Yet another snow day from school today...  time to add photos to the blog :)  Following are pictures of 3 baby quilts that I made and donated to Operation Homefront.  I hope some child loves them!

Recently I also created and donated 2 lap quilts to a local rehabilitation center.  Both were 'whole-cloth' quilts meaning that they were made of a whole piece of cloth - no piecing.  They both gave me plenty of opportunity to practice my quilting on my longarm machine.

Hard to believe that spring should be just around the corner after the winter we've had in Northern Virginia this year.  I think you can tell a lot about the weather by how many snow days the public schools take.  And, being a teacher, this is something I'm on top of - to date, 11 snow days and 4 two-hour delays!  Although snow days make good quilting days, I'm back-pedaling at school now to make sure my students will have everything they need before testing season is upon us.  You'd think with all those snow days I would have found time to post some pictures.  Alas, not so.  But now it's time to catch up with some Christmas gift quilts.  Enjoy!

My mother-in-law recently changed up her family room with silvers, blues, and browns.  While visiting with her over the summer - she lives in Wisconsin - I stopped in Nancy's Notions Shop which is nearby.  I couldn't resist these batiks that were perfect for my mother-in-law's family room.  I found a fun pattern in a quilting magazine and am pleased with how it turned out.  However, I had a terrible time finding backing fabric that worked.  So, what to do...  Cut up all the leftover fabric into 6 inch strips and a lovely back was born!

While on the same trip to Wisconsin I found a lovely fabric - the flowered fabric you see in the next pictures.  It really reminded me of my mom who loves to garden.  And after thinking about it, it dawned on me that I had never made a quilt for my own parents - all my siblings had one, but not my mom and dad.  So, off to work I went on a quilt for my parents.

Although very little of the flowered fabric is on the front, it's also the backing fabric.  My husband always helps find great spots to photograph quilts.  We took a number of pictures with this quilt, and it was a fun walk on a cold, cold day near Lake Anne.

My parent's quilt turned out great, but it was my mom's quilt.  I knew my dad would like it too.  But, now I was thinking I had to do something special for him.  In came the birds!  My dad loves to watch birds so I went in search of bird fabric - not an easy task!  I lucked upon a great panel on ebay and quickly developed an idea for a wall hanging of watching birds through a window. 

Notice the same colors in this quilt as in my mom's quilt.  It was so much fun to put together these two projects for my mom & dad!!  Recently my mom sent a picture of their family room - it's always great to see your work being displayed and enjoyed.

I've been quilting for a long time - in fact I feel old when I start thinking about it.  I completed my first quilt in 1988.  It was a twin-sized double Irish Chain.  I still have leftover fabric from it that I just can't seem to part with.  It pains me to think about piecing it since I had no clue what a rotary cutter was back then, not to mention strip piecing or chain piecing!  Every little square was done individually.  No wonder many of the seams didn't line up :/  The piecing and quilting were done on my domestic machine - at the time, an old machine my mother had found for me at a yard sale.  My husband often helped by pressing seams.  During the quilting phase, he would sit at the back of the sewing machine and pull while I pushed - it was quite the ordeal!  Overall, the quilt ended up pretty nice and I was hooked. 

My college roommate had made a quilt for our wedding and she was my inspiration for getting started.  So, in turn, I made a quilt for my high school friend's wedding the following year.  At this point I had upgraded to a nice Kenmore machine.  Between friends and family getting married and my own children's births, I kept up my new hobby of quilting. 

Joshua's Quilt - 1991

Christopher's Quilt - 1992
(although I have to confess...  the quilt wasn't finished until his first birthday
in 1993 - two in diapers doesn't leave a lot of time for quilting )

But, having young kids and working full-time does not leave a lot of time for hobbies.  I dabbled a bit here and there, stitched up some Halloween costumes, created a bed quilt for each of my sons (they had long outgrown their baby quilts), did lots of mending...  Wished I could do more :(
 

 

Joshua's Twin Bed Quilt - early 2000's

 Christopher's Twin Bed Quilt - early 2000's

Then came along my first Viking machine and some time to craft since my children were growing up and had their own hobbies to attend to (lots of sports!)  My co-worker's wife was having a baby - a baby boy!  What a great excuse to make a quilt.  My co-worker,  a math teacher, also happened to be my boys' wrestling coach.  Now, how to design a quilt for a little boy whose daddy was a math teacher and a wrestling coach??

It was a no-brainer, and turned into a family affair planning out the design. 

Just wanted to share another quilt that I completed this summer.  When I knew the delivery date of my longarm quilting machine - end of June - I knew that I would need practice material to help me feel comfortable using the machine.  My friend had passed on lots of fabric from her mother who had recently downsized so I had lots in my stash to choose from.  I went with the burgundies and quickly put together a disappearing nine-patch. 

With all the sashing and piecing, I had wonderful practice material to try many different quilting patterns. 

 

To finish it all off I had my first attempt at a scalloped edge.  I think it turned out great!  Now, what to do with it???  We only have so many beds in the house!

 

Although I love quilting, I do create items other than quilts.  I'm not a purse gal, never have been.  Yet, I still need something to hold a wallet, phone, and a few small items in when I'm out and about.  What better way to show off some fun fabric!  Check out these purses - just the perfect size :)

How about a badge holder?  So many of us need to wear an identification badge while at work.  I like to use my embroidery machine to create personalized badge holders.  

Last spring I was asked to put together a quilt for my friend's parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Over the years her parents had 'Cousin Camp' during the summers for their grandchildren.  Each year the kids were given a different color t-shirt that Grandpa had decorated.  Often the kids added their own decorations as well.  The t-shirt were nice!  I was able to find a striped fabric that contained most of the bright colors and went to town piecing.  With the addition of a few embroidered blocks, the quilt was finished. 

 

Sharing another quilt...

School is in full swing now...  Too much grading to do, not enough time for quilting :(  Here's a quilt I created this summer.  Hopefully posting it will give me incentive to quilt this weekend.

It's made with Robert Kaufman's Whisper Prints.  Zoom in and you can pick out the 16 different fabrics.  It was a lot of fun working on it - but nearly drove me crazy trying to keep all the piecing organized.