A Year of Finishes....Part One

As my first full year of blogging is coming to an end...I thought I would recap the finishes and some beginnings of 2011....

In the Quilt Category.....

We have one of my favorite quilts of all time and certainly my favorite quilt design. 

Gypsy Kisses is a pickledish design from Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession fame.

This is a multiple techniques quilt....paper foundation piecing, patchwork piecing, hand applique, and hand quilted.

A popular theme this year was the Union Jack....

 

 

And Molly helped with the label.



Another Material Obsession quilt started and finished....although not completely quilted yet....

Strawberry Fields - which I call Tea Party

I love the sweet feminine nature of this quilt, but for some reason quilting it seems like such a chore for me....does this ever happen to you?  Here is the best thing about this quilt....it was while making this quilt that I emailed Susan {I didn't know her at all but I knew she had made this quilt}.  My copy of the book had errors and I wasn't sure why things weren't working out properly.  Enter....Susan to the rescue!!!  What a lucky girl I am :)  Good reason to finish this one, right????  

  

I was so fortunate to be able to do a couple of quilt samples for the shoppe using Suzy Ultman's fabric lines.....Appleville and Critter Community...

  

In May I was in a New York state of mind....a New York Beauty that is....

A whole cloth quilt...

made from flannel on the front and linen on the back....

  

A baby version of my Coin Quilt made from Birch organic....

I love this quilt....with the straight line quilting and then pick stitching...

   

Molly {my oldest daughter} decided to try her hand at quilting.  She does fabulous embroidery and loves crazy quilts.  So I thought she would enjoy a little hand applique and then to quilt in crazy quilt style!!!  Well, she did a marvelous job....

   

Then Lark {from Amy Butler} arrived in the shoppe....

  

Most recently, I have finished the Wonky Little Houses Quilt...again a sample for the shoppe...

It has been a fun year of quilting and making good friends!  I have a few more finishes to share later in the week....

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend :)

mary

She Has Crossed the Finish Line....

I am proud to announce that Molly has completed her first ever quilt!  Yay! 

This quilt was inspired by a vintage Crazy Quilt and soon was emblazoned with her own signature....

She began with a dresden plate for the center.  Hand appliqued and embroidered on the top only with lots of stitches and color....

She flanked the center with quarter dresdens, and again added lots of fabulous stitching....

Peacock Lane was added for the wide borders and a coordinating fabric for the corner blocks....

Once the top was finished, Molly quilted with perle cotton {making her mommy very happy!}

The back was pieced with this vibrant sugar skull fabric {remember she was a Spanish major}...and again Peacock Lane in pink....

The binding was pieced....

    

Molly is thrilled!

I think we may have a new quilter! 

Stay tuned - she has some sweet embroidery tutorials to come!

mary....and molly :)



Crazy Quilting!

You may recall, my daughter, the lovely Miss Molly is making her first ever quilt...

The vision in her head was a Dresden Plate in the center surrounded by quarter Dresdens....

And, of course, the best part of it would be the crazy-like embroidery she would add to the top...

Well the top is together and the mayhem has begun!

Trust me...this process has been very dicey at times!  I really expected to find it shredded and in the trash last weekend.  There were desperate texts describing how nothing on this quilt worked....points didn't line up, blocks didn't line up....oh my!  

But it is coming together and I can't wait to see it finished....

After we she had started this Crazy Dresden {and I mean that with love in my heart}...my friend called me to tell me her mother had given her a Crazy Quilt and maybe Molly would like to see it....

     

It would be pointless for me to try to describe to you how beautiful and detailed this quilt is.  The quilt is about 130 yrs. old and was made by my friend's Great Grandmother shortly after she married.

Crazy quilts of the Victorian Era were not large.  And they almost always consisted of just a top and a backing fabric.  Instead of being quilted they were held together with embroidery stitches.

And boy did she know some stitches!  She embroidered the most intricate scenes in the odd shaped pieces....

Like this.....

The fabrics she used were fabulous.....silks, satins, a chenille looking fabric, velvet and even a piece of her wedding dress!

And then there was the painting!

It was a thrill to see!

So take heart Molly....you are in very good company indeed!

mary