Quilt 155: Zoo Babies (part 2)

 "Wait!" you say. "Am I seeing double?  You posted this last week!"

Well... yeah...

I made 2 of these.  They're identical.

Quilt 154: Zoo Babies (part 1)

Another panel quilt - and again I had a ball with this.  Panel quilts are great fun and come together in a flash.  I've got 2 of these... Here's the first one - a simple panel quilt, but it's sooo cute!

 

 

38" x 51" - bamboo batting - quilted on the longarm

I had an absolute ball putting this together.  The center is a printed panel to which I added the green, blue, and gold borders, with all the fabric coming from scraps from other quilts (I'm determined to get my huge stash of scraps used up - there's so much in my quilting room that the scraps are taking over!). The quilting pattern is a simple "stippling" design, one that suits a very wide variety of quilt tops.

 

And here's the backing fabric, chosen (again) from my stash of scraps.

 

This one, and most of the others I'm working on, is destined for Inspirational Quilts, my favorite quilt charity. 

Stay tuned - more to come!

Quilt 153: Baby Turtles

Get ready... here they come!  I've been busy.  Finished 3 quilts, a 4th ready for binding and three more in various stages.

Here's the first one - a simple panel quilt.  All I had to do here was slap on the green border on the edges.  The rest of this is the panel itself, which is fairly large.

44" x 51" - bamboo batting, quilted on the longarm

The green border is scrap fabric from quilt 11!  Yes.... I've got quite a stash of scraps that go all the way back to 2011!

The backing is a soft fleece - feels lovely and the colours
are perfect for the top

Stay tuned... there's more coming!

Falling In Love Again

I have no explanation, really, but about the same time the COVID19 pandemic started, I stopped quilting.  I honestly don't know what happened.  I live in Melbourne, Australia - which happens to have been the most locked-down city in the world during the pandemic.  Don't believe me?  Just Google this phrase:

what was the most locked down city during the covid19 pandemic

...and you'll see it's true.

Now you'd think with all that time on my hands, and not being able to hardly even step outside the front door for months on end, well... what better time to be quilting?

I kept the machine dusted (LOL), and when restrictions lifted I had Brad, my maintenance hero, visit and give "Bernie" her annual servicing.  But until October of last year, the machine just sat there.  Then I made one quilt (a table runner and placemat set for my sister) - but that was all.  

I decided to sell the machine, but before putting it on the market wanted to get a couple more projects done.  I selected a simple panel quilt to make first - knowing I'd have a little "re-learning" to do.  As I cut the pieces out, sewed the top and then finally mounted it on the machine... yeah...   I've fallen in love again.  Head over heals just like before, maybe worse!  So there will be no sale.

I'm keeping Bernie.

As I sit here typing this post, I can hear the soft hum of longarm stitching - and I'm piecing together a kit quilt I bought way back in 2017.  And I'm falling in love again.

A Rose By Any Other Name (Toni)

 Her name was Rebecca Sue (Craddock) McClain - but I knew her as "Toni".

She was my cousin.

 

My memories of her go back over 65+ years. She was a fiercely loving woman, boldly energetic and always 100% "authentic". She always told it like she saw it, always disarmingly honest no matter the topic or situation. I grew up believing she was fearless, invincible, unstoppable. The older I got and the better I knew her, the more convinced I was of that. 

 

I remember her way of telling stories, the sound of her voice and her laugh.  She had a great love for animals and there always seemed to be pets, even a tame squirrel! She was always interested in what was "new" - so much curiosity about the world and life. She was my mother's closest confidant when I was growing up, and for the last 16 years or so she's been a huge blessing in my life.

 

And she was an avid quilter in her time. It was a passion we shared - and we spent many happy hours together at "The Quilt Place" - a fabulous quilting shop (sadly it's closed now) near her home in Titusville, Florida (photo below from my visit there in 2016).

I will miss her terribly - but the memories.... ah... the memories.  They will always make me smile.

October 24, 1940 - March 27, 2024