Two Mini Quilts

This quilt was made for a swap between my guild and the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild. My partner didn’t give me any requests, just told me to make whatever my heart desired. So I used scraps from a previous project (my Good Bones mini quilts from my drawing final) and the design was loosely inspired by the Arne Quilt by Rossie Crafts. I did my own quilting on this one and was pretty happy with the outcome.

And another mini for a swap. This time it was a swap within my own guild. Again, my partner left it pretty wide open in terms of what she likes, so I tried to make something that reflects what I see in her: bright, vibrant, energetic. I had fun improving my way through this mini. My partner liked it and it turned out to be a parting gift, as she soon after moved from Chicago to Milwaukee.

Leftovers Ala Gwen

Last year I made a baby quilt for a friend consisting of half-square triangles in shades of grey, blue, and green.  I made a lot of HST's and then just used a portion of them to make the baby quilt.  I had quilt a few left over and decided to make a twin-size quilt with them. 

Front of quilt, measures 81"x65"

My favorite design element of this quilt is one that was inspired by a quilt Gwen Marston showed us when she visited our guild in February 2014.  Her quilt had an inner border that used the same type of blocks as the rest of the quilt, just in soft neutral shades instead of the brights in the rest of the quilt.  I decided to do the same with white and off-white HST's. I love how it turned out. 

I named this quilt Leftovers Ala Gwen because most of the blocks were leftovers from another quilt, and the layout was inspired by a favorite Gwen Marston quilt.  I hesitated to use the word leftovers next to my quilt heroine's name, but I decided leftovers don't have to be just lukewarm meatloaf or some other blob.  Sometimes leftovers can be surprisingly delicious if they are well prepared and maybe paired with something fresh.  So that's how I'm choosing to think of leftovers in this instance.  The quilt measures about 81"x65", a generous twin.

Back of quilt.

On the back of this quilt I did some piecing of letters.  Once again I wanted to show what could be done with the Simple Shapes Alphabet (pattern coming soon).  Can't Stop Won't Stop came to mind as a fun phrase, a rap reference that has made its way into the lexicon.  I don't know why it needed to be on a quilt, except that I can't stop putting words on quilts.  Or quilting in general.  Can't stop, won't stop until I'm too old to physically cut and sew fabric.  Quilting is my life-long obsession, I feel certain.  If it turns out that I stop quilting for some reason other than just physical incapability (ie I lose interest) I will be truly shocked.  As things stand now, I always have ideas, I always want to make more.  I can't imagine life being any different.

triangle baby quilt

This quilt was another project completed over the summer.  A friend from high school had a beautiful baby boy and I wanted to make her a quick quilt.  I used Big Thangles to make a bunch of half square triangles in blues, greens, greys, and just a bit of red and orange.  Even using Thangles, my HST's did not come out perfectly.  I have a talent for non-perfect HST's.  I decided not to trim them up since I was in a hurry and this quilt would be used by a tiny human.  Despite my not trimming, and many points not matching up, I was pleased with how this quilt came together.  I had fun pulling fabrics from my stash, and my favorite part of the process was arranging the squares on my design wall until they were in a nicely random pattern, with the pops of warm colors exactly where I liked them, and three full diamonds strategically placed.  I quilted this myself, with some very simple straight lines.  Hopefully baby Nico and his mom are getting a lot of use out of this little quilt.