April brought many, many wonderful quilts to me for quilting. It seemed that each one was better than the last and then the first one was fabulous and the circle began all over again! Excited to show them all off!!
Let's begin with Betty's quilt. It finished up as a truly amazing quilt! There is quite the story to go with this one, great, yet sad. Betty made this as a gift for her daughter who was attending school away from home. Betty sent her daughters classmates fabric blocks, markers and instructions. When the blocks returned Betty then hand embroidered tracing over their work and added a few embellishments. Admitting, she made a few mistakes along the way and after a couple of attempts finally got the top put together.
Okay, everyone, here's the part we need to read and remember when someone ask for help/advise with quilting.
Betty tells me that she "gathered the courage" to take her quilt to a local guild to ask for help. Good move, right?? Wrong...and how sad is that? Betty writes that "my skin was no thick enough for what a couple of them had to say".
Sad. Sad. Sad.
Sad. Sad. Sad.
But, thankfully Betty did not give up!! With a little help from a super wonderful friend, Peggy, the quilt was pulled from the UFO pile a number of years later, worked on a bit and then sent off to me!! I LOVED IT!! I loved it from the minute I took it out of the box, it is a treasure!! We managed to coordinate the finishing of the quilt so it could be gifted to Betty's daughter for her 40th birthday!! How cool is that?!?!?!?!? Now, you tell me, isn't this just a wonderful work of love?
Now for the "let's think about this" part of the story.
I do post of Quilty Crimes. BUT!! They are meant to be posted for teaching, not discouraging new quilters or to point out things that a quilter has done incorrectly. I have said it before and I'll say it again, I love working with new quilters - ESPECIALLY when I have the chance to meet with them and discuss their tops when they bring them to me. One of my favorite parts is presenting the quilt after it's been quilted to the quilt maker.
I was a LOUSY piecer when I began quilting. Can't begin to tell you how lousy I really was! I just sat at my machine and stitched those beautiful pieces of fabrics together, what fun!! And occasionally, I would get something that slightly resembled a design, but I didn't know any better. Someone had to tell me all of the stuff that I was doing wrong. I was very, very lucky that I knew a group of gals that were kind and made gentle suggestions.
My piecing is still not perfect and most likely never will be. Some tops are better than others, just depends, I'm sure you know how it is. As a machine quilter I know what I can and can't get away with in construction. I'll never be perfect and hope that I never ever, ever, ever have any discouraging words to beginner quilters. And trust me, as a machine quilter I can work with just about anything.
Off of my soap box and on to the quilts. Thanks for listening!
This adorable little baby quilt was made by Bev. Ultra modern fabrics and colors with simple butterflies will welcome a new little one in the best way. Cute...
Bonnie finished up this great blue and orange-ish fall quilt. She selected a great fall pattern called Maple Winds. Good job!
Here is another adorable baby quilt!! For quilting we used Owls and Flowers and it was perfect!! The little person is going to adore this great quilt! Dierdre, a new quilter really pushed the envelope on design, super job!!
Donna stopped in and dropped off a couple of quilts. The first is a beautiful Christmas quilt and the second a gift for a well traveled family member. Both finished up wonderfully!!
Frances was under a super time crunch to get these cute little quilts finished in time for the newest member of their family. Here's three cute, cute, cute little quilts to welcome the new little people.
Here's another FANTASTIC quilt!! New quilter Kari pulled together this amazing quilt as a anniversay gift for her parents. How very, very, very cool!! It's almost a scrapbooking meets quilting kinda quilt.
Jungle Babies!!! Yet another baby quilt! This one from Kristina here in New Hampshire. The family will be welcoming a new member and this cute little quilt will be waiting. Good job, Kristina!! ....and congrats!!
How fun and easy this modern quilt from Laura was!! She went with this really fun quilting design that complimented the top perfectly! The quilt just reads quiet, calm and serene. Check out the backing fabric on this one...
Next we have a cheery little quilt from Marga. The pastel colors and fabrics were perfect for the simple Flutterbyes quilting design.
Stunning is the word I'd use to describe this next quilt! The simple design ends up with a quilt that will knock your socks off! Michele is an outstanding quilter making my job a breeze. Soft and sweet, pinks were her second quilt. Thanks Michele!
Another UFO on it's way to being finished!! Pat brought me this cute little table runner to quilt up for her. From what I understand she will be putting a few embellishments on it, binding and done! What a great feeling that will be!
Next quilt comes from Penny here in New Hampshire. Soft colors and great design, can't go wrong. Penny did a wonderful job on the piecing making my job an easy one.
Rosemary in OH found her Kaffe Fassett fabrics made a great quilt. SO MUCH COLOR!! The larger prints are wonderful to play with in any quilt. Can cut the fabric larger for focal points or slice into smaller pieces for a burst of vibrant colors.
Here's another great baby quilt. Again, I'm looking at those panels in a different way. How cute is this one that Terry pulled together? The giraffe is just way too cute!! We used Cotton Candy quilting design, which will hold the quilt together for many machine washing.
Tina from NJ made this great quilt as a gift for her Mom. The quilting design Candy Land will add just a bit more flowers to the mix. Tina did a great job on this one, what a wonderful, thoughtful gift.
Okay, that's it for now...I'll start working on those May photos so I can share all of those great quilts!
More photos can be seen at the other blog, here's link....
Don't forget you can click on the photo's for a closer look at all
of the great works!
thanks for checking on me,
hugs,
joanne
love to hear what you've got to say................
