Each year I have worked with my children's classmates to create a quilt that they present to their teacher at the end of the school year. In the past, I have worked with water color pastels, fabric marbling, and applique. I wanted to think of a new, unique quilt to do with the students this year.
This year, our art docent program included a module which studied the quilts of Faith Ringgold. After this lesson, I decided to work with my son's kindergarten class on quilt block design. The children worked with squares and half-square triangles to create their own nine-patch block. They then picked two batik fabrics to be used in their blocks. Their teacher is currently expecting her first child this summer. At the time of the work, we did not know if she was expecting a boy or girl. I felt the batiks offered bright vibrant colors that any child would love. Many of the fabrics contain animals in the designs. We have since learned that she is due to have a girl.
This is the finished product. Each child's name is embroidered on their block. The quilt was presented at a surprise baby shower that the parents and children in the class held.
Quilt top originally pieced by Betty (Lisa's mom) who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's while she was working on this quilt top. Lisa asked me to rework the top because of the condition of the top and I agreed. I pulled the top apart and resewed all of the pinwheels. Then I added the original red border and pieced the outside border with leftover pieces of the original. Finally, I quilted the top after taking several machine quilting classes and doing several smaller projects. This was the first large quilt that I had machine quilted. Lisa's mom is in the final stages of Alzheimer's but Lisa has a quilt to remind her of her mom before the disease.
In 2004, when American Patchwork & Quilting was collecting blocks for making quilts to be auctioned to raise money for the Susan Komen for the Cure project, many of us who were on Alex Anderson's message board decided to make a whole quilt to be auctioned. Details of the blocks to be sent were worked out. Some sent blocks with light pink centers and dark backgrounds and others sent the opposite. All sent some extra fabric for the sashing. I assembled and quilted the top and sent it off to be auctioned on ebay.
I anxiously awaited our quilt being auctioned because I wanted it back! When it was posted, I began bidding but despite my best efforts to win the auction, every time I would bid, this one other bidder would outbid me. I finally gave up as it was getting to be more than I could afford to spend.
I lost the auction and several friends from the AAMB began trying to help me find out who the person was who wanted this quilt so badly that they kept oubidding me. There was a "behind the scenes" story going on and I didn't know it but everyone else did.
It ended up that my friend, Vicky McGee from CA, was the person bidding against me and she was trying to get the quilt to give to me. Little did I know!
In June, 2005, while at a retreat in Paducah, KY, Vicky had planned to be there and present the quilt to me. She could not make it but was able to send the quilt to another friend to make the presentation, along with the sweetest note from Vicky.
I had given up on ever seeing this quilt again and was thrilled beyond belief to see it again and realize that it was being given to me!
I made this quilt for my executive who was retiring. I've worked as his administrative assistant for over 12 years and have learned a lot about him during that time. However, while making the quilt I learned a lot more about him. All of the fabric has some significance to things he likes or has done (i.e. golf, bowling, woodworking, various types of food he likes, etc.). The photos were copied onto material. All photos are from his early years (about age 2) through current (age 62). In addition to the photos and fabric I sent a square of material to family, friends and co-workers asking for them to sign the square or write a message to Don (I used acid free pens). I also was able to secure a signature square from some of his favorite publc people (Barbara Mandrell, Statler Brothers, Riders In The Sky, and President Bush). This was the first quilt I ever made. I learned a lot from making it but the best part was the pleasure of seeing the excitement on Don's face when I presented it to him. The quilt measures about 90 inches wide and 104 inches long. All sewing was done on my sewing machine. I started the quilt in early 2005 and completed it in early March 2007; Don retired March 31, 2007.
Thank you for considering including this quilt and story.
In 1999, I found a most interesting design in one of the Dover coloring books. It looked as though it would be a nifty grid to use to create a quilt. I copied it onto clear plastic, borrowed an overhead projector, taped several pieces of freezer paper to the wall, and used a Sharpie to transfer the grid portion of the design to the freezer paper. Then I put in Storm at Sea blocks, and paper-foundation pieced them. I quilted the resulting piece with spirals, using hologram thread, took pics, and sent them in to try to enter the Houston show. I was so excited when the letter came, telling me the quilt was juried in to the show. I sent it off and made plans to visit my brother and his wife the end of October at their home in Rockport, TX. I had been visiting them every year since they moved to TX. Oddly enough, my visits always coincided with the show in Houston-- funny how that worked out. At any rate, I left for Rockport some time before the show and had a nice visit with Mike and Sandy, then headed for Houston and the show. I went to the Award Ceremony to get a chance to see the winners before the show opened. As I was admiring the quilts and slides, and watching the nicely-dressed winners walk down to the stage to receive their awards, I suddenly saw that the slide on the screen was my quilt! I leaped to my feet, and yelled something like "Yeehah!" and happy-danced down to the stage, any shreds of dignity I might have possessed lying in tatters on the stairs. Somewhere there's a picture of me accepting my award wearing black cotton pants, yellow socks, orange Birkenstocks, and a T-shirt my DSIL had given me that said "Mental Illness Takes a Toll--Please Have Exact Change" (I'm a Psychiatric/Mental Health RN). During the rest of the week, people would come up to me and say, "I remember you from the Award Ceremony." I had been gone from home early and missed the call that would have let me know I should dress up more, LOL. The picture above was taken at our local quilt show, where I had just found out my quilt won Best Of Show.
