Circle of Life - This is a mother/baby quilt I made for a friend who delivers babies! The circle of life!

Storm on Puget Sound - I made this quilt for my sister in law who needed a lap quilt for their summer cabin on Stuart Island in the San Jaun islands in Washington State. Storm at Sea is my favorite pattern and it fit right in with her nautical theme.

Thimbleberry Sunset - Block of the month by Lynette Jensen. I loved this quilt so much that I made several. This particular quilt went to a former student who became a teacher a few years later. I didn't question my husbands wish to give Tom and his wife a gift that they would be able to use for years to come. I was very proud to give something I had made to a couple that had done so much with their lives in such a short time.

Village - My husband teaches at a charter school in Milwaukee. The school operates under the concept of the Maasai Tribe in Africa. The Village theory is very important in how the school views it students and how they learn best. Children are raised by a Village. A child is unable to learn unless they are healthy. All aspects of a childs health is incorporated in their learning. I wanted to donate this quilt because of the theme matches the schools concepts. It is a newer school and needed a piece of art to help build a postive image of what a village is.

Sunrise - This was my first bom that I had ever done. I was new to quilting and had never pieced a quilt. I had put simple pieces of fabric together to make my first quilt but they were just left over scraps of fabric. I enjoyed learning to follow the detailed directions. When I was finished I had it hanging in my office trying to figure out what I should do with it. The next week someone from our church quilting guild came over to pick up fabric that I was donating. When she saw the finished quilt, she asked if the guild could take it and quilt it for in the church. I was happy to donate it to church.

Garden Time - I fell in love with this pattern as soon as the Picnic Series by Thimbleberry came out. I had just recieved the kit that went with the Summer Camp Series when we were packing to go on a delayed honeymoon of 23 years. I picked up my new Bernia and packed it with two quilt kits and was ready to go! Some honeymoon! My Biology teacher husband went out hiking the trails and I stayed in the suite with my sewing. I am in a wheelchair and unable to hike the trails that my husband had waited for very patiently. I finished the quilt in a few days. I gave it to a friend of the family who enjoyed gardening for her birthday.

mystery quilt 2006-2007 - North Pittsburgh Quilt Guild Mystery quilt 2006 - 2007 season

mystery quilt

Lake House - Designed the quilt from a photo taken of the lake house where my sisters and I have an annual reunion. I did the quilt, then all "the girls" brought charms, buttons, etc, and we used these as well as embroidery to embellish the surface. It was given to my cousin, the home-owner, as a thank-you gift.

Summer Sun/Abbey's Graduation Quilt - This was one of my most challenging quilts. It seemed like I had to make the fabric first and then cut the pieces and then sew the blocks and then sew the blocks together and add the borders etc. It seemed to take forever. Plus ever little strip seam had to be matched. But my daughter really liked the quilt. I used the left over blocks to make her some matching pillows. She has taken the quilt to college.

Allison's Graduation Quilt - Allison picked this mostly white quilt out of the book Quilting Makes the Quilt for her high school graduation quilt which she took away to college for use on her bed in the dorm. I envisioned it returning home in tatters but that was not the case at all. She took very good care of it. But she still enjoyed her life at Villanova and I received many compliments from parents of her room mates. The saddest thing was her freshmen year room mate was killed just after graduation in a deck collapse out in the Chicago area. Allison and I attended her memorial service on the Villanova campus. I will post Allison's wedding quilting made in 2005 soon.

A Yooper Year - Now hanging in a Sr. Citizens assisted living dining room - This quilt was adapted to reflect the year's weather and activities here in the uppper peninsula of Michigan. Our winters are longer, our spring comes in two stages; mud and then the flowers. We included autumn and deer season. We added buttons to make a manger scene in the front yard. As Christians, we wanted to include Jesus's birthday and found the perfect buttons of Mary, Jesus and Joseph. We added as many buttons and decorative threads as we could find on this raw edge appliqued quilt. Buttons included: shamrocks, hearts kites, chickens, stars, bats. The quilter went wild and added very creative and heavy quilting. There are so many designs she put in, this quilt draws the viewer in. The border fabric we thought was perfect since those 2 story homes reflect the homes of the captains of copper mining days here.

Bill's Wolf - Created for a Wolf expert in the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources. It is a combination of wolf and bark fabrics. The outer border is a dark brown batik. While not the most technically difficult, it is treasured by the owner. He contracted Lyme's disease while working and was medically retired. The fabrics jumped out of my stash and practically arranged themselves into this design. Who knew one could have a stash with design skills?

Good Bye Sweet Beas - Still deciding how to quilt this. Dedicated to my 11 year old Springer Spaniel Beasley - who died 8/7/07, the day I put the last border on. He loved sleeping on one my quilts under my sewing table. Mr. Brisco misses you!

Missing Memories - My friend had to leave her baby daughter 2 weeks before her 1st birthday to prosecute prisoners in Iraq. These are pictures her husband took while she was gone.

Baby Circles

Emily Rose