Blue Jay Quilt Studio: 40 Years a Quilter

 

Happy Easter and Spring! 

Spring has Sprung here in the Midwest. It has been rainy some days, sunny other days and darn right cold occasionally! It is my favorite part of living in the Midwest though. I adore the change of seasons. Spring is always especially lovely. I would like to share some of my favorite quilts and decorating accents of the season! First up is one of Bonnie Sullivan of All Through the Night Bertie series quilts. This is the Spring series:

"Bertie's Spring" made out of Woolies Flannels by Maywood Studios.

I love working with Woolies Flannels so much that I also made the next little display quilt out of them, too!

Bertie's April from "Bertie's Year" by Bonnie Sullivan

Another little quilt series that I have made for each month is Little Quilts Squared Calendar Series by The Wooden Bear. Below is the April offering:

Woolies Flannel by Maywood Studios is so easy to use for these little quilts!

Now, I'd like to switch to my new stitching love--WOOL! I adore working with wool which is mostly done by hand using a "blanket stitch" around the outside edge. If you have not appliquéd by hand before, this is the way to start. It is so easy and very quick. The wools are luscious, too. Adding a few buttons or embroideries brings them to life. Here is one of the small wool stitcheries by Buttermilk Basin. This is the April wool appliqué from "Simple Circles Thru the Year"!

These little circles are so cute! They are only 5" round and all wool.

My last photo shows my current foyer with my Easter Display! A few years ago, one of my friends told me I had a perfect entry for displays. I thought about it and decided it was a lovely way to show several little projects! The quilt on the chair was from my Grandma's house. While I am not sure she is the one that made it, I like to think she did. She was the first person I ever stitched anything with. I sat on her lap while she used her treadle machine and we made little Barbie clothes! The little egg planter on the table was hers. I love that little planter and always have it on display somewhere!

The Bunny pillow is wool on cotton and it is called "Jack's lunch" by Triple R Mercantile. The Tulip Pillow is hand appliquéd wool on cotton and called "Tulip Row" by Granny's Legacy Patterns.

HAPPY EASTER and HAPPY SPRING!

Blue Jay Quilt Studio: 40 Years a Quilter, Post 12

Back in the saddle, so to speak! 

I have been doing lots of finishing of projects and working on classes and a recent trunk show, so I have been missing in the blog world. However, I am ready to get back into blogging again! A few days ago, I was honored to do a trunk show for my very own guild! Ohio Valley Quilter's Guild in Cincinnati is always wonderful to have our own members be part of the speaking agenda each year! This week I got to present my program "40 Years a Quilter" and show 25 of my quilts. This quilt was the last one I showed because I literally just finished it!

This is an adaptation of a pattern by Pam Buda of @heartspunquilts. I bought the pattern entitled "Stars Over Union Hill" last year and started stitching half square triangles at retreats. The pattern is also in the Spring 2022 issue of @primitivequiltsandprojects. The blocks with the stars are wool hand appliquéd stars and little half circles on cotton. 

All fabrics besides the wool are Jo Morton's designs. I have collected Jo's fabrics for years and found they worked beautifully for this project. I had hoped to make a dent in my stash, but they seem to have multiplied while the project was in the works. Of course, I may have had to supplement with a new line that came out while working on the project. It just happens without really trying. :) Here is a photo showing so many of those lovely Jo Morton fabrics in the quilt:

The photo above also shows the center section of the quilt. This is where I changed the design a bit from the pattern. I made all my "arrow" looking blocks go in an outward direction from the center. The pattern had all of them going in the same direction. Below is one of the corners:

This quilt was quilted on my @berninausa Q24 longarm. I am still getting used to her, but love doing ruler work! The whole quilt was stitched using @amandamurphydesign rulers. She makes the BEST longarm rulers. They have a finish on the back that grips to the quilt so it doesn't slide while you are stitching along.

This last photo above shows part of the back of the quilt. As mentioned, I have a nice selection of Jo Morton fat quarters, so I thought I would stitch them together and use them for the back of the quilt. Once again, I was hoping to make a dent in my stash, but you cannot even notice a difference in the tub full of her fabrics. Oh well, maybe another quilt in the near future will help make a dent. :) Off to start cutting a some quilt blocks for my granddaughter. She asked me if we could make a quilt together as a summer project. Of course, I was thrilled and happy to set her off on the quilting path. Yesterday I took her shopping for fabric. She immediately picked out a gorgeous Kaffe Fasset fabric for her "main". More to come on that project later...

Enjoy the beginning of summer!

Blue Jay Quilt Studio: 40 Years a Quilter, Post 11

 Feeling like Spring! 

Thanks to Pat Sloan @quilterpatsloan, this little quilt came into existence! Pat did a mystery about 10 years ago called Meadow Breeze. She also had this gorgeous line of fabrics called "Arabella" to compliment this lovely design. The quilt Pat designed was much larger than this, but every so often I love doing little bitty quilts. I took her original pattern to the copy shop and reduced it by 50%. Here is a photo of Pat (on the left) with me when I showed it to her at a quilt show:

Good photo of Pat, but I think I was caught mid sentence! I was so excited to show it to her, that I don't think I quit talking for a minute to take a pic!! This little quilt is 18" square. Here are a few photos depicting size by coins placed on the quilt and one with a tape measure to give you an idea of the scale.

Notice the quarter on the penny on the center block above! All appliqué and quilting was done on my trusty Bernina machine. Those machines do the best buttonhole stitch. I bought Pat's Aurifil collection of matching threads to match the Arabella fabrics.

