13) Hand dyed Improv log cabins

 I made this quilt after I ordered a pack of hand dyed scraps from Cherrywood fabric. If you are curious about hand dyed fabric, but don't want to make you own, try their fabric it is amazing. And for $22.50 you can't go wrong.

 I wanted to use them all! All of the little pieces in one quilt. So I made these funny log cabin quilt blocks. I put my rotary cutter aside and just used my scissors instead. I wanted it to be wonky, but not too crazy.

 I used a 200 thread count muslin as the background. The quilting is very simple organic black lines.

 A couple of the fabric scraps are from an Aboriginal women's camp down the road from Alice Springs. I loved the marbling that they put in their fabric.

And I singed this quilt instead of making a label for it. And I stitched on the binding with big chunky red hand stitches.

9) My ninth quilt - Peace on Earth

 I had ordered Amy Butler's Midwest Modern collection of fabric. And I just loved it so much when I got it that The night I brought it home I laid awake in bed thinking of making a quilt with it. My 0300 I was still wide awake, so I just got up and got started on this quilt. By the next day I had most of it finished.

 I really loved how the raw edge applique circles turned out in the Norberta Quilt, and I wanted to try that technique again. I used Midwest Modern, some wonderful shot cottons from Kaffe Fassett and some fabric that I dyed myself at a fabric dying workshop in Alice Springs.

 I totally adore how this quilt turned out. I think it was a pretty good use of time spent not sleeping...but trying to sleep.

 I uses 2 different variegated cotton threads for this quilt. I also wrote on the quilt with my quilting. I really would love to label all my quilts, but I am lazy and it is so much more quick to just quilt their name on them and the date I made them.

 The back of this one is pretty wonderful too, I think. I love a pieced back. Sometime I like them much more than the front of a quilt.

1) the first quilt I ever made

 In the spirit of full disclosure, this is really not the first quilt I ever made. I did make one when I was in college for my then boyfriend. It was very simple, just squares and I think I tied it. I really can't remember. Matt Freel had it in his dorm room, but I don't know if he kept it after we broke up.

So, now that that is off my chest, this is my first real quilt. I made it for my husband while he was in Baghdad the first time (in 2004). I had joined the quilt club at the Baptist church, and those little dear ladies introduced me to a craft that would eventually change my life. I used 3 different sheet sets and one of my husbands shirts to make this quilt. I also used some pretty batiks. I thought batiks were the bees knees back then.

 I was very frustrated because the little ladies wanted me to take out lots of stitches and redo many parts of the quilt before I quilted it. I was in a hurry and I wanted to jump right into the quilting stage. I have always been terribly excited about the actual quilting of quilts. Well, one of the women sided with me in a very controversial moment. She boldly announced that it was my quilt and if I didn't mind the odd bits, I was welcome to stack the quilt. Well, I did. And they helped me do it. I pin basted it and quilted most of the quilt on my el cheapo Singer sewing machine (not the lovely little classic feather weights I have today, but a really horrible plastic one I bought at the PX for about $100). I ended up breaking the sewing machine during my first needle change. Alas....I expected too much from my machine. Nellie (one of the church ladies) told me I shouldn't muzzle myself with a weak machine, and I should invest in the best machine I could afford. So I invested in my first Bernina. It was an Artista 165, and I still have it and it works like a dream still.

I was able to pay off my $4,000 machine within the first year with the money I made making my Camp Follower Bags.

 There is no real fancy pattern to the quilt block. I just cut blocks and put them together. I did try to fussy cut the centers of each block, and I did alot of "make do" maneuvers that I still do today.

Here is a bit of the quilting. I used some pretty green Gutterman cotton thread. I think after I had finished the quilt I found out it was really hand quilting thread, but I didn't know the difference at the time and my new Bernina happily quilted away with it.

The back of this quilt is very horrible with all it's wrinkles that I unknowingly quilted over. I know this quilt is packed with flaws, but I finished it in time for my husband to take it back to Baghdad with him after his 2 week R&R. I dig this quilt and I am quite proud of myself for making it. I did have 2 tiny kiddos in diapers at the time.

My first quilt

 

 

This is the first quilt I ever owned. My great Grandmother (Emma Norton) made it and gave it to me when I was 3. It is 33 years old now. I guess this is the item that really drove me to learn to quilt. Being an Army child. we never lived near our extended family and I think I only met my great grandmother on 3 occasions before she passed away. This quilt, as simple as is, was a link to my family. I love it. It is quite stained and I need to do some repairs on it. Obviously it is a tied quilt. I am pretty sure the thread is acrylic and alot of the prints are from her sheets. The apples were my very favorite blocks. Neither of my sisters were given a quilt. I am not sure why.