The Year in Quilts - 2012

An Old Tyme Quilt Barn by Cheryl Bartley

As I take stock of the completed quilts I made during 2012, I am quite pleased with my little ol' self.  I completed nine quilts and two quilt tops.  That's pretty darn good for me! 

To make these quilts, I enlisted the help of two special characters - Thor and Big Red.  I started the year off quilting by hand, but made a decision during the year to take the plunge, buying two new machines.  I wanted to speed up the process of quilting, so I could get more quilts done.

Thor, my Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 850, is a wonderful machine that I bought used from a friend. (Thank you, Dolly!) I used Thor for a number of months as I learned how to free-motion quilt.

As my skill level increased, though, I realized that I needed a few more bells and whistles not offered on the Viking, like the thread cutter and automatic tension.  So, I purchased Big Red, a Janome Horizon Memory Craft 7700 QCP (used less than one year by the original owner). He came to me already donned "Big Red".  This puppy can purr!

Here's a review of the nine quilts I finished in 2012.

Scrappy Bear Claw Quilt
 

This quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted.  This double-size quilt sits on our guest bed upstairs. Here's a picture of the Scrappy Bear Claw back, showing the quilting detail.

Cassie's Nine Patch Quilt

This quilt for my niece, Cassie, is machine pieced and hand quilted.  I used this quilt to teach a beginner's quilting class. The frog print is called Lily Pond, designed by Wendy Slotboom for In The Beginning fabrics.  The majority of the remaining hot pink fabrics are from the Whimsey line by Pillow & Maxfield for Michael Miller fabrics.

 Callie's Butterfly Quilt

Machine pieced and free motion quilted (stippling pattern), Callie's Butterfly Quilt in teal and brown was the first quilt I made with my Viking machine.  Stippling is a continuous squiggly line pattern very popular for machine quilting. Below is a close up view.

Sable's Disappearing Nine Patch Quilt

This version of the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern (and there are several) is very appealing to me.  This one was made using Kate Spain's Fandango line for Moda fabrics. This was machine pieced and free motion quilted on my Viking machine.

The Book of Mormon Sampler Quilt

The Book of Mormon Sampler Quilt was inspired by our study of the Book of Mormon in 2012 at church.  The block patterns came from the book, More Biblical Quilt Blocks by Rosemary Makhan. The center star came from Lisa Cogar's book, Quilted Devotions.  Each block has unique meaning to me and is associated with a scripture passage from The Book of Mormon. 

This red, gold and brown quilt, which lays across the back of my sofa, was machine pieced and machine quilted, using various techniques.  Below is a close up of the center star quilting design.

Give a Hoot Quilt

This whimsical appliqued quilt I designed was fun to make as a baby quilt for a friend! The lap-sized quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted.  The appliqued letters were attached using a needle-turned technique, while the owls were appliqued by machine.

Joyous Sunrise

The young husband of a friend of mine passed away unexpectedly, and I felt an immediate need to make her a special quilt.  This paper-pieced star design was based on the Montana Star from Carol Doak's book, 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars.  Although each quilt is special and made with love, Joyous Sunrise is one of my all-time favorite quilts. Below is a close up of the quilting detail.

Skeletons in the Closet

Trevor, my husband's great-nephew, became a senior in high school in 2012.  So, for his birthday, I created this modern design, full of skeletons! I've been collecting skeleton fabric for quite some time, but had no idea what I would use it on until this inspiration hit me.  

As you can see in this close up, I used a black and cream pastoral toile with skeletons, which I adore! And, the picture below shows the fun skull and crossbones quilting design I used.

Wren's Disappearing Nine Patch

Lastly, I wrapped up 2012 with another lap-sized baby quilt using the Disappearing Nine Patch design.  Machine pieced and machine quilted, I used another colorway of the Pillow & Maxfield's Whimsey line.  

"May your sorrows be patched and your joys quilted."--Unknown

"When life throws you scraps, make a quilt."--Unknown

Quilt until You Wilt, Y'all!