Here is one of the corners with a penny on it that really gives you a better idea of the small scale:

Here are the other three corners:

And one more with an up close look at the center block. I loved adding the beads to these little blocks to really dress them up!

Lastly, I put a label on the back of this little guy with the name of the mystery and asked Pat Sloan to autograph it since she was the designer! 

Thanks, Pat, for such a lovely mystery quilt and absolutely gorgeous fabrics! By the way, I still have enough of that fabric left to make a big quilt since I bought plenty and just used a tiny bit! Oh well, maybe on another day...

Blue Jay Quilt Studio: 40 Years a Quilter, Post 10

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few St. Patrick's Holiday little quilts for you!

This little quilt is a pattern from Bonnie Sullivan's All Through the Night pattern series called "Bertie's Year". I made all of them and just love the way they turned out. It is on a metal stand and I switch them out each month!

Above is another series little quilt from "Little Quilts Squared". This one is from their Calendar Series. When I made this one, my granddaughter was only about three and she loved playing with all my buttons. Like many quilters, I have scads of buttons that I have collected over the years and many handed down from my grandmother. My granddaughter picked out the buttons for the red flower centers on this little quilt. They add a little something extra to this flannel appliquéd little quilt! It is displayed and changed out monthly in our great room.

The last little quilt for this month is the March "Simple Circles Thru the Year" by Buttermilk Basin. It is wool appliquéd on a wool background circle. These little bitty round display projects are what made me fall in love with wool applique! I have done quite a bit since these little guys came into my studio each month! 

Well, since it is March and St. Patrick's Day, Spring cannot be far off! I am looking forward to Spring flowers! Enjoy the warmer weather right around the corner!

Blue Jay Quilt Studio: 40 Years a Quilter, Post 9

While having a day long "quilting" day at a friend's home, I was able to revisit this quilt and it brought back memories!

Another good friend at work and I made this quilt for our friend "Michele" when she turned 60! We had co-workers sign birthday greetings on appliquéd bones around the outside edge. It was such a fun project which we worked on as a surprise. My good friend that worked on it with me was a fabulous at hand appliqué and she did the beautiful center with the dog. Michele owned a cute little dog that looked just like the appliquéd dog! 

After we had the center figured out, we then went around to several co-workers and had them sign the bones around the outside! That was so much fun! Here are some of the messages on the appliquéd bones: 

There were a few other quilts made for both work friends and work fund raisers! I will share those along the way. Enjoy this "almost Spring" time!

40 Years a Quilter, Post 8

I left my heart in Hilton Head! That is the name of this quilt! We just went to Hilton Head a few weeks ago, so this quilt has been on my mind. 

This quilt was made for good friends that have a vacation home in Hilton Head. We visit them when the weather is wintery in the Midwest, but more like Spring in Hilton Head! Their home is decorated in these colors and near the beach. It is a lovely place and always a wonderful time hanging out with long time good friends! Here are some more photos: 

(Above) This shows the backing fabric...magnolias! They have some framed needlework of cross-stitched magnolias (made by her Mother) in their home. Next several close ups of some of the fabric used and the quilting design. I tried to use a design that mimicked waves!

(Note: the block pattern is called "Storm at Sea" and I was thrilled to use Deb Tucker's "Diamond Rects" cutting tool. It made the cutting and trimming a cinch for perfect blocks!) Quilt size is 56" x 65". The pattern was called "High Tide" and I found it on Etsy.

I do have a bit of the main fabrics left over...hmmm, maybe a table runner...

40 Years a Quilter, Post 7

 I LOVE Patriotic Quilts, especially if they are Flag related. I literally just finished this quilt and put the label on it!

This quilt was made from Lisa Bongean's (Primitive Gatherings) American Quilter's Stitch-Along last year She gave the a free pattern each week. It was a fund raiser for "Hogs for Heroes" which is a group supporting Wisconsin Veterans. The fabric I used in this group was part of the way she raised funds. These were her designs and a portion of the sale of the fabric went to the group.  Here are a few of the blocks:

The blocks were not always easy, but I've always loved picky little piecing! It is a great throw quilt size or would be lovely as a large wall hanging or over a sofa. 

One of my longarm friends from our guild, Lin Miller of linsews.com quilted it for me. Yes, I have a longarm, but I do not have a computerized set up. I really wanted the quilting design "Mike's Swoosh" as the quilting design and it is best done with a computerized longarm! Here is a picture showing the quilting:

Mike's Swoosh reminds me of fireworks! Lin did a wonderful job with a medium to dark blue quilting thread! Glad to have this quilt finished to enjoy!

40 Years A Quilter, Post 6

 Over the years I have truly enjoyed making "kid" quilts. I have made a variety of them for friends and family. My very favorite kid quilts to make have been the ones that I made for my own grandchildren. I had so much fun making this one for my first grandson! 

Sorry the photo is not the best, but it was taken quite a few years ago when he was born and I no longer have the quilt to take new photos! This quilt was inspired by a quilt in the book "Quilts, BABY!" by Linda Kopp. The basic monkey design is in the book, but I decided to make each monkey different to show all the different monkeys in my grandson's family! Here are some close-ups of the monkeys:

I had help with some of the faces while at a Guild Retreat. One of our guild members is a wonderful artist and she helped me with the ideas and brainstormed how to get the faces to convey the different feelings! 

Revisiting this quilt brings back great memories. That grandson just turned 9!! Well, time to get back to the current project. We are expecting a winter storm here for the next few days. Great time for quilting!!