Susan's Quilt Page

I started quilting in 1996. It was a way to express my creative needs that had been somewhat stiffled as a result of an auto accident. My involvement with dog training and showing as well as gardening came to a screeching halt because of back and neck injuries that were causing me considerable pain. I still see a chiropractor monthly to keep all my vertabral joints in line so I can move. Sometimes weeks or months will go by without my having time to work on a quilt but I usually have something in the works. I discovered Electric Quilt and it's opened up a whole new world in stirring up creative juices; however, because I can't spend lots of time working with this software, I have barely tapped its potential. Below are the quilts I have made working only on weekends.

This was my first quilt made in 1996. I found the red bear print at Cloth World. I used the same block pattern of a quilt my friend Kathie gave me for a Christmas present. It was her very first quilt. Then I went to a quilt shop and told them I wanted to make a quilt. I had only a vague idea of the size; had made no measurements; had no idea of how to figure out how much yardage I needed. The person in the quilt shop, Bearly Stitchin' in Pasadena, CA was very patient and helped me find the yardage that made this really fun quilt. It was a present to my niece's new baby. I was and am very pleased with how it turned out. And I'm very grateful for the patience and creativity of that unknown sales person who got me started.

I made this quilt for my niece Megan. I was up till past midnight on Christmas eve in 1996 finishing it. First I cut several blocks 1/4" too small and had to work with 1/8" seam allowances as I didn't have enough fabric to cut more blocks. When it was all put together and I laid it out on my bed for one last look before layering, I saw that a block (in the middle, of course) was turned the wrong way. I had to tear out already narrow seams to get to that block to fix it. Then my brand new Viking machine started having fits while I was embarking upon my first attempt at free motion quilting, breaking thread, etc. I pulled out my trusty old Kenmore and finished the quilting with no problems! I created the quilting pattern by tracing around 4 hearts cut from manilla folder paper. I quilted that pattern on all the blocks and along the outside edge of the sashing in the borders. A few years ago, Megan redecorated her room around the colors in this quilt.

I whipped this cotton flannel baby quilt together in one weekend in January 1977. It was for our Vice President of Operations new baby. I stitched in the ditch between the blocks and tied the print blocks and the centers of the 4-patches with cotton yarn. Our VP was so pleased with the quilt she had to bring it to work with the new baby to show everyone. It was so simple but very pretty. And cotton flannel is so warm and cuddly for babies!

This was a wedding quilt for one of our employees. I whipped it up in two weekends, using Eleanor Burns' Make a Quit in a Day. The picture doesn't do the colors justice. Favorite colors were green, white and black. The dark strip was black background with a tiny flower in raspberry and green leaves. The next dark strip picked up the green from the leaves. The light strips were white with green prints. The center square picked up the raspberry from the black strip. I quilted by stitching in the ditch around all blocks and borders and tied the center blocks with same colored cotton yarn. I used medium loft batting to give it a comforter feel. I liked it so much that someday I'm going to make one for myself.

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