Rock Around the Block

"Fall Rocks"
Size: 61" x 70"
Pattern: Rock Around the Block by Beth Little
Completed: Early 2005
Made in: Bellingham, WA
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
This quilt lives in our living room.
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The story: This quilt doesn't go with anything in my house, and it is backed in flannel. Not very practical in Hawaii, but I still love it. Back in the day when I was working and was able to just buy random fabric that caught my eye, I came across this bundle of fat quartes (probably 6 or 8 of them) that I loved. If I remember correctly it was at a little shop on the southern tip of Whidbey Island. I had no idea what to do with them but I couldn't resist the rich rusty-reds and oranges and deep greens and how they all looked together. A month or so later I came across the Rock Around the Block pattern at Fourth Corner Quilts in B'ham. Now, a word on the pattern - the picture of the quilt on the pattern is UGLY. I would never have looked at it twice, but on the wall was a completed one in some gorgeous colors and that's what struck my fancy. I brought the pattern home and Cory cold not get past the hideous picture. I told him to just trust me! I think I had to eventually take him to the shop to see the one on the wall before he would believe me that it was cool. Anyway, the pattern called for 14 fat quarters so I had to add to what I had in the bundle previously purchased. It was a pretty easy quilt to put together. I added a triple border, backed it in a flannel of Fall leaves (little did I know I would be moving to Hawaii in a few short months), and bound it with an orange and brown basket-weave print. I just quilted it in the ditch. I will definitely make this quilt again, regardless of how ugly the pattern is!

A close-up of some of the fabrics.

You can see the backing. I really wish my camera took better close-ups!

Here you can see the triple border and the binding.

Scrappy Stars

Photo courtesy of Fourth Corner Quilts, Bellingham, WA

"Scrappy Stars"
Size: 60" x 70"
Pattern: Catch a Scrappy Star Class at Fourth Corner Quilts, taught by Natalie
Completed: January 2005
Made in: Bellingham, WA
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
This quilt now lives on the back of our couch.
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The story: This crazy quilt is yet another product of a wonderful class at Fourth Corner Quilts in Bellingham, WA. When I was choosing the fabric for this project I started with this gorgeous Asian print and tried to find other pieces that matched all the beautiful colors in it. I loved the Asian print so much I used it for the cornerstones as well. I added a double border and backed it with a purple swirl on white. The piecing technique for this was pretty wild. We had 9 fat quarters - 3 light, 3 medium and 3 dark - and we stacked them and cut through all nine layers. Then shuffled the layers and sewed the pieces together. Then made the next cut, shuffled and sewed. And so on until we had made five cuts. It was pretty amazing how it all came out. For the quilting, I just stitched in the ditch around the stars and the sashing and between each border. Here are some additional pics I just took today and some from the last 2 years. You can see how much it has faded from the original photo up top taken in January 2005 (and I look super young, too! Time flies!)

The print I started with.

I know I recognize that Daddy and that quilt, but not so sure about that baby! Can that really be Leif Kalama?

There's the Leif I know! Eating chocolate ice cream on mommy's Scrappy Stars!

And there he is eating, again!

An Experiment in Placemats

"Green Garden" Placemats (4)
Pattern: original design
Completed: January 2005
Made in: Bellingham, WA
Given to: Carrie Tolley
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: For her birthday and Christmas (they are a week apart) I wanted to make something for my dear, dear friend Carrie. I asked her if she would like a table runner, but she thought placemats would be more practical. So we went to the fabric store and chose the fabric together. After one failed attempt at 1" strips I decided to mix it up and just do a random piecing of different widths of the fabrics. I think it turned out nice. None of them are exactly the same. The funny thing is that when I was finished Carrie wanted me to put them together into a runner. I tried, I really, really tried, but I couldn't make it work - I already had the binding on and everything. I would have had to unpick all the binding and then find a way to join them without it showing. I'm just not that good so she got placemats!

A Little Bit Country

"Country Stars"
Size: 17 1/4” x 17 1/4”
Pattern: from a kit
Completed: December 2005
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Laurelyn Miner

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The Story: This was a kit from a very cool quilt shop in Fremont, NE (Cory's hometown.) It is a huge shop with an amazing selection of fabric. Needless to say everytime we go back to Nebraska, we have to stop by and I never get out of there without doing a little damage to the bank account.

Anyway, once again I decided to make a few Christmas gifts in 2005 and my friend Laurelyn was the recipient of this little wall hanging. It's hard to tell in the photos, but most of the fabrics have some kind of star pattern in them.