Quilting is in my Blood

My favorite finish in August is a baby quilt I made for some special people who are expecting another daughter. They are not comfortable with being named on this blog nor having any information shared on social media. I found some 12″ adorable elephant blocks on JoeJuneandMae’s Etsy site and combined them with some simple grey 12″ nine-patch blocks, added a 2.5″ outer border, and the quilt finished at 40″ square.

My great-nephew, John, has had a very eventful 2024. He got married in June, his master’s degree in Computer Science from Cornell in July, and moved to California to start his new job as a software engineer at Intel in August. The whole family is so very proud of him. I know my sister, Jackie, who has been gone for seven years, would be bursting at the seams with pride. I’m pretty sure she is well aware of John’s accomplishments. Sometime in June, I was awakened at 1:00 a.m., and it seemed like Jackie whispered to me, “You need to make a quilt for John.” I tossed and turned for awhile and started thinking about what quilt would be good for John. I knew I wanted it to have clean lines and a modern aesthetic. I decided to make Modern Handcraft’s Ranges quilt pattern in sunset gradient colors, and I knew I wanted the quilting to be wavy to reinforce the mountain vibe. Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting suggested the Modern Waves–Gentle quilting pattern, which I think works perfectly for this 64″ x 78″ throw-size quilt, and the thread she used is called Desert Sunset. The Kona fabrics used for the quilt front were School Bus, Kumquat, Flame, Red, Watermelon, Sangria, and Bordeaux.

I used Kona Berry for the binding and the back of the quilt along with a strip of all the fabrics used on the front.

I love it when recipients of my quilts send me pics of them with their quilt. Here is one of John after he received my package with a photo bomb by their dog, Jack, named after my sister and also my father, Jack Ringer.

I wanted to include a photo of John and his beautiful bride, Bekah, and John sent me this lovely photo:

John and Bekah live about 20 minutes from where I grew up in Sacramento, CA. I definitely hope to see them soon, hopefully on my next visit to California.

I have known my friend, Peter, since we both moved to New Mexico for grad school in 1994. He is from St. Louis, Missouri, and I moved to NM from northern California. We both started following baseball teams from the states where we lived when we were young–Peter being a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan and me being a dedicated San Francisco Giants fan. Awhile ago I decided to make a quilt for Pete celebrating our 30 years of friendship, and when I saw the Baseball Star Pattern by Heather of My Sew Quilty Life, I knew it would be the perfect quilt for Peter, and his 11-year-old daughter, Aila, who shares his devotion to the Cardinals. For the front of this 60″ x 60″ throw-size quilt, I used the same colors as the pattern cover as those are the colors of the St. Louis Cardinals.

I found a Cardinals fabric on Etsy that was perfect for the back.

The close-up below shows the wonderful Play Baseball quilting pattern used by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting. It also shows the quilt label which should have 11 years of friendship with Aila instead of 10. Somehow I lost a year!

Both Pete and Aila were thrilled with the quilt. It was really fun to be able to give it to them in person. Both of our teams are still in the race to be Wildcard teams for the playoffs that start in October. It would be fun if both the Giants and the Cardinals make it.

My cousin, McKenzie, has made two versions of the Baseball Star quilt. The first one was for her grandmother (and my aunt Lois) whose husband loved the Seattle Mariners. The pic below shows McKenzie and Lois with that quilt.

The second one was for McKenzie’s husband, Jeremy, who follows the Giants (as does McKenzie). We had the Giants’ game on behind McKenzie when I took the photo.

I just might have to make my own Baseball Star quilt in San Francisco Giants colors!

I worked on several different projects during the month of July. For my friend, Ed’s 50th birthday, I made him a bucket with a paper-pieced carrots using Leila Garduno’s free pattern. The second photo below shows a gardener’s hand shovel, pattern by Liza at Liza Taylor Handmade. The bucket pattern is available through Liza’s Paper Piecers membership.

