Collage Quilting students are the best!

The Christmas Quilt!

Lots of new Kaffe fabric

Lots of blue!

Picking out background fabric

She made a smaller version!

Notice the Tula roses?

Can you find the tuna can?

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of presenting and teaching for the Tri-County Quilt Guild in Cypress, Texas. This is a large guild with over 300 members and 80+ in attendance at the meeting. I was treated to dinner before the meeting. Not gonna lie. It made me feel like a rock star! Later in the week, I taught a dozen enthusiastic ladies at Bobbins & Threads Quilting & Crafts in Houston.

I have found the heart pattern is the best way to learn collage quilting and the ladies certainly stepped up! It is a large enough image that students gain confidence in their collaging skills to move on to a more challenging pattern. The ladies came ready to work and by the end of class we actually auditioned lots of completed hearts for background fabrics.

Each heart is so unique! This is the first time I’ve had someone try Christmas motifs and it is beautiful! The lady in the hot pink shirt had lots of new Kaffe Fassett fabric. Seriously, I was on the verge of drooling. It was all so new, I didn’t have any of it in my stash. Also, you might notice a Tula Pink vintage tuna can in one of the quilts. I allow students to pick through my secret stash when I teach. I have found quilters to be very good at sharing. It is probably why I always wind up with more great fabric than when I started teaching the class.

Gumball Machines Galore!

I just realized I’ve never posted the three versions of my gumball machine art quilt pattern. It is available for sale in my Etsy shop. The pdf quilt pattern also includes a quilt photo, supply list, detailed instructions and now you have three ways to collage it!

The first art quilt version is a traditional I-Spy quilt in the form of a super fun gumball machine! I call it “I-Spy Gumballs.” It has approximately 50 gumballs and is a great opportunity for little ones to learn language. It would be a great gift for the preschool/kindergarten teacher on your Christmas list.

The second gumball machine quilt used a fraction of my Halloween novelty fabric. Over the years, my eyeballs tended to gravitate toward Halloween fabric. I never knew exactly what to make with it. I call this art quilt “I Spy Spooky.” I love to hang seasonable quilts and was happy to add a whimsical Halloween quilt in my entryway!

Of course, the third gumball machine quilt is a shout-out to Santa Claus. I started with a Santa panel and after a little fusing and cutting placed him in the gumball section of the quilt. I used Christmas fabric that reads “white” for the rest of the gumballs. It was fun to experiment with different shades of red and white for the gumball machine base. I call this art quilt “I Spy Ho-Ho” in honor of Mimi, my special needs daughter, who passed away in 2018. She adored Santa. Due to her limited speech, she called him “Ho-Ho.”

If you are needing to source collage supplies/fabric such as Karen Kay Buckley scissors, pattern ease, Steam-A-Seam 2 Lite, applique pressing sheet, fabric glue, and pretty fabric consider purchasing from my go-to online store: My Favorite Quilt Store.

The adorable model with the completed quilts is my handsome grandson Ben! He’s five.

2021 quilt projects in the rear-view mirror

The year 2021 will go down in my quilting record book as the most prolific. I completed 9 quilts, 20 little Christmas pillows, and a Christmas table runner. Who says COVID and lockdowns have to be boring or non-productive?

Two quilts went to charity! MD Anderson’s Ovarian Quilt Project received the heart collage quilt with the yellow background. This year the auction raised over $46,000 to fight ovarian cancer. Thank you brother for purchasing the heart collage labor of love which honors our sister. Mary passed away from ovarian cancer several years ago. Today, the last day of the year, is also Mary’s birthday. She would have been 67 years old. Happy birthday in Heaven dear sister! The online auction occurs every two years. I’m already thoughtfully contemplating the next one for 2023!

The butterfly quilt designed by Laundry Basket Quilts went to The Village Learning Center’s annual gala. Mimi attended their amazing day center for many years before she passed away. It is a charity painfully near and dear to my heart. This quilt is my favorite for 2021. I love how it turned out. The quilting by Judy Mathis really made it shine. And, of course, Sally continues to amaze with her embroidery design skills on the quilt labels. I called it “A Flutter” because that is what a group of butterflies is called.

I’ve already set my quilting goals for 2022! I start the year by presenting, and teaching, collage art quilting at a couple of local quilt guilds. There are a number of UFO quilts on my list, fabric organization, a baby quilt for my fifth grandchild due in May, two charity quilts, and a quilt retreat to attend! 2022 is going to be a busy, creative quilting year!

Little Christmas pillows!

My late sister, Mary, was an expert at cross-stitch! Her walls were filled with beautiful intricate samplers. I learned after she passed away, Mary had also taken many deep dives on eBay and purchased lots of unfinished cross-stitch projects never taken beyond the stitch phase. The unfinished projects eventually found a home at my brother’s house. It wasn’t until this past fall, I had the opportunity to have a peek at his treasure trove. I guess Carl could tell from my wide eyes, I was overwhelmed, intrigued, and very interested. Needless to say, I was gifted with lots of the little treasures. Some of the almost 20 projects also include little seed beads, metallic threads, and one, a metal charm.

