Christmas Bride Quilt

I am sharing my quilts with you on my blog.  I shall try to put a new one on it the beginning of the month every month (if I live long enough....ha)  Does that tell you how many quilts I've made and kept in my quilting career.  I have made oodles that I've given away as presents for some reason or another.  I even forgot to take pictures of several of them.
Today's quilt is a celebration quilt that I made in honor of Sweet Precious Mr. Whoozy, my husband at this writing, and my deceased 1st husband Sweet Dear Dave.  I married one of them on the 23rd of December and the other one Dec. 28th.  I love Christmas weddings.  It is hectic getting ready for one, but so beautiful to decorate the church for such an occasion at Christmas time.
This quilt is mostly applique, mostly done by hand with pieced blocks here and there.  It is highly embellished, so I hope you'll enjoy looking at each block while you're here at my blog.
Being a musician, the music blocks are the actual notes to "Here Comes the Bride."  The little "bow tie" blocks are fun to piece and they are on the bottom row of the quilt.  Paper pieced little church and hearts are also fun to make.  I love poinsettias, so they are my own pattern.
The use of so much red and green just makes the quilt cheery!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU QUILTERS OUT THERE. 
I  PRAY FOR A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR, WITH GOOD HEALTH FOR ALL.  QUILTERS LIVE A LONG LIFE, DUE TO THE SOCIAL INTERACTION WITH OTHER QUILTERS.  STITCH, STITCH, STITCH!!

My Album Quilt

I'm sure all of you know that I have another life besides this blog......just teasing...........but, I try to get the picture on here that I talk about in my newspaper articles........but, sometimes, I am a little delayed in doing so........today, I got something in my eye about 4 o'clock this afternoon and have just now gotten normal vision..............so here is my Album quilt for you to see.. It is a work of love. It is all by hand....not a machine stitch on it..............except the embroidery for names, etc. enjoy.......

Those Autumn Leaves are still falling

Such fun working with autumn leaves. I shall continue to tell you to save the leaves to use for quilting. There are so many things we can do with God's nature found just outside your window. Thought you'd like to view one of these blocks up close to see the details of the satin stitching and quilting.

My Admiral Quilt

Some of you have just seen a picture of My Admiral quilt that I made a few years ago. It is truly one of my "treasures" to pass down to family in years to come. It is "priceless" as the items sewn onto the quilt can never be duplicated. I promised to show you the back of the quilt. It has a pic. of My Admiral.....and a folder that has his entire career printed on it and folded onto the back of the quilt. It has a "legend" that tells the origin of each squadron patch on the front of the quilt. This type of thing is necessary on this kind of quilt, as in years to come, it will be harder to trace the meaning of some of the patches. I shall be putting the front of the quilt onto this blog in a few weeks. It is a difficult quilt to photograph as it is so very large.

Autumn Leaves Quilt

NOVEMBER JUST BRINGS TO MIND AUTUMN LEAVES FALLING ALL AROUND US NO MATTER WHERE WE LIVE. Fond days of raking leaves, piling them up and kids jumping into them and spreading them all out all over the lawn again, comes to mind, too. The beautiful leaves on the massive trees in North Carolina triggered my brain to make a quilt as if I were looking through a window.....thus, I used the attic window quilt pattern that I shall put on this blog this next week. This quilt was made from drawing around the actual leaves that I had gathered out of my yard up in the mountains of NC, using them for my patterns. The added little picture of the water wheel in the center came as an afterthought. It added a little action to the quilt and a little more interest, I thought. Quilting the leaves was easy, as I had the actual leaf veins to copy, using metallic threads for interest. I like a little glitz on some of my quilts. I shall be putting pictures of my quilts that I have made over the years, for you to see on this blog. I'll share some of the patterns with you as well. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Seminole Patchwork

For ones of you who do not live in Florida, the Seminole Indians inhabited the state many many years ago but now live on reservations in the southern part of the state in an area called the Everglades. They also have reservations around Pensacola in the panhandle of Florida. Many years ago, the Indians were given treadle sewing machines and remnants from fabric bolts that were donated to them from clothing manufacturers in the U.S. They were very creative, and started sewing the remnants into strips in beautiful patterns that they named from nature, such as fire, lightening, turtles, man on horseback, etc. I have given some of the more prevalent patterns for you to see. The patchwork is always done on the sewing machine and is relatively easy to duplicate. There are many books written about this, but you'll enjoy seeing a skirt that I made before I was known as a "quilter." I just loved to sew, and this idea intrigued me to no end.! I made many items using the patchwork patterns. The more intricate patterns were made by the Indians for their own clothing. They did not share the patterns with anyone. The items that they made to sell back in the 20's and 30's, were made using the more simple patterns. I am showing you a beautiful piece of the early Seminole that a friend of mine bought many years ago when she lived in Miami. This piece has one of those more difficult patterns, and thus, makes it more valuable. I'm sure you can pick out which patterns are difficult to duplicate!

Continuous Binding for quilts

Continuous Binding is very simple to make. Some judges at juried quilt shows will pick up a quilt and look at the binidng, and if it is not a bias binding, they will be even bother to judge it. Now, doesn't that get your attention? It certainly did me, back in Ft. Worth, Tx when I watched a judge do just that! I know that all of you know that quilts with scallops or curved edges have to have bias bindings to make them lay flat, but most of the quilters that I know today, just whip on a crossgrain binding or a selvage edge binding that is cut 2 1/2", folded in half and sewn down raw edge to raw edge of the quilt. Here is a beautiful binding, that is done with continuous strips on the bias: Looking at the pictures: Picture A on the left, and Picture B on the right. Follow these instructions: For a better wearing binding, take a 30" square of fabric, cut straight on each side with the grain line, and mark a diagonal line from one corner to the other, and cut. Pin two straight sides together so that it looks like Picture !, and sew with a quarter inch seam allowance. Press the seam allowance open. Lay fabric flat with wrong side up. With a yardstick and pencil, starting from the top, draw a line every 2" parallel to the bias cut. Then pin the other two straight sides together offsetting the top to line A on one side. see Picture B. stitch, using quarter ince seam allowance, and press seam open. Start cutting on line A and continue to the end of the tube. Fold bias in half lengthwise and press. Place raw edge of binding to raw edge of quilt back and sew using quarter inch seam allowance. Fold finished edge of binding to front of quilt and whip down by hand. A 30" square of fabric will give you approximately 13 yards of 3/8" wide binding.