Sequim Bay Yacht Club Hospice Quilt

I almost always take the New Year's Day Mystery Quilting Class from Longarm University. Several years ago I took the class and actually finished the quilt! I'm great at starting; its my follow through that has issues. Anyway, Dennis races on a sailboat with a Captain who is very involved with raising money for Hospice. That year, I gave them my quilt to raffle. Since then, they've been piecing quilts and giving them to me for quilting so they can raffle them off.  This was the quilt for 2018.

I found this pattern when I was in Santa Cruz and thought it appropriate for a sailing organization. The ladies pieced it and I got to play with the quilting.  I did some linework around the outside, but quilted clouds behind the boat and gulls in the middle.  Of course, later (isn't hindsight always 20/20?), I thought I should have quilted clouds behind the gulls on the side as well.

Here's a shot of the linework I did in the corners.

Luckily, the folks buying tickets for the quilt didn't seem to mind my lapse in quilting creativity!

Dory

Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt Club Community Quilt

Every once in a awhile, I'm asked to quilt a Community Quilt for one of the guilds I belong to.  This is the latest.  I think this is one of the BQ patterns, but I don't know which one. The colors are much warmer in person; its a lovely quilt.

Because of the colors, I decided to go with some geometric patterns thinking that it could easily be given to a man. But then...

I blew it and added feathers! Oh well!!

Here's a shot of the back. Although its a busy backing, you can see the quilting if you squint!!

Thanks for looking!

Dory

Merry Mayhem Will Have a New Home

Have you ever done Planet Patchwork's Merry Mayhem quilts? Each year on New Year's Day they have a mystery quilt project. I have wanted to participate for years, but we've always had company on New Year's Day so it never happened. This last year, however, no company so I pieced this top.

Before you judge my fabric choices too harshly, keep in mind that it was a "mystery" quilt and that I used only fabrics from my stash. I later purchased the binding, but that doesn't count.  To make up for my less than stellar fabric choices, I quilted the snot out of this one. While this quilt was on the frame, Dennis came home and told me that the skipper of the J-Boat he races on prides himself on raising the most money for an annual Hospice fund raiser here in Sequim. With that in mind, I offered them this quilt and they will be raffling it off. I hope it brings them lots of cash!!

Here are some quilting close-ups for your viewing pleasure. I designed my quilting based on units in these four squares. I actually had to draw them out to make sure I had the feathers going at the correct angle and make sure the proper design went in the correct square. Way too much concentration involved!!

The center sashing block motif--one of my go-to faves!!

Another shot of the basic four design

One of the individual blocks in the four-part design

Another one...

.

And then the back! I think the back is better than the front. (go ahead; click on this pic

 and make it bigger...the quilting really shows up)

Not sure what happened to the color here, but you can still see the quilting.

And the last one--just for good measure.

I sure hope that whoever (whomever?) has the winning ticket, they enjoy it! It has a wool batt, so it will keep them toasty.

White Sulfur Springs Auction Quilt

A longtime customer of mine, Barbara, called and asked whether I'd be willing to donate quilting on a top she'd made that is to be auctioned at the benefit for White Sulfur Springs. Unless you're from the Plumas County (California) area, you have no idea what that is. WSS is an historic County landmark dating back to the 1860's. It was a once beautiful majestic ranch house/hotel overlooking all of Mohawk Valley. Unfortunately, in 2004, the 400 acre ranch was purchased by a Bay Area citizen who, after razing several old structures on the land, agreed not to tear the house down, but refused to use any of his funds to restore it.

In 2007 I was called on to inspect the structure (at that point, I was a Code Enforcement Officer for the County). It was not in good shape; however, it was not at a point where demolition would be required. Seeing the inside of this once glorious house was a perk; seeing its decay was sad. The structure was "red tagged," as it was not safe to be inhabited. Currently, the Mohawk Valley Stewardship Council is holding benefits and raising funds to restore this once majestic building and return it to the public for events, weddings, etc.

So...back to the quilt! Barbara asked if I would donate my quilting on her top and knowing the history of WSS and feeling as if I have a personal connection, I enthusiastically said "YES." She sent the quilt and for the first time, gave me the green light to do whatever quilting I wanted. Because the quilt is very simple and has only two colors, I felt that my quilting needed to really accent rather than blend.

This is the finished quilt.

I quilted all of the purple areas first because I couldn't decide what to do with the baskets. In the border I did two sizes of piano keys, alternating between two and three inch divisions. The setting triangles got more line work, just much tighter. In the solid purple blocks, I opted for some swirly grid work.

Then it was back to the baskets.  What to do???  I had several ideas and finally, because I just couldn't decide, I called Dennis in to vote. I went with his choice of the feathers, pebbles (one of my other customer called them grapes) and leaves.






Although the color didn't turn out in the preceding pics or the ones of the back, below, the baskets and backing were a really nice shade of green that went beautifully with the purple. I quilted the the purple using So Fine! Purple Iris and the green areas with a light green Bottom Line thread. I used the same thread both top and bobbin and it really made the back of this quilt fun!

I have no idea why, but this photo looks as if I've made it black and white. I didn't, but it sure shows off the quilting nicely. (hmmm....maybe I should do that on purpose in the future???)

I feel very honored to have been asked to quilt this top and hope that it raises a lot of money to help with the restoration. Their annual event is on June 30th and Barbara has promised to let me know how it goes.

Relay for Life

Each year, a Relay for Life is held in Quincy. This year a participant came to our guild meeting asking for help with making a quilt to raffle. I told her that if she got the quilt put together, I'd donate the batting and the quilting to the cause.  She delivered the quilt to me right before our quilt show, so it had to wait for my return from Arizona to be quilted. Its a darn cute quilt...I hope they make a lot of money with it!

Charity/Military Quilts

Andrea made a presentation at our Guild (Quincy Crazy Quilters) a few months ago. Her son is a medic overseas and expressed concern that when wounded soldiers are brought in, they have nothing except the clothes they're wearing. Unfortunately, those clothes are often destroyed, leaving them with nothing to wear. He started a collection of clothes from other hospital personnel to give to these men and then asked his mom, an avid quilter, if she would make quilts for them as well. She told our Guild this story and the ladies immediately came to her aid. They've been giving her blocks and tops and she's been quilting and mailing as fast as she can. I told her that I could squeak in a couple, so these are the two I've quilted for her. Hope they make someone happy...















And the second one...although this one looks like it should go to a soldier's son, to me



(sorry about the photo quality--or lack thereof--I took these with my work camera since I'd forgotton to photograph them at home.)