Sarah's Quilt

I'm entering a quilt, in the bed quilt category of http://amyscreativeside.com/2013/05/17/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2013/

  This is Sarah's quilt, start to finish.


Sarah loves fun, bright colors.  I found most of these material years ago, at a quilt store that has been closed for some time now.  I was going to make a 'Take 5' quilt, but, I changed my mind.  Instead, I decided that I wanted a quilt with pinwheels. 

Triangulations

I started out with Triangulations.  I just LOVE Triangulations!  I purchased the disk years ago, for a class I took.  These are so simple to use, and fun, too. 

Here are the first pinwheels.

Sarah's pinwheels

I was going to set the pinwheels on point, but, later changed my mind.  Isn't it great to not follow a pattern and do your own thing?  I decided to keep it simple, and just add sashing between the pinwheels.  OK, I seldom keep anything simple.  I decided that the sashing needed cornerstones, and, not just any cornerstones, but, pinwheel cornerstones, of course.

more half square triangles, waiting to become mini pinwheels

I was also told that I HAD TO HAVE purple in this quilt.  Ok, sashing will be PURPLE!
(oh yea, I also wanted to keep adding 'dots' to this quilt, can you tell?)

Sarah's quilt

OK, the first part of Sarah's quilt top was done, but, it wasn't big enough to fit her dorm bed.  Now to figure out borders.

1959 Singer Spartan hand crank

Oh yea, all of this was sewn on my 1959 Singer Spartan (192K) hand crank sewing machine.  This was my very first hand crank.  It came with a motor, but, I took it off and converted it.

I messed up the tension on the Spartan hand crank only an hour after finishing the sashing and cornerstones.  Oops!  (still haven't tried to work on it, bad girl)!  So, what's a girl to do, but switch to another hand crank sewing machine!?!  What?  You don't have several extra machines sitting around, waiting for their turn to be used?

1925 Singer 99 hand crank, stitching the backing for Sarah's quilt

OK, now that I've switched machines, it's time to design borders for this top.  I decided to use some of the extra large and small pinwheels in the borders.

Sarah's quilt top, with borders

Now for the SCARY part.  I am a hand quilter.  I've never paid someone to machine quilt a top for me.  EEK!  Scary to turn something over to someone else to quilt.  Thank goodness there are several machine quilters in my large quilt guild.  I'd been watching Julie Karlak's work for a few years now.  I know she is good.  Still scary to hand over this quilt.  Hubby even came and told her what he did and didn't want done to this top.  Julie handled us both, like the pro she is.  She even came up with a great overall pattern that made my pinwheels 'spin' with joy!

Sarah's quilt, quilted

up close of Julie's quilted swirls

up close of quilting on back of quilt

I finished the binding on this quilt, shortly before my son's college graduation ceremony.

Sarah's finished and bound quilt

I even used an extra pinwheel as a label on the back of the quilt.

label on back of Sarah's quilt

I even made a pillowcase to match this quilt.

pillowcase to match the quilt

This quilt is now waiting at my inlaws, so that they can give it to Sarah in early June. 

Quilts of Valor and a quilt show

I worked in the Quilts of Valor booth at a local quilt show on Saturday.  This is a new quilt show for my area. One of our volunteers dropped of a few quilts while she was at the show. 

They are lovely quilts.  She also made the pillowcases for both quilts. 

Here is our booth.

Rita in the Quilts of Valor booth

The guild was very supportive of us, and gave us a nice location.  We also got to present a quilt to a veteran.  A wife had contacted Rita about bringing her husband to the show.  Rita had a quilt ready for him (the one on the corner of the low table).  He was a Vietnam veteran.  Here he is with his quilt wrapped around him, with Dorothy and Rita. 

Quilts of Valor quilt presentation

Sorry I didn't get a picture of his quilt.  We were told that he was hugging that quilt for the rest of the show, and showing it off.  We had a nice time chatting with him. 

The quilt show was put on by the Riverwalk Quilters Guild of Naperville, IL.  This was their first quilt show.  It was a good one.  They are planning on having a quilt show every two years.  I took pictures of some of the quilts. 

Dear Jane by Nancy Niswander

Crazy Colors by Susan Berger

Lollypop Trees by Sarah Sainsbury

Ricky's Boxers by Sabrina Marton

up close so that you can see the buttons on one block

Butterfly Trails by Joan Dollnar

Stars in Their Eyes by Celeste Akre

Settler's Trail by Diane Rechenbacher

up close so you can see how tiny the pieces are (81 square patches)

Star Shuffle by Lynda Snapp

 The next two quilts are made with shirts and ties.  Each has the tie ends as the edges of the quilts.  She also used the labels on the ties as a border. 

Shirt and Tie by Nancy Niswander

Tie Quilt by Nancy Sturgeon

Red, White and Blue by Phyllis Bednarek

Stars and Stripes by Charlotte Marcin

Mitch by Nancy Niswander

Extending Delight by Dorothy Larsen

Starblast by Roberta Crowe

Colors of Fall by Jean Lacher

 These are smaller quilts.

Set Free by Susan Akre

First Snow by Lisa Winn Noonan

Wheels by Lois Skooglund

Blooming Trails by Amy Shuter

Up close, see how small the blocks and yo-yo's are

Humming Birds in My Garden by Joan Dolinar

Traveling Flowers by Gloria J. Evans

Best Friends by Carol Wilholt

Hummingbird by Diane Rechenmacher

Curved Log Cabin by Wanda Jones

 I had to show this next one for my hubby.  He loves to kayak.

by Lisa Noonan

 I loved how she used all the sports fabrics in this quilt.

Sportz Starz by Tracy Husch-Lissah

 This quilt reminded me of my wonderful blogging friend, Julie, who lives in Japan. 

Maneki-neko: Beckoning Cat for Good Luck and Wealth by Sue Damitz and the Fabric Fondlers Quilt Bee

Door County Dreaming by Lynn Kmiecik and the Fabric Fondlers quilt bee

 This last quilt was voted 'favorite' by the attendee's of the show. 

Broken Star by Jill Seaworth

I bought lunch at the Cafe' in the building.  Even the Cafe' had quilts hanging in their windows.  

The Cafe's quilts

Since I was at the show all day long, I brought along a small hand project to work on.  I've only ever made one hexie flower.  I want to add a few small hexie flowers to the border of a small quilt hanging I'm working on.  Here is what I got done (just basted).

my basted hexies, waiting to be turned into flowers

And, in case you thought that I didn't get a chance to visit the vendors, well, you are wrong.  I even came home with another hand crank sewing machine!

my newest hand crank

Ha! Ha!  Don't worry, it's just a pencil sharpener!  See!

pencil sharpener hand crank sewing machine

I think I have room for this machine!  Besides, I needed a pencil sharpener for my quilting pencils. 

Happy Mother's Day!