Pirate Quilt for Son TT#3

AAAARGGGG, Matey!!!  My Son requested a pirate quilt a few years ago.  Mom never got around to it.  Fast forward to HS Graduation 2010.  Time for that pirate quilt.  Some of those old fabrics are looking  too juvenile, but as luck would have it,  Skull and Crossbones are in for 2010.  The fabric market is exploding with this fad.

Thus, my third quilt made with the "Turning Twenty" pattern is born, May, 2010.

Pirate Quilt

The black, iron on applique is from www.stensource.com/creativeiron.  It is under "for the boys" on the left.  These are so wonderful.  They are 100% cotton, laser cut and you just peel off the backing and iron them on.  I purchased mine at the Houston International Quilt Show. 

I picked out the quilting design from http://www.sweetdreamsquiltstudio.com/.  My LAQer (Quilters Crossing in Tomball) is able to download whatever I chose to her machine.  I don't have to feel bad about chosing a difficult design.

DS received his quilt the night of his Graduation Ceremony.  It went straight to his bed and he even made up his bed for a few days.

Turning Twenty Quilt #2

My second quilt in the "Turning Twenty" pattern was born out of necessity and pride.  I signed up for my first quilt retreat.  It took place at The Red Barn in Coldsprings, Texas.  If you have an opportunity to attend a retreat there, GO.  It is a wonderful place and I love it. 

After I signed up, I found out that you must take your own bedding.  No problem, but everyone takes their own twin size quilt.  (The Red Barn has a beautiful quilt on each bed, donated by the quilt guilds that have retreated there.)  Here is where Pride sets in.  I am a Quilter, this is a Quilt retreat, how can I show up without a Quilt?

I had just completed the anniversary quilt for my husband in the turning twenty pattern and knew I could make another before retreat.  The quilt is made of 19 sewing and quilting related FQs and one FQ of chocolate candy bars.  My Best Friend told me there is no quilting retreat without Chocolate.

This quilt will travel to its sixth retreat in August.  I can't wait.

Anniversary Quilt for My Sweetie

For our 30th Anniversary, I made a turning twenty quilt for my sweetie.  He is an Engineer and has traveled most of the world.  This was my first time to make "The Turning Twenty" pattern by Tricia Cribbs and I neglected to notice the finished size.  It is 70" x 86", not exactly a lap quilt, which is what I was going for.  Oops! He still loves it and uses it all the time.

Some of the fabrics, that I collected over the years, were keyboard, .com, cellphones, computers, curcuit boards, luggage tags, hello in different lanuages, a list of countries, world map, airplanes, helicopters, license plates, stamps, nuts & bolts, all the manly tools and my favorite was the tangle of wires and cables.  One of his nicknames is "Wireman". 

And the finished quilt.  I went on to make two more quilts from this pattern.  I'll share those later.

Using Up My Fabric Scraps

                                                          Lap Quilt 48" x 48"

I really love fabric and have way too much of it. My recent goal has been to make a quilt and use up the scraps in another quilt right away. In this case, the mystery quilt from my last post was the first. The 48" x 48" lap quilt came next and then the 24" x 24" doll quilt. The golden brown fabric was part of the grouping, but it is on the back of the mystery quilt. I can truly say that there is nothing left of this fabric. Ok, maybe a few crumbs. It felt so good, I have continued with this little adventure in another set of quilts. I will share them with you at a later time. One is about to go to the LAQ and the other is a quilt as you go that is still a WIP.

                                                                 Doll Quilt 24" x 24"

Mystery Quilt Birthday Party

Every now and then, one of the quilters in our guild will throw themselves a Mystery Quilt Birthday Party. The Guest of Honor provides each guest with a list of fabric needs and some of the first cutting instructions. We show up with our sewing machines and supplies with no idea what quilt pattern we are making. Throughout the day, we are given a little more of the instructions. There is always an overachiever in the group, so I always know what it should look like before I go home. The one  below is only three different blocks, but tricky to visualize by the instructions alone.

It is from a book called "Mystery Quilts" by Rita Fishel. It measures 65" x 72". It was machine pieced by me and quilted by a LAQ. The colors are darker than they appear in the photo.

I used a group of fabrics from my stash. They were all neatly tied together. I heard someone say recently, " Use your GOOD fabric, because his next wife will sell it in a garage sale for 25 cents a yard".  Now, I can't use up the "good stuff" fast enough. I purchased it to make quilts, what am I saving it for?