Really Quilts

One Dozen Quilts

1. Maple Leaf - My hand quilting is what makes this machine-pieced quilt so very impressive. Its construction is what makes it so special. When machine piecing the top, Kim shared fond memories of his mother and her sewing machine, kept strictly off limits to the boys back when he was young. With just a few simple lessons, I had him helping to machine piece this quilt top in no time. Later, unable to part with his mother's machine when sorting through what remained of her life, he stored it upstairs. "Just in case", he says.

2. Triple Irish Chain - this very traditional Triple Irish Chain is made in a small print, 100% cotton fabrics in some of my daughter's favorite colors. A surprise for her birthday. The Triple Irish Chain is a beauty in any color scheme and fun to make. Left over blocks were enough to make a throw sized quilt which I carry in my car each the winter.

3. The Houses of Warmth - well into her nineties, Babe certainly earned the luxury of taking several naps a day. Having thought of her often as this particular quilt was being pieced several months before the normal Christmas rush, when her son telephoned me at the last minute to see what was remaining in stock that might resolve her complaint of not staying warm enough. I knew immediately The Houses of Warmth really was meant to be hers. Surrounded in the warmth of this quilt several times each day until her death, it is hoped that Bob is now surrounded in warmth as he remembers his mother.

4. Memories - photos printed on fabric are a wonderful way to preserve and display your favorite memories. This quilt, an original, made a very special birthday gift for a friend in celebration of a year's worth of good memories.

5. Sweet Heart - it is easy to see how this original design got its name. Featuring a paper-pieced crazy patch heart in the center embellished with decorative stitching. Framed with paper-pieced bands of mini flying geese and hand-appliquéd hearts in each corner. The additional bold fabric print and larger bands of flying geese set off the center motif. A red and black border print completes this design with a backing fabric in an absolutely gorgeous red print.

6. The Heart Will Make a House a Home - Homespuns and cottons together in reds and greens to make pieced houses, hearts surrounded by a forest of tall trees. As the label on back says, the heart will make a house a home.

7. Buzz Saw - when my son Brian requested an extra large flannel quilt, I let him choose the pattern. Selecting this Buzz Saw design from the collection of patterns, he insisted on absolutely no flowery prints. An assortment of John Deere™ prints with coordinating solids, all very soft, 100% cotton flannels, make up this 114" X 114" flannel-backed quilt, now on proud display in his home.

8. Log Cabin - A very traditional pattern, homespun, cottons and flannels with red centers surrounded by red and green solids and prints, lots of texture is added with my outline hand quilting.

9. Majestic Trees - it is only a very good friend who would graciously offer such open hospitality to a girl and her goldens in need of a place to stay. This quilt made for Ashlea in very soft, colorful homespuns with just a touch of flannel. Thank you, Ashlea!

10. Majestic Trees - Another, to David.

11. Flannel Rag - Warm and Cozy - this soft, frayed-flannel quilt is a generous 118" X 118", machine washable and dryable, this wonderful quilt seems to become even more lovely and comfortable with every laundering. My favorite and on my bed today.

12. Geese in Round - Another original design, the Geese in Round a beautiful throw sized quilt in vibrant colors. With custom hanging bar, it brightens a wall in my home.

Quilted Post Cards

Yes, a tiny quilt can be made, a postage stamp placed on it and then it can be sent through the mail. It's called a quilted postcard! These are some of mine.

Stipplings and Bindings - Finishing Their Quilts

Why did they let me finish their quilts? Sometimes it took them up to a year, or even longer, just to finish sewing together their quilt top. That was a huge accomplishment! But what were they to do next? It still wasn't really a quilt until it was quilted! That was when I would help them by finishing their quilt tops for them. I had the experience and workspace needed to add that beautiful, free-motion stipple quilting to give their unfinished quilt top a professionally finished look. Here are some of my favorite quilts that I finished for others.

