More finished quilts!!

I went to the guild workshop yesterday, but instead of working on the project of the day, I just finished up two quilts that were UFO.... I'd have LOVED to work on the project, but since my "stash" is on its way to our new home, and I didn't really want to buy MORE fabric to do this one... I exercised a little restraint!! :)

Here's my latest!!

This one is a Stack n Whack... and is actually a "bonus quilt" that I made from leftover kaleidscope blocks... I like this one WAY BETTER than the original! If you've never made one of these -- all of the kaleidescopes were cut from the same fabric, which is used for the border... hard to believe, isn't it??




and this is a very special quilt for a very special new person!! Nora Margaret is my newest grand-niece.... I hope she will spend many happy hours on or under this quilt!!

Yummy Sushi! Yoga Mat Backpack

My youngest son, Nathan, is all about fitness!! He originally decided to take Pilates because "there's hot chicks in that class"... (so maybe he's not ALL about fitness LOL)... but now he really loves Pilates!!

So, I found this cool pattern for a backpack for his yoga mat.... and he also really loves sushi, so this is perfect fabric for him!

When I told him that I'd made him a pack for his yoga mat and then he saw the picture he said, "Whew!! I was afraid it was going to be 'girly'!"

Cute Bags!!

OK... I know I should be sorting and organizing and generally getting ready to move.... but I was just drawn to quilting this weekend!!! You see I had a couple of new patterns and some fabric that was just begging to move into the "finished quilts" section!!

So... I exhibited just enough self-control to fill the back seat of the car with stuff to take to the thrift shop -- and then I started sewing!! :)

A Snails Trail for Justin

I'm on a roll!! I just finished this baby quilt for Baby Justin... I love the cute little turtles and the fishies...

I Finished the Mystery Quilt!!

This was our mystery quilt from the OIPG retreat at Okuma... lots of little pieces... it's amazing how such a small quilt can take SOOOOO long to piece!! I got it all done at the retreat and then it sat in my UFO pile just waiting for me to put on the binding and finish it...

A Quilt for a Princess

This quilt is for my oldest grand-niece, Avery... she's 5 years old, and quite the "girly-girl"... She has a "princess room" at her grandparents' house, so I thought this would be PERFECT for her!

Cranes and Kanji

I finished this quilt top months ago, but it just sat in that UFO pile waiting for some attention.... a couple of months ago, I made the "quilt sandwich," quilted it, and sewed on the binding... and then it went back into that UFO pile, waiting for me to be drawn to finishing it...




I decided to take it with me when I went to visit my Mom, because I knew I would find some time to finish it there -- and I did!!

A Quilt for Jeff and Marie!

I completed this quilt top when we were stuck in the house during a typhoon this summer. Then it went into my UFO stack waiting for that "urge" to go farther with it... finding the right backing fabric, making the quilt "sandwich," quilting it -- and then hand-sewing the binding. That last part always keeps them in the UFO stack for awhile!! :)



But it's finally done -- and I really LIKE it!!



Let me tell you a bit about this quilt... I found the fabric while I was visiting my Mom in Bloomington, IN this summer. Jeff and Marie had hosted our family for a GREAT family reunion, and we'd spent lots of wonderful family time on their fabulous front porch. This front porch is really amazing -- more like a casual living room, complete with a stone fireplace. I know that Jeff and Marie and their friends spend a lot of time out there, and I just thought that they needed a quilt for their sofa. Marie had recently recovered the cushions on the sofa, so I "borrowed" a piece of that fabric and took it with me the next time I went fabric shopping. I found the two yellow prints that just seemed to want to be together... the paisley and the floral blend together in the quilt until you look closely... then the dark blue print just seemed like the perfect fabric to pull it all together! I found the backing fabric here in Okinawa... the colors were perfect and it just seemed like a fun fabric for a "porch quilt"! Now that I had the fabric, I had to figure out what pattern to use... I pored through books... turning down pages... searched internet pages and found lots of possibilities... and then I ran across http://www.quiltswithstyle.com and found this pattern called Folkloristisch. The pattern was inspired by traditional Dutch dance steps. I made a few pattern modifications so that I could strip-piece it (this was the my first attempt at doing that with a pattern all on my own!!)



Since you're reading about this quilt for my brother, you might be interested in Jeff's website

Quilted Star Table Runner -- A Bright Spot on a Gloomy Day!!

This is one of the first quilts I made, but it stayed in my UFO stack for a long time!! It was time to get it done!! It was just the project for brightening up our gloomy winter weather!!

Kimono Quilts

I'm really enjoying my time off!! Yesterday I took Nathan to get a new ID card and drivers' license and shopping for clothes... as soon as we got back home, it took off to spend time with Ashley, of course!!

So I got caught up on some computer stuff, and then settled in at the sewing machine!

I had some little projects started, so I got those finished...



Rachel and Darryl Rice joined us Christmas evening for a traditional rousing game of Mexican Train. Rachel admired the kimono wall hanging in our entry way, so I had her pick out some fabric so that I could make one for them...





This little kimono quilt is fun to make and a great way to use small pieces of fabric... I like the way these colors came out...











