YW Unity Quilt

This quilt was made with all the scraps from the YW's pioneer aprons and bonnets. When we went on the pioneer trek, the stake sent out a pattern and asked the wards to help their girls all make pioneer skirts and bonnets.

We had a couple of YW activity nights helping them get these all done. After we were done, there were scraps from everyone's projects left. I gathered them up and went home and cut them into small squares and made special pockets for their aprons that I called their ward unity pockets, because they had a small square from each of the girls skirt from our ward. After that was done, I still had a number of squares left so I made a 9 patch block for each girl in their ward (once again using their skirt fabric scraps) and made them into a quilt representing our ward girls. There is a block for each girl and leader, (they each were able to sign a block) and our theme for the year: "Knit together in Unity and Love".

The center portion (drawn by one of our special artist - Janet Ayala) is framed with the words:

"Lives pieced together....
Stitched with smiles and tears....
Colored by memories.....
And bound by love.

Jaime was able to help me get this all quilted with with the YW torch in the stitching for a special quilt, which we presented to our YW secretary (Julie Willis) as she moved out of the Ward. She has been in the Young Women's program for a number of years. She was in the presidency before my turn as president and continued on as my secretary and really made a difference keeping us going and organized.

I need to find a picture of us in our pioneer clothes with the pockets showing

Testimony In Fabric

We have had a YW staying in our home for the last few months. She is a sweet girl but has had a rough past and is still struggling many issues in her life.

While she has been here I just barely got my embroidery machine. She would sit beside me as I was learning and using it. The very first thing I really put together with my embroidery machine was a quilt for Joyze mission with great thoughts to encourage her while on her mission (that is a story for a future post).  MW wrote me up a list of possible phrases to use. One night as we were talking and sewing again I felt impressed by the spirit that MWneeded something made for her that gave her these messages to ponder on each day.  So I started in using the test scraps I had sewed out while learning. I went out and found some scraps of fabric and found I had some great options that matched in flannel (a lot of the test I had run on a off while flannel. So using those and the leftover blue dot flannel from a past baby blanket I had made recently (for Stephanie O) I was on my way. I was not sure exactly what to do. I didn't have enough time for a blanket - so the idea I came up with was a pillow. Each step of the way and each square, what words to write became an act in faith, relying on the spirit to guide this project. Not having any plan when I started, I think it came together really well

So this is the back of the finished project - a pillow of encouragement, love and testimony.

Lazona Seuss Camp Quilt

Our Young Women's girls camp had a really fun theme this year.  It was "Oh the Places you'll go and the things you will see if first you remember who you can be."

Each ward was assigned a special book, ours was Gertrude McFuzz.

Which you can see pictured in the middle.

(yes I had it specially printed onto fabric)

Lazona Seuss Camp - 2012

I bought one special Dr Seuss panel and used all the pieces I could to make 2 possible quilts.

You can't see it very well but the picture of the cat in the hat near the bottom left was actually two different pieces from two different sides of the fabric panel I purchased.  I pieced them together the best I could, so it is a bit skinnier than the original but works OK AND YOU HARDLY NOTICE.

The most interesting part for me on this quilt was trying to figure out on my own (with no pattern or instructions) how to make the funky wonky squares work and be able to piece them together. This one I pieced together in 3 long panels first getting as wonky as I could with the white borders.

The back of this quilt happens to be a "to die for cuddly" royal blue minky - with Dr Seuss like dots of course.
This fun memory quilt was lovingly made and given to JoDee Dillard our Ward Camp Director who is moving from our Ward.  All the girls signed the middle block.

Conference Prep and Fun Pillows

Made up some conference notebooks for the YW. We are having a conference Jeoprady after conference and I wanted to help prepare them for the fun.

