I have been doing sewing and other crafts since I was a
teenager. I crochet, embroider (cross stitch & crewel), and a little bit of sewing.
In the summer of 1998, I offered to make a quilt as a wedding present for my brother Rick
and his fiancee Dena, who were getting married in May 1999. Dena and Rick picked a double
wedding ring pattern and I used Quilting from the Heartland's templates and book. Dena
picked out the 7 blue and 1 pink fabrics which make up the rings themselves. I had made a
quilted pillow before, but this was my first attempt at a real quilting project. The top
is queen-size, and took me a year and 3 months to piece the top (although I did complete
other smaller projects, including a baby quilt, during the same time). I had it machine
quilted by the wonderful folks at the Quilt Farm in Boston NY in February 2000. I made the
binding from scraps of the blues in the quilt, and hand-sewed it on. I gave the quilt to
Dena in April 2000. In the photo, Dena is on the right. My sister is on the left, and I
will be making a quilt for her and her husband as a wedding gift. Except I told her she
has to select a pattern with straight lines only!
The photo below shows the first quilted project I ever attempted. In January 1998 we went to Hawaii. I bought a pattern for a Hawaiian quilted bedspread and pillow. I made the pillow that summer. It uses the traditional Hawaiian method of a single piece of solid color fabric, cut "snow flake" -like and hand appliqued onto a contrasting background. I used echo quilting to finish it.
The baby quilt below was a shower gift for Diana. I made it in the winter/spring of 1999. The shower was held in early May, just in time, because Victoria was born May 11. The quilt is crib-sized and is a nine-patch based on 1930's reproduction fabrics. It's machine pieced and hand-quilted.
This quilt (below) was made from a pattern in Marsha McCloskey's book "Quick Classic Quilts". It's a twin size four patch. The plaid and check fabrics are from fat-quarters I bought at a Mormon handicraft shop in Salt Lake City a couple of years ago. The backing is a strong blue plaid fabric. I machine-quilted it on the diagonal, with the X's crossing at the center of each four patch and each plain block. I hand-quilted a vine & leaf pattern in the border. This quilt, because it looks so masculine, became a gift for my fiance Frank. He's a volunteer fireman and also likes Chevy trucks, so I quilted Maltese crosses and the Chevy bowtie symbol in the corners.
Below are two doll quilts I made for my granddaughter. They are about 14" square and are simple nine-patches. I did them in a weekend with scraps. They are machine quilted diagonally across the patches.
The "baby blankets" in use:
The cushions on our deck chairs, although still in good shape, were getting old looking and discolored. I designed and made removable fabric slipcovers for them, selecting two patriotic fabrics, one in red, the other in blue.
A Christmas village quilt made for Victoria, Christmas 2002.
Crib sized quilt made for Jeanne's baby shower, February 2003. The pattern is called Jacob's Ladder.
