This is my UFO that is almost finished after more than a year of stops and starts. I need to add two borders wo each side and the top will be done. I decided it will be a gift to my sister-in-law Lisa in thanks for all the care she gave my late mom, but I had to expand it to a king, which meant I had to use some of the original backing fabric for the borders of the top (the medium aqua). The binding will be the darkest blue.

So that meant I had to piece multiple fabrics for the back, and I got carried away, making a French braid and triangle stripe, keeping the southwest feel. (In an abundance of caution I had bought a yard each of all 9 fabrics, and was able to find extra yardage of the pale blue a year later, but I didn't have a full 9 yards of any single fabric. So the medium aqua will be in the middle of the back, flanked by the two patterned stripes, and then the paler blue on each side, in case the quilt is reversed.

The last bit has involved working with really big chunks of fabric, which makes me really ready to get back to nice manageable 12 inch squares or smaller, or maybe a mini quilt!

my first quilt

I thought it was time to post photos of the first quilt I completed. The photo on the right is the whole quilt, queen size, and the one on the left is the lable on the back and a bit of the backing.

This was block-of-the month quilt from Joann's that I bought 3-4 years ago and finally started on in 2008 and finished in 2009. I changed the fabrics in the large setting squares and the inner border, because the kit had used the brownish floral that is in the center of the quilt (and I dislike that brown and wanted more of a blue look), and the large setting squares. My long-arm quilter, Mindy Washburn, did a beautiful job of pulling together this novice effort (my borders were a bit wavy, and there were other problems with "squareness"). My prior sewing experience was a lot of garment-making so I was used to "easing" seams to make things fit. I know now this is not a great technique in piecework!

grandmother's flower garden quilt

One of my major projects in process is a Grandmother's flower garden quilt being made with a yellow center, first ring of solid fabrics, then a coordinating 30s reproduction, then an outer ring of white. The hexagons will be connected with green (sort of kelly with a slight bluish cast).

I started this in homage to my grandmother who had made one of these that our family had until it was used in a dog bed and destroyed when I was about 13. So the green I selected is an attempt to match the colors in this vague memory of a quilt.

I am pretty new to quilting and have done mostly machine piecing, but started this project because my time at my machine is pretty limited due to travel, and now my mother is living with us, so I can do hand work and watch tv with her. I'm aiming at 46 hexagons (4 rows of 7 and 3 rows of 6, with half hexies on the tops and bottoms to make the edges even). I have about 34 completed including the white rings, have the other colored rings finished and next need to add the white rings to those. I started all this in late July 2009, so the progress isn't bad.

I have a wide variation in the brightness of the solids, but have tried to have a pretty even representation of the basic colors: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

I haven't had a chance to put these on a design wall, but am trying to figure out if I should let this be totally random, or start with the brightest solids in the focal center and then go to the paler hues toward the edges.

I'd love any advice on this.

Band t-shirt quilt

This photo shows the black and white music fabric I used for the backing, and the beautiful scrolly quilting by Mindy Washburn. I used to printable label sheets and made a label with my daughter's picture and listed her honors and awards.

This is my third quilt, completed right before Christmas 2008. It is a t-shirt quilt made for my daughter Catherine, composed of her high school band t-shirt. It was quilted by Mindy Washburn. The borders are intended to represent piano keyboards; the plaid corners are the plaid that the band leaders wore ("Lake Highlands").

This is a closer view of the blocks and shows Donna's beautiful quilting.

my second quilt

I started quilting in 2008. This was my second quilt. It was a "mystery quilt" that I pieced from directions online for the Quilts of Valor Foundation. My friend Donna King did the quilting on it. I donated it to an Iraq veteran who lives in New Jersey. (the borders actually were straight but I hung it over some doors to take the photo, so the top border is folded under.
This one had a number of flying geese, and I had to do lots of "redos" to get it to come out right. I think Donna had to do a lot in the quilting to get some of my variations in block size not to "wave."

Linda Big D January blocks

I finished most of these several days ago, but in my first try at the last, my strips were too wide, so I had to make it again. Most of these strips are leftovers from a quilt I am making as the result of an Ami Sims workshop last May on strip piecing. I hadn't finished the backing, and was sort of stuck on what to do. This month's block has given me an inspiration; the front is intended as a picnic quilt, and now I will do the back as a giant tick-tac-toe that can be used for a ring toss after the meal! When I get the back pieced, I'll post the 2 sides for your comments.