Dresden Plate blocks for quilt.

I've made 50 blocks for this quilt.  It's called "Dresdren Plate but is a variation, as the blades, or "petals" are usually bigger and the center circle is smaller.  I took a bunch of pictures off Pinterest and drew them out onto cloth and then embroidered them.  the second picture is one I had of Val's kids when they were little, braving the waves at the Jersey Shore.  The blocks are quilted and I will join them using "QAYG" method - Quilt as you go.  It ends up looking like blocks with sashing between.  Quilting an entire quilt is hard but quilting each block separately and then joining them is time consuming, but the quilting is not as hard.    

 

Jill and daughter at the same age.

 I don't know if I Facebooked these pictures but I had to post them again.  Can you see the same face? The bottom pict is Jill in our Mt. Prospect, Ill house.   When Jill sent the pict a few  years ago, I knew I had the "same" picture.  Jill's daughter is doing the hand sign for "more please"  so cute!!  She is now 10  years old.

September 2023, Two quilts for "The Linus Project"

When I make quilts, I usually cut the leftover scraps in to squares - 1 1/2", 2", or 2 1/2".  When I get a box full, I put together a quilt or two.  I had a huge supply of pink and another huge supply of blues, so I made these two quilts.  I added a few splashes of other colors just for fun.  Notice the "Stars" of yellow and white in the blue night sky of the blue quilt.  Also, you can barely see the diagonal pink stripe of the binding on the pink quilt. 

 

February 2023, one baby quilt for charity, one baby quilt for a friend

This fabric is called "cheater" fabric, it looks pieced but the squares and the cute little pictures are printed on.  I had enough fabric to make three quilts, 2 for members of our church - I like to make the baby quilts for when our sisters have their babies.  The third one is for the pregnancy center in town.  People can take instruction and classes to become better parents and they are rewarded by a handmade quilt.  The bottom picture is of the back - it's pieced with fabric that compliments the front pictures.

In NJ so many years ago, I had a little friend, (her name will not appear here).She was about 3 or 4 when this started.  She'd sit with me, by me, or on my lap for church.  After church she would come with us and I would  make mac and cheese for us and we'd sit down for an afternoon of Disney movies.  She called them, "moofies".  Anyway, it was so fun, she was the cutest, she called me Grandma Shauna.  So, we've been gone from NJ 20 years and she has grown up and I can't believe it, she married.  Her first baby is due momentarily.  She needed a baby  quilt.  This is it,-  mostly blue flannel, some yellow contrast, pattern - 9 patch.

 

About 35 years ago I made this crazy quilt for Bruce.  It was made from scraps from all kinds of projects, mostly my nightgowns.  You can see them in the pictures.  I basted the large pieces on an old sheet, then put backing and batting together with the top and tied it with yarn.  It was made to be used, a Lot and it was.  A few weeks ago Bruce brought it to me to mend it.  I pulled out my tub of flannel pieces and started sewing big pieces over some places.  I realized the batting was impossible to smooth out - in the top two pictures  you can see, it is clumped together in places and the rest was just swiss cheese.  The flannel was in rags, and the pieces that still looked whole were so thin, they'd be rags soon.  So I bagged it, and started cutting squares of new flannel and made a new quilt.  It 's not quite as big as the first one, but it is bright and warm and Bruce can wrap up in it for years to come  and know that I love him.

 

August 2022, Baby Quilt for a Girl

My friend, Betty, has been a good friend over the years.  The best I can do for her is make quilts for her family.  Her daughter's daughter is expecting a baby girl any day now, so I made this quilt for the newest member of Betty's family.  It's one of my favorite patterns, a Half Square Triangle (HST's)  I  usually make wildly colorful quilts but wanted to do something different, pastel colors, low contrast.  I quilted it on my home machine, also my favorite - meander quilting.