Saturday, December 08, 2007

Deborah's Arkansas Crossroads


I attend a night-time quilt class at the local high school. The students vary from rookies who have never made a quilt and some quilters with decades of experience. We meet once a week and work on various projects. The teacher, Janet, teaches us a couple of patterns each semester. Some of us make the quilts, some of us go to class for the lecture portion and work on other projects. It is more of a social event where we happen to learn quilting. One of the projects was the quilt pattern Arkansas Crossroads. I am still pretty new to the group. I just finished my second semester.

At the end of every month, the group is encouraged to donate home-made placemats which will be given to the local senior center. Each placemat donated gets a ticket for the drawing held in class. So if you donate, 4 placemats, you get 4 tickets. The drawing prizes are usually gift certificates to the local quilt shop, The Crazy 9Patch. Since I jsut got a new Gammill longarm machine, I decided to donate a free quilt job for one of the class projects. Deborah brought some placemats to class and won the quilt job.

The quilt is 89 x 112 and is done in deep rich browns and reds. The backing is a brown batik. I used Signature Chestnut brown on top and Java brown in the bobbin. The quilt was so dark that I decided to use Quilter's Dream Midnight Black batting. I used a couple of stencils for the borders and the Meredith England panto named Featheration. If is a big (17") flowing pattern and it quilts up quickly.



Jody's Poinsettia Trellis



We had a mystery class at the local quilt shop. Jody taught the class. Mystery classes are always so much fun. Everybody brings a little treat and of course, chocolate is always welcome. Jody makes the classes special by designing different ways to preset the clues. This time, the clues were tail feathers on a paper turkey.

The quilt turned out to be a trellis quilt. Jody used two different poinsettia fabrics. The back is alight green wide back. The borders are deep red. I used Signature cotton scarlet thread top and bobbin for the red borders. This was my first time trying Jodi Robinson feathers. I was happy with the way they turned out. The center of the quilt was quilted with Signature cotton Limey green thread top and bobbin.


Mary's Crazy 9 Patch for Kaitlynn



Mary has made several of these Crazy 9 Patch quilts for her grand-children. She likes to add their embroidered name in the border.

But this one is different. Mary's neighborhood was hit very hard during the recent Witch Creek fire. She lives in a small gated community of 12 homes. When the fire hit, it took the houses of six of Mary's neighbors. Nobody knows why the fire stopped before it got to Mary's house. Her neighbors lost everything. The phones and electricty in their tiny community were out for a long time. When the electricty was restored, Mary tried to get back into a normal routine. She made this quilt for KaitLynn. It is made with pinks and browns. The border is brown.

I used Warm's Soft and Brite poly batting. The thread is Signature cotton pink in the feild and the bobbin and Java brown on the border.



Jody's Christmas Elf Quilt



Jody attended a snowball quilt class at the Crazy 9 Patch. She used Moda's elf fabric with bright green star points. She used a pieced pinao border on it and a muslin back. She wanted BIG quilting on it. I used Linda Lawson wreath 2007 from the Longarm Chat as the center. I used Holiday Lights panto by Jodi Beamish of Willow Leaf Studio on the border. The rest of the designs, bell, holly, bulb, and peppermint candy canes were all done free-motion. She was thrilled.








April's First Quilt


Betty, most people call hr Mema, is one of our town's most experienced quilters. She has been the featured quilter at the Ramona Quilt show and she helps out at the local quilt shop, The Crazy 9 Patch. Mema alos mentors young women who want to learn how to quilt. She helps them with colors, fabrics and a pattern that they will be able to finish.

April is one of her students. This is April's first quilt. She made this quilt for her mother. She did a great job with her 1/4 inch. The quilt is flat and square. You would not know that it was made by a first-timer.

The quilt is done in wonderful golds and purple batiks fabric.

I used Signature cotton Mustard thread and did a freemotion quilting that included flowers, loops, curls and feathers. Very girly. I used Warm's Soft and Brite.




Brenda's Palm Tree Quilt


Brenda's friend loves palm trees. Brenda made a quilt in a mystery class held at our local quilt shop, the Crazy 9 Patch. It was done in pale greens and teals with a beautiful blue green back. She wanted me to quilt palm trees on the quilt. I practiced drawing several trunks before I drew one that I liked. Then I was able to quilt it freemotion and filled in the palm fronds. The blocks were big - 16 inches and I was afraid that the blank space beside the trunks would puff out. I asked for help on the MQ Resource quilting forum and got some helpful advice. I quilted in a "tropical breeze" beside the trunks that will do the trick to keep the blocks from puffing up.
I used Signature cotton Seafoam thread on the top and PermaCore BlueJay in the bobbin with Warm and White cotton batting. I used Signature Parchment and Superior MonoPoly (in the bobbin) for the tropical breeze so it would blend.




Sally's Butterlies



This is a bright butterfly quilt with some applique butterflies. The backing is purple. I echo quilted around the applique butterflies. I used Hermione Agee's Butterfly Charm panto. The border are daisies with wavy piano keys.





My life has changed in the last couple of years - some bumps, I retired from quilting, and then I moved to Texas. I'm anxious to see what new adventures await me in the next phase of my life.

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Ramona, California, United States
I started quilting when a quilt shop opened in our little town in January 2004. I have been hooked ever since.

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Books I"ve read lately

  • The Help (Kindle)
  • The Appeal by John Grisham
  • Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (again) by Harper Lee
  • Bleachers by John Grisham

This is called Fruit Cocktail

This is called Fruit Cocktail
It is all batiks