I started quilting about 15 years ago and consider myself more of a "traditional" quilter, rather than one that creates her own patterns. I love the patterns that our grandmothers made. The colors are soft, and the materials were truly scraps from around the house! In many of the quilts I have made, I have pieced a piece of fabric (sounds funny, doesn't it?) in order to get the right size piece to fit in my quilt. After I'm sure my grandmother did that! I have old quilts that show shirt seams, etc! I will attempt to photgraph some of this as my page takes shape.
completed 1993
I saw this quilt top in an Antique/Junk store in Inyokern, California one Sunday afternoon. It kept calling my name! When we got home, Jim placed a call back to the store to try to get it for me. It took about a week, but finally the top was mine! I paid more for this top than I have completed quilts, but I had to have it! I asked for the background of this top, but all the owner knew was that she had bought it in Arkansas!
This quilt measures 76" x 80" and has 46 fullsize "flowers" and 18 half "flowers" (around the borders.) I have quilted around each individual piece as shown in the above picture. This took me about 3 years of quilting off and on.Now that it's done, it has to be one of the prettiest quilts I have in my collection.
I never Promised you a Rose Garden
I started this quilt with the intention of it being a wall hanging. The pattern I used for the yoyos was the bottom of a coffee mug - 3" round! This is quite a bit smaller than most people make. It just kept growing! Now I have plans for it to fit the double bed in our guest room. There are 61 full "flowers", each consisting of 38 yoyos, and 17 half "flowers" with 21 yoyos! So far I've made almost 2700 yoyos for this quilt!!!This quilt was patterned after the Grandmother's Flower Garden above. I've named it "I Never Promised you a Rose Garden" since my garden is full of different color blooms. I tried to keep them all in the pastel shades.
This quilt is one I work on as we travel. I cut enough pieces for several flowers, safety pin each group together, and slip them into my purse. All I need is a needle, thread and a small pair of scissors and I'm set to go. I figure I need at least 15 more fullsize "flowers" and 10 half "flowers" to complete this quilt! That means I have less than 1,000 to make! Only 780 to go!!
On to the second page of my quilts!
Want to see Hallie's Quilt?
(Hallie is our grandaughter!)
