Finishing Up!

 School was out on June 13th and I have been catching up on everything I didn't get finish at work and at home.  I became a bit obsessed finishing up my winter quilting projects.   I think that the hum of the machine and the finishing of projects was therapeutic for me.  Finishing projects also makes room for new inspirations and I am excited about the room I am making in my head for new ideas.  Particularly with the Vermont Quilt Show in town!  So here is what I  have finished up this week:

I used some Kaffe Fassett reds, purples and greens to make this quilt for my friend, Barbara.  She plants the most beautiful seaside flower boxes each summer and I wanted to make her a quilt that reflected that beauty and hope that she can take it  back to California during the winter, non-Maine months in remembrance of our Summers together.  The backing fabric looks just like her boxes.

Next I have always wanted to make a quilt with color gradation.  My daughter actually inspired me to to think about color gradation design.  When I saw MadebyRae's design for Heather Ross's Briar Rose, I went straight to Nido with my holiday gift certificate from dear Fred and purchased the supplies.  I am quite pleased with the results.  There were plenty of left overs and I made a scrap patchwork for a friend's new baby girl who is on her way!

Finally, I love Lotta Jansdotter and when I read about her Sylvia fabric line inspired by her grandmother, I was touched.  I thought about my own grandmothers and great grandmother-all of whom quilted with me in very different styles.  I knew I had to make something from her black and white line.  My very first quilt was a nine square made with tiny 3 inch squares of mint green and various calicos.  I remember cutting each square with my template made from a brown paper shopping bag.  This quilt is for dear Monica, one of my students from St. Michael's College who is bravely moving to Pittsburgh to pursue her Ph.D. after finishing her Master's of Art at St. Michael's College.  Everyone needs a good study blanket, right?  And it is perfect for Monica who prefers black to any other color except an occasional royal blue accent!

Whole Lotta Lotta

I am posting after such a long time.  I am in Maine, on vacation, relaxing with Fred and my sewing machine!  I made a couple of throws from Lotta Jansdotter's Glimma line.  I just love the designs.  I used my wonky nine square technique I learned from Liberated Quilting by Marston.  I made a second one with my extra squares and added some Joel Dewberry.  I got the idea from Hawthorne Threads website-check this out

I have also been working on a third quilt and limiting myself to just using Glimma left-overs-challenging, but I think when I get home and go through other left-overs, I might have something good-stay tuned!

Fred is having his first one man show at Wake Robin!  He is working on his quilts and is setting up his Kaffe Fassett inspired work to quilt up on the very hot deck!

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I am visiting with my good friend, Ginger while I am here.  I am sporting my Nani Iro shirt made with Hot Pattern's Plain and Simple Superfantastic Shirt pattern!  This is a super roomy, great, comfy shirt.  Just ignor her crazy husband in the background-he is jealous that he isn't sporting Nani Iro!  I have Phiona at Nido's to thank for the pattern and fabric.

Back home, before I left, I made a Study Hall Skirt by Anna Maria Horner for my friend, Karen and a ruffled skirt for my pal, MC Baker's gal, Ziva!  The Study Hall Skirt is super cute and hope to get a picture of Karen in it!  And if you haven't seen this ruffled fabric on rufflefabric.comrufflefabric.com-check it out as well as the tutorials!  I made a ruffled skirt for myself, my friend and Ziva!  Ziva looked the best in it!
















Finally-here is my Summer Washi in Kaffe Fassett's Persian Vases ready for dinner at the restaurant where Fred proposed 8 years ago! 

Shoeman's Puzzle

I have been working on a quilt for a very special person who is marrying in September.  She told me once that she was looking for something muted for bed linens.  I am not drawn to muted generally speaking and so I had lots of help from fans of muted tones to choose these colors to make Denyse Schmidt's pattern, Shoeman's Puzzle.  Fred had to hold it up outside, but he kept dragging it on the muddy ground and well, it is a wedding present, and although the bride is a Vermonter, it is nice to get wedding presents that are clean.  So I had to crop this photo a bit and there I am in my shadow at the bottom!  In any case, let's talk about this pattern.  Look how cool it is that your eye can play tricks on you and you can see squares, but then again, you can see circles.  I love that!  At Denyse's suggestions in her book, Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration, I used Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton in Melon for the lighter green and a Kaufman Kona Cotton in Sage

for the darker color.  I used a coordinating print from Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line, Circle Cross, for the back.  My great friends at Alewives quilted it with their long arm.  I hope my bride friend likes it!