An Old Sampler Quilt

Back story:  In the late 90's I joined a yahoo group called Washington State Internet Quilters.  I did not live in Washington, but had gone to college in Washington and I live only an hour from the border.  I shop in Washington a lot, as that is where Joann's, Costco, Walmart, etc. are, crossing the Snake River between Idaho and Washington.  We abbreviated the group to WASIQ.

The group did a LOT of swaps.  We started a block swap where someone had a month and sent out fabrics to the others and got blocks back.  We didn't have a name for the group, it was called Swap Without a Name.  I shortened it to SWAN and it caught on.  We swapped for several years.  This quilt is made from one of those swaps.  I pieced the top YEARS ago!  The blocks were from 2003 or 2004.  It marinated long enough and I quilted and bound it and finished it this morning. 

SWAN floral quilt

detail photos

my dog Leia got in on the photo session

Interestingly two friends made me wallhangings to match the quilt!  I finished them and have been saving them all these years waiting to finish the quilt!  The first one was made by my late friend Debi.  She sent the top and I quilted it myself.  The second one was made by my friend Joann.  She asked for extra fabric and made a "big block".  I added the borders and quilted it.

I pieced this shop sample for Your Best Friend's Quilt Shop.  Christina (owner) had the stratas sewn, I cut them and assembled the top.

I am linking up with Alycia at TGIFF.

Baby Quilts

I recently made some baby quilts and the recipients have them so I can post pictures!  There are seven more days of school left this school year and I have lots of great quilting plans for the summer.  I usually do all my outside work/house chores in the mornings so I can quilt in my basement in the afternoons where it is cooler.

This is the first quilt.  I made it for my new great niece, Evelyn Rose born in April.  I had struggled with what to make and finally saw the raw edge bullseye rose pattern and knew that was it.  Then I had to acquire pinks.  I wanted to stay a bit more on the pastel side.  I finally got it made and quilted.  I gave it a wash to fluff it up.

Roses for Evelyn Rose

embossed rose minkie backing showing the rose quilting

Evelyn Rose on her baby quilt

I have a new granddaughter scheduled to arrive in early July.  My daughter Amy sent me a palette of colors she would like and wanted flowers.  She made a mobile of fake flowers in these colors.  We found the floral fabric online from the Butterfly Haven line.  She suggested triangles or hearts.  This is what I came up with.  It is quilted with hearts!  I delivered it to her this weekend.

This next one isn't a baby quilt, more of a lap/recliner quilt for a dear friend.  She is so giving and I decided to make her a quilt for her birthday.  The only problem was her birthday was May 16th and I decided to do this on Mother's Day!  Since my husband was busy working all day in the fields I had a free day.  I didn't take a picture of the backing, it is Care Bears.  She loves Care Bears and I knew it would be perfect for her as she is so caring of others.  I found a floral fabric in my stash (she sent me flowers for Mother's Day) and a couple coordinates and this is what I came up with.  I made the entire quilt start to finish that day.  I quilted flowers in the floral fabrics and a very wiggly line through the other fabrics.  I delivered it to her on her birthday and she was thrilled.

This past week I was on a two day overnight field trip with the 5th and 6th graders.  I think we put on about 500 miles on the bus!  We traveled to Central Washington and a town along the Columbia River in Oregon studying agriculture.  We had a great guide and some interesting tours at dairies and feed lots and potato processing plant along with the Sage Center in Boardman, OR.

I barely had time to do a load of laundry and pack up before we headed out 12 hours later for Boise to visit our daughters and grandkids.  It's hard to get 4 kids to all look at you with good expressions at the same time.  The twins, Finn and Remy, are 18 months old now, Nicole is 5 and Jared will be 8 in August.  Jared and Nicole are the ones having a new baby sister!

 Linking up with Design Wall Monday.