I’ve been noodling ever since trying to figure out how to honor my sister’s great taste and the anonymous eBay stitchers! I even watched a few YouTube videos for inspiration.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve trimmed each project down, framed them in strips of Christmas fabric (1-1/4 inches wide), then backed each with something different, leaving a hole at the bottom, added stuffing, and some slip stitching. I am happy with the results!

2020 … a year in review

I feel like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland taking out his pocket watch from his vest. Yes, I’m late, I’m late for a very important date! I should have written this post two weeks ago about my “year in review.” I have written one every year for a very long time. For most of us, 2020 was painful with a capital “P.” Yep … me too. My husband of nearly 48 years passed away after four months on hospice. He died the day Houston’s Rodeo was shut down due to COVID on March 11, 2020. Rick was Texas born and bred. So it must have seemed to God to be a noteworthy day. At least the Willie Nelson concert during the rodeo happened. Since then I’ve been pretty much locked down like everyone else trying to figure how to dig myself out of the deep rabbit hole of grief. I am haulin’ myself up … a little at a time.

So is it any wonder I have been sitting at the sewing machine … a lot. I’ve finished 7 quilts (2 of which were pieced and machine quilted Christmas tree skirts), 4 pillow cases with French seams, a cute table topper for my sister, and a mini sleeping bag for a Ken doll. Not quite Twelve Days of Christmas song-worthy … but almost. This many quilts in one year is a new world’s record for me.

Oh, and I’ve poured myself into writing something special. I finished a manuscript for a memoir about my sweet Mimi who left us in late 2018. The title is An Angel Lived Among Us. I started writing it in early 2019 a few months after Mimi died. Shortly after that my husband’s brain tumor popped up. Yesterday, I sent off the book proposal which was more painful to write than the book. You wouldn’t believe the stuff publishers want to read about instead of the actual book. However, this is such an interesting learning experience for me. If the memoir is not picked up by a publisher, I will self-publish. Stay tuned on the book’s publishing progress!

Until next time … stay safe out there!

Quilter’s Patch – November fence and blocks together

The November fence block with heart-shaped garden gate is finished! OK … so I know it is December … but only by a few days. Did I mention December is my favorite month of the year from a blog perspective? It’s the snow falling across the blog. I love that WordPress adds the snow in December!

The fence was an easy and fast block to piece! November’s block-of-the-month assignment also included several butterfly blocks, but I am not using them in the quilt top. I had so much time on my hands after the fence was finished, I put all the flower blocks together. Just for fun, I switched the order on two of the flower blocks. I’ll post a completed quilt top once the border is on. Decided to use a plain narrow border as this quilt will be hung. I anticipate the dimensions will be around 65″ by 65″. Can’t wait for this one to be machine quilted!

The Snowflake Quilt

This year, while struggling to keep up with those challenging block-of-the-month blocks, I also completed a quilt for The Village Learning Center’s fall gala. It is their big fundraiser for the year. Unfortunately, when Hurricane Harvey hit in September, it didn’t seem like a gala would be a good idea. There are so many people and businesses that were hurt in our area. So instead, they are holding a “non-event.” The silent and live auctions are being held online this week. I have bid my own quilt up twice. It is my hope they make a bunch of money on this “non-event.” Their amazing day center is a wonderful place where over 100 adults with developmental disabilities enjoy activities like bowling, arts and crafts, exercise and so much more. It is such a blessing to so many and a huge part of Mimi’s life!

This is the first time I have been called by the Village with a special request. They wanted a large lap-sized “snowflake” type quilt. They were originally going to combine it with other things in a silent auction package. So when the hurricane messed things up they decided to let the quilt stand on its own. Fortunately, I have always loved Christmas-themed fabric and seen it as my duty to contribute them to my stash each year. Well, somebody has to do it! Darn if I even had some fabric with snowflakes. I did have to go shopping in July for some additional Christmas “snowflake” fabric which was a little daunting.

The pattern is from American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine, issue August, 2009. The blocks are all 5-inch squares using white/cream Christmas 1-1/2″ strips for half of the blocks (the Rail Fence squares) and red Christmas/snowflake fabric for the block with the four triangles. Top Stitch Quilting professionally machine quilted the quilt with a large “snowflake” all-over pattern. The patch on the back was embroidered by Personalize-It in Kingwood (this business flooded during Harvey and I am hoping Tracey and her business will return to us).

Quilting projects finished in 2016!

So taking a look back on 2016, when the year began I would have never guessed the subject of cancer would have overtaken this blog, and our life. But it did. Hubby is doing great. But he is just halfway through treatment.

