I haven't talked much about the fact that I am a quilter. It's my passion to machine piece traditional blocks in today's fabrics, and to hand quilt them. Right now I am in my scrap quilt stage. As a beginner I created a number of Amish style wall hangings because the color choices are limited and simpler than most of the quilts made today.
I used to be a hand quilting snob, but a few years ago I found an incredible company to quilt a few of my tops using the hand guided machine technique, so we have several quilts that we can use without fear of destroying or damaging what might be an heirloom quilt one day.
I find that I'm slower to accomplish my quilting these days. Unfortunately, I've discovered the joys of blogging and it takes up some of my quilting time. Right now I have the following projects underway:
1. A 57 x 43 Hearts and Stars quilt for one of my nieces. She's only been waiting about three years for me to get this done. This summer she asked me if it would be finished by her 16th birthday, two years from now, and I said it was more likely that it would be done by the time she was 21. She'll be happy to know that I've got the binding halfway done!
2. A Victorian signature quilt in pink and black florals that the members of my generation and their children have signed. This was shipped off to be machine quilted. I have to make a label for it, and bind it before I give it to my mother.
3. A small quilt.....probably 36 x 24 that has the signatures of the ladies who attended my niece's bridal shower. It's done in fall colors, and is meant to be a reminder of the women who celebrated with her that day. The top is finished. I need to pin baste it to the batting and backing and machine quilt it.
4. A large quilt, perhaps double bed size, in Autumn colors. The blocks are a simplified Log Cabin. I'm going to add a border and applique some falling leaves at two of the corners before sending it off to be quilted. This one will go to my youngest sister.
5. A large lap quilt made out of flannels and my husband's old work shirts, done in the "raggedy" style. The quilt is made of dozens of self contained "quiltlets" that are sewn together. The seams are all on one side of the quilt, and they are snipped so they fray and curl when washed. I have about half of the seams left to snip so it can be washed.
6. I'm in the middle of a baby quilt for a baby who was born just before Thanksgiving. I hope to finish the top tomorrow, and it can be machine quilted for stability. This one is a three dimensional pinwheel in eye-poping colors.
7. I have the center of a wallhanging almost finished. The blocks are log cabins modified so that squares run diagonally through the block dividing the light and dark halves. The top has a simple border of pieced blocks and hand applique of oak leaves and a pumpkin
8, 9, 10, etc.....I have dozens of incomplete projects and several quilt tops I hope to get to yet, in addition to a wall of fabric that needs to be made into quilts. I have a "Sails and Whales" top to hand quilt, and a wall hanging that is a study of shades of red and yellow against a background of black to gray, using the Lady Liberty block. I have a blue and white tumbling blocks quilt that will be machine quilted with a hand quilted border, and a navy and gold and cream crib sized quilt. There's a Lone Star baby quilt in peaches and greens...and on and on and on.....
There will be one more quilt added to the list, and bumped up in order. In May, I'll become a grandmother again, so I need to get to work on a baby quilt. I've been waiting to find out the sex of the child, so that we can choose the right colors for the quilt.
I'm well and truly addicted. If I'm gone for a bit and it's not a major holiday, I've probably been lured to my fabric or the quilting frame.
Everybody needs a hobby. And this keeps me off the streets!