Twelve Years Later - Great Memories

In 1999 I hosted a Girls' Quilting Club.  My daughter and a few of her friends met once a month and we learned how to make patched blocks with the hope of eventually making a quilt.  Since I liked to quilt, I figured it was an important part of a homeschool curriculum.  I don't know if these girls actually like quilting, but this picture bears witness that we had a lot of fun when we were together.

For my birthday that school year, the girls each made me a Pinwheel Block.  Some of their moms even made me a block!  They chose a Green and Burgundy color scheme that coordinated with the bedspread on my bed at the time.

Did I mention that it was in 1999?

So, their blocks sat in a box for the last 12 years.  Most of the blocks had a sticky note on it with the name of the block's maker so that I had some idea who had made these blocks.

This year I have attempted to complete a bunch of Un-Finished Objects (UFO's) and in August this was the project I was supposed to finish.  So I started moving the blocks around on my design wall.

I took one pinwheel apart, added a couple more triangles to it, and used it on the sides.

I added a couple of my own pinwheels and a burgundy frame.

I added another burgundy frame and finished it with a burgundy edge.  You can read about the second frame at this blogpost.  

I added a little bit of hand quilting.

I quilted some pinwheels in the border.

And all the while I thought about these sweet girls who came to the Quilting Club.  I prayed for them and the places they were now.  I thought about the changes in their lives that have occurred over the past 12 years.  And now I have a quilt in front of me to remind me of each of them, to remind me to pray for them and to remind me to thank the Lord for the time we had together so many years ago.

A treasure trove of memories.

Pieced together over the years.

On my lap and in my heart.

You girls are all very special to me.

CathyH

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy at Amy's Creative Side is, again, hosting a Quilt Festival Online.  What a wonderful way to see a Festival of Quilts - in your own home at your computer.

I always seem to have a few quilts In-Progress, completed quilts are - well - rare.  2012 was to be my Year of Finishes.  Maybe I should call 2012 my Year of Almost-Finishes!!

I want to show you one quilt I finished this year:

The pieced blocks in this quilt were given to me by my Bee Sisters last Christmas.  I, in turn, made 12 different blocks so that my Bee Sisters could each make whatever kind of quilt they planned.  You can see the revealing of these blocks at this blogpost.

I used a couple of special techniques in making this quilt.  First - I made the setting squares by making quick quarter square triangles. I love the way these triangles frame the pieced blocks!!   Here are some pictures of the steps I took to make these blocks.  You can see my blogpost about this technique here.

I also used the Quilt-as-you-go method to quilt this.  I quilted each block separately, on my regular old Kenmore, then joined the fronts together, then hand-sewed the seams in the back.

I loved using Quilt-as-you-go for these reasons:

I used only fabric from my stash.  I had a variety of reds - none of them large enough for the back.  

The back and the quarter square triangles on the front are made from a whole bunch of different red fabrics. Additionally, I used scraps of batting that I had on hand.  I did not have to buy any batting.

And the BACK of the quilt is almost as fun as the front!!

To keep track of which block goes where, I numbered the blocks.  I used a slip of paper with the block number on it and just sewed the paper onto the block until I had the rows sewn together.

Here you can see the blocks on my design wall before I added the border blocks.  If you look carefully, you can see the number tags - and one of the quarter-square-triangle setting blocks put on the design wall incorrectly.

I am so glad that I asked my Bee Sisters to make Red and White Blocks.

And I am SO HAPPY with the results!!

It just makes me smile.

Blogger Quilt Festival #436
Quilt measurements: 72" x 72"
Special techniques: Quilt-as-you-go and Quick-Quarter-Square-Triangles
Designed by me, Quilted on my Kenmore.
Pieced work by my Bee Sisters
Best catagories: Favorite 2 Color Quilt
                          Favorite Bee Quilt
                          Favorite Home Machine Quilted Quilt


You can look at the other Blogger Quilt Festival Quilts.

Red and White.

I like it.

CathyH