Blogger's Quilt Festival: Charmed

I had such lovely feedback on both of my quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival last time, that I thought I'd show 2 quilts this time as well.

The second quilt, I call "Charmed".

I made this for my dear friend, Megan.  She and I have been friends for 39 years.  I don't know how that's possible, since neither one of us is over 29!  

I call this "Charmed" because it's similar to the old charm quilts.

"Charm quilts are quilts that are made using a different fabric for each piece of the pattern." 

- antiquequilthistory.com

Mine isn't quite that scrappy.  Since I used a four-patch, I did duplicate each fabric - once.  Each four-patch has 2 fabrics, one pair of each fabric.  However, the fabric pairs in each four-patch are not repeated in the quilt.  I also used just one black and one white fabric for all the sashing, cornerstones, and borders.

I think I need to make her a new one though.  Last time I saw this quilt, it was well-loved and quite faded.  Hmm, I've always wanted to make a French Braid quilt, maybe I'll do a purple one for her.

Edited to add:  I don't know if Megan even knows I have a blog so no idea if she'll see this or not.  We do talk and "see" each other on FB.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Bull's Eye!

The Blogger's Quilt Festival was so much fun last time, I thought I'd join in again!

This is one of my favorite quilts that I've made...well of the finished ones, anyway!

The blocks in this quilt were part of an internet exchange.  Everyone made one 11" unfinished block, then whacked it into quarters, kept one of their quarters, and sent the other 3 to the exchange hostess.  That means that at least 1/4 of the block in this were mine.

I played with different layouts before I chose the one above.  Here are some of my other options:

This one was fine, but it didn't really "speak" to me.

I liked this one a lot even though I didn't use it.  I'm planning on making another one just so I can do this layout!

I did end up hand-quilting it.  Here's a photo of it on my Grace frame:

...and here's a close-up of the actual quilting:

I used Essential Threads, primary colors (red, yellow, blue).  The black border has an oak leaf stipple, the white border is a simple chain, and the body of the quilt is a rose stipple.

For anyone interested, I do have a tutorial for the block here.  Here's what one complete block looks like before and after "whacking" it.  Seeing it like this, helps explain the Bull's Eye name:

 

I hope you like my quilt as much as I do.  It was so much fun to make and it's definitely one of the cheerier quilts I've done!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Another Festival Quilt

Since we're allowed to showcase 2 quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I thought I'd show another one.

I made this one about 20 years ago.

My husband remembers his great grandmother, who was a quilter.  He had described one of the quilt patterns he remembered her making but he didn't know the name.  I immediately knew he was talking about a Lone Star quilt.  He didn't receive a quilt from her so I thought I'd do the next best thing and make the one he recalled without telling him.

Thankfully, my sewing room is the only room upstairs so secrecy was fairly easy.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much furniture in the room at the time so it wasn't very comfortable for me.  One thing the room was lacking was a decent chair!  I tried to finish this for him for Christmas but because it is so big (king-size) and I hand-quilted it, I didn't get it done in time.

I wasn't going to not give it to him at Christmas but I had tell him his gift wasn't finished yet.  I went upstairs and brought it down all folded up.  I unfurled it to let him see it - he took one look and left the room!  I thought, "He doesn't like it!".  The truth was, he appreciated it so much he walked away because he didn't want me to see him cry.  I do love my man!

Happy Stitching!

Stacy

Online Quilt Festival!

This one sounded like a lot of fun so I thought I'd join in.  For information on the festival:  Blogger's Quilt Festival.

This wallhanging was made through an internet quilt block swap.  Some of the squares were made by me, the rest came from all over the US.  These are string blocks in greens and purples (theme colors).  Because it was going to be a wallhanging, I did the prairie points all the way around.

I quilted it on my sewing machine in straight lines horizontally and vertically.  The spacing of the quilting makes each block look like it's a nine-patch.

This hangs on the wall going up the stairs to my sewing room.  It has 3 other "friends" hanging around with it.

Happy Stitching!

Stacy