I have made quite a few of these fun and fast pillow tops from Charm packs. This one is for Heidi - she is moving away from me....so sad. But I want to her know she is taking a piece of our heart with her (that is represented by the one bright red square in the pillow but it is also trimmed in red because love never ends it is one of the few things we can take with us where ever we go)

Ma Z's Zoo

This is such a fun, dear quilt. The blocks for this were made by my wonderful quilting bee friends. I sent out the torquoise alphabet and animal fabric and requested wonky logs. It is so fun to see all the fun prints and wonkyness that they sent back.

A close up of some of the fun.

Quilted with fun little animals, how many do you see?

Wedded Bliss

I've had quite a few wedding showers to go to lately for special YW in my life.
Here is what I have been making for these sweet girls entering into "Wedded Bliss"

I love this fun pattern using a charm pack. It is called City Windows (I think I found it on Moda Bake shop) I like changing up the backing tho - so I can use the extra charm squares for another quilt instead of using them all from the charm pack for one table topper.

Blockhead!!

It is finished and quilted!!
Now with the quilting done I have renamed the quilt (thanks to DH suggestion) to BLOCKHEADS! This is quilted with a fun puzzle pattern but it also looks like little heads popping out of the boxes.

This is flannel and backed with a fuzzy back so it is fun to cuddle up with and enjoy. I took it to camp for a great quilt perfect for using in the wild.

Stars & Stripes

Another Finish!!! I made this top quite some time ago but did not get it quilted. It was used for a patriotic party once and got dirty so it had to be washed before it even got quilted but now it is done and useable for REAL!

It feels like a fun patriotic party when we spread this out. I think I would actually enjoy doing another quilt like this but I would keep the woven bands in two different color ways instead of mixing it up like I did. Fortunately this one is mixed up because I totally mixed up a couple of blocks and got their stripes mixed up but you hardly can tell....just try to find my big mistake.

I enjoy backs with a touch of fun and quilting filled with stars. Appropriate for the patriotic stars and stripes!

Dot to Dot

It is blogger's quilt festival again. I love looking at all the great quilts and stories behind them.

Here is mine to share:

When I first started thinking of a quilt for my daughter Michelle, I wanted to do something with Circles kind of a M &M's thing. Just in time, I noticed a fun quilt pattern in my quilting magazine  (I wish I could link to the correct one. Sorry, I tried to find which one it was American Patchwork and Quilting 2009 probably Nov or Dec - at least the last part of the year). It had a circle on every block which was a bit much for my simpler taste but being the "maker" of the quilt, I realized I could change it up any way I wanted. So "Dot to Dot" is my version. Still filled with lots of wonderful dots (I love the dot fabric) and just a smattering of appliqued dots to make it fun!!
I hope they get lots of use and fun out of this Picnic quilt and many, many happy memories.

So what have I learned......
I LOVE dots!!
But I also learned I can venture out and make things my own way.  What I see can inspire me but simplify and or change to suit me!!!


For other great inspirations, stories and wonderful quilts
check them out here!!!

Vintage Progress

I am starting to get some of my vintage bee blocks.

I think I am really going to love this fun, vintage sheet project.

Now I just have to decide to I sash or not????

Project finished!!!

Yipee, hooray I got a quilt top quilted and bound.
I have had this top waiting since 2009 to get done and I did it!!!

It is called "Mud Block Madness"
Now don't you think all those little blocks are truly madness?









I also got my rail fence flannel plaid one bordered. Now it's ready to quilt as soon as I figure out the backing.

Table Topper - fun gifts.

Recently I made some table toppers for gifts. I really like how they turned out.

Looks like I forgot to take a picture of the one I gave in our RS traveling purse.
So sad :( I guess I will just have to make another one. (Maybe I could keep one for me - it was so cute!!)

Mud Block Madness

I am trying to get some finishes done and quilted. I realize when I actually counted it that I have over 50 quilt tops in various stages but very few finished and actually done in to a quilt with it's quilting done.

I love how all the colors blend so well yet pop out of the brown background.

