Quilt-Fest 2009 - The Milwaukee Quilt

During January 2009, my mom visited me for a week in Milwaukee.  We had originally planned on spending the time in Chicago, but it snowed so much that we could not leave Milwaukee.  I had just started working on this quilt and we decided to get more fabric and each make a quilt.  This started our annual quilting week where we made identical quilts.  It has turned out to be so much fun - mom and I have such a great time quilting together.

The pattern is from my favorite book, 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts.  I love this book, but wished it had directions for all sizes of quilts (e.g. baby, throw, queen).  The fabric is from Joanne's...big mistake!  I swear the green stretches so much that it must have spandex in it.  We learned two valuable lessons with this quilt, (1) buy good fabric, and (2) invest in a good machine.  We now both own Viking Emerald machines, although this quilt was made using a $100 Singer I had purchased at Walmart.

This picture shows the backing, and two borders.  My mom has already finished her quilt, but mine is still in individual blocks.  My goal is to complete thsi quilt and the Quilt-Fest 2010 quilt before next year's week of quilting (hopefully)!

Quilt-Fest 2010: The Green Quilt

My mom visited this May for a week of quilting.  We get together each year for a week of quilting, quilting, and more quilting.  The tradition started a few years ago when my mom was visiting me in Milwaukee.  We had originally planned on spending the week in Chicago, but got snowed in.  I had been working on a new quilt, and we decided to get more fabric and each make a quilt. And the tradition was born - now each year we make identical quilts.

This year we used a monochromatic kit from Patched Works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The pattern is called In and Out by Blue Underground.  The kit included all the fabric, except for the backing.

Here is my mom laying out all of her squares with the help of my cat, Sylvia.  I have yet to finish my squares....I will keep you posted!

Blue Bow Tie Quilt

I made this quilt sometime between 2002 and 2006 for my boyfriend at the time (now, my husband).  This quilt is using a bow tie pattern I found years ago on the internet.  I made two of these quilts - one for my husband and one for my grandpa.  The pattern was really easy...the challenge was finding enough blue fabrics in the small town where we lived. If I were to do it again, I would stick with either cream or white accent colors, but not both.

I originally tied the quilt, but had it long-arm quilted by Patched Works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2009.  I would love to try the pattern again someday...assuming I could find that piece of paper with the pattern on it...

Current Project - The X's Quilt

I am currently working on a quilt made of jewel toned fabrics. I particularly liked this pattern because the blocks are set on the diagonal and the pattern encourages you to create both high- and low-contrasting blocks. I purchased the quilt kit including all but the backing from Patched Works Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The pattern is called "IsoTaupe" from the July/August 2007 Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. 

Here is the quilt featured in the magazine:

Here are a few of my blocks laid out on my design wall:

The quilt is composed of 179 blocks and each block looks like this:

I work on this quilt between other projects and hope to complete it within the year (hopefully!).

The 9 Year Quilt

I finally finished the very first quilt I started.  It is now known as the "9 Year Quilt" and is a rail fence pattern using cream-colored fabrics.  I began this quilt over Christmas break duirng my freshman year at college. This quilt had moved with me to five dorm rooms, two apartments and a house (in three different states).  I am a self-taught quilter and this quilt was my very first journey into the world of quilting. Since I had such a long history with this quilt (and was so tired of looking at it), I gave it to my parents for Christmas this year. 

Looking back, I am not sure how it ever turned out!  The pattern was off the internet and was for a single block.  I purchased a bunch of fabric and later drew up the pattern. To make the blocks, I traced lines on the back of the fabric using a county-fair yard stick and a pencil.  I then cut out all of the pieces using a pair of scissors.  I subsequently lost the hand-written pattern during a move only to find it two years later after another move.  This quilt sure made me glad to have acrylic rulers, rotary cutters, and purchased patterns!