Pat in Rockport, TX
For Pueblo's Quilt Expo this year their theme for the challenge fabric packet was "Creativity Isn't Boaring" in honor of the Chinese Year of the Boar. I had mentioned this to several of the quilt guild ladies I meet with once a week, saying "what would you do with that"? I just was going "duh" as nothing came to mind and I decided I wasn't going to do the challenge. I only had 8 weeks to get the fabric, plan a challenge piece and do it. Well, the following week one of the ladies handed me this ziplock of fabric and said "now you get to do the challenge". Now, she did tell me I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to. But, they know me and how I can't turn down a challenge. The fabric sat in the bag for 4 weeks before I took it out, I just didn't know what to do with it. It was all oriental prints. As soon as I opened the bag and took the fabric out, I knew what path I was going to take.
A pagoda was wanting to be made. Of the 5 challenge fabrics, I had to use 4 and could add up to 2 of my own. I used 4 of them and added 2. One was a focus print with flowers, cranes, groups of green for the trees. The "shingles" of the pagoda are the feathers from the crane. As each piece was made, the next step would come to me. I started only with a game plan of making the pagoda, it grew trom there. The pagoda, flowers, and the lanterns are sandwiched with timtex to give them the stability I wanted. Their is a boar quilted on the wallhanging, small meandering in monofilament thread surrounds it.
For a piece that I initially didn't want to do, I became very attached to it and it was very hard for me to hand off last week for the expo. I will be going up tomorrow, but I got a call today, from my friend that gave me the fabric, that I won 1st place in the wallhanging division! I am estatic! I will be going up tomorrow and I'm anxious to see how others have interpreted the theme.
For the non quilters who think I'm nuts when I say my fabric speaks to me, I feel bad for them. They don't know what they are missing by those voices only us quilters can hear.
My father's 80th birthday was fast approaching and I was just learning to quilt. I had spent the last 6 months telling people I was "sewing", "learning to quilt". I was always too busy "quilting" to accept invitations, go out or socialize much. Time was coming I had to either put up or shut up, so to speak!
I was on my second project from Ricky's book - Harmonic Convergence. The first one I did had to grow on me - I didn't like it much at first. Now I was doing one that seemed part "Caveman Quilting" and Harmonic Convergence. I had chosen a light and a dark blue - and they went together well. But were kinda bland. The day before my Dad's birthday - I was out of ideas. I wanted so to give him something beside a tie. Frantically I search through fabric - piles upon piles - looking for anything to make something else. Real fast.... Kona Bays fabric with flowers and koi keep coming up. I'd put the fabric down and it would turn up somewhere else. I walked away convinced I'd never figure it out. That I would have to tell and show people that I was a failure as a quilter.
Came back in the room - a large breeze had blown open the windows and that d*mn koi fabric was back. But this time, my caveman/convergence blue quilt had falled off the wall and the koi were on top of it. It hit me - you know, how somethings seem so obvious but we can see it. Use these pesky koi!
Turns out my Dad is a Pisces as well as a fisherman. This just might work! The quilt fell into place almost magically. The blue fabric represents the ocean and the two fish in the middle are the symbol Pisces. The little one on the outside is "the one that got away"!
After living in St Louis for 5 years I was really in to baseball.
In the Netherlands where I am from you don't find a lot of people playing or watching this sport.
I love it and We (my husband and me ) saw Mark McGuyer hit his 70the homerun. As an ode to him this is No 71. We moved in 2000 to India and I missed the baseball. Now back in the US we again go to the baseball and in 2 weeks I will see my favorite team again. We live in Houston but I will silently be cheering for the St Louis Cardinals
Our son, Bryan, has been in the U.S. Army for almost two years and will leave for his first deployment soon. In 2006 he asked me to make a quilt with his treasured cavalry flag on it and sent some patches for me to attach as well. Of course, before I sent the quilt to Bry it became part of show-n-tell at quilt guild meetings and bees. During one of the show-n-tells a friend introduced me to the Quilts of Valor Foundation. I have now made two quilts for injured soldiers through QOV and will be busy quilting away the anxious days until Bry comes home.
On my husbands 50 birthday I gave him what one day would be a quilt of him 3 years old on a tricycle. He already loved it and it was only just started. I made the quilt from a picture his mother gave me (2X2 inch big and black and white) Next month he will be 54 and guess what he will get the finished pieced because I DID it. The quilt is finished and it is great. He looks realy 3 years and cycling. My husband still love to cycle and maybe one day I will make a quilt of him now on his bycicle. Will be continued.......
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