Logan's I Spy Quilt

I finished Logan's interactive I Spy quilt yesterday....it just needs a label on the back.  The label will not be done before Christmas as I have too many other things to finish up, BUT,  at least the quilt can now go under the tree.  Thank you Lord!!

Here are a few shots of the quilt, hope he likes it!:

And of course the back just HAD to have a rich, soft, wonderful, black minkie.

Moving on......

Quilts for Dad!

My sweet husband was the first to buy me a sewing machine. With no help from anyone he went out and purchased a brand new, top of the line, Kenmore sewing machine for me, to celebrate our first christmas together as husband and wife. I LOVED it... and him for getting me such a wonderful gift. I sewed many an outfit for my children on that first machine and used every accessory it had to offer. Nearly every spare minute I could scrape together, I used it to sew. With young children, those moments were few and far between, but oh so precious. I knew nothing about quilt making in those days, which was probably a blessing because once the bug bit, I was hooked. The pictures below show the progression of my quilt making abilities, except for the first photo. This is a picture of one of the many t-shirts that I had fun making for my oldest son. I was always making him and my oldest daughter t-shirts to wear. With the left over fabric from my daughter's t-shirts, I made her underwear to match. They had elastic back in those days that looked like frilly lace. It was so sweet looking! When I made this particular t-shirt, I had taken a free-hand embroidery class. It was a great class and I loved moving the fabric all over the machine without any restrictions. With the feed dogs down and no presser foot to hinder me, I could 'draw' any picture that I wanted. I made this lion for James. He wore it every time it came out of the dryer. As you can tell by the many stains, it was one of his favorites. I loved that he loved this shirt.



My dad, bought me my very first Bernina sewing machine. Along with the machine, he bought me a serger, a cutting table and mat, and thread galore. He bought the same for my mom. I still have an ongoing love affair with Bernina to this day. I have upgraded more than once and am still astonished at all that these machines can do. Over the years I have made a few quilts for my dad and these are what I share with you now. The first one can't really be called a quilt. It was just a quick throw that I made for him to take to football games. I know, I know... it is not so attractive, but at the time I thought it was.



The next one was a much smaller quilt and required a little hand-work. My dad happens to like bears a lot, so I thought he would enjoy this one. It has been used and washed more than I can count.... especially by my niece Kathrine.



I got a little more serious about the next quilt that I made for my dad. He had a thing about having his monogram being embroidered on everything back in those days... especially his shirts. Every new shirt he purchased, he had me monogram his initials on the cuff and in the center of the shirt's placket. With this quilt, I not only monogramed his initials, but a few other things that I thought he might like.



He finally let me know that he wanted a much bigger quilt.... one that would completely cover him and one that would keep him warmer than the other quilts had. So I made this quilt out of flannel for not only dad, but for mom as well, and used wool batting between the layers.



And here's the back. As you can see, I ran out of the main fabric that I needed to cover the back. Since none of the shops had any of the fabric left that I was using, I simply pieced all of the fabric that I had left over from the quilt top and made it into one big back. I think it worked out just fine.

One More.......

On my last blog, I left out my granddaughter Reilly's quilt. I love this quilt! I actually made two of them, one for Reilly and one for Ashlynn. The reason why these two quilts are so dear to me is that my mom and my Aunt Sybil had a huge hand in making these quilts a reality. My mom and aunt embroidered all of the critters on each quilt. They had so much fun making the critter squares, that they made enough for me to make the two quilts. (There were even enough squares left over for me to make a rag quilt for my grandsons!) Anyway....when those two showed me what they had made I knew that I needed to go shopping to purchase enough fabric to make those squares into the quilts that my grandchildren enjoy today. I visited a cute little quilt shop back in Arkansas and purchased enough fabric to make the quilt that I am sharing with you here and then I looked for different fabric for Ashlynn's. My mom and aunt were overjoyed to see their treasured blocks made into these quilts. Since making the quilts, my aunt has passed away, but her love lives on by way of these quilts.

Quilting for my granddaughters!

I have made a quilt for each of my granddaughters, except for one, little Miss Addie. As I was going through the pictures of the quilts that I have made so far for the girls, I realized that I had never made her one. So sorry missy... grandma is going to have to jump right on that! Below however, are the ones that have gone out these physical doors of mine, but never completely out the doors of my heart. It's amazing how much you put of yourself in a quilt. I guess that is why when I find an old quilt in an antique shop, I always wonder about the person who made it. What were they thinking about when they were working so diligently on that quilt top. Who was it for? Where did the fabric come from and how long did it take them to complete it. I even wonder about the circumstances for which the quilt was made. Was it a joyous occasion, a sad occasion, or was it strictly made for needed warmth. My guess is that a lot of those old quilts were made out of sheer love for those that they were going to and for the pleasure that they would bring... I know mine are. I dearly love the ones I made these quilts for! So... without further chatter here are a few that I have sent off.

First up is Teagan's. I lLOVED this fabric when it came into the shop. It was just so cheery! Since my son and daughter-in-law had just had a new little treasure, I thought this would be just perfect!



And the label. (I realize that these are rather hard to see, but hopefully you get the idea!)



On Miss T's bed, Stef decided to put the first quilt that I ever made for them. I found this incredibly soft flannel in a cute little quilt shop that I thought would be just right. I must say, it looks pretty cute on her bed!



And its label.



Next up is Ashlynn's. Ashlynn and her mom picked out a quilt pattern from a magazine I had sent their way. Now Ashlynn just loves the ocean with its many shells, so I picked out a line of fabric from the shop, that matched just what she had in mind. This quilt, once made, looked nothing like the quilt in the magazine because it was all in Ashlynnie's colors. (Actually, I liked it way better than the one in the magazine!) I decided to scallop the edges to make it look even more distinct than the one in the magazine.



And her label.



Keira loves dogs, so when she saw this fabric, she just had to have it. I used a nice, pink, minkie on the back. That fabric is wonderfully soft, incredibly expensive, but so messy to use. Would I use it again? You bet!



And finally, here is Keira's label

Quilting for my granddaughters!

I have made a quilt for each of my granddaughters, except for one, Miss A.

Quilting for my granddaughters!

I have made a quilt for each of my granddaughters, except for one, Miss A

Quilting for my granddaughters!

I have made a quilt for each of my granddaughters, except for one