenty minutes each.  I can't help feeling sad for what the venture capitalists who own Joann's have done to their stores.

I did meet a couple of quilters and will probably get together with them to do some sharing.  That's fun!

Happy quiltmaking,

More Quilt Shots 5 & 6

April prayer quilts from our dedication service:

I quilted some of these, but most were quilted by others.

Happy quiltmaking,

More Prayer Quilts-#3 & 4

Here are a couple more beauties from our April Prayer Quilt Dedication.

happy quiltmaking.....

Prayer Quilts...1 and 2

To assure people I'm still around, I'm posting photos 1 and 2 of our April Prayer Quilt Blessing.

Since I'm not getting a chance to make quilts during these crazy final two weeks of school, I'll try to post more of our prayer quilts in a day or two.

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day--especially the women too familiar with that deep longing for a child but who done have one as well as the mothers who know the very special pain of losing a child.

Finding Time

Actually, I'm not finding time....However, I'm grateful to have friends who have asked if I've disappeared.  I do apologize for appearing to disappear.

No quilting has happened for several weeks.  Last month I did get to a lovely show where I made two purchases:

 These tools are a purple-ish violet, but the camera chose blue, and I wasn't able to edit the photo to make the color closer to reality.  These were purchased from Lumenaris. I had contacted Lumenaris ahead of time asking them to please bring me some violet colored tools.  I got to the show two or three hours before it closed the first day, and these two were the ones that were left. These are wonderful tools!  I did buy the extra stiletto tip for the screwdriver set so that I can have both the stiletto and seam ripper at hand.

The show was for sewing, quilting, and crafting and was mostly vendors with a few of the vendors classes thrown in.

 I also got more of this miracle fabric to cover a new rectangular ironing surface I want to make.  They do sell completely finished ironing board covers.  I made my first purchase from them quite a few years ago and would hate to have to go back to a regular ironing surface.  Those of you who prefer pretty ironing covers from quilt related cottons would still enjoy these.  You can put a pretty cotton cover on top of a cover made of this fabric, and it would still reflect most of the heat.  It is lovely to be able to have beautiful pressing without having irons at their highest temperature.  Goodness knows irons aren't built to get really hot anymore. This fabric counters some of that.

Some quilty items are wonderful investments and this is definitely near the top of my list.

I've done no quilting at all since our prayer quilt dedication at church in early April.  I'm overwhelmed with school stuff.  However, I hope to post photos of all the prayer quilts soon.

I purchased a new-to-me car just over two weeks ago.  Before I had it two weeks, I parked at the grocery store next to an end curb.  Someone intentionally ran a grocery basket into that small space, rammed it with great force into my car multiple times, did side damage and front bumper damage--$2200 worth.  The owner of the body shop said there is a lot of this going on and that I personally wasn't targeted.  But I'm wondering if someone saw the temporary permit we have to post in the back window until the license plate arrives and then targeted my car.  Ugly stuff.  So, Monday I have to take it to collision repair and pick up a rental.  I just dread the whole thing.

Right now I also have a lot of friends and relatives dealing with unpleasant health issues--which kind of tells me I need to be taking time to quilt.  There's also yard work to be done since we've had a lot of wind and tumbleweeds love to travel through and park in our yards on this street.  But every time I set aside time to do that we get another storm.  My school year will be over in two weeks, so I'm hopeful that I'll soon be able to let more quiltmaking be my therapy.

Time for some deep breaths!

Happy quiltmaking,.....