Confetti Log Cabin

My oldest niece is having her first baby in the fall, so that calls for a quilt!! I've been watching for just the right pattern for inspiration and finally found it! You just can't beat a log cabin pattern, IMHO!! But you can make it more fun!! This easy pattern uses four-patch squares as part of the log cabin design. I love the way it turned out. If you want to find this pattern, it's in the Quiltmaker Magazine, March/April '07.

A Quilt for Baby Chloe

I think my favorite quilts are the scrappy ones!! Chloe's parents have spent much of their lives growing up in Okinawa, so I tried to use fabrics that would remind them of this wonderful place -- and that would give them stories to tell to Chloe as she grows up! She'll also find, when she visits her cousin Justin, that her quilt has some of the same fabrics that were used in his quilt! Won't that be fun??

This pattern is called Bento Box. It's fun and easy!!

Another Stack & Whack!

At our class on Saturday, I worked on a new Stack & whack Pattern... I've had the focus fabric waiting for this pattern for quite awhile.... I find the quilt bold and busy -- hopefully the border will calm it down a bit!! :)

Fuji Kaleidescope Update

Making progress on this one! I've added borders... now I just need to get it layered and quilt it!!

Quilting Sensai

I'll be teaching this quilt at our next Okinawa International Patchwork Guild workshop on 9 June. It's an easy quilt to put together and turns out great, I think!

My First Stack and Whack!!

When I found this beautiful Asian print depicting Mount Fuji and cranes, I knew it would make an awesome Stack & Whack quilt!! Can YOU find the mountain and cranes in the stars on the quilt??

Sensai Barbie helped me to get the fabric laid out and showed me how to make the fabric match perfectly...





Isn't it amazing that every one of those hexagons came from the very same piece of fabric??? I'm going to use the original fabric as either a wide border or the quilt backing...

If you've never made a Stack & Whack before, I'd suggest that you add this technique to your repertoire!

"Love"ly Quilts!

I haven't posted quilts for awhile, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been quilting!!

Our quilting class in February had two heart quilts to celebrate the season... a scrappy patchwork heart and a woven heart. I decided to try to get both quilt tops done in class just because I wanted to make both of them.





For the scrappy patchwork hearts, I just went to my stash and found some scraps... it's bright and sassy!!


For the woven hearts, I had chosen some cute princess castle fabric -- this one is for my oldest grand-niece, Avery... she's really in to princesses and pink!! I think she'll love it... as soon as I get it done!

Quilting Retreat at Okuma

Barb, Rebecca, and I spent the weekend at Okuma with about 30 other quilters.

Here's pictures of the quilts we made while we were there. For pictures of quilts by other members, check out the OIPG Blog

Edo Town -- a Quaint Japanese quilt

I have loved this pattern for awhile... It's a fun way to use small pieces of Okinawan fabrics!

A Snails Trail for a Baby!!

Darryl and Rachel's daughter Amber is having a baby!! It's their first grandchild. We've been friends for a lot of years so we got to watch Amber grow up.. so, of course, I'll be making a baby quilt!

As I was trying to decide on fabrics for Saturday's class, I thought that these fabrics would make a fun baby quilt and a great snails trail.

This one was really fun!!

Quilting on Saturday

Second Saturday of the month = Okinawa International Patchwork Guild workshop!!

Today we worked on a holiday Bell Table Runner -- a ThimbleBerries pattern. It was fun and easy!!

I got the quilt top all pieced today during class! So... it's another UFO to add to the pile!

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!

Adding to the UFO pile! More quilts!!

I've been on a kimono binge lately! I found some really lovely kimono quilt patterns and just had to get started on them!!


This pattern is a great way to use up scraps of Asian print fabrics...


Here's a paper-pieced Christmas tree... nearly finished!!





















And here's a stained glass wall hanging -- also nearly finished! This was the project in October at the Okinawa International Patchwork Guild...

A Busy Quilting Weekend!!

Saturday was our regular Saturday quilting class at the Schilling Community Center. Sensai Barbie had two pattern options for us as she always does. I had fabric with me for both patterns, but since I'd already made the table runner a few months ago, I decided to start with the Santa. Lots of little pieces to cut out, but as Barbie had promised, the cutting was the hardest part!!

By early in the afternoon I was done with the Santa block and just had to finish the scrappy border...

I spent a few hours today layering the quilt and then began quilting it. It's one of my UFOs right now... but I'll get it done soon!!


I still had a few hours of class left, so I decided to cut out the Christmas Tree Table Runner... I got the tree blocks pieced at class and finished putting it all together today. So.. another UFO!!

More UFOs!! My Quilt Stash Continues to Grow!!

Two Saturdays each month I take a quilting class on Kadena Air Base. Barbie Knickerbocker is the instructor, and we just get together and have a great time! Today I used my class time to catch up on some of my recently finished quilts...

The project for this month was a Cat Quilt -- I made mine last week. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do this one because I'm not overly fond of cats... but then I had an idea!! I had just received some fabric that I wanted to use in a quilt for my former sister-in-law, Elaine... (Don't tell her!! It's supposed to be a surprise!!) According to Rebecca, she's been decorating with "zori"...


I have to admit, I LOVE the way this one turned out! It's still a UFO, though!


Another quilt that's nearly finished is one that's very special to me. In August, I decided to make a quilt using some fall colors... and Barbie helped me to decide on a maple leaf quilt. I started the quilt that evening. The next week, just before I was heading to Barbie's to quilt, my sister called with news that my Dad had just died. So this quilt is dedicated to my Dad... it's so appropriate, I think... one of my favorite memories from childhood is our yearly trips to Burton, Ohio, to get maple syrup. And then... eating that maple syrup on my Dad's special French toast!! YUMMY!!

My UFO's -- the unfinished quilts just keep on coming!

I've been told by people whom I trust to know this stuff, that the sign of a true quilter is that she will have LOTS of UFO's (UnFinishedObjects!)! If that's the case, I am truly a quilter!!

Now... unlike my friend -- another Jan -- I really DO like to finish them! But my favorite part is making the quilt tops, so I imagine I'll always have a few stacked up waiting for someone to help me with the layering... and then the quilting... and then that dreaded hand-sewn binding!!

Right now I have a whole bunch of UFOs... and during the last typhoon, when I should have been finishing some, I was just overcome with the urge to piece another one... I wonder if there's a 12-Step process for quilters??

Here's some of my current UFO's...

Amy's Quilt

Around the Twist -- Cranes and Kanji

My Typhoon Shanshan quilt

A paper-pieced Christmas Tree

My first radiant star -- his was FUN!!

There's a couple more, but I don't have pix of them yet... :)

Amy's quilt is quite purple!

When I asked my daughter Amy if she would like a quilt, she was excited. Her graduation quilt from her Aunt Barb was destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her only criteria -- she loves purple and she didn't want a white background color... No problems... I seldom use much white in my quilts!!

I had really already made another quilt for her -- a radiant star that I'll write about later -- but when I showed her both pictures, she liked this one better. I'm not surprised!

This is a rail fence pattern -- simple to piece...

Here's a little detail...

This one still needs to be layered and quilted. Once it's finished, I'll post a picture of Amy with her new quilt! But right now this one is in my UFO stack!! :)