My Quilts

I thought it was about time to work on my quilt blog, so here are pictures of some of the quilts I have done either for myself or as gifts--and keep in mind that these pictures are displayed in no particular order.

This is a Valentine's Day table topper that I made from a free pattern I found online. I thought it was different how the pieces looked like they were woven in and out of each other.

This is a quilt I made for the humanitarian quilt project in my quilt guild last year. I believe it went to an orphanage in Mexico.

I made this as a gift for Miss Turpin, Alison's 4th grade teacher, from all the students in her class as a teacher appreciation gift. The kids got to choose their fabric from some of my scraps, trace their own hands, cut them out, and sign their names. So, in a way, they helped make it, too.

This is a 4th of July sample I did for my local quilt shop. They supply the fabric, and I do the labor. Then, they keep the quilt to display for a few weeks or months, and after that, I get to keep it. The pattern is called "Cherry Cheesecake", and the fabric is Moda 76 Trombones.

I wanted to do a quilt with a variety of quilting stitches so I could show customers some ideas of what I can do on the machine, so I made this quilt that I call "Spring Pinwheels". I didn't have a pattern for it, I just sort of made it up, and I like how bright and cheery it is.

I wanted to try quilting on my regular sewing machine, and this was my attempt at doing just that. I found it is definitely much easier to quilt straight lines on the regular machine as opposed to the long arm, but it is more bulky to work with shoving and turning the fabric around as I go. This is a pattern from Thimbleberries called "Sticks and Stones".

Thanks to Jayme for organizing the sister's quilting weekend (no, not Sisters, Oregon, which I would like to do someday, but all the Kartchner sisters got together and made our own variation of the same pattern). This pattern is "Turning Twenty", and is a great pattern for beginners.

Here is my halloween table topper/wall hanging that I made with Jayme and Margene a couple of years ago.

This is another sample for the local quilt shop. The fabric line is "Mistletoe Manor" by 3 Sisters for Moda, and the pattern is called "Checkerboard Posies". It doesn't look very much like Christmas, but it is anyway. I liked the different textures in the fabrics--and they were a challenge to quilt around.

This is a sideways view of a quilt I made from McCall's Quilting Magazine some time ago. It was one of the very first quilts I machine quilted, and if you look closely, I'm sure you can tell.

This is Alison's first quilt she ever pieced. She entered it in the county fair, and it won a blue ribbon! We call it "Bubblegum Picnic" because the colors are bright like bubble gum.

This is a baby quilt I made for my friend Marianne's cute baby, Alex. Then they moved. We miss you!

This is "Winter Blooms" by Buggy Barn. I made only one row, but the pattern actually has 3 rows. It has lots of little pieces, and I am hereby announcing I will never make it again. I am happy to have this one, though.

I like to find projects to use the 5 inch square packs (charm packs) that the fabric stores sell. It is a good and inexpensive way to get a piece of every fabric in a new fabric line. This fabric line is "Chocolat" by 3 Sisters for Moda, and I just sewed the squares together, added borders, and voila!--instant table topper!

Speaking of 5 inch squares, this is a "Nickel Quilt" that I made for my sister, Christine, when she got married a couple of years ago. It is made from 5 inch squares (aka "nickels"), and the patterns in this book are a great way to use up scraps, too!

Here is Jessi's princess quilt. She loves the bright colors, espcecially the pink, and the pretty princesses, castles, and puppies in the centers of each square.

This is Alison's bedspread--the pattern is "Yellow Brick Road".

I pieced these two wall hangings a long, long time ago, and they were among the first projects I experimented with on the long arm machine.

This is a wall hanging I made a while ago--I believe it is called "Home Sweet Home" by Bareroots.

I took a class to make this quilt several years ago. It was the first quilt I ever pieced, and I was hooked! The pattern is called "Minnesota Pinwheel".

This is another Bareroots pattern. I worked on the embroidery while watching and cheering for my kids at their soccer and baseball games. It is hanging in Alison's room.

After I made the flower wall hanging for Alison, I felt like Davis needed a wall hanging of his own. This is the "Bug Jar" quilt I made to go on his bedroom wall. The only problem, though, is it never really got finished, Davis grew up to quickly, and it isn't actually hanging on his wall. :( Note to self: never take on a project that won't be finished in time for it to be used.

These two quilts are "friendship" style quilts that we made with all the Kartchner girls. The rules were that you had to pick out your own dark and light fabric and make enough 9 patch blocks for everyone. Then, we exchanged all our blocks so we each got one from everybody. I put one together for Alison (on the top) and me (on the bottom). It was fun to see how everyone's quilts turned out differently.


More to come. . .