I finished a Baseball Star quilt for my friend, Peter, and his daughter, Aila, who are die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fans. My quilt looks just like the pattern cover because it featured St. Louis Cardinals’ colors. The back has actual St. Louis Cardinals’ fabric. I will be giving it to them tomorrow and hope to take some photos of them with the quilt. I plan to write a post about this finish in the next week or so and will share photos of it in this post.

I also finished a quilt top for my great-nephew, John, and his new wife, Bekah. I used Modern Handcraft’s Ranges quilt pattern in sunset gradient colors.

I joined in on Kristy Lea’s of Quiet Play Designs free teacup challenge in July on Instagram. The pattern is now available at her FPP Pattern shop on her website. I used some Liberty of London fabric to make a teacup mug rug for my friend, David. He used to be my boss 30 years ago before I moved to New Mexico for grad school. We reconnected in June when I visited Monterey, California, and spent a good portion of our visit talking about quilts as David has been collecting antique quilts.

My friend, Mary, asked me to make a Christmas quilt for her to put on her bed during the upcoming holiday season. She found a quilt kit on Etsy and bought it. I pieced the quilt top in July. The traditionally pieced teeny-tiny half-square triangles just about made me lose my mind!

In July, I found out that some special people are expecting another daughter. They are not comfortable with being named on this blog or having any information shared on social media. I found some adorable elephants on JoeJuneandMae’s Etsy site and put together this 40″ square quilt top below:

For anyone who hasn’t seen the T-Rex quilt I made for my friend, Kristen’s baby boy due later this month, below is a pic and see a link to the blog post here.

Lastly, I signed up for a Tell Me A Story Holiday Block Swap. I have been making some blocks in traditional Christmas colors that I will share in my August recap post later this month.

 That’s about it. For August, I’ll be focusing on finishing up Ranges, Awesome Sky, and Elephants quilts and writing posts about them as well as finishing my blocks for the Holiday Block Swap.

My favorite finish in July is a baby quilt I made for my friend Kristen’s baby boy who is due August 21st. I used a great paper pieced pattern for an 18″ square T-Rex dinosaur designed by StarsandSunshine Etsy Shop. I made a border using this cute Dinosaur panel, so the quilt measured 36″ square. The Dino Tracks quilting was done by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting.

In May I participated in a Sawtooth Star block swap (unfinished 6.5″ with fussy cut centers) hosted by Mashe Modern. I made five sets of 10 blocks each plus an additional block for me to keep. The blocks that I made are in the last row except for the rainbow block which was made by a different swap participant. I’m really pleased with the assortment of 50 blocks that I received. The first four rows have adorable fussy cut animals except for the last two super cute roller skate blocks in the fourth row. I don’t have any immediate plans to use these blocks in any project, but I have made a list of patterns/tutorials that feature sawtooth star blocks in interesting arrangements or combined with other blocks.

• Star Shower (pattern by Mashe Modern)
• Sawtooth Stardaze (pattern by QuiltCakes)
• Sashing with Stars (tutorial by The Cloth Parcel)
• Ironwood (pattern by Holly Clarke Design)
• Smalls Stars from Luminous Layer QAL (pattern by mmmquilts)
• Rising Star (pattern by Vanessa Christenson)

I have several other projects that are currently on my to-do list, but don’t be surprised to see some of these sawtooth star blocks show up in a project in the near future.

I am joining the #2024QuiltingQ2CheckIn hosted by Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. I’m pleased with what I was able to get accomplished in April-June. Definitely my favorite finish is my Rainbow Cheetah pictured above with my cat Sunny letting me know she is a much better looking cat than the cheetah on my quilt! Below is a photo of the quilt that measures 70″ x 80″. For details, please read my post here.

I’m also thrilled with my Star Pulse quilt finish. I donated this 60″ x 60″ lap-size quilt to the Mercyful Hospice program in Sacramento, California. See details here.