If you look closely at the lable you can see that the quilt was prepared in Jan of 2009 but it was finally finished ans quilted in April of 2011.  It is really a needed thing to hunker down and get all the quilting done and finished so we can enjoy and USE these quilts!! It is now all quilted (with a nice meandering stitch), bound and we are now enjoying it!! Yipee!

Hibernating....

So I have been hibernating in the blogging world. No I did not disappear from the face of the earth. I just have not been recording what I have been doing. :( No I have not stopped quilting either but true I have not done as much. My life has been really busy with other things but I have still eeked out a few moments for sewing on my quilts.

So I am going to get on the ball and post some of the latest:
(be warned...I probably should have broken this up into many individual posts but I was to anxious and did them all at once, so it is a bit long)

Starting with Ma Z's Zoo! This was a fun one from my online "Sew Kid st Heart 2" quilting bee.

When it was my turn, I sent out some strips of animal and animal alphabet fabric (pictured)

along with one fussy cut animal to my quilting friends and they made me a mod and crazy log cabin quilt using some of their stash. I love the zoo of fun that I ended up with. Can't wait to get this quilted and used.



It is so fun to look at all the fun animals in the zoo!!! I think some grandbaby is going to get lots of fun out of looking for all the wonderful animals!!

Springtime Symphony....this is one I made about a year ago but I finally got it quilted. This is a quilt for Jenelle and her future baby.

There really is quite a story with this quilt. The fabric for the main part was got at two totally different times with no thought of each other. Once at Joann's I could not resist a fat quarter stack of 5 fabrics with no idea of how I would use them - I just loved the colors. Basically the same pattern but in different colors Green, Yellow, Blue, Purple & Red. The fabric with the dots was got from Walmart for another project (the camp "In Tune" bags I made back in 2009) Sometime after making the bags, I noticed that my leftover scraps just matched the colors in my fat quarter packet. Then I got excited because I knew exactly what pattern I wanted to use. It was a booklet I had bought and only had done the table runner from it but when I bought it, the pattern I really wanted to make was "double-time duet". Now was my opportunity!!!

After I got the center part done, I struggled with how to border it - more of the plain white or what? When Aunt J and I were out shopping at 3 Dude's Quilting I bought a charm pack for a new fabric line called "Clementine by Me and My Sister". When I came home I noticed how the flower swatchs were so perfect with the colors from the duet quilt so it was back to the store to get just enough fabric to border the edge of the quilt...perfect. When I went to Jaimes to quilt she had just finished quilting with orange thread - how fun I love how the orange is so perfect and we found a wonderful flower pattern to quilt it with. And the final perfect touch is the purple border that Jenelle chose for the binding!!

Springtime Symphony back (using more of the rainbow fabric from Aunt Janel's wedding.)

Road Trip #1....I got this really fun car fabric and thought of Kathryn's boys and their car bed that needed a great quilt to go with it. This is the first one made (probably for Porter) I still need to add borders and quilt but it is coming.

Road Trip #2....this one is the second using some of the same car fabric line (probably for Mason). While I liked Road trip #1 - I wanted more of a "road" feel, so I decided to do a bargello quilt for the 2nd one. I like it better though I wish I would have continued going up at the end after that first bottom spike, oh well... I LOVE how fast bargello quilts are - so easy, so dramatic and so fun!!!

Last but not least this is another finish. This one is called "Panache in Check". I made this for my display wall to hang because I loved the Moda's fabric line of Panache by Sanae it is so fun fresh and modern but matches all my colors in my house but I could only afford to get one charm pack to enjoy & play with so I added a green check and other stash to make this quilt.

I simply quilted this one with straight lines with my sewing machine - just to get it done!!!

Love Blooms - Again

Whoo....hoo.....it is another quilt festival.....
Since #1 this quilt festival is right during our anniversary, #2 it is just getting cold enough here to put on this warmer quilt on my bed, so it is on my mind and #3 one of my daughters just got engaged....I am thinking about love and this my "Love Blooms" quilt. This is what I made 2 years ago for our 30th anniverary.

