Texas Twilight

Texas Twilight is the result of participating in National Quilters Circle block challenge.  For 9 weeks, a 16" block was designed for the "Snowy Day" quilt by Andrea Smith.
I decided to use some fat quarters that were purchased several years ago.  I added a light gray fabric for sashings and background of blocks.
I used 8 of the 9 patterns provided, but had to design my own block for one since I was running out of my fabric and had to design a block that would accommodate what fabric I had left.
I also added pinwheel blocks to the top and bottom as well as two borders so I could use the quilt on a twin daybed for guests.
I planned to take the quilt to a long arm quilter, but the one I attempted to contact twice never did respond.  So I ended up quilting it on my domestic machine.  I used stencils for the sashing, the narrow side borders,  and the top/bottom inner borders.  I designed the quilting motifs for the blocks, pinwheels, and outer borders.

Texas Twilight

Texas Twilight on twin daybed.

Backing fabric shows quilting

Quilt Label

Hallie's Ruffle Quilt

This baby quilt was made for Hallie Sienna Smith, born February 1, 2017.
She is the daughter of Chris' nephew Jeremiah and his wife Robin.
The quilt is 41" square.  It was machine pieced and quilted and is my own original design.
I incorporated a few fabrics from Hallie's older sister Nova's quilt.
I machine quilted a serpentine meander to go with the ruffle theme of the quilt.

Backing

Label

Hallie's birth announcement

Close-up of one of the blocks

Close-up of one block

Close-up of block and first border

Sister Nova's quilt.  I used dark pink, border pink, lattice pink,
green fabric on scooter, and background fabric in Hallie's quilt.

Hudson's Out of This World crib quilt

I made this quilt for 2 year old grandson Hudson Lien.  He has moved from his nautical nursery to a really cool space themed room.  He has an astronaut outfit and helmet, a growth chart, and other space theme items on his wall.  From the ceiling hang all the planets.  He has a rocket shuttle play tent in the corner as well as a solar system rug next to his bed.  So I decided to make a solar system quilt for his bed to snuggle with when he takes naps.  The circles on the solar panel glow in the dark!
The quilt is my design, with a solar panel in the middle, star strip on the right, and a really cool fabric on the left.  The quilt is backed with  navy Minky fabric that has moon and stars on it.  The quilt is lightly quilted in the ditch around the stars, planets, and panels.

At the Beach

I made a quilt for my grandson, Jase John Lien, born November 7, 2016 to my daughter Michaele and husband Matt.

The quilt is for his beach themed nursery and matches his older brother, Hudson's, quilt. 

The quilt is an original design and is machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted.  I quilted the top to the batting and then did some limited quilting to the Minky backing.  I wanted the backing to feel plush and did not want it heavily quilted.
The sky has quilted clouds.  The water has a wave pattern.  I quilted lines in the sand fabric to simulate dunes.  The rocks by the lighthouse were quilted with a pebble design (free motion).

The quilt was finished February 13, 2017.  Dimensions are 41" X 50".  

The sailboat, lighthouse, and the border fabric were used in brother Hudson's quilt.

I named the boat after Jase.

Matt is a surfer, so I incorporated a surfboard .

I backed the quilt with Minky fabric.

Hudson's matching quilt

Wise Owl Baby Quilt

I made this quilt for Hugs and Stitches.
Quilt was machine pieced and quilted.

Home Sweet Home Row Experience 2016

I decided to participate in the 2016 Row by Row Experience.  On our June 2016 trip to Texas for my daughter Jessica's wedding, I visited 7 quilt shops and picked up a pattern/kit from each.  I completed 6 of the rows that summer.  But we decided to move to Texas and my quilt projects were put on hold.  We moved in late November to Georgetown, TX.  The following Spring of 2017, I attended a shop hop in Waco, TX where over 40 quilt shops came to the Waco Convention Center.  There I picked up an 8th row.  Finally, in July 2017, I decided to finish my Row Quilt.  I completed the remaining two rows, put all the rows together, and then quilted it.  A California friend gave me fabric with several Texas maps and I used that on the backing.  The Home Sweet Home quilt now hangs in my Texas home.

I also have picked up some patterns from California quilt shops which I will make into a separate quilt  someday.  

My Illinois cousin sent me a row from a Savoy, IL quilt shop and I made that as a separate row quilt which now hangs in my sewing room.

I have enjoyed making each row. 

Home Sweet Home
The top two rows were completed last.
The top row is from Deb's Flying Needle in Stephenville, TX.
                2nd row is from Poppy Quilt and Sew in Georgetown.
That row, I customized to be similar to our new home in Georgetown.

The backing made with Texas map fabric.

