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!

Aloha on the Beach

"Aloha on the Beach"
Size: 54 1/2" x 76"
Pattern: original design by Cory and Amanda Bennett
Completed: Summer 2006
Made in: Hawaii

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: Shortly after moving to Hawaii in June 2005 we headed to the Swap Meet. Now this swap meet is unlike anything I have ever seen or heard of before. It is mostly all new items and they are definitely geared toward the tourists. It is located around the perimeter of Aloha Stadium where the UH Warriors play football - so it is huge! There is everything from Aloha wear to soaps, crackseed, coconuts, toys, luggage, etc. Pretty much any kind of souvenir anyone would want. We get a fair bit of our clothes there and Cory got his ukulele there and we found a lot of the decor for Leif's room there.

Anyway, they also have, in the shops that sell the clothing, stacks of fabric squares of aloha print fabrics. So on one of our outings to the swap meet we picked out a stack of at least 100 squares. Once I finally got around to do anything with it, Cory helped me layout the squares in this diagonal fade pattern. Then I put in a border of yellow plumeria and a pieced outer border of more of the aloha fabric cut into narrow pieces. The backing is a soft blue hibiscus print that was originally intended to be a sling for the bebe and I bound it in another lighter aloha print. But the most ingenious part of all? The pockets at each corner on the backside. We fill them with sand to keep the quilt from blowing away. I would love to take credit, but I got the idea from a fabulous book of projects by Denyse Schmidt.

A close-up of the pocket.

Another one of the quilt with Leif playing in the background.

This quilt makes it to the beach at least once a week, if not more. We love it, but the fabric is definitely fading due to so much sun exposure. Luckily, I still have enough squares left to make another one!

Wow! I just looked at the pic I posted of this quilt a few days ago. That picture is at least a year old and you can really see how much it has faded when you campare that pic to the ones I took today. Ok, another project to add to the to-do list!