I finished these quilts back in August, and can now share them since they have been given to their recipients.  I made the first quilt for my MIL, when we visited her in Europe.  I used a kit I found at our local quilt shop.  The second one, I made for my brother-in-law.  He likes Japanese things, and my friend Ellie had a quilt that was just perfect, and gave me the kimono panel, so I copied her quilt :). They both loved their quilts!

I was visiting my parents today, and took photos of a yoyo quilt I had made for them years ago.  I must have been a teenager, since the gift was for their 25th wedding anniversary in the ’70s?  I don’t think they actually got the quilt until much later.  Looking back, I am amazed that I managed to make such a big yoyo quilt.  I guess I have always been a quilter without even thinking about it.

I started this quilt a year ago.  It was a pattern from one of the classes I took.  Since I didn’t like my fabric choice(too plain and boring), I decided to applique cowboys and horses that I found in the book Applique Quilt Revival. The cowboys and horses are raw edge applique that I blanket stitched onto the blocks.  It’s a bit time consuming, but I actually like hand applique and embroidery.  I also added the brown sashing and pinwheel cornerstones(remnants from the star blocks) to liven it up.  I’m planning on hand quilting it with a thick floss.   No hurries to finish, I’m thinking it will be for a future grandchild 🙂

Younger son is home for the moment, so I took advantage and had him hold up the quilt top 🙂

I was asked to make a quilt for Project Linus.  A novelty fabric was supplied.  I chose to use my scraps to make a scrappy baby quilt – I really like scrappy quilts.  Most of the novelty fabric went on the back of the quilt.  I even used the different stitches on my machine (finally!) to quilt it all together.  You can see the different stitches on the photo – less than stellar, but stitched with the best intentions:

And a friend of mine belongs to our local Master Chorale.  They are doing some fundraising, so I made a Christmas quilt for their raffle.  I followed a tutorial by Missouri Star Company, and made it like this quilt I saw in blogland.  There are only nine blocks, but they are huge, so the quilt ended up being pretty big. I rented a longarm and quilted Christmas trees & stars all over ( some designs are very forgiving, like this one). And I appliqued a folk art angel on the back – so cute!

This is the first year I participated in the Sew Sisters Quilt exchange, and it did not disappoint.  We gathered at a wonderful Spanish Cafe for a brunch followed by the exchange.  Lots of photos to share, so here I go:

If Donna’s quilt for Lynn looks familiar, it’s because I made one similar to it:

Here is my last focus fabric, “Vivienne” by Alexander Henry.  Can you see it in the beautiful quilt Dorre made for me? – Love my new quilt!

And Dani loved the quilt I made her too.  She has it hanging in her living room now 🙂

And here we all are, Sew Sisters, new members, and guests! We brought our focus fabric in envelopes and selected randomly for our next exchange – so much fun!

Last year when I started quilting, I was fortunate enough to be invited to join a quilt group, the Sew Sisters.  We meet regularly, and we also have an annual quilt exchange.  Each person picks a focal fabric, and someone else creates a quilt based on that fabric for them (this is all in secret).  I drew Dani, and these are the fabrics she had chosen, and I worked with:

Dani’s fabrics were beautiful, but posed a bit of a challenge for me as I tend toward brighter, pinky colors.  I chose to go the modern route, and this is the quilt I created for Dani.  The big “reveal” is today, I hope she likes her quilt…

My friend Ellie thought it needed a pop of color, so she generously gifted me the coral colored fabric. And thanks again to dear younger son for holding up the quilt – I knew these kids would come in handy one day :).

Oh, and I had enough fabric left, so I made Dani a matching giant pin cushion:

Finally, I have made quilts for myself! They still need binding, but I decided to enlist the help of dear hubby and younger son (before he takes off) to hold up the quilts.  The first one is a 30’s style, and the second one is a Kaffe Fasset.  They are both queen size, and therefore held sideways: