Journey of a Quilter

When Material Girls quilt shop first opened, they had a block of the month class.  There were 10 blocks (patterns), and the class met once a month.  The name of the pattern was "Journey of a Quilter" by Leanne Beasley, an Australian designer.

The quilt is small, about 40" X 40", and was meant to be a wall quilt.  There were little pieces in the blocks and lots and lots of embroidery which really appealed to me.  My friend Marianne took the class with me, and I met Betty in the class who became a good friend as well. 

Betty, me and Marianne

 Therein is the quote in the middle of the quilt.

I have stitched, formed friendships,laughed,

shared secrets, eased burdens, and learnt lessons.

For this I can be grateful.

This is the journey of a quilter.

The colors I chose were very similar to the designer's choices.

Marianne chose jewel tones for her quilt and put sashing between her blocks.  Betty's was very striking with blacks and rich tones.

On all four corners of the quilt, was this block with the embroidered bouquet of flowers.  Lots of embroideries of buttons and accents of flowers here and there.  

See the embroidered scissors and the needle and thread?  This embroidered design is in different areas on the quilt.

Besides the main quote in the center of the quilt, there are others.

the seam of friendship 

is joined one stitch at a time

there's nothing more enjoyable than

the journey of making a quilt

sisters by stitches

enjoy the journey

Some of the words found in the quilt are reflect laugh be happy enjoy stitch by stitch share remember celebrate give thanks

Look at the "remember" block.  Do you see the embroidered straight pins and spool of thread?

I remember how painstakingly I chose each and every fabric, matching them, laying them side by side.  Even though the pieces are really small, I made sure I was pleased with each and every one.

I enjoyed appliqueing the little purple hearts.  That was before I learned Lori Holt's method of applique :)

I loved embroidering the three daisies, they are outlined in solid and dotted stitched lines.

I always looked forward to going to the block of the month class and seeing the other ladies in the class.  It was great fun to see the blocks they completed and the colors they chose.

Wouldn't it be fun to have a "reunion" of a specific quilt class?

  Has anyone ever done that before?

For the back, I chose an antique rose print that reminded me of the prints on the front.  I enjoyed sewing those skinny little rectangle pieces of fabric together so much that I sewed a strip onto the back.

My quilt hangs in my sewing room.  

I hope you have enjoyed "the journey of a quilter".

Fabric from the Other Side of the World

My son Addison, married a beautiful young woman (Mabulane) from Lesotho, a country surrounded by South Africa. They have a sweet little girl named Neo.  My son Sean is in the photo, just before he left for Brazil.

Majubere is Mabulane's sister, and she sent me some fabric that she bought in Maseru, Lesotho.

Here is Majubere with her niece (my grand daughter), Neo.

The fabric has a lot of sizing in it, making it very stiff.  Mabulane told me that when I wash it, it will be really soft.  I can't really tell what the fabric content is, if it's 100% cotton or a mix.  She sent me a yard of each of these prints.  I love the geometric designs!

There wasn't anything printed on the selvage, but the inside was had a stamp every 12" or so.

I only have 2 prints, so I think I'll make a nine patch.  Do you have any suggestions?

Fabric Memories

When  you make something with your quilting scraps, are you ever flooded with memories?  Loving memories of the people who are dear to you, and the quilts you made for them.
I made two really simple table runners out of a charm pack, Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt.

This table runner sits on a table behind the couch.

It was so simple to construct, and I love the straight, clean lines, accentuated by the jumbo rick rack on each side.  I wouldn't normally choose these colors, maybe that's one of the reasons I like it so much.

 I did the stiple quilting, it's really easy to do on small projects.

I was looking at the back of the table runner and it struck me that each and every one of the fabrics that I used reminded me of warm, sweet memories.  The red and green "swell" on the binding, is from a quilt I made for my daughter Vanessa.  Next to it, the pink and green, is from a baby quilt I helped my daughter Rebecca make.  The red polka dot is from my "grandmother's quilt".  The thin strip of gold fabric at the top with the multi colored dots, is from a baby wall hanging I made for my first grandchild, Bridger.  The next fabric with the yellow flowers and green leaves (Lila Tueller) is from the baby quilt I made for my grand daughter, Neo. On the next row, is the fabric that my daughter Lindsay chose to use as the backing for my "Comforts of Home" quilt. (I was living in Florida and didn't have access to a quilt shop that I liked) The white with the yellow stripe, is from a baby quilt I made for my grand daughter, Reagan.  The bottom row of fabric is the backing I used for my "Thanksgiving Dinner" quilt.  

