A DEER FISH TALE OF A QUILT

My husband Todd and I celebrated our 30th anniversary this past September.  We decided to rent a house at the beach for a long weekend and take our two dogs (Booker and Parker) with us as they love the beach.  We had a wonderful time, the weather cooperated for the most part and the house we rented was perfect.  We were in Pacific City and apparently a large family of deer come through the neighborhood each day.  The neighborhood is right off the busy coastal highway.  One day while we were out the deer were in the neighborhood and looking to cross the highway.  Wouldn't you know it, Todd starts stopping traffic to help them cross while I'm behind the deer trying to get them to cross where Todd was.  Fortunately everyone made it safely.

During our stay we enjoyed eating at a few local restaurants, frequented the brew pub and drove around exploring the area.  The Pelican Pub and Brewery was a great stop and we enjoyed a wonderful meal at Delicate Palate Bistro for our anniversary.  We let the chef serve what he recommended.  Everything was wonderful!

While we were out exploring I saw a road sign for a quilt shop.  Really?  This is a small coastal area (I mean really small).  Todd was a good sport and agreed to make a stop.  We drove down this long gravel road and came upon a large house.  The quilt store was in the basement and was amazing!  I couldn't believe how much fabric was in the shop.  By the way, the shop is called BJ's Fabrics & Quilts and she has a website: www.bjsfabricsquilts.com

I was working on making quilts for Christmas and have a brother in law who enjoys fishing and the outdoors.  I just couldn't find the right fabrics around town (or other stops around the state).  Anyway, I found great fabrics to coordinate along with some other goodies.  Did I mention that Todd waited patiently in the car for me?  

I decided to make both my brothers in law the same pattern of quilt using a five piece squares.  It is amazing how different two quilts can look even when using the same pattern. I backed it with a warm cozy flannel as my brother in law is a long-haul truck driver.  My friend Gail did the long arming.  We decided upon a rather simple pattern given how busy the fabric is.  

The anniversary weekend was wonderful and I look forward to future stays in Pacific City to enjoy time with the hubby and pups, good food and beer and of course another stop at BJ's!

SPA COLLECTION BATIKS AND A BIG BLOCK PATTERN

When it came to making a quilt for my mother in law I decided to work with a collection of batiks from Keepsake Quilting.  I had the fabric for several months before finally deciding on a pattern.  I found a pattern called The Big Blocks Quilt by Black Cat Creations that I thought would accent the fabrics well.  I bordered the blocks with narrow strips of white and believe the overall look turned out nicely.  The colors are a bit more vivid that the photo shows.

The small borders are a great accent but can be a bit of a challenge to work with.

The back is a very soothing batik
I decided to keep it simple so as
not to take away from the front.

The final size is 53" x 71" which is a nice size to sit on the couch with to read a book or watch TV.  I'd like to make another quilt with this pattern but with bolder colors.  I imagine it will have a completely different look and feel.

SISTERS BOTH WITH GIRLS NAMED KATIE

My sister and I each have a girl named Katie. My sister's Katie is older and happens to be a horse so we always tell our daughter that she was named after a horse.

FUN WITH ORANGE, CIRCLES AND TREES!

My brother in law is a single father with two boys.  All are very into soccer so I designed a quilt and selected fabrics that incorporated that in a rather abstract way, circles.  The color orange was chosen as it is a family favorite color and the trees on the back represent the strength and stability my brother in law brings to his boys.  

This was actually a very simple pattern that went together quickly.  Each block is made of five 2" strips and I flipped the blocks when attaching to come up with the pattern.  Once fun thing about this quilt is all the stops involved in selecting fabrics.  They were selected at different times from different stores but believe they blend together well.  I kept the longarming pattern rather simple as the patterns are quite busy.

I love how the longarming
accents the back

Thank you Katie for holding
up the quilt - cute toes!

STRIPS & SPARKS - The making of a quilt from strips

I've always admired quilts made from strips of fabric and thought I'd make one as a gift.  Apparently there are several different methods to assemble a quilt from strips.  After researching different methods I decided to purchase a pattern from Keepsake Quilting as I've had good results with previous patterns.

The quilt I made was for my father in law who is a lover of nature.  I selected the fabrics from different quilting stores in Western Washington.  The fabrics were a mixture of batiks and fabrics with leaves or bark looking patterns.  The fun thing about making this quilt is the way it goes together.   You sew a total of 74 strips end to end until you have one strip 2" wide and over 1600" long.  Fold it in half, sew together and trim the end.  Repeat again and again and again (you get the idea).  I then added two borders and made the back of a really cozy flannel.

COME WHAT MAY QUILT

I generally design the quilts I make but decided to purchase a pattern and fabric from Keepsake Quilting.  I had been told that their fabrics were top quality and found that to be true.  The pattern was actually a book with three different size options.  The amount of fabric shipped was more than enough to complete the project (always great to add more fabric to the stash, right?).  The finished size for the quilt I chose to make was 64" x 80" and made with a total of 24 blocks.  One of my favorite things about the pattern is how the quilt blocks "disappear" within the quilt.  Each block consists of nine pieces of fabric but when assembled you will see that fabrics connect to make the block pattern blend in with the next block.  The fabric for the back looks like a watercolor, fresh and beautiful colors.

I made the quilt for my parents for Christmas this year.  We live about 200 miles apart so we met up for lunch after Christmas and exchanged gifts.  Apparently the quilt was put to good use right away as my brother drove my parents home and my father napped in the back of the car with the quilt.  The pattern was a fun one to work with and will likely make another one day (perhaps a lap-sized version).