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!!

40 Years A Quilter, Post 5

As I have said before, I LOVE Patriotic Quilts! This is the first one that I made back in the early 1990’s! I worked for Kaye England and she was working on her first book. She owned Quilt Quarters in Carmel, Indiana. We had a fabulous, creative group of ladies working in the shop. We worked there and taught classes. Kaye offered us the opportunity to design a block for her book “Voices of the Past, A History of Women’s Lives in Patchwork”. I was lucky to be assigned Betsy Ross as my famous woman to honor! Here is my quilt titled “Dear Betsy” and it is 70” x 70”.

Here is a photo of the book and the page where my block design is illustrated.

A little bit about reproduction fabrics back in the 1990’s…there were not many! Fabrics that were popular then were brights and lots of fabrics with gold on them. I wanted my quilt to be a little on the old fashioned side, so I overdid the entire quilt when it was completely finished with a “tea dye” product in a box that was sold in quilt shops. While I was very nervous it would ruin the quilt, I was actually quite happy with the final product. Here is a close up of the quilt:

I used a special “Yes Mam” fabric that was part of a fundraiser for Breast Cancer. The fabric was sold and used in quilts for competition at a show that was held in Indianapolis, Indiana for several years. The large, national shows were held several times at the Hoosier Dome and had both quilts on display,  but several vendors. We were all happy to be a part of it!

 Years later I decided to make a mini “Dear Betsy” quilt and give it to my mother for her birthday. She was very involved in DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) and she loved anything patriotic. She was a librarian for years and very involved in genealogy and history. Here she is with the mini quilt on her birthday.

And finally, using up leftovers and a special blue "star" fabric, here is the back of the quilt:

Thank you for reading my blog! It is really fun to revisit these quilts and their stories!

Snowy Day here at Blue Jay Quilt Studio

Before heading downstairs to my studio this morning, the Bluejays were calling me because they wanted peanuts. I had to sweep the snow out of the way so they could get to them. Here are a couple of them landing immediately after I put them out. There were actually about 7 of them this morning!

On to my next quilt to post for "Forty Years A Quilter". I have made baby/kid quilts for all of my grandchildren. This quilt was the very first one I made well over 10 years ago. It is adapted from a quilt pattern in the book "Polka-Dot Kids' Quilts" by Jean Van Bockel. If you are in the market for a great whimsy/kid quilt pattern, this book is loaded with patterns and ideas. Here is my quilt:

I love this line of "Funky Monkeys" by Moda that came out several years ago. I used flannels and had fun playing with these fabrics. The quilt size is small--33" x 43", just right for a cute baby to lay on it. Here is my little granddaughter doing "tummy time" when she was a baby: 

She loved that quilt and used to stare at all the monkeys for quite a while! Here is a close up of the big monkey on the front: 

Loved the little band-aid on his head because of course he was jumping on the bed and fell off! The story is on the back of the quilt:

Making kid's quilts is always a joy and this one was particularly fun! While I don't have any grandchildren that are babies anymore, someday this one will hopefully be passed along to a great grandchild! Stay warm if you are in the snow belt and enjoy the sewing time!