Wildflowers are in Bloom!!

It's a beautiful day here in Texas...sunny springtime weather. And that means wildflowers! Roadsides in Texas are bursting with color as the Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes are in full bloom.

So this seemed to be the perfect time for me to post my "Bluebonnets Etal" quilt. Being a retired teacher, I find that I am often using "Etal" which is an abbreviated form of the Latin term et alia meaning "and others."

Now back to the subject...My "Bluebonnets Etal" quilt combines bluebonnet and other wildflower fabrics as well as other coordinating prints with a  "Turning Twenty" pattern. The colors and flowers remind me of the Texas Hill Country in the Springtime...and some of the wildflowers I see in our pastures as well. The quilting is an edge-to-edge pantograph design called "Linna's Charm #2."

This quilt will also be on display at the Gun Barrel Quilters Guild Quilt Show 2012 on April 27-28, 2012 at the Cain Center in Athens, TX.

I hope the wildflowers are blooming in your neck of the woods as well!

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

You +1'd this publicly. UndoAn abbreviated form of et alia, Latin for "and others."

Spanish Cross Wall Hanging

Since my longarm machine is out of commission at the present time, I decided I would use the "down time" to share some of my other completed projects.

The "Spanish Cross" wall hanging has three hand embroidered crosses set in Attic Windows. I chose shades of brown and tan for this project because those colors remind me of ancient carvings in stone.

I worked on the embroidery on the cross blocks at night while watching TV...seemed like for weeks! Then the idea to use Attic Windows blocks came to me. I was picturing crosses carved into the stones of Spanish missions. The swirls on the background and border fabrics seemed to suggest the carvings of Spanish architecture or Spanish missions here in Texas.

This wall hanging will be one of my entries in an upcoming quilt show, "Birds of a Feather Quilt Together" which is sponsored by the Gun Barrel Quilters Guild. The show will be at the Cain Center in Athens, Texas on April 27 & 28.

In future posts, I will feature some other quilts that I will have in this show.

In the meantime...some close-ups...

Until next time...happy quilting!

It's Finished!

It's finished!! The Primavera quilt that I have been working on is finally finished. I had posted photos of some of the individual blocks as I finished them last week. But now you get to see the final product. I am really pleased with the way the quilting looks on this quilt.

All of the wonderful hand applique is the work of my very talented mother.


Take a closeup look at some of the other blocks in this quilt.

"Power T"

The "Power T"....this lap quilt is being donated to the Senior Class of 2012 at Teague High School. It will be auctioned at a fundraiser that the seniors will be having to fund their Op-Grad activity after Graduation in May.

The large T in the center section is machine appliqued with invisible thread. The machine quilting is an all-over meander. I used a smaller version of this design as a background filler around the T.

The Seniors of 2012 were my first class of 8th graders when I began teaching at Teague Junior High. They are special in many ways. I hope the "Power T" quilt brings in many $$$ for them, and I wish all of them the best of everything in the future! Good luck, guys!

My New Approach

I have quilted a number of applique quilts over the last few years. I have always started at the top and worked down the quilt, completing the quilting in each block across the width of the quilt before I advanced the quilt to the next section. However, I decided to try a new approach with my current project (my mother's Primavera quilt top). I quilted the top border on the quilt and then used Stitch in the Ditch (SID) to stabilize each applique block. I advanced from the top all the way to the bottom of the quilt where I quilted the bottom border in what I call my "nested feathers." Now I am working from the bottom of the quilt back toward the top doing outline quilting around the applique and background filler designs around them.

The block below is one of the Butterfly Blocks with my "curlicue" background filler.

The Snail Block below has basic "stipple" background filler.

The Bunny Block was a real challenge!

I really like the Birdhouse Block.

...and the Wheelbarrow Block...

Wish I could take credit for the beautiful applique blocks, but they are the work of my very talented mother!