So despite how the year unfolded, I still found time to finish five quilting projects. A few of the quilt projects had been started in 2015. For me … the creative outlet of cutting big colorful pieces of fabric into little pieces, and then sewing them back together, is a huge stress reliever. Sounds crazy … I know. But quilters totally get it!

The projects finished include an I Spy quilt for St. Martha’s Catholic School fundraiser. I used a jar quilt pattern purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Company, along with a layer cake of novelty fabric also purchased from MSQC. Kim Norton used the digital pantograph called “Graffiti.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label!

I also made my grandson, Jacob, an I Spy quilt using the same pattern and novelty fabric. I altered some of the “jars” to include a few special pieces of fabric. I named it “I Spy Jacob.” Jake picked out the binding fabric. Kim Norton machine-quilted using a multi-colored thread called Cleopatra. The digital pantograph is called “Circle Swirls.” Again, Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label.

The Christmas table runner was made out of extra squares placed on point from my “Santa Baby” quilt for my little sister, Gretchen. My adorable sister picked up two 2016 Row-By-Row patterns/fabric for me in her part of Texas. Making her a Christmas table runner was the least I could do! I gave it to her at Christmas. Unfortunately, the photograph of her with the table runner turned out too dark. The lighting in my family room sucks! The table runner was machine-quilted by the amazing Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin with Raspberry Ripple colored-thread using a digital pantograph called “Star Dance.”

I also finished a 2015 Mystery Quilt for my lovely sister-in-law Bonnie. The block-of-the-month was purchased through The Fat Quarter Shop, one of my go-to online shops for quilting fabric and projects. Bonnie, who lives in faraway Oklahoma, received the quilt in time for Christmas. This quilt was so fun to make and was my very first mystery quilt. Each block was designed by a different quilt designer. I named it “Town Square.” The quilt was machine-quilted by Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin, with Canaan-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Creeping Fig.” The quilt label was embroidered by Personalize It in Kingwood.

My last finished project was for my brand new grandson, Baby Ben. He is a doll! Ben turned two-months-old this week and now he has his monkey quilt just in time for “tummy time.” The quilt pattern is by The Teacher’s Pet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After piecing the wide fabrics, the monkey and Ben’s name were fused, zig-zagging around the fused edges. A couple of years ago I made Jacob a baby quilt using their giraffe pattern. So cute. They also have a flamingo and alligator version. Kim machine-quilted Ben’s baby quilt with Limestone-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Whole Lotta Bubbles.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the quilt label.

Martha’s Quilters Fall Festival Booth preview

Sneak preview alert! Martha’s Quilters have been busy again this year sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidering and handcrafting one-of-a-kind items for sale! Come by St. Martha’s Fall Festival on Saturday, October 8, in the back of the church parking lot. Each year our ladies expand their horizons with unique creations!

We will also have two quilts in the Silent Auction and one quilt in the live auction. Stop by and start your Christmas shopping! Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted!

St. Martha Quilters create quilt for Fall Festival live auction!

Martha’s Quilters have been busy for months getting ready for this year’s St. Martha Catholic Church Festival & Market which will be held on Saturday, October 8. As always, our booth will have for sale some really unique handcrafted items such as Christmas gifts, lots of fun college items, baby wearables, table runners, adorable doll quilts, beautiful lap-size quilts and lots of items I haven’t even seen yet. Basically, something for everyone! Just be sure and stop by our booth! You won’t be disappointed!

Our prayer quilt ministry group has again made a one-of-a-kind quilt for the live auction. Each of our members participated in making this quilt another masterpiece! Last year our Nativity quilt sold for $2,200.

This year’s quilt is an adaption of a paper-pieced pattern called “First Snow” by Tina Curran. Lynn, one of our lovely and talented Martha’s Quilters, acquired the pattern a couple of years ago and promptly began collecting fabric for the project. A couple of months ago, I remember seeing Lynn hunkered down at her sewing machine with little pieces of colorful Christmas fabric flying all over the place. I thought she was making the whole quilt by herself. It wasn’t long before Judy, who sat next to Lynn most Wednesdays, was making blocks for the project. Lynn even taught Judy to paper-piece. Judy also designed the church block, which is not a part of Tina Curran’s design, but definitely just what our Festival quilt needed! I think Clara made some blocks as well. Several of our talented ladies … Noreen … Clara … and Sally come to mind … machine-quilted the project. I was privileged to sew the binding on … and Marie sewed the binding by hand to the back. Embellishments are next week. This quilt is stunning!

The three-month project took our members hundreds of hours to complete and will be hanging in the narthex at St. Martha’s Catholic Church the weekend before the festival. Feel free to take a peek! Opening bid for this live auction one-of-a-kind Christmas quilt is $500.