Thursday, November 11, 2010

Down on the Farm



I made this quilt for my father-in-law, BR Smith. He is a retired Missouri farmer, now 92 years old. He uses a motorized wheelchair and I made it the size of a lap quilt for those cold Missouri days.


The farm scene fabric was donated to Hugs & Stitiches and no one wanted to use it. Then I found a piece that exactly matched the barns for the backing! I only had to purchase the sashing and border fabric.


I machine pieced and quilted it.

Back of quilt.


Monday, November 1, 2010

Baby Animals


I made this quilt for Hugs and Stitches for a shower donation to the local Crisis Pregnancy Center in San Jose, CA.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010



Stardust Quilt


Published by Back Porch Press


Pieced in May 2010 by Nancy Smith and quilted by Janie Wiens September 2010


For Hugs and Stitches ministry of Hillside Church, San Jose, CA


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fire and Water

I made this quilt for Hugs and Stitches. It was machine pieced and quilted. Completed in August 2010.

A close-up of the free motion machine quilting.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Birds in the Air

I made this quilt out of orphan blocks from my quilt guild. We were given a brown paper bag with orphan blocks inside. We were to create a quilt out of the blocks and return the finished project to the guild. They in turn will donate it to one of the many recipient groups. I was given 20 blocks and used 18 of them in the field and used part of another for the cornerstones in the border. Some of the blocks were not well sewn and so it was sometimes difficult to get the points of the triangles to look right. I purchased the setting triangles, border, binding, and backing fabrics.

I quilted in the ditch and continued the quilting lines into the unpieced part of the triangles.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Beatrix Potter Baby Quilt

I made three quilts from donated Beatrix Potter fabric for Hugs and Stitches at Hillside Evangelical Free Church.

Quilt #1:



A close-up of the quilt above.


Quilt #2:
I machine pieced it and then quilted in the ditch around the squares and free motioned quilted the figures within the squares and the middle scenic panel.

Quilt #3: Made from fussy cutting squares from leftover fabric from scenic panel.

Close-up of quilting.










Thursday, June 24, 2010

Country Spirit (patriotic)

I made this quilt for the Hugs and Stitches group at church. Someone had donated the patriotic themed fabric and had started making blocks with them. I finished the blocks, pieced the sashing, and machine quilted it. I would have chosen a different color for the sashing, but this is what was donated for me to work with.

I quilted in the ditch.I used patriotic flag hearts for the backing.


Whole Cloth Quilt

I hand quilted this wholecloth quilt in my Monday handsewing group to practice my stitches.

A close-up of the quilt.






Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Victory Quilt

A close-up of one of the 12 blocks (above).
I made this quilt based upon Eleanor Burns book "Victory Quilts." The blocks are from the 1940's and feature patriotic prints. The quilt was begun in May 2010 and finished June 21, 2010.
A close-up of the machine quilting done on my Babylock Espire.





Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sew It Quilt

From the Sew It Book fabric collection from Red Rooster fabrics.
Quilt hanging at the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association show on March 5, 2011.

Quilt is hung in my sewing room.





Close-up of quilt.I designed, pieced, and quilted it myself. Begun in March 2010 and completed May 3, 2010.








Friday, March 5, 2010

Dot to Dot quilt




I made this twin size quilt for daughter Jessica's antique bed. She picked out the pattern and the fabric. The quilt was machine pieced and appliqued. Quilting of the large circles and the stippling was done by machine and the small circles were hand quilted. I plan to make a pillow sham to match.
Adapted from pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting, Issue 99, August 2009. I made my circles smaller and therefore had more rows and columns - 5 X 7 instead of the original 4 X 6. I also added two borders.
Begun in September 2009 and completed March 2010.


Monday, February 15, 2010

Chain of Roses

I finished this queen size quilt in summer 2003. I started it many years before when we lived in Iowa. The patchwork was machine pieced and it was long arm quilted.
I made matching pillow shams for the quilt out of leftover blocks. I use the quilt on our antique bed around Valentine's Day as it has huge pink roses on it.


Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny baby quilt

I made this Beatrix Potter quilt for Hannah Grace Marshall, born January 24, 2010. She is the daughter of my niece Mandie Chism Marshall. This is the 3rd quilt I have made for the Marshall children using the Beatix Potter theme. The above picture is a close-up of the fabric panel medallion. I quilted the figures as well as free motioned quilted the background, following the fabric designs


A close-up of the borders. I used the scenic fabric for the outer border and the backing. The middle border was composed of the yellow radish toss (from the Garden collection) and a green print. The inner border is a stripe that matches a stripe in the fabric panel.


Another close-up of the corner medallion which I quilted free motion.





















































Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Valentine wall hanging

Close-up of the bird applique.





I made this quilt for my husband Chris a few years ago.



Toads in a Puddle




I made this quilt in the 90's from an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. We faux painted our bedroom walls to match the wine color fabric for a dramatic effect. I pieced and quilted this queen size quilt.


Winterberry Twist


I made this quilt to hang at Christmas. It is from an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. I used fabric from my stash.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Shortnin' Bread Charm square quilt

The above pillow was made from leftover triangles from the quilt below.
I bought the pattern from a quilt store in Paso Robles last spring (2009). I picked up the charm square packet at another Paso quilt store (my own shop hop!). I finally made the quilt after I bought my new Babylock Espire. I enjoyed trying out new quilting decorative stitches on it.

Hugs and Stitches quilt - Four Square Fun

I drafted the pattern adapted from a picture in a quilt magazine. Both quilts were machine pieced and quilted. The above quilt was quilted on my Flynn frame with an all over meander. The bottom quilt was quilted in the ditch. They were made for Hugs and Stitches (church group).




Quillow


I made this quillow for Chris for Christmas 2009. The quilt inside is 62X72. Pattern is from American Patchwork and Quilting August 2009 Issue 99, "Rhythm and Blues." I substituted burgundy for the blue. Most of the fabric is from my stash. I bought border and backing fabric for the project. The pocket pillow of the quillow is composed of smaller blocks of the ones inside. I used several decorative stitches on my new Babylock Espire to quilt it.