Snail Improv

Double Wedding Rings in Red

Fall 2024: This quilt was given as a wedding gift. The pattern is Metro Rings by @sewkindofwonderful , a double wedding ring pattern. Image description: two photos of a quilt. Large intersecting rings are pieced from a variety of red and white printed fabrics on a white background (actually several different white-on-white prints). Where the rings intersect, red and white striped fabric surrounds patchwork diamonds. The binding is a red and white print with a small striped flange. The backing fabric is red and white toile featuring birds and leafy branches. I added an embroidered label with hearts and birds.

The Hula Hula Quilt

Summer-Fall 2024: Last summer at the @midappalachianquilters symposium, I took a two-day class with Julie Belin of @blueoaksquilting. We followed the @quiltworx #AntiqueLighthouse pattern, combining foundation paper piecing, traditional piecing, and curved piecing to form a multi-layered eight-pointed star over a circle, for a small quilt. My sewing table neighbor during the class said my fabric choices were “gutsy.” I just completed the quilt over the weekend, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out! I chose fabrics designed by @laurelburchstudios for @clothworkswa . The star points have fabrics with zebra, leopard, pink spotted, green spotted, black on black spotted, and gold on white sparkle patterns. The circle has a floral on black fabric surrounded by multicolor striped points and a floral on blue background. The border is a jungle print with brightly patterned animals amongst green grass with gold accents. The blinding continues the small colorful stripes. The backing features colorful elephants. I used gold metallic thread for quilting to add even more sparkle.

Cats for the Couch

October 2024: Anniversary gift for my husband, this quilt is for hanging out with our #CatsOnACouch. The pattern is “Crazy Cat Lady 2” by @ladeebugdesign with fabric from the No Ordinary Cats collection by Bonnie LeMaire for @northcottfabric image description: two photos of a lap-sized quilt featuring 30 blocks (6 rows of 5 blocks), 24 blocks are paper-pieced abstract cat faces; two are swirly “cat tails,” two hearts, and two twisting log cabin designs. The background and sashing fabric is gray with dots; the cat-themed fabrics are red, black, cream, and gray with silly cats and cat-phrases like “life is better with a cat.” There is a narrow red border next to the scrappy binding. The minky backing fabric (not shown) features a red, black, and white cat pattern

W’s Little Spark

Fall 2024: Quilting is a fantastic stress relief. I hope this makes you smile! I completed this quilt a couple of months ago for a friend’s nephew-to-be. The baby arrived and the quilt has been gifted to the family (who I’m told are big fans of a certain purple dragon from a magical world in Florida). The pattern is #DragonDreams by @applesandbeavers, with colors inspired by goldensunshine429 on r/quilting. Image descriptions: front and back of a baby quilt featuring a large purple dragon with orange spikes and a pink belly sleeping in the lower right corner with his friendly, spiky tail wrapping up the right border and around the upper right corner. The background is white with tiny, shiny orange dots. I pieced a large letter W with orange, red, gold, and purple fabrics for the empty space in the upper left corner of the quilt. I chose a backing fabric from Spoonflower (designer DisneyBoundDresses)with a red/yellow/orange/purple geometric, Spaceship Earth-like pattern. The embroidered quilt try label has a dragon tail and the words “one little spark.”

Critter Pillows

Fall 2024: some smaller pillow projects inspired by fabric finds. These photos are of two sets of throw pillows, two pillows in each set. The first set includes a large rectangular pillow and a smaller square pillow featuring a turtle (traditionally pieced) and foundation paper pieced animals (crab, woodpecker, kingfisher), and fabrics featuring birds designed by artist @charleyharperart (found at @artistic_artifacts during the Mid Atlantic Shop Hop #AMASH). There are several close-up photos of the pieced critters. Blocks of fabric and the pieced blocks are sashed with vertical and horizontal rows of small, coordinating flying geese (red, blue, green, grey, gold). The second set of pillows uses cat-themed fabric, #Catsville by @garethlucasart from @windhamfabrics . These large square pillows have different arrangements of gold/brown, black, yellow, and pink prints, including blocks with simple pink and black cat head shapes on yellow backgrounds.