Sunbonnet Sue

This Sunbonnet Sue quilt is a real treasure! It was hand appliquéd by a lady and her sister, then tucked away for years. Some of the Sunbonnet Sue dresses may have been cut from wornout house dresses as the fabrics were so fragile and soft, others from old flower sacks. I carefully layered, quilted and bound this beautiful quilt in time to send off to her mother in time for Christmas. What a wonderful gift!

Cross Stitched Blocks

A lovely circular swirl stipple was added to the blue background around these vintage cross stitched blocks. A pretty stitch was used to outline and enhance the hand stitching on the muslin blocks. The quilting on a few of the blocks had been started by my customer. I was able to pick it up where she left off and turn it in to a lovely family keepsake.

Iron Cross

By quilting in a small circular stipple on just the light colored background of this quilt from her class project, the bold colored iron cross blocks stood out beautifully, making this an absolutely stunning wall hanging.

Fussy Cut Eagles

One of the most beautiful quilts I've ever worked on! The fussy-cut eagle blocks were outlined and a special, fancy circular swirl stipple was added to blend the beautiful fabrics on the background. The fabrics used to piece this quilt were some of the most beautiful I've ever worked with.

Everything's Purple

A medium sized over all freehand stipple in a deep purple thread was added to the beautiful purple themed fabrics that make up this gorgeous throw-sized quilt.

Water Colors

Another quilting class project, the pretty prints were enhanced by my adding a beautiful over all stipple to this water color quilt. A very pretty wall-sized quilt.

Pinwheel Pazzazz

What was I to do with all those leftover triangles?

Remember my Wild Goose signature quilt? In order to construct all the goose-in-flight blocks, I started by cutting stacks of rectangles out of the red, green and gold prints and cutting twice as many squares out of my background fabric. By placing a square over each end of the rectangle and sewing a diagonal seam, then cutting a triangle off one-quarter of an inch from that seam and pressing the seam open, the goose blocks were made.

Stacks and stacks of small triangular pieces were left over. Here are some of my creations from those little leftover scraps of fabrics.

The Pinwheel Pizzazz Quilt

Pinwheel Pizzazz handbags

Pinwheel Pizzazz Tea Cozy

Pinwheel Pizzazz Wall Hanging

My Wild Goose Quilt

Certainly not my first quilt, but perhaps the signature quilt for my phase of Wild Goose Quilting quilts, I designed this Wild Goose Chase quilt in an attempt to brighten the day for my Mechanical Engineer friend, Joseph. Suffering depression and a victim of abuse throughout his life, then 46 years old, this quilt, designed with ruby-colored sashing for future richness and sunshine gold borders for good luck, utilizes a total of 46 different fabrics - one for each year of his struggles.

Machine pieced and freehand machine-stipple quilted, then presented to Joseph one dark and dreary Wenatchee winter afternoon.

Stories in quilt history of the Wild Goose pattern, also known as Flying Geese, Flying Goose or Geese in Flight, tell of this particular quilt being used as a sign or signal to escaping slaves during the days of the Underground Railroad. Legend says the quilt provided direction to slaves on the run indicating which route to follow to reach freedom. Most slaves escaped once the weather became warm in the spring. Along the way, flocks of geese flying overhead during their spring migration north could be used as a guide to find water, food and places to rest. It is said that the Wild Goose Quilt would be hung, in plain view, on clothes lines or over a fence by sympathetic supporters of the Underground Railroad with the geese block points pointing in the direction of the safest route for travel to freedom. Other quilts were used along the way to mark their path as well - the North Star, the Monkey Wrench, the Sailboat and more - all said to have a special meaning to the slaves to help guide them during their escape to freedom.

Hopefully, Joe is comforted in some small way and his days brighted along his journey to freedom.

Holiday Ornaments - Quilted and Origami

Flannels, holiday prints, colors, textures and more, I folded, pressed and stitched to mold these traditional origami designs into ornaments to trim the holiday tree.

Miniature nine-patch quilts for the tree. I added a mix of sparkle in with the holiday prints of flannel and cotton to make the traditional nine-patch block into an ornament for the Christmas tree.