• Made a baby quilt for my friend, Kristen’s baby boy who is due in August.
• Made 50 sawtooth star blocks for a Modern Star block swap.
• Started working on a Baseball Star quilt for a friend who also loves baseball.
• Started working on a Ranges quilt in sunset colors for my great nephew, John.
• Worked very minimally on a Sashiko Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple.
• Made five log cabin hearts appliqued to grey sweatshirts (photo below shows my cousin, McKenzie, wearing hers), pattern from the Liza Taylor Handmade’s Paper Piecers Membership.

• Appliqued a paper pieced hummingbird block (pattern was available for purchase when I joined The Paper Piecers Membership with  Liza Taylor Handmade) to a grey sweatshirt that I hoped to wear to the American Quilter’s Society quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky, in April, which didn’t happen since I accidentally left it behind at my friend Annette’s condo in Florida. Yep, I felt rather foolish!

• The other item I left behind in Florida was a Fairy Wren mini framed using a trivet frame that I was going to give my friend, Kelly, when I saw her in Frankfort, Kentucky, after not seeing each other for decades! So I had to send it to her after I got back to New Mexico. More info about this project can be seen here.

I did not work on any Geeky Bobbin Fussy Fuel 2024 Block of the Month blocks nor did I get any scrappy blocks made.

What’s on Deck for Quarter Three of 2024

• Make a fabric bucket for my friend, Ed, who will turn 50 on July 13th.
• Finish my Baseball Star quilt.
• Finish my Ranges quilt.
• Gift the quilt for Kristen’s baby boy due in August and take pics at her baby shower.
• Work on a Color Burst mini quilt.
• Start to work on a Christmas quilt for my best friend, Mary.
• Re-bind a quilt that my mom made for my niece, Mary Frances, when she was in high school.
• Write a post about the sawtooth star blocks I received and possible projects where I might use some of them.
• Possibly work on some Fussy Fuel blocks.
• Possibly make some scrappy color gradient blocks.
• Make more progress on a Sashiko Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple.

 .

When I visited California in June, I had the privilege of seeing some vintage quilts. My cousin, Sally, had a quilt that was made from a quilt top that was found in a trunk belonging to my great-grandmother, Eliza Hannamon Thompson, who may or may not have made the quilt top around 1890. My Aunt Lois Blakely Scott (Sally’s mother) was given the quilt named Signature or Album in 1999 by her cousin, Merle Jackson, who did not think Eliza made the quilt top “because she would have finished the quilt.” I’m thinking that Merle perhaps was NOT a quilter because I know from personal experience that not all quilt tops become finished quilts!

Lois removed the appliqued Rose of Sharon block from the center of the quilt top and placed it on the back of the quilt, and then she constructed another Signature block to replace the center block from an unfinished border. Finally Lois and other members of the Willamalane Senior Center hand-quilted the quilt.

Below is a close up of some of the blocks on the front. If you look carefully at the second block in the first column, you can see that this block was repaired, and the first block in the second column was also repaired. We are not sure when the repairs were made or by whom. There are a few other mended blocks throughout the quilt which just adds to its character. It’s also a good reminder to not worry so much about perfection.

 

Here is a close up of the quilt label that my Aunt Lois made and attached to the back of the quilt:

I also visited my friend, David, in Monterey. We hadn’t seen each other in 30 years since I moved to New Mexico to go to grad school. David has developed an interest in vintage quilts and I was able to see this lovely Yo-Yo quilt at his house:

He also shared photos of two other quilts with me. David is holding the Dresden Plate quilt in the pic below, and he also sent me a photo of a quilt with lovely embroidered holiday blocks.

When I visited my niece, Mary Frances, in Michigan in March, she brought out a quilt that my mom made for her in the 1980s. The binding is totally frayed, so I told her that I would re-bind it for her. The quilt measures 47″ x 62″.

The photo below shows a frayed edge and also two pink fabrics that I pulled from my mom’s stash to make new binding for this quilt that is special to my niece.

Even though I consider myself to be more of a modern quilter, I absolutely love all these traditional quilts. Quilting has such a rich history, and many of us are lucky enough to have some precious heirloom quilts. I hope you enjoyed seeing these amazing creations.

