Heart Quillow

This heart quillow was made for my sister Susie.  Each appliqued heart is a different fabric.  It was machine appliqued and quilted.  There is a leaf pattern quilted in each corner.

Little Houses

I made this little quilt for my sister Susie back in the 1990's.  It was hand pieced and hand quilted.

Fabric dolls

I made these fabric dolls back in the 90's. 
The first doll was made for my mom.

 This doll was made for my sister Susie.

Scrappy strip lap/crib quilt

I made this lap/crib quilt for Hugs and Stitches from a Fons and Porter magazine.  The design was from an antique quilt.  I was able to use scraps from previous Hugs and Stitches quilts I had made.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  Hopefully the recipient will enjoy it as well. 
I machine quilted it using a stitch in the ditch around the triangles and a wavy design down the strips and in the border.  I used a scrappy binding that was hand sewn to the back.

Folk Art Flower quilted mat

I made this for an Eddie's Sewing Bee class.  I didn't want to purchase new fabric and so used what I had in my statch.  I wish I would have used a different fabric than the green, but since it didn't cost me anything - oh well.  I plan to put it in my kitchen to put hot things on and to protect my new granite countertop.

Table runner

I made this table runner to put on my new granite peninsula in my remodeled kitchen.  My new colors are golds and browns and this fits very well.  My husband is concerned that we not scratch the new granite and so things can be placed on this to protect the counter. 

Rail Fence Quilt

I machine pieced and quilted this rail fence quilt for Hugs and Stitches. The quilting was an all over free motion meander pattern. I used my Flynn frame to do the quilting on my Espire sewing machine.


A close-up of the quilting.

Children at Play Checkerboard

I made this checkerboard or chess quilt for my daughter Jessica. She is studying to be an elementary teacher (preferably 1st grade) and thought this might be a fun item to have in her classroom someday. The project was made in a sewing class at Eddie's. The blue fabric in the checkerboard is leftover from my girls' childhood clothes. It was a short set with matching white top (2 white squares are from this also). The white fabric with children is from Michaele's high school graduation memory quilt border and backing.

The little quilt was machine quilted.

Sailboat Baby Quilt

I made this simple baby quilt for Michaele's friend Monica. She requested a sailboat theme. The quilt is machine pieced and quilted in the ditch.

I used Minkee fabric as the backing and did not use batting. It is so soft and cuddly.

Stardust #2 Charm Quilt

This quilt was made for Hugs and Stitches.

I machine pieced and quilted it.

The donated fabric was already cut into squares and ready to piece. There was no pattern provided, but I believe the same person who donated the other Stardust quilt pattern and fabric from Backporch Press had donated this kit as well because the pieces cut were the same and the right number. So I made a second Stardust quilt. This one is a charm quilt because all the fabrics are different - no repeats - except of course for the stars. The backing is the same fabric as the stars. Interestingly, the star fabric is the same line of fabric as that used for my daughters' crib bedding over 26 years ago!

Evening Stars

This quilt was made for Hugs and Stitches.

The person who donated the fabric had a few blocks pieced as well as some blocks cut out and ready to piece. There was no pattern provided so I had to figure out what the pattern was supposed to be. Once I figured that out, I had to cut additional fabric that was with the original kit. I added the top and bottom borders to complete the stars and if there had been enough fabric would have added side borders as well. I don't like the incomplete stars on the sides.

Janie Wiens quilted it for me with an all-over meander.

Sisters Memory Book

I made this memory book for my sister, Susie. We have always been close as sisters and I wanted to memorialize the childhood we shared.

My parents bought their home in Bloomington, IL right before their marriage in 1950. My mother lived here until 1989 when she could no longer live alone. The house was sold in 1991.

The above envelope and letter was from my Great-Grandmother Small to my father for his birthday in 1951. My great-grandparents came from Ireland and I have their grandfather clock in my dining room.

As the younger sister, I received my sister's hand-me-downs. She still occasionally gives me clothes she no longer wants! All the more reason to buy new ones! This picture was taken on our pump stoop in our backyard.

This picture was taken on our brick sidewalk in front of our house on Walnut St. It wasn't until our teens that the city put in a new concrete sidewalk. Although it was "progress" I think the brick one was much nicer.

This picture was taken in our backyard with our table and two chairs made by family friend Clyde Otto. He had helped my father build the kitchen cabinets and he made us this table/chairs set. We used this set often and now my sister has it for her grandchildren to enjoy.