Night Owls

Spring 2024: a quilt for me! I made this quilt to snuggle into while watching TV, though I’m guessing it will get even more use by our cats. The pattern I followed is #Foxfire. This pattern and many of the fabrics are from the #Nightfall collection by @ArtGalleryFabrics Image description: square quilt made from 25, 14×14 inch blocks. The center of each block features a large “fussy cut” square of fabric with either an owl or a woodland scene. Rectangles and triangles on the sides and corners of the blocks form a secondary pattern of diagonals and stripes when the blocks are joined together. The fabrics are varying shades of navy, aqua, pink, silver, white, and gold, with flowers, moons, dragonflies, stars, and owls. I quilted parallel, diagonal lines following the secondary patterns in the quilt. The backing is a flannel fabric with flowers on a navy background. The binding is comprised of scraps from the quilt top.

Wild & Wonky

Spring 2024: I can only claim partial credit. This quilt top was pieced by Elizabeth “Libby” McDaniel of Richmond, VA. Other quilters (including my mom) and I are helping to finish numerous quilt tops on Ms. McDaniel’s behalf after her passing. The quilt will most likely go to a children’s hospital. Image description: This is an incredibly colorful throw-size quilt made from well over 100 square blocks. Each block is made from four fabric scraps around a central square in a “wonky” arrangement. I could not find any repeating fabrics in the entire quilt top. I added yellow backing fabric and tried out the ruler-quilting technique to quilt multiple pairs of large, concentric flower shapes using a variegated pink and yellow pattern which blends into the colorful front but is clearly visible on the back side of the quilt. I added a scrappy binding.

Navajo Sampler

Spring 2024: The pattern I followed is #OldNavajoSampler 2 by J. Michelle Watts and was a gift from co-workers when I was on detail in El Paso. Image description: a twin/lap-size quilt made from solid colored fabrics (red, black, terra cotta, turquoise, gold, cream, purple, and green). There are twelve different square blocks, each featuring a Navajo-inspired design (mostly geometric shapes and patterns). There is black sashing between and around the blocks and a red border. The binding is made from long strips of the solid color fabrics joined together. The backing features varying lengths black lines arranged like stitches on a cream background. I used an open zigzag stitch to quilt long vertical lines down the quilt, aligning with vertical seams is the patchwork. This, combined with a higher loft batting, gives the quilt a very soft, ribbed look and feel.

Wandering

Spring 2024: This pattern is #WanderersWife by @jenkingwell . If you don’t count the back and borders, it’s 98% scraps from previous quilt projects. Image description: four photos of a large quilt. The center is an asymmetrical arrangement of traditional quilt blocks of various sizes against a background of 1” vertical strips. I used fabrics from my “stash” which ranged in color from purple/pink to red to yellow/orange. The result is very vibrant! To reinforce it all in, I added several borders – starting around the center with purple and then orange, followed by a yellow and purple batik, then dark purple. The binding is an orange/gold fabric (also used for backing) with a thin orange flange. The back was pieced with the orange/gold print, a different orange/gold and red print, and leftover scraps and blocks from the front. Quilted by @quiltersstudiova with a dark purple thread in an all-over winding pattern of leaves and rosebuds.

Celebration

January 2024 This quilt was made in celebration of my mentor, colleague, and friend, as a gift for her retirement. I made a few adjustments (complications!) to the Sunshine Diamond Zig-Zag Quilt pattern by Janice Ryan (@betteroffthread ) for @modafabrics Moda Bakeshop. For the white background diamonds, I used Hush Hush 3 jelly roll strips from @rileyblakedesigns and for the colorful zig zag diamonds, I used Eufloria jelly roll strips from the #CreateJoyProject by Moda. Image description: my colleague, Glinda Hill, and I stand in front of a lap-sized quilt which is being held up behind us. The quilt features four colorful zig zags running width-wise across the quilt, separated by white zigzags which form a background. Each zigzag section is made from large diamonds set in alternating directions. Each large diamond is made of 9 smaller diamonds set in rows according to color to create colorful patterns in the overall design. The quilt has serpentine stitching (in large zigzags) and aqua binding.

Bit O’ Green

Spring 2024 I started this modified Irish chain quilt during a charity sew-in day with the Burke Quilters Unlimited guild chapter. I made a few tweaks to the “Charity Chain” pattern from @pinkdoxies This quilt will go to a soldier in the Soldier Transition Unit at at Ft. Belvoir. Image descriptions: photos showing the front and back of a green and gold, twin-size quilt. The quilt top is a patchwork of nine-patch and four-patch squares (green and gold) and solid rectangles and squares (shades of green), arranged so that there are diagonal patterns (chains) running across the quilt. The backing is a green fabric printed with a woven pattern. I used variegated green thread in both straight and serpentine stitch patterns to quilt intersecting diagonal lines over the quilt.