I am so happy to share that my Rainbow Cheetah Quilt is done! The finished quilt measures 70″ x 80″. I added extra background fabric to Violet Craft’s Cheetah Abstractions pattern to make this quilt fit on my bed. In Violet’s pattern, she gives options for both a traditionally colored cheetah in various shades of brown and also a rainbow version using 32 Kona colors. I used my Kona solids swatch cards and matched prints from my stash, and some were closer matches than others!

When I was at QuiltCon in February, I visited Violet’s booth and fell in love with her version on the rainbow cheetah quilt which measured 48″ x 60″. The photo below shows Violet in her booth with her amazing quilt behind her.

Rebecca Grace did the quilting for my rainbow cheetah using a variegated Cleopatra 40 weight thread with a Wildfire quilting pattern. I emailed Rebecca soon after I returned from QuiltCon, and she agreed to do the quilting for me after I pieced the cheetah pattern, and we set a tentative date in May for me to finish the quilt top and send it off to her. In the meantime, Rebecca made a big decision to do longarm quilting on a part-time basis for a store in Naples, Florida and to actually reclaim her evenings and weekends for herself! Please read the details about her big decision here. Even though I am sad that I won’t be able to send any more quilts to Rebecca for her to work her magic on them, I am totally supportive of her choice to have better work/home balance. Life is too short to spend far more time working than with her loved ones and her own creative ventures. And I’m thrilled that our final collaboration was on my rainbow cheetah quilt. If you can, please enlarge the photo below to see the beautiful thread and how it just glows with the Wildfire quilting pattern, bringing out all the rainbow colors in the quilt. Thank you, Rebecca, for all the amazing quilting you’ve done for me the past several years.

Here’s one more pic of the quilt. Literally one minute after I first put it on my bed, my cat, Sunny, had to jump on the bed and pose with the quilt! She obviously thinks she is the better looking feline!

Linking up to Quilting Jetgirl: Favorite Finish June 2024.

May was another productive month, and I accomplished most of my goals (see April 2024 Recap here). The secret sewing was for a trip to California 5/31/24-6/10/24 where I visited family and friends in Sacramento, the Bay Area, and in Monterey. I made four log cabin heart blocks and appliqued them on sweatshirts for my cousin McKenzie (seen below with her son while we were playing the dice game, Qwixx), her mom Sally, my friend, Jeanne (seen in second photo below), and my sister-in-law, Sharon.

The log cabin heart pattern is by Liza Taylor Handmade and was available to purchase as part of The Paper Piecers membership. Here is a link to the waiting list to the Paper Piecers Membership that will re-open in July.

Modern Star Swap

I finished making all the blocks for the  #modernstarswap hosted by @mashemodern on Instagram. The centers were fussy cut, and we were asked to used fabrics by popular designers. I made five sets of 10 blocks each (plus an extra block for me) and used fabrics by Alison Glass, Giucy Giuce, and Tula Pink. I look forward to receiving 50 fussy cut sawtooth blocks by other makers. It will be fun to see which blocks can be grouped for various projects. I have several ideas in mind that I will share down the road.

Rainbow Cheetah Quilt Top

I finished piecing  my version of Violet Craft’s Rainbow Cheetah quilt top and sent it off to Rebecca at Rebecca Grace Quilting. I’ve received it back and have finished the quilt but still need to take photos of it and write a blog post about it.

Star Pulse QAL

I was able to get my Star Pulse quilt finished and sent off to be a “Mercyful Quilt” for Mercy Hospital Hospice program in Sacramento, CA. Read more about this quilt here.

Fussy Fuel BOM and Scrappy Projects

I have decided to prioritize other quilting projects, so I have put my Fussy Fuel blocks and scrappy projects on hold for now.

What’s Up for June?

• Write a post about my Rainbow Cheetah finished quilt.
• Work on a baby quilt.
• Cut some more color gradient scraps.
• Start a Color Burst Wall Hanging.
• Work on a Sashiko project.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.