Wild Horses and a Quilt

Not a new quilt, but one I love. Made a couple of years ago.

And horses. These are some of the 13 wild horses that were rescued and that are looking for a new home. Some friends have loaned their land as a temporary haven. 

(Moses, the standard poodle, checking out the quilt)

The quilt was made from leftover green bits, sewn log cabin style and then squared and framed with shot cottons. My friend Terry did the meandering machine quilting for me.

Each block started with a black and white print crumb of fabric, no bigger than a 2-inch square. It's so relaxing when there's no measuring, just sewing, two blocks at a time to chain piece, adding a scrap, pressing and building without any worry about matching seems. Once the blocks were squared, the strips of shot cotton were added to contain the organized chaos. Like little modern abstracts, framed so you notice each composition.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Scrappy Works for Me

 We finished a few quilts one morning for Project Linus. This was my favorite. I love scrappy randomness that has a bit of order to it. Just like life.




Make it a Wonderful Life!

Independence Day Dresden Plates

Happy Independence Day!

Here are a few dresden plates I've made for American Hero Quilts. (Surprisingly easy to make!)

We're making red, white, and blue blocks every month and we'll have a sew day to put the quilts together sometime in the fall or winter. 

Our quilt group continues to support the efforts of American Hero Quilts to give quilts to injured service men and women. I look forward to the day when we won't need to make any more. Yes, that is my hope.

Make it a wonderful day!

Kawandi Adventure: Quilts by Margaret Fabrizio

We visited this show of beautiful quilts at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. 

All so beautiful! And then something really fun happened- as we drove away from the museum, I saw a woman dressed in an artful way, and I recognized her from a short video of Margaret that was included in her show.

I had Dave stop the car so I could get out and tell her how much I enjoyed her quilts. (No photo of our meeting- I'd left my camera in the car and Dave had driven off to get gas.)

We walked back to the museum together, along with the two gentlemen who were with her. We chatted about art and quilts.

 I found out that it was Margaret's 85th birthday that day- so great to see all of this creative energy and beautiful current work. That inspires me.

Her quilts appeal to me on so many levels. I love the connection to the Indian quilting tradition. I love the vibrant, saturated colors. I love the spontaneous, seemingly haphazard compositions. The textures created by the rows and rows of hand stitching. And the use of every scrap and the attention that brings to the beauty around us, even in the bits others might just throw away.


Make it a Wonderful Day!

March Quilt Group Friday

A couple of old gals came to our quilt group today. (I can't believe I used the word "gals"….)

These were made for Helen by her mom a long time ago. Helen's been going through things and came across them, packed away and missing their outfits.  I loved their sweet faces. Helen's going to make them some new cloths, probably Kaffe brights. 

Helen also brought a fabulous quilt she's been working on, and one she may hand quilt.

And she made a block using some very small leftovers from a previous quilt. Hope she makes more of these!

Our group is trying a new project for quilts to donate. Each month is an assigned color. We'll see what we wind up with, but the plan is: Make a 12" block using any pattern and any combination of fabrics that read as the assigned color. So this month's color is green.  Someone will take that month's blocks and sew them together, adding sashing or whatever they want to finish the sampler quilt top. We shall see… hopefully, this will work!!

We're also continuing to support American Hero Quilts. So each month, we'll also bring a red, white, and blue block.

Ardith's working on a Halloween quilt that started with the center and corner panels and she's added borders.

 Lori made this fox pillow for a grand who loves to read...

 And Nan made not one but three baby quilts…

(These are a couple of matching burp cloths.)

And Nan made this challenging quilt. Lots of curved seems along with appliquéd circles too.

Jenny brought a 30's reproduction fabrics quilt with hand appliqués.

I didn't get a photo of Marsha's Aunt Gracie blocks- she donated a quilt and now is making another one to keep.
But I did get a photo of her daughter's clay bunny. M is grown now, but her bunny makes an appearance every spring. His ears are a bit shorter than they used to be, but I love him.

Thank you Marsha for the fabulous lunch and for hosting us today.



Make it a wonderful day!