Clyde was one of the last men to see my father before he died. He had made a contraption to help my father, who was bedridden, be able to lift himself into a sitting position. My father was so excited that Clyde made it and after Clyde left, Dad tried it out. It was while he was tying to lift himself that my Mom heard him gasp and she went to his side and held him as he took his last breath on earth and was transported to his heavenly home. Clyde felt badly afterward, wondering if his contraption contributed to my father's death, but we all assured him that Dad was ready to go and was doing something he so longed to do as he died.

My sister and I were the dishwashers at our house. We rotated between who washed and dried. We always tried to race each other - the one washing trying to be way ahead and the one drying trying to keep pace. Hopefully the dishes didn't suffer too much. My parents started us off at an early age and we continued this until my Mom sold the house. She never had an automatic dishwasher.

This picture was taken on my 4th birthday, April 25, 1958. Both my sister and I sucked our thumbs until my parents decided to reward us for quitting by giving us Disney figurines and our very own wristwatch. I received a Cinderella figurine and Susie received a Sleepy Beauty one. I am sure the cake was good enough for Susie to put her thumb away for the occasion! The recipe cards are from my mom's high school home economics foods course. She received an "A" for her recipe card collection.

Every year my sister and I received a doll for Christmas. These dolls were ones that "wet" after you fed them their bottles. I really loved this doll. We always had an artificial tree that was placed on the window seat between the two living rooms closets. Growing up, I thought the tree was ugly and so wanted a "real" tree. Finally my parents started getting a real tree when I was in high school. When it was time to sort through my Mom's belongings before the house sale, we ended up throwing away this old tree. Now I really regret that and so wish I had it - it is now considered an antique and is probably worth money - but the memories it holds are even more valuable. I did save two ornaments from my childhood and they receive a special handling and place on my tree now.

This picture was taken in 1962 in front of my Grandma Coomer's house in Heyworth, IL. My Aunt Laura, Mom, Susie, and I are there for a day visit. In the summer, we drove to Heyworth one day a week to spend with Grandma. My Uncle Cosby lived with her, but needed someone to be there during the day while he worked. Mom's sisters each took turns staying with her. My Grandma would order Cokes in the bottle from the local grocery store and have it delivered to her house as a treat for us. She was a very godly woman who raised 15 children! She played and sang hymns on her 5 string banjo on her front porch. She had long hair until a few years before she died and she let my sister and me comb her hair and braid it. She told us that when she was little, she had one brown braid and one red one! She lived next door to the cemetary because my Grandfather had once been the caretaker. We used to love playing among the tombstones and had our own secret fort down by the creek that ran behind her acreage and the cemetary. What wonderful memories!

Another precious photo of just my Grandma Coomer, sister, and me. My Grandma died the following year, 1963. I still remember vividly my Mom receiving the phone call that Grandma has just died of heart failure. She was the only grandparent I ever knew and I so wish I could have known her as an adult. She had so much wisdom she could have given to me. My older cousins sometimes talk about sitting with her and listening to what she had to say.

Climbing Lanterns

I made this quilt for grand niece Emma Joy Stevenson, born March 7, 2011. Her mother Tami (my niece) picked out the pattern and asked for muted tones of cream, tan, sage, and butter yellow. The quilt will hang above her crib and was designed to coordinate with a Classic Winnie the Pooh crib set.
The quilt was machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted.

A close-up of the lanterns and the quilting. Each lantern was stuffed lightly with polyester fiberfill and then appliqued on with gold metallic thread.

I used a sashiko inspired pattern for quilting.

Emma's quilt now hangs at end of her loft bed.

Garden Brick Wall

I made this quilt for Hugs and Stitches to be donated to Community Pregnancy Center/Real Options. My church gave a baby shower for this group and I donated 2 quilts.

I machine pieced the quilt and Janie Wiens long-arm quilted it for me.

Close-up of the quilting.

Cosmati Rings at Twilight

I paper-pieced this quilt in April 2009 after attending a guild class taught by Norah McMeeking. I then machine and hand-quilted it in January/February 2011 in order to enter it in the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association quilt show. All fabrics are beautiful batiks. The quilt used a pattern from Bella Bella Quilts by Norah McMeeking.

My quilt hanging at the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association quilt show on March 5, 2011.

Close-up views of the center rings.

Close-up of the quilting.

I quilted in the ditch around the rings, points, and flying geese. I free-motioned machine quilted in the rings and border. I hand-quilted the center circle and corners.
All quilting motifs were my original designs.

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.

Baby Animals

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

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

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.

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.