Quilting

The Joys of Quilting & Cross Stitch

I have enjoyed needlework for most of my life, especially cross stitch, but quilting has become a true passion of mine in the past few years. I think part of the reason is that I had the most fabulous teacher for my first quilt, the wonderful Alice Wilhot of Alice Wilhoit Designs. (A few of my cross stitch pieces are pictured below, too.)

This is my very first quilt, from a class that Alice taught in 2004. See all the kitty fabrics? It is now a favorite napping place for Emily, Elliot and Eloise.

This is my second quilt. I did this one from a pattern on my own in 2004. It's called "Purrfect Christmas." Of course those are cats!

This is a Christmas-themed table topper I made in 2004. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's the reason I decided to learn to quilt in the first place. They were almost out of kits for this in the store and it was only September! And, no, those are birds, not cats!

This is my "Cats and Kittens" quilt. It's the first quilt that I designed, pieced and longarm quilted all by myself. It was donated to our local CPS organization at our September 2005 Guild meeting and was chosen as one of the top five in the challenge! There may be a couple of cats in this quilt.

This is my Mary Engelbreit quilt, made entirely from her fabrics in 2004. I made this in another of Alice Wilhoit's wonderful classes. Don't tell her I STILL haven't finished it! I think there are one or two little bitty cats in it, too.

Of course, I still love my cross stitch. I've finished the stitching on my beautiful Renaissance nativity, but I still need to put the backs on them and stuff them out so they'll stand up. Maybe by Christmas . . . ooops, or not!

A few of my completed projects are pictured below. There is nothing as satisfying as finishing an intricate cross-stitched "painting."

This one is called "Mermaid of the Pearls." It has the most beautiful metallic threads and tiny seed beads and is done on 36-count linen.

"Gather Ye Rosebuds"

"While Ye May"

These are companion pieces, "Gather Ye Rosebuds" and "While Ye May."* I loved the stained-glass look of them and, of course, the timeless theme of the noble knight and his fair lady was irresistible to me. They are stitched on 16-count aida.

I call this my "Catfish" quilt. As soon as I saw the panel fabric in the store, I knew I had to have it!

You can't tell a lot about it from the picture, but the fish are on the pier fishing for cats. One has a bucket of mice as bait. The "chef fish" has a sign board offering Today's Specials:
          Cat Chowder
          Poached Purrch
          Tabby Tacos
          Cajun Catfish
          Fillet of Feline w/French Fries & Slaw

For once, the fish seem to have the upper hand, but the cats don't seem to mind in the least. Wearing masks, flippers and even shark fins, they're getting along swimmingly! I just added a colorful fish border and we were good to go.

It was designed and pieced by me in 2005 and very beautifully quilted by Nana's Creations.

I made these two quilts for Christmas 2005. The one on the left was for my mother, in a pattern and fabrics that she chose. I decided the western theme in a more manly color way would be a good choice for my boss. This became the quilt on the right. I quilted Mom's quilt myself, but my boss's quilt was quilted by Nana's Creations.

I designed and pieced this quilt for my Dad's birthday in 2006. The center squares are various navy and WWII motifs. The large star points are red and blue motled fabric with patriotic gold stars. The small stars are made from vintage-looking red, blue and dark gold prints. The background is made from twelve different vintage-looking cream-colored prints. Since some of the fabrics I chose looked too "new" for this scrappy, vintage quilt, I aged them with tan colored dye. The quilting was done by Nana's Creations.

My brother-in-law enjoys fishing and wildlife, so I designed and pieced this quilt for his birthday in 2006. The fabrics are all from Moda's Northern Shores line.

The fabrics are different fish and hooks, lake maps and even ducks. The picture panels feature things like boats, jumping trout and even a creel.

This quilt was beautifully quilted by Nana's Creations. It's hard to see in this photo, but there are jumping trout in the middle of each of the large four-color stars.

I made this quilt in 2006 for a friend of mine who, of course, picked one of the most intricate patterns I've done so far.

I loved the materials she chose, though. The periwinkle blues and crisp white are gorgeous together.

I never made so many flying geese in my life!

This quilt was quilted by Nana's Creations.

This is a Double Nine-Patch quilt made in reproductions of 1930 Feed Sack fabrics. Obviously, it still needs to be quilted, but at least I finished the piecing in time to give it as a 2007 Chrstmas gift. Someday I'm going to make some quilts for me!

I made this Kitty Girl as a present for my sister's birthday in 2007. Three dimensional sewing is certainly different from two dimensional sewing, but it was a challenging and fun experience.

And I think it turned out cute.

My mother-in-law-in-law (my sister's husband's mother) has been really nice to my family . . . especially since my own mother passed away. Since I know she's especially fond of apple decor, I made her this little table runner as a 2007 Christmas present.

I hope she likes it!

Nine-Patch close up: It's hard to see in the photo, but each nine-patch square had five tiny little nine-patch blocks in it. The small squares of multi-colored fabric finished at 1" each.

I made this quilt for my friend, mentor and constant encourager, Robin Hardy, for her birthday in 2008. (Check out her website here.) I love this pattern, and plan to make one similar to this for myself one day. It was beautifully quilted by Nana's Creations.

* "Gather Ye Rosebuds" and "While Ye May" were designed by Kathi Wagner and published by Imaginating in 1984. The patterns are growing increasingly hard to find, but you might try searching the internet in general or perhaps eBay or Amazon.