My friend, Jan gave me some fat quarters of Okinawan prints for Christmas. I love the way they look in the Dancing Kimono pattern.










I finished this one for a Christmas present for a Greg and Sarah Sharp...

Just in time for Christmas!! A Santa Quilt!

This guy has been done for awhile -- except for the button eyes.. and the red bead nose for Rudolf! It was Barbie's idea to make one of the reindeer on the background fabric into a Rudolf... kinda cute, I think!!

A Maple Leaf in Memory of Dad...

I finished this one this evening...

This quilt is a maple leaf design, and I decided to shadow quilt it.

This quilt is pretty special to me because I was working on it when my Dad died, 16 August 2006... and it seemed so fitting that it would be dedicated to him. One of my fondest memories of childhood was our yearly trips to Burton, Ohio to get maple syrup. My Mom and Dad continued to make that trip every year to get a supply of syrup for the family. When we lived in Germany and Korea, my Mom would mail me a half-gallon of syrup each spring... the postage was probably way more than the syrup was worth... but oooooohhh, it was good!!

I'd Rather Be Quilting!!

How can it be that after a four-day weekend, I’m still not ready to go back to work???

Oh well… it was still fun! We had friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving — the Rice family (we’ve celebrated most of our Thanksgivings together since 1994!!) and Greg and Sarah Sharp joined us for a pleasant afternoon of good company and great (and way too much!) food…. Greg and Sarah had to leave early, but Darryl and Rachel stayed for a rousing game of Mexican Train. I won!!

The rest of the weekend, I spent a lot of time quilting…. most of the time I quilted at home, but Saturday was our regular class at the Schilling Community Center. I finished a few projects this weekend… and started a few more!!

This one is finished! I'm pretty pleased with the results -- and I was amazed at how easy the stained glass technique is. Bernina's double needle makes all the difference!!


This is a paper-pieced kimono -- another Castelleja Cottons pattern. The pattern actually calls for 9 of these squares to make a quilt -- each of the kimonos uses different fabric. I think I prefer it as a smaller wall hanging. Can you see the detail in the quilting on the gold fabric?

This is a Bento Box pattern. If you google Bento Box,
I think you'll discover that it's a wonderful Japanese
concept!! It really puts the regular American "sack lunch"
to shame!!

This is a mini Trip Around the World... really fun to put together!

Amy's quilt is finished!!

I finally finished the last bit of handsewing on Amy's quilt and cleaned up all the straggling threads!! This is a simple rail fence pattern -- really easy to put together!! As you can see, I decided to use two of the purples to form the wide border -- I really like the way that worked out!

It's quilted by stitch-in-the-ditch outlining the dark purple fence rail.... then the sections between those dark fence rails are quilted in free-motion that include some stars...



The "label on the back documents that the quilt is for Amy and her husband for Christmas 2006, and that it was made by me in Okinawa, Japan

Quilted Rail Fence Reversible Quilted Bag

The Okinawa International Patchwork Guild met the first Saturday in November for our monthly workshop. This month’s project was taught by Yuriko. When Yuriko originally made this pattern, she did all of the work by hand, but many of us in the guild are too addicted to instant gratification to even consider hand-piecing and quilting!

We started with three coordinating fabrics and strip-pieced them into a rail fence quilt tops for the body of the bag, the handle, and the bottom. Then we layered the quilt tops, batting, and backing fabric and quilted each piece. Yuriko provided patterns for the pieces of the bag.

The most difficult part of this project for me was sewing on the bottom of the bag!

Happi Coat Quilted Wall Hanging

I've been on a "kimono kick" lately... this is the first of the kimono projects that I finished.

This was a fun little piece to do -- the Happi coats are appliqued. The quilt is about 16" by 16". The backing is the same carp fabric used in the wide border.

The pattern is by Castilleja Cotton

Fabric is all from Sanzo's here in Okinawa

My Scrappy Kitties Quilt

Scrappy Cats was the class project in October. At first, I wasn't going to make this one because I'm not overly fond of cats. But as I look at patterns to use the fabric I had recently gotten, I thought that it might be a fun thing to do.

My daughter told me that her Aunt Elaine likes "flip flops," so when I decided to make my former sister-in-law a quilt, I searched for fabric that would fit her theme. I found two "focus fabrics" that I thought would be perfect -- the multi-colored flip flops on a black background and the hot pink batik...


















Once I decided to use those fabrics for the Scrappy Cats, I invaded my stash and found some great brights to add to the quilt.




This was a pretty quick quilt to piece. By the end of the all-day class, I had the top all pieced, including the scrappy border! I still needed to applique the hearts, layer the quilt top with batting and a brightly colored backing, and then quilt it. Today, I finished hand sewing the binding.




...I really like this one -- and I think Elaine will LOVE it!! I hope she doesn't see it here before she gets it in the mail!!

An Asian Anniversary Quilt...

I have a very dear cyber-friend who has loved my quilts since I started making them. As his wedding anniversary approached, I agreed to make a quilt for an anniversary present for his wife... He said he liked "minimalist Japanese prints"... so I think I found just the right fabric! See what YOU think!! :)