IQFHouston--It's All In The Details.

Skitchy edge with pink chain stitching/vines rambling through.

I love going to the International Quilt Festival! It's a tradition. In the last 11 years, I've only missed maybe 2 years. There's always something new to see, a new idea to spark my desire to get busy and sew. New tools, notions, fabric, wool! This year was especially fun since I was able to go with some favorite family to enjoy the show together! We spent two full days enjoying each other's company and enjoying all that there was to see!

In looking through my pictures, I've decided that I notice the details. I took a lot of pictures of details of quilts. An interesting border, a bazillion tiny pieces courthouse-stepped together, fun embellishments. I wonder if the artist/quilter had every detail in their original plan or added and changed as they went.

Here's some of my pictures of small parts of quilts that show off different details. Enjoy!

I'll post again soon with complete pictures of my favorite quilts.

The above quilt is a beach scene and the octagon you see is the top of a beach umbrella.

This colorful quilt had close to 23,000 pieces, all arranged in tiny courthouse steps. I wonder if this quilter ever wants to make this pattern again.

I loved the tiny, close quilting in this quilt. There was a LOT of tiny, close quilting in the quilts there. Is there a term for this? "Tiny, close quilting" is a lot to say.

I LOVE whimsical quilts and this one was very eye catching. Wool-felt pom-pom's and sparklies all over! Great colors, too! It looks like a party!

The selvage edge quilt. Very clever idea!

It's hard to see but the quilting on this pink car was incredible! Very fun quilt, too!

It was hard to stop looking at this one. The muted tones made you want to search for the details.

I loved all of the piecing that went into this quilt.

This font quilt was amazing! Besides being a unique idea, the shading/color changing of browns on the letters was incredible.

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are little scallops all around the edge of the flower petals and all of the quilting is amazing. When you use light thread on dark fabric, you can't hide anything!

I love reds and browns together so I love this quilt muchly! Look at the loops and buttons all along the edge. It was like an updated red-work quilt.

This quilt had a gazillion yo-yo's. I've sewn yo-yo's before and it's not something that just zips up fast. It's all hand-sewn and then hand-sewn together. And this was a big quilt.
Something drew my eye to this quilt--the yellows and blues, the small perfect circle berries, the little birds. It's a traditional-looking comfort quilt.

I LOVE the rich colors in this quilt. And one day I will make a quilt with vines and leaves in the border!

I really like this stripey quilt and one day I will have a quilt like this in my guest room. The entire queen-sized quilt--skinny stripes. Maybe different colors, but this stripey look is something I've always loved.

I Need a New Pin Quilt!

This is a pin quilt. My OLD pin quilt. I've had it for many years and whenever we travel and have the opportunity, we pick up a souvenir pin. It's our thing.

We have pins from Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, New York, California, Disney, Japan, Chile, Peru, Switzerland, Houston Astro's, 2002 Olympics, quilt shows, museums, cub scouts, presidential libraries, and many state parks as well. This last summer, our pin quilt got full. Too full. We had picked up lots of new pins from Glenn Canyon Dam, Salt Lake City, Hole in the Rock, and Disney World. There were 22 pins in the border alone! Time for a NEW pin quilt.

I'd like to show you a great way to make lots of little squares. You can use this method for a pin quilt or any project that needs a lot of little squares.
I learned this from a friend who I think saw it on a Quilt show. So, this method has been around--nothing new. It will give you 2" finished squares.
First, I cut lots of different reds 5" square.
I want my NEW pin quilt to be 10 X 10 squares. (The old one was 8 X 12.)

This means I need 25 - 5" squares but I cut a few extra, because I like a few extra, just in case, and I will need an even number anyway.

Now that I have you all totally confused, let's get simple. Cut some 5" squares.

Pair up your squares. Since I like random, I pair them up randomly. You might want to have only two fabrics and pair them up one of each.

With right sides together, sew two opposite sides with a 1/4" seam. This will make a tube.

Put these double-squares on your cutting mat, seams on the sides. Then with your ruler, find the middle of your square (2 1/2" over) and cut through the middle.

Now you have two half-double-squares. But that sounds confusing again. Let's go back to being simple, because this really is simple and hard to mess up. Promise.

Open up your two half-double-squares and look! You have a square with two different fabrics! Halfway there!

Press those seams and put those squares (or mix them up with other half-squares) back together again, right sides together, seams together, across the middle, horizontally.

Now sew your sides again, 1/4" seam again, and create that tube again.

And now, measure it down the middle again (2 1/2" over again) and cut it in half again.

Now open that up and look at your cute little 4-patch. Perfect 2" squares.

You can mix up your fabrics, if you're using a variety. You get all of these great 4-patches that you can rearrange to find just the right spot for.

That's another reason why I like to do a few extra, so the same two don't end up next to each other.

Sew them all together. 10 squares by 10 squares or 5 blocks X 5 blocks.


Quilt it, bind it, put some pins on it and hang it up!

Then get traveling! :)

(p.s. Try different sizes: for 1" finished squares, start with 3" squares)

C8's Quilt: Graduation Traditions

They say that you have to have three of something in order to call it a collection. Three antique watering cans--it's a collection. Three Beanie Babies--it's a collection. Three mini schnauzers--it's a collection.

So, how many times do you have to do something in order for it to be a tradition? I would say only once as long as it sticks. A few years ago on Valentine's Day, we had lobster. We had "do-it-yourself" lobster. It was really good, except for the fact that one of the kids named them all and then got upset when we put them in the pot of boiling water. The 'lobster on Valentine's Day tradition' didn't stick. The next year we had fondue on Valentine's Day and it stuck. We look forward to this tradition every year now. It's fun, unique, and the kids don't get upset because we aren't eating any pets.

Two years ago, when our oldest child, BJ, graduated from High School, I made her a t-shirt quilt. She had stacks and stacks of t-shirts and it was hard for her to choose because they all had good memories and hard for me to choose because of quality of the shirt, color, and size of the design. We ended up using over 30 t-shirts and it was a HUGE quilt--almost King size. Plenty big for a dorm bed. But she loves it and that's good enough for me!

Now, C8 is getting ready to graduate. I asked her if she wanted a t-shirt quilt. She said no. (Scratch the t-shirt quilt tradition.) Instead, she wanted a regular quilt made of blues and greens and maybe some pink thrown in there. Full size. This pattern, please.

New tradition--Making a quilt for the graduating senior with their choice of pattern/size/fabric.

Looking ahead, in two more years, we'll have a collection.