Two Stories about Two 2-Color Quilts

Have you ever browsed the vendors at a quilt show and kept coming back to The One? Come on, sure you have! First you do the walk around to see what's out there, then you walk around to the vendors that interest you, and you keep looking at that one sample. You go around again and think about how that quilt on display is really saying something. You go closer to get a better look. If you listen closely you can just about hear it calling to you, "Take me home; you love me; you want to make me; I would look great in the den..." And THAT'S IT, you have to have it! So you buy the book with the pattern and the fabric pack all bundled just so with a pretty ribbon. Honey, you are HOOKED!

I confess that the scene I just described has happened to me twice, once in Lancaster when I made a "commitment," (story some other time) and again at the last big quilt show held in Gettysburg a few years ago. It has since moved to Hershey, Pa. What a shame- I love going to Gettysburg; this was my husband's first and last quilt show experience. Because he lives and breaths anything Civil War, I convinced him we should go to Gettysburg, AGAIN. He could tramp all the lovely battle fields; I would spend all my time at the quilt show and surrounding quilt shops. He agreed to come to the quilt show on our way out of town on the last day. Remember, this is a guy whose eyes glaze over when I start talking patterns and fabrics. The first thing he said when he walked in was, "Gee, this looks like your quilt room exploded!" And the jokes and comments just kept coming as we wandered around. He had all the women in ear shot in stitches. He even made a comment about the Best in Show - a reproduction of the quilt that Turkish soldiers made during war (you know the one I'm sure): "Soldiers don't sew! They drink and gamble, etc., etc." and thoroughly embarrassing me. But I digress.

I call this blue and cream quilt The Gettysburg Quilt. The book it came from has some great patterns in it, so I'm glad I took the plunge and bought it. I am still using the leftover fabrics in other projects, including the latest wedding quilt.




The all-over floral fabric in this second quilt was bought on the spur of the moment in one of my favorite shops that no longer exists. I went along for the ride with my friend Joann who was shopping for some needed fabric (of course! why else would we be in a quilt shop?) I had no plan to purchase anything on this particular outing. As Joann was finishing up her purchase I turned around and saw this BEAUTIFUL FLORAL FABRIC THAT SHOUTED TO ME!!!! This was one of those omigod moments when in an instant I knew what I would make with this fabric. So I found a perfect coordinating raspberry fabric, Jinny Beyer's line that has the peacocks on it. I wanted to keep the pattern simple because it would have been a shame to cut up these flowers into little pieces. So I used positive and negative churn dash blocks. I had it machine quilted in a pretty swirly pattern. I did not put a label on it but chose to memorialize the day I finished it by writing on the back along the swirls: "Last stitch placed in this quilt at the Old Grove at Savin Rock in West Haven, CT, August 8, 2004. A beautiful summer day spent with dear friends Joann and Barbara and lots of laughter." It doesn't officially have a name so I'll call it Raspberry Churn Dash. It lives in my living room.

A Long Time Ago and Far, Far Away

I never did finish my quilt from the beginner quilting class I took way back when. But I believe this is the first full quilt I made after that. This is Kim's college days quilt. I think I made it for her birthday during her junior year at Notre Dame. It is a giant star in peach and green and does not have traditional binding; I sewed the edges envelope-style and turned it right side out, then tied it. Kim still uses it, especially when company comes to visit. I remember laying it out on the floor of the quilt shop and how excited I was that my oldest would get my first totally completed quilt, perfect for her dorm room. I envisioned her showing it off to her friends and how they would envy her. It's a bit faded now and has a tear and maybe a stain or two, which shows how lovingly it has been used. It's made its way from Connecticut to Indiana to California, and hopefully will wind up back in Connecticut in the not-too-distant future.

Kim's and Stewart's Wedding Quilt 2002

This is my daughter Kim's (House of Prince) and Stewart's wedding quilt. They were engaged for a year and a half, so I had plenty of time to design and make it. I think what took the most time was thinking about it, how to make it personal for the both of them, and then scouring my favorite quilt shops and quilt shows to find the perfect fabrics. My two best buddies were very instrumental in this pursuit. The one thing I allowed Kim to choose was the color (blue and white). She had also requested a nautical theme, but I was way ahead of her on that one. She and Stew both love to sail, and he's a surfer as well. Almost all of the fabrics have a water or sky theme. If you click on each picture you can see much more detail.

I did not count the number of fabrics I used -- LOTS! But only one white, a very small paisley that I found in Pennsylvania at the Lancaster show. I bought the whole bolt, and then a second one so I could complete the back. The center of the quilt is, obviously, a Mariner's Compass, with a border of Ocean Waves. (Thank you Mary B. Hayes for inventing Thangles!) Once the quilt was finished, I presented the top at the wedding rehearsal dinner with a story/label (which I still need to put on the quilt). One of my concerns was that, if this was to be an heirloom quilt and I were to hand-quilt it, the wedding couple probably wouldn't see it again for another 5 years, so I let Kim make the decision. She opted for machine quilting because, "it would be an heirloom no matter what," and because she would get it back much faster. So, I went to the best machine-quilter I knew at the time, Mary Eddy of Jellybean Quilter fame. I traveled to Newtown, CT where she has her studio. We worked together in designing the quilting patterns. The result is so spectacular that I wanted to put it in the Northridge quilt show, but I would have to be a member of their guild. (Come to think of it, I spend so much time in Northridge, I might as well join!) So it's not made it to a quilt show yet.

Kim and Stew were married in Mystic, at the Seaport, on the river, so I used the Mystic Compass Rose as the center of the quilt. Let me tell you, this was no small feat to accomplish. The compass measures 36" across. I ordered a special industrial-type compass-making tool because a pencil and string did not work. I drafted it on freezer paper taped together on my kitchen floor. Once that was done, the plan was to paper-piece the thing. Believe me, cutting into this beautiful drawing was scary. But I was brave, not so confident. The only other spot of color is the red fleur de lis to mark North.

The one thing I asked Mary Eddy to put in the quilting were zodiac signs in four corners of the top, one each for Kim and Stew, one for the month they were married, and one for me as the quiltmaker. She used trapunto to make them stand out. This is Pisces, my sign. Appropriate, don't you think?

The rest of the quilting looks like ocean waves, wind and stars.

I recently returned from a brief trip to California for my grandsons' big birthday party, so I took these pictures of the back of the quilt. Below are close-ups showing the quilting on the back:

Back of compass.

Detail of compass point.

Detail of small inner compass.

Detail of side showing stars.

I tried to wash all of the fabrics first, but there were times when I had to reach into my stash to find another perfect fabric, not realizing it may have been unwashed. So the first time Kim washed it, it ran--just a little. I'll let her tell you that story.

Although a lot of quilt experts would have you believe that quilts should never see the light of day, this quilt is lovingly used, which is the whole purpose of making it in the first place. What's the point of making a thing of love and beauty and hiding it away for the rest of its life, which then becomes, why make a quilt in the first place?