Tag Archives: traditional blocks

What a Gem!

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On Christmas Eve, this little pumpkin turned a year old:

Gemma 1st Birthday

She’s our grandbaby, Gemma. I started a quilt for her a while ago (Hubby and I picked out most of the fabric together before she was born) but I always give myself until the first birthday to finish and gift a baby quilt. In Gemma’s case, I gifted the quilt to her on her 1st birthday.

I used the Gem Block, lavender prints with a scrappy yellow background:

Full Shot Gemma What a Gem Quilt

Gemma What a Gem Quilt

I was trying to design applique into the front when I started this project, but I ended up adding an appliqued monogram to the flannel back instead:

Gemma Quilt Back

Gemma Quilt Back Detail

The G was machine-appliqued on, prior to quilting:

Gemma Quilt Applique Detail

Gemma What a Gem Quilt

The quilt measures 36″ x 45″, 18 (9″) Gem Blocks and 2 Accent Blocks. I used six different purples (lavenders) and 5 different yellows on the front, the back is a Moda flannel and the “G” monogram is a tone-on-tone Peter Rabbit print from my stash.

Here’s a shot of the little cutie pie modeling with her quilt (she’s wearing a hoodie with buttons all over it, for her Christmas visit to Grandpa & Grandma’s house!):

Gemma & Her Quilt

Happy Birthday, Gemma!

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Mums for Melissa – my quilt in Quilty Magazine

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Our latest pattern is Hot off the Press!

It’s one many of you have been waiting for–a pattern for the quilt I was holding in the Quilty Magazine, Jan/Feb 2013 issue:

Quilty Magazine Meet a Modern Quilter Doris Chrysanthemum Quilt

Here it is:

Mums for Melissa Chrysanthemum Quilt Block Modern Quilting

To read more about the making of this pattern and to purchase your copy, visit Row House Creations today!

After the Rain

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This finish has been a long time coming, that’s for certain. I’ve participated in at least five Virtual Quilting Bees; a group of 12 participants, duration one year, each quilter is assigned a month to send out fabric and request a block to be made for them. I even led two years of One Block Over, a Bee I created.  This is the first finished quilt from any of my Bees…

Love in a Mist Block

In July 2011, I requested Love in a Mist blocks (tutorial link from here) and I sent squares pre-cut from my scrap basket. I think I got all but one block back, and I made a few more to have enough for the quilt.  My friend, and business partner, Trina quilted it and returned it to me prior to moving in March, and it got set aside.  Yesterday, I finally got around to binding it:

Love in a Mist Quilt

I’m calling it After the Rain (the rainbow, the spectrum of colors, Love in a Mist is the block name…). The quilting is fabulous, as usual… (hey, look!  PURPLE!  I scrounged like crazy to come up with enough purple scraps for one block!)

Love in a Mist Quilt Block Detail

Quilting Detail

The backing fabric has been in my stash since roughly 2007, it’s Petal Power by Maggie & Sharon for Moda.  I had several colorways of this, but about 4 yards of this magenta pink color.  The full back:

Love in a Mist Back

Love in a Mist

For the inner border I sewed strips of scraps together and made a spectrum strip about 2″ wide around the blocks, and also added a wide strip to the back:

Love in a Mist Back

I added a fun Alexander Henry print called “bobby pins” for the outer border, adds to the rainbow of colors but still “reads as” white from a distance:Love in a Mist Border

12″ finished block, the quilt is roughly twin size…

Love in a Mist

(Don’t let the greenery in that photo fool you, it was covered in snow yesterday morning!)

Love in a Mist

Love in a Mist Quilt

I love several things about this quilt.  Every time I look at it, a different fabric or print catches my eye, and I’m reminded of the project I made out of that fabric, or of my beloved Gramma B (some of her fabric scraps went into this quilt!), or who I gave the quilt to that I made from that collection, or of friendships with long distance quilters.  This one is destined to be favorite…

Love in a Mist Quilt

Makes me want to get moving on putting together my other Bee quilts!

Have you ever been in a Virtual Bee?

Did you get all of the blocks requested?

Have you finished your quilt?

Modifying tradition

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I really like making free-form, improvisational quilts and blocks, and I love some of the modern quilts I see on Flickr and in blogland. But I have to admit, I was drawn to quilting for the symmetry, the geometry, and the precision, and part of me will always yearn for that. Then again, I’m torn, because I love non-traditional treatments of traditional forms…what’s a girl to do? Naturally, I felt I had found kindred spirits when I stumbled across this site a week or two ago:Seriously, if you understand what I said in that last paragraph, click on that image! You can thank me later.