Happy Anniversary!!!

We went out-of-town for the weekend before, so on Monday (our actually anniversary day) I had a free day, that of course I didn't want to do anything I usually do and especially not any housework. So I escaped to make us a quilt for our bed. I had recently purchase a small jelly roll of strips in fun colors that I couldn't resist. I looked around in my stash and found a sparkly maroon that I liked with it and I was off. I really didn't have a pattern in mind but just started making block. I took 8 1/2" block out of the maroon and sewed the strips to the outside. After I got all those sewed the next step was to figure out how I was going to place them, straight or on point and what in between. I decided for simple and straight with just a plain block of dark green (from a bolt I had from a possible upholstery project. And I was going to town. I got a lot of it done. In the next few days I just had to pick out my favorite 4 prints to buy and add for borders and then off to Jaime's to quilt it with a wonderful flower stitch, going along with my love blooms quilt.

Lesson learned:
Love does bloom just like quilts. Sometimes we don't know exactly what we will get or end up with. We make a decision, choose our mate then we just jump in whole-heartedly. We make decisions as we go, keep working and working and working. Giving our all and doing the best with what we have. Bordering it all with lots of love, adding a little spice & sparkle or highlighting the favorite parts here and there. Behold we look back at the whole picture after 30 years of love and hard work and say WOW! Look what we have done and look at where and how our love has bloomed!!

Check out all the other wonderful quilts in the festival here
http://amyscreativeside.com/2010/10/29/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2010/

#5 Dot to Dot

When I first started thinking of a quilt for Michelle, I wanted to do something with Circles. Because she is currently (& seriously) dating Mike, when I think of them I think of M&M's. Just in time, I noticed a fun quilt pattern in my Quilting Magazine. It had a circle on every block which was a bit much for my simpler taste but being the "maker" of the quilt, I realized I could change it up any way I wanted. So " Dot to Dot is my version. Still filled with lots of wonderful dots (I love the dot fabric) and just a smattering of appliquéd dots to make it fun!!
I hope they get lots of use and fun out of this PicNic quilt and many, many happy memories.

So what have I learned......
I LOVE dots!!

#6 Turtle Crossing

This is the fourth quilt in the series of quilts made for the downstairs girls room. I originally got the pattern we used from a friend in the ward. We have used the same fabric and the same pattern each time and just mixed up the denim color placement each time (see Michelle's Magic on page 6). The plaid material was given to us by a friend. This one was made for my daughter that loves Turtles so I quilted it with turtles crossing all over it.

Quilt Bk Vol 1

I did it - I published (OK - just for me and my family) my "Quilt with Love...Lessons learned" quilt book. I have been wanting to document all my quilt I have made and given. Explain a bit about the process and the lessons I have learned while making each quilt. I finally gathered everything and published it. It is so nice to have this first volume in hand.

Just LOOK!!  (Click on the link and you can scroll through every page of the book)

It's fun to look at and remember all the quilts I have made. Most of these I have given away to others, so it is nice to remember.

I already have enough quilts tops (OK, ok they are not quilted yet) to do the next book. I need to get busy quilting!!

#2 Fruit Salad

I was shopping and saw a fabric that made me think of Nikaela. I loved this fun fruity print. I bought a small amount and set about to make a fun picnic quilt for Ammon and Nikaela. I was able to pull from my stash everything but the green with pink dots fabric. I had The green denim, and the other fun fabrics and thought a bargello quilt would be the perfect (and quick) was to put together a picnic quilt. When I was done is so reminded me of the yummy layered fruit salad that Nikaela made for us at a girls retreat. (the one at Camille's). Thus the quilts name was born.




So what have I learned...... memories are special and they creep into our lives from everywhere. A piece of fabric or even the look and placement of a pattern.