Creating from my Stash

As the year 2012 ended and the New year 2013 came into focus I focused on engaging my creativity and choosing a small project to "upcycle" some left over fabric strips from various and sundry other projects. On New Year's eve day I chose instructions from Quilting Arts on how to make a fabric bracelet. Sewing the narrow strips was a bit tedious, but here are the results:

It was kind of fun actually and I liked the results.







Speaking of upcycling, I did a bit of that with some of the Christmas gifts I created. I used embossed red velvet from my bridesmaid's gown from our wedding of 40 years ago for the base of a pin cushion I created for my sisters and my 2 daughters.

This was the first of the
pin cushions for sister Irene. For
this one I used dark green velvet for the
base. This first one I filled with crushed
walnut shells. For the others I used wool form
our sheep.

Early in January my 96 year old mother moved from Fairmount Retirement Homes to Lincoln Christian Home in Lincoln. She mentioned that when she sits in the solarium her legs are cold, so that motivated me to create a small lap quilt for her. For this project I raided my "blues" box for assorted blue fabrics and used the Tossed Nines method, cutting my initial squares 4.5 inches. These were sewn into a nines block and then cut in half and half again. The resulting squares were arranged into a top that measured 36" x 48". For the backing I used a soft light blue fleece.

 

The quilt was then Decatur knotted .

Today I completed another "stash" project: a "Sunset" tablerunner. I did machine quilting on this project- I much prefer the look of hand quilting.

White Chocolate

 

 

In 2011 I began work on a quilt for MCC Connections quilt room. The pattern was called White Chocolate and consisted of assorted light and medium beiges, approximately 64 different fabrics. The quilt was quilted in the quilt room at Connections and was sold in the 2012 Ohio Relief Sale. I believe someone from out of state was the purchaser.

Chrysanthemum Cakewalk

In the summer of 2011 I pieced this quilt for the Adriel Benefit Auction. I used the pattern Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs for my basic design, but used a theme fabric for alternate blocks and turned the blocks on point, adding a triangular inset before the border.

The theme print featured a chrysanthemum floral design - hence the name Chrysanthemum Cakewalk.