This is the second table runner that I made for the guest bedroom, from the rest of the charm pack.

There aren't memories in these fabrics like there were in the previous table runner backing.  I did make my grand daughter Charlotte a dress from the bright flowered fabric to the right of the blue.

Quilting really is a labor of love and sometimes it can bring back waves of memories ♥

My Quilt Design

In late 2008, I was asked to design a quilt for the City of South Jordan's Sesquicentennial year/celebration. You can read about it on Lindsay's blog. 

These are close ups of the quilt, but some of the pictures are blurry!

I asked 8 women to help me, and they were delighted to be a part of the project.  I made little kits for each of them with the patterns and fabric they needed to cut and sew their blocks.

Gayla Nielsen sewed 5 of the blocks surrounding city hall. The purple 4 pointed star, the blue and white block underneath the gold leaf, on the right, the red and gold monkey wrench block, the green diamond on gold block, and the brown basket.

These three photos are of statues in the city, and the fountain by city hall. 

My daughter Rebecca sewed all 12 stars, she is a new quilter at the time, too!

My daughter Lindsay sewed the four tumbling leaves around the city hall block, and 3 spinning geese, one is to the left of the trees,it has a greenbackground.

The clock tower stands across the street from city hall, in the town center. Betty Peterson appliqued it, and the block under city hall, that says "South Jordan, Sesquicentennial 1859-2009". She embroidered the words. She also sewed the six purple bowties. I used one on the back of the quilt, by the label. She sewed the pink "Sister's Choice" block, under the top left gale tree. 

Betty also embroidered the words under one of the black and white photos.  These two photos represent the past of South Jordan.

Marianne Marlor embroidered the words under the other black and white photo. Marianne also sewed eight pinwheel blocks, 4 blue ones that are on the corners around city hall, and 4 red and gold ones that are on the corners of the quilt. She also sewed two of the flying geese strips that point toward city hall.

Cindy Geilmann sewed the pink and beige nine patch to the right of the clock tower, and two of the flying geese strips pointing toward city hall. She also sewed the 5 pink and beige rectangles that separate the two black and white photos.

The tree is called the "gale" tree. South Jordan City used to be called Gale City, because the wind blew a lot. The wind is blowing the trees to the east. Nanette Davis sewed those four blocks. They have so many pieces in them.

Liz Copeland sewed these 6 spool blocks, in brown. She also sewed the "log cabin" block that is on the top right of city hall, to the left of a blue pinwheel.

Cindy Paulson machine quilted the quilt. She does a fantastic job, I get her to machine quilt all of my quilts.

This is the label on the back of the quilt, giving recognition to everyone who helped.

Material Girls Quilt shop donated all the fabric for the quilt. I loved the process of designing the quilt, from drawing the blocks out on graph paper, to choosing the prints and colors.  My daughters and friends were so wonderful to help me with this quilt. They sewed all the blocks and I sewed everything together.  It was a group effort.
This quilt now hangs at the Gale Museum in South Jordan, Utah.

Domestic Diva Table Runner

I saw this table runner at Pleasant Home almost two years ago.  I thought it was so cute, with those vintage ladies completing domestic engineering tasks.  Jodi from Pleasant Home also provided the tutorial for the two pinwheel baby quilts that I made.

I really wanted to make the table runner, so I went online and bought the fabric.  I finally got around to making it.

I cut each of the divas out by "fussy cutting".  That is a fancy way of saying, "cut out the lady and waste the fabric".  Ha ha!!

I paired up the divas with the fabrics I chose to compliment them.

I added the red polka dot fabric, I wanted some of the domestic divas to "pop".

Jodi's table runner is 72" long.  I was planning to put mine on my long black dining room table.  At the last minute, I made it to fit my square kitchen table, so I configured the quilt blocks differently.

The table runner isn't quilted yet, but this is how it looks with a pot of red geraniums.

How about my blue ceramic berry container with beaded strawberries?

Or even a bowl of lemon slices.

Which centerpiece do you like the best?