Around the Table

Posted on June 5, 2015 by jeanswenson

Around the Table
June 2015

This is a framed squares quilt pattern. The center of each square came from a donation I received of a book of tablecloth samples. Carol reached out to me though my blog to let me know she had several tablecloth sample books that she would love to see used in a quilt. Thank you Carol for your donation!

The inspiration for the name was twofold: the first is obvious, that they were actually tablecloth samples. The second is perhaps not as obvious. As I sat sewing this quilt, I thought a lot about the many fond memories I have of gatherings around a table: Birthday celebrations, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with family and friends; times spent when my two girls were little playing games at the table and now with them and their families playing games around the table! The name Around the Table just seemed right for this one.

The overall design was inspired by Melanie over at Catbird Quilt Studio. I came across Melanie’s blog last month, and love how she uses borders in her medallion quilts. This is the perfect technique when quilting predominately with scraps, as it allows a quilt to grow to the desired dimension with (somewhat) ease and beauty. I only had enough of the tablecloth pieces in the chosen color values to get me to roughly 35″x50″. So, I borrowed a page from Melanie and added a border! The finish size came in right around 4’x5′, which is the size I aim for when making quankets for kids. The frames around the tablecloth sample pieces were all scraps from previous projects, while the edge binding was a new piece. When done, there were over 70 different fabrics that went into this quilt!

I donated this quanket to Diana Jasany’s Girl Scout Gold Award project. You can follow Diana’s journey on her Facebook page. I am so thrilled to have found two kindred spirits over the past month who make quilts for foster kids: the fist being Nita who blogs at Because You Matter and now Diana!

Eeek

Posted on May 13, 2015 by jeanswenson

Eeek
May 2015

This is a log cabin quilt. Yes, I went back to familiar territory and did a traditional, symmetrical quilt this time around 🙂 Below is a close up of the fabric that inspired the name I chose – I think it’s perfect for a boy’s quilt!

The orange fabrics, with the exception of the edge binding, were all donations, while the namesake was leftover from a quilt I made 12 years ago for my nephew.

I donated this quilt visa vie the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2015. I chose to donate it to Nita who blogs at Because You Matter since her goals and focus are similar to mine: to make and give a quilt to a person who is having a hard time and would be comforted by a handmade quilt to snuggle up in, particularly children in foster care.

Flamingo Floyd

Posted on May 9, 2015 by jeanswenson

Flamingo Floyd
May 2015

This quilt was inspired by Doris Brunnette’s (madebyabrunnette.com) Diamond Dust quilt which won 1st place at the Modern Quilt Guild’s QuiltCon 2015.

As someone who loves symmetry – and started quilting long before quilts with a modern aesthetic began gaining momentum in the early 2000’s – doing an asymmetrical quilt is quite a step outside of the proverbial box for me! While Doris’ design uses more solid color and negative space, I don’t have many “pieces of the past” fabrics that are solid colors. The white/black fabric was from Granny, while the flamingo fabric was a donation fabric.

Picnic Puppies

Posted on April 27, 2015 by jeanswenson

Picnic Puppies
April 2015

I want to extend a big thank you to the kind folks affiliated with Center Veterinary Clinic in Mira Mesa (San Diego) for their fabric donations! In addition to their donated fabrics, I used scrap fabrics from Edith and Granny to create this Jean Ann Wright, Southern Comfort patterned quilt.

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in April 2015.

Poppies

Posted on April 13, 2015 by jeanswenson

Poppies
April 2015

This quilt incorporates the last of Granny’s (non-scrap) lavender fabric. I know that Granny would be happy that this fabric has made its way into 4 quilts, including: Skypilots, Lavender Ladies and Sassy Squares. The green fabric was also some from Granny, while the poppy fabric was new.

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in April 2015.

Celebration

Posted on April 3, 2015 by jeanswenson

Celebration
March 2015

On March 24, we had the amazing experience of helping our sailing friends Richard and Audrey take their sailboat, Celebration, through the Panama Canal. I made this quilt for them, as both a birthday gift for Audrey and as a remembrance of this very special occasion. I decided that the name of their sailboat, Celebration, was the perfect name for the quilt too, as such a momentous occasion deserves a celebration! The picture here is of the Gatun Locks with a big cargo ship sharing the lock with us – the cargo ship is just coming into the lock, and when it eventually got itself “parked” in the lock, it was only about 50 feet behind us.

The quilt is a bricks and stepping stones design. Most of the fabrics were new, while one of the fabrics used in the stepping stones block was some left-over fabric from Granny.

Lumberjack Patches

Posted on March 10, 2015 by jeanswenson

Lumberjack Patches
March 2015

This is Allison Harris’ (Cluck Cluck Sew) Off Track quilt design. I still had a lot of the donated homespun plaid fabrics that I used here, while the cream and solid red were new. I like to incorporate solids, as they provide contrast and negative space, but so much of the fabric I have from donations and leftover projects are predominately prints, hence why the solids are usually new fabrics.

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in March 2015.

Calm Reflection

Posted on March 2, 2015 by jeanswenson

Calm Reflection
March 2015

I love efficiency. And, this block is all about that! I came across the instructions for this block pattern on wont-to-be quilter’s blog, and was intrigued by its construction process. While it may appear that it took me a month (since my last post) to finish this, that was not the case, and when I finally got time to dedicate to quilting, this was pretty quick to complete. Fortunately and perhaps unfortunately, work had ramped-up during February, and quilting fell to the bottom of the priority list. I am hoping March is less hectic so far as work goes.

The fabrics I used were leftovers from Edith and Granny. The pink and blue flower fabric had been challenging me to find a place to use it, as it is very 1980’ish. The blue fabric was also a challenge, as it is very thin and has a lot of stretch to it. But, the two were a perfect complement to one another, as the blue fabric has a ‘burn-out’ design of flowers, almost identical to the pink and blue flower fabric. The combination reminded me of reflections on water. It is awe-inspiring to awake in the cold, brisk morning alongside an alpine lake, and to be greeted with this:

This picture was taken during a family backpacking trip up out of Bishop, California, to Humphries Basin, on the eastern side of the Sierra’s.

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in March 2015.

Peek-a-Boo on the Savannah

Posted on February 3, 2015 by jeanswenson

Peek-a-Boo on the Savannah
January 2015

The center squares are the cutest animal fabric that has elephants, zebras, giraffes and lions that look like they are playing peek-a-boo. I seldom make baby/toddler quilts to donate, but this was such fun to make, that I will have to make some more! In Ventura County, where I donate the quilts for foster kids, approximately 14% of the kids are between the ages of newborn to 3 years old.

The animal fabric was a new acquisition, while all the others where leftovers and donations.

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.

A Tisket a Tasket

Posted on January 31, 2015 by jeanswenson

A Tisket a Tasket
January 2015

While this is a basket weave pattern, the color choice and placement makes it look more like a maze to me! Making quilts from predominately scraps can be a challenge. I might start with a handful of fabrics I want to use, do my calculations, but somewhere along the way in the process, I sometimes run short and need to move to plan B. As with life, it’s always good to have a plan B, and it doesn’t hurt to have a plan C and D too!

I began with the plaid fabric in the basket part of the pattern, which was a donation fabric. The fabric I used for the border and edge binding were also scrap fabrics, while the yellow was new.