Friday, February 3, 2012

My Endeavors

I have been asked to show my quilting or attempts at quilting on my blog.  I know from the start these are not quilted in the fashion some quilters do either on long arm machines or decorative type machines that do everything except cook.  I attempt this a couple of years ago at the insistance of a very good friend to try it.  I have done dotee dolls for swaps, fabric postcards for swaps, fabric journals, fabric  ATC's (artist trading cards), but never anything this large.  I guess you would call these lap quilts or baby quilts and they are snuggly, which to me is what counts.
I did my first one just putting blocks of fabric I cut which were blues and yellows and then since I have not done any REAL bindings I kept it all together with batting and backing sewing little yarn knots on the edges.  My Mom use to do that with old blanks that got worn out so I thought it a good idea for me.

The next one I think is my favorite as I did it with swappers.  The swap called for two blocks sewn with selvage strips on a piece of backing 13" then cut into four blocks.  We would send them to two named swappers and in turn would get the same amount back.  I made some for my self also to make a "laptop or babyquilt".  The backing is the black with butterflies on it.


I also did one at the insistance again of a friend to try to do a quilt using a jellyroll.
This took more time for me as the fabric kept getting twisted until my DH made a project  to hold the fabric in place. The colors in this photo do not do it justice as it is all batiks, with a batik looking backing.  Now I have done other lapquilts for all my grandchildren and a photo wall hanging for a graduating grandaughter to begin with that you may have seen on my blog before.  These may not be the best kind of quilting but they are made with a lot of love even if most of them I will save for myself.

6 comments:

  1. I agree with you that the middle quilt is the most successful; the dark stripping gives it dynamic interest. Tied quilts like the top one, which perhaps you didn't tie as much as older quilters would have, is a find old tradition in quilt making. It is not lazy. Plus blue and yellow are a very happy combination. I'm sure the bottom quilt is prettier than the photo, as you mention batiks are hard to photograph accurately. They're all lovely and worthy of feeling proud to have made.

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  2. Your projects are wonderful. I love both string blocks and the jelly roll quilts. Batiks are the best! Keep up the good work.

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  3. My childhood quilt was much like the first one above, but the colors were darker. The backing was dark blue and the ties were red! I loved that quilt and don't I wish I had it still. Your second one is so dramatic and beautiful. And the third would be my son's favorite as he's a batik nut! Thanks for sharing your lovely quilts.

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  4. The colors were much brightfer than photographed. Isn't that the way sometimes. Thank you Lesa

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  5. My mom would love this swappers idea! She gets together with a group to make quilts for charity. They each work on squares to contribute!

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