A close-up of the backing

Preserving Memories, Duncanville, TX

Close-up of fabric train

Close-up of quilt shop and Ben Franklin pharmacy

Tomorrow's Quilts, Waco, TX

Suzette's Fabrics, Italy, TX

Common Threads Quilting, Waxahachie, TX

Corner Square Quilts, Cedar Hill, TX

Waco Sew and Quilt Store, Waco, TX

Label

My 2016 Illinois Row by Row Experience quilt:

Farm Ridge Quilt Shop, Savoy, IL

Friendship Braid #2

This quilt was made for Hugs and Stitches.  I had made another quilt and these were the leftover pieces.  I put a white sashing in between each column and a triangle border on top and bottom out of the fabric cut off to make the columns.
Quilt was machine pieced and quilted.  The braid was stitched in the ditch and the sashing was free motioned quilted with a meander design.

Hudson's Play Teepee

The teepee is supported with 6 PVC pipes/poles.
The fabric is decorator quality and has small triangles
in taupes and grays on a cream background.

My daughter Michaele asked me to make a play teepee for Hudson, my grandson who just turned one year old.  Play teepees from Land of Nod and Pottery Barn cost almost $200 (for the teepee only - not including the pillow).
I found a Butterick pattern on sale for $1.99 (full retail is 15.99).
I purchased about 10 yards of decorator fabric on sale for $1.45/yard (usually over $20/yd)!  This is the main fabric for the teepee.
I purchased the front flap fabric for 60% off and the ribbon ties for 40% off.
I painted the poles with acrylic paint I had on hand.
I bought a pappasan pillow at Pier One on sale for $58.
When I calculated the total cost of all my materials, it came in at less than $100.  The pillow cost more than the entire teepee (less than $40).  So I was pretty happy with how frugal the project ended up being.  Also I was able to keep my daughter's requested color scheme in mind - taupes and grays.
I hope Hudson will enjoy his Christmas gift from his Nonny.

I painted the PVC pipe with taupe paint and then used a sponge to add texture with darker paint to simulate bark.

The teepee has a flap that can be closed with ribbon ties.

Where's the Fox?

The quilt has straight line quilting stitches for the grassy area and borders.
Cloud shapes are quilted in the sky area (batik fabric).
The tree trunk, limbs, and leaves are outlined quilted.

I made this quilt for my niece's son, Hunter James Stephenson, born Feb 18, 2015.
She has a Winnie the Pooh Hundred Acre Wood theme for her nursery.  This is the third quilt made with this theme in mind.

Emma's quilt

Claire's quilt

Tami sent me a picture of a quilt upon which to base my design.  Every quilt has had a tree as the main focus.  This time she wanted a fox in the quilt as well.  She requested creams, sage green, butter yellow, and gray as the color scheme.  I designed the quilt with a trio of white birch trees.  (Birch trees are usually planted with at least three trees together.)  I used our birch trees in the front yard as inspiration and took a leaf from the tree to design the leaf motif.

I appliqued a silver fox.

The leaf fabrics were used in the two previous quilts made for Tami's two daughters.
I used a birch tree leaf to draw the leaf shape.

I found a modern print incorporating the gray/yellow/cream color scheme for the backing fabric.

I added a smaller fox applique to the quilt label.

Froggie

Froggie quilt was made for Hugs and Stitches.  It was machine pieced and quilted with a diagonal stitching line.

Close up of block and borders.

Friendship Braid Quilt

I made this Friendship Braid quilt for Hugs and Stitches.
It was machine pieced from scrap fabric.
The machine quilting was done in the ditch for the braids and a serpentine stitch for the border.

Bon Voyage Baby Nova

I made this quilt for Nova Madeline Smith, daughter of Chris' nephew Jeremiah and wife Robin.
The quilt is machine appliqued, pieced, and quilted.  

I added a name tag to the suitcase.

The balloon ropes were hand embroidered.

The quilt pattern is from The Freckled Pear and purchased at In Between Stitches in Livermore, CA.
The background fabric for the applique blocks is a batik fabric purchased at The Granary in Sunnyvale, CA.
The border print is a Japanese fabric purchased at Prairie Queen in San Jose.
The turquoise batik fabric was purchased at Beverly's in San Jose.  The turquoise fabric for the balloon and Eiffel Tower was also purchased at Beverly's.
The rest of the fabric is from my stash.

The Eiffel Tower has hand embroidered embellishments.

The flowers in the basket are hand embroidered.

The details on the jacket are hand embroidered.

The label on the back is a Passport with Nova's information.
The quilt is backed with "Paris pink" Minkee fabric.

To go with the travel theme, my daughters contributed Dr. Seuss' book, Oh The Places You'll Go and the French baby toy, Sophie la girafe.