Piecemakers: 2023

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Christmas pillows Gingerman hot pad

I made two country barn theme pillows for my sister Susie for Christmas 2023. I still have four panel blocks left that I will sew either pillows or a wall hanging for myself in the future. I purchased these panels from a quilt store in Hannibal, MO in 2018.

I made three snowmen pillows for my daughters. This is one of the pillows. I have three snowmen blocks left to use for myself in the future - probably as a table runner.

I sewed a gingerman hot pad from a free kit I received from the free table at my quilt guild. I am using it now as a large mug rug.

Chilhowie Mystery Quilt 2022

I completed Bonnie Hunter's 2022 mystery quilt, Chilhowie in early September of 2023. I took it to Poppy's for quilting and finally received it back in late November. I finished binding it and will be using it in January as my winter quilt for my king size bed. I used my own color scheme and enlarged the design by one row as well as added an additional border to make it better fit my bed. This is the first quilt I have completed since Chris died this past April. He used to give his stamp of approval on my quilts and would always compliment me on the execution. He enjoyed sleeping under my quilts. I feel sad that this is the first quilt he will not have seen. I think he would have liked how it turned out.

Friday, June 30, 2023

Oval Rag Rug

I made this oval rag rug from the backing of my Rhododendron Trail quilt. Originally it was made for our Kuna house to place at the sliding glass door to patio. I decided to rent out our secondary home for the foreseeable future since Chris has passed away. So I will have to find a place for it in our Georgetown home.

Scrap Happy

Scrap Happy is a pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting and is the quiltalong project from 2022. I discovered it is also named "Goodnight Irene" and "Arkansas Crossroads."

I modified my quilt to be a king size quilt by making more blocks. I also decided to do flying geese out of same yellow fabric instead of half square triangles to try to bring some repetition into the quilt. The fabrics are all from my stash except for white background and the yellow geese. Most of the block fabric is from 3" charm squares I purchased about 20 years ago from a quilt store in Sunnyvale, CA. Whiffle Tree Quilts made charm packets out of every fabric that came into their store during the year. I have used these charms in about 10 quilts and the ones left were difficult to incorporate into other quilts or were just ugly fabrics. I thought this would be a way to finally use them all up! Most of the fabrics were dark tones and that's why I decided to use yellow fabric for flying geese to lighten it up a bit.

The quilt was quilted in an edge to edge pattern by Poppy Quilt and Sew in Georgetown, TX.

Scrap Happy unquilted top

Scrap Happy on new king bed.

Over The River and Through The Woods Wall Quilt

I bought the Over the River and Through the Woods quilt pattern many years ago while living in California. After I moved to Texas, I purchased the fabric at several Texas shops and started piecing the quilt in 2017. I copied the embroidery pattern onto the panel pieces and started to hand embroider the panels. But this process was very slow. Each year in the fall I would get the panels out to work on them, but when I realized I wouldn't complete them, I would put them away for the next year. Finally in 2022, I decided I was going to finally finish the quilt. I did complete the embroidery and assembled the quilt top. But again, I was not able to do the quilting and so put it away. I had hopes to hand quilt it and submit it to the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild spring show. But my husband Chris became ill in January 2023 and I was not able to complete it in time to meet the entry deadline. So I decided to machine quilt it myself and at least have it ready to display for 2023 Thanksgiving month. I did finish it in March 2023. Sadly, Chris passed away April 20, 2023. He will not see the quilt displayed. I did show him the quilt when I finished it though. I guess I will associate this quilt with his illness (acute renal failure) and death and remember him when I hang it each year. He really liked the design.

Top panel closeup

Middle panel. I quilted the treble cleft for music of "Over the River and Through the Woods."

Bottom Panel

Close up of flying geese

Close up of blocks and quilting.

Casserole Covers

I made casserole covers for myself and for a 2022 Christmas present for my sister Susie.

I used my cover as a prototype before I made the gifted one. My cover is larger in order to hold a large glass pyrex dish. Susie's is slightly smaller and holds a 9 X 13 dish.

My cover matches an apron I made several years ago.