Red Sky at Night
January 2015
The colors of this quilt reminded me of sailing, and every sailor’s delight – a red sky at night! The picture below was taken on one of my (many) days out sailing.
The fabric I used for the sashing, border and edge binding were leftovers from Edith, while the rest were new fabrics.
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.
Pelé’s Bandeira
January 2015
I appreciate all my followers in Brazil, who make up almost half of those that follow my blog! Their support inspired me to make this quilt that I am calling Pelé’s Bandeira. For my followers that are English speakers, bandeira means flag in Portuguese. If you are familiar with the Flag of Brazil, you might notice some resemblances.
This is a bordered diamonds quilt pattern. The fabrics used for the diamonds were all donations and leftovers from my past projects. The dark blue border fabric was a remnant piece that I purchased, before I had any plans of making this particular quilt. When I began conceptualizing this design, the remnant piece was the ideal fabric for the border, as the design on the fabric is of constellations – a perfect addition to this quilt!
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.
Skypilots
December 2014
This is made up of Surprise Package quilt blocks, I think. For Christmas last year, I got a quilting block and pattern-a-day calendar, which has given me a lot of quilt ideas this year. The design I was following said it was this pattern, but when I went out and looked on the Internet at other quilts that are supposedly the Surprise Package design, boy are they different than this! But, this is what I like about quilting – it is a form of art and everyone interprets it in their own way.
So why the name Skypilots? Backpacking in California’s Sierra Nevada’s is unparalleled, and I have backpacked many a well known trail or two including Milford Track in New Zealand and part of the northern Appalachian Trail. What never fails to amaze me in the Sierra’s is that such beauty endures in this harsh environment. The picture here is of Skypilots that were growing out of a crack in the granite on Pinchot Pass at an elevation of over 12,000 feet, which is in the Alpine zone, living much of the year below a deep snow pack. I did not change the orientation of the picture – this is exactly how they looked.
The colors I chose for the quilt reminded me of Skypilots, so the name seemed fitting. Most of the fabrics were leftovers from my past projects, while the lavender sashing was from Granny.
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.
First Star I See Tonight
December 2014
I am not sure of the name for this quilt pattern, but liked the design and thought it would work well for the fabrics I had chosen. Sometimes I begin the design process by choosing fabrics from my plentiful supply of leftovers and donations, or I might start by finding an interesting pattern that I want to try out, or I might choose fabrics to match one of the fleece backing pieces that I have on hand.
The blue star fabric was a donation from Jamie’s friend, while the light blue fabric was leftover from the edge binding on Reflecting on 42º. I think the color palette works well for a boy’s quilt. If you haven’t noticed, I try to alternate girl/boy for the quilts since they are going to foster kids. Doing quilts for boys is always trickier trying to find a fabric that isn’t too fussy (i.e. feminine).
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in December 2014.
I quite by accident came across this article today, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/christine-loftss-mighty-record-40-years-of-fostering-380-children/story-fni0cx12-1227152849310 and felt that it certainly deserved an out-of-the-norm post for me!
Christine and her husband Ian have fostered over 380 children, many being special needs youngsters – suffering from autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. She was honored last night, earning the National Pride of Australia Care and Compassion Medal.
Way to go Christine and Ian!
Love is Like Gluons
December 2014
This is made up of probably the biggest blocks I have ever made. There are a total of four Red Cross blocks, each about 20″ square! Since I wanted to optimize displaying the pretty white flowers, a donation fabric from Amber, I needed to go big – so big I went! The picture really doesn’t do justice to the flower fabric: in person, the flowers look like they were drawn with a Spirograph, or sort of like an atom nucleus.
The black fabric was in the bag of donation fabric from Jamie’s friend, while the white background fabric was new. The center black fabric piece is some leftover fabric from my Lovely Flower Baskets in the Windows quilt from August 2013.
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in December 2014.
Reflecting on 42°
November 2014
This is a windmill quilt design. All the fabric, except the edge binding, were from the Moms, Granny and fabric donations. Here’s my favorite rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow…
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in November 2014.
A-B-Chomp!
November 2014
We welcomed another addition to the family this year, our grand-nephew Reynolds! We suspect that Reny will follow in his Dad’s footsteps for a love of the ocean, so I used a super-cute fish and shark fabric so that he might learn early that while the ocean is a beautiful and wonderful place, that it is also something that requires respect. As a sailor, this is one of my personal mantras.
This is the Pretty Patches quilt design by Jean Ann Wright. The solid blue fabric used in the quilt and for the binding is fabric that was leftover from Edith, Reny’s maternal great-grandma. I suspect that Edith is up in heaven enjoying all her wonderful great-grandsons (currently four, but soon-to-be five of them)!
Tweedily Deedily Dee
November 2014
This is a 16-patch quilt design. The star of this quilt, and inspiration for the quilt name, are the cute little birds that I have shown in detail in the lower right corner of the picture. I used a mix of Edith’s leftover fabrics combined with some new fabrics. I also incorporated one of Granny’s hankies in the lower right corner, shown just above the bird fabric.
This will mark the 34th quilt donation since I began this project close to two years ago now. It is my deepest hope that just one of the quilts I donate will make a difference in a child’s life. I donated Tweedily Deedilly Dee to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in November 2014.
Prehistoric Pennies
October 2014
This is the Chinese Coins quilt pattern, which is a fun pattern since it can be done in so many different ways. I used a mix of leftover and new fabrics.
I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in October 2014.
Love Hugs 