Next, I designed the quilt pattern (or in this case, patterns)

Every quilt starts out with an idea on paper. Whether the final product will look anything like the idea is anyone's guess. So here is "Road to California,"an art quilt for my two California kids. Jamie is originally from Illinois and Jeff was born in Michigan so separately, they found their way to sunny California to make a new life. Jeff arrived as a kid in grade school, Jamie followed him much later after meeting him on vacation in Lake Tahoe.



The quilt block, Road to California has many different variations so I have decided to incorporate those many blocks into one quilt. In addition, I found a star pattern called "California Constellation" which I plan to place in the upper right corner. On the left side of the quilt (west as you are looking at it) will be an ocean wave block to represent the Pacific and gold and green mountains for the hills around their home in Livermore, which are gold or green depending on the season.

It takes more than the original drawing though to plan a quilt. Many more drawings must me made in a quilt such as this with so many different kinds of block work going on.












Nothing is simple, is it?

The brown fabric that started it all

Okay, so I am starting Jamie and Jeff's wedding quilt. Jeff wants to follow it on the blog, Jamie wants to be surprised by the finished product. I will let them figure out how that will work!



Two years ago, we bought the fabric for their wedding quilt in a beautiful quilt shop in Tyler TX where we were all spending Christmas. It all started with a particular piece of brown fabric. Next we picked out co-ordinating fabric (what they picked out is on the left side of these pictures) and I added to the pile, more co-ordinating fabric from my stash (on the right side of the pictures).








Lot's of beautiful fabric!

Look at what Becky has been up to!

Daughter Becky has been busy cross stitching the zoo blocks for her sister's baby's quilt and they arrived in the mail today. Now I have been sternly instructed by my daughter Jamie that I must do the wedding quilt for her and her husband Jeff first but I am really dying to do this baby quilt!





Becky has the large zoo block yet to complete plus an added surprise we are not telling the new parents about so I really can't work too much on this one yet. Aren't they just so cute? Beck, you are enormously talented! and so fast!

Good morning...time to start another quilt!

Hello campers! I am finally back to blogging again. Life got really busy there from last fall to almost spring this cloudy March morning, although it is supposed to snow 6 inches tonight so to say it is almost spring might be stretching it. But it is spring in my pointy little head so there you have it... the calendar and weather will just have to catch up!

I want to take a few minutes to get you all caught up on my life since I was last posting semi-regularly. I finished the quilt for Laura and Rob in November and they received it on Thanksgiving day. I think they like it. Rob looked a bit stunned, I must confess. Maybe it was the sheer size of it. We were in Chicagoland for that holiday and stayed home for Christmas. We had our annual holiday fling on Boxing Day, December 26th and it was very successful. Jamie and Jeff and the little stranger to be born in the next few weeks here arrived on Christmas Eve. Becky and Todd arrived on the 26th. We had a wonderful time together. One really neat treat was that Jamie has started sewing on a sewing machine (she and Becky have always handsewn, mostly cross-stitching) and we made some baby blankies together!



Here are my girls taking care of each other!



January was cold and snowy but we managed a trip to Chicagoland again for a baby shower for Jamie and I was so pleased to see both my girls and lots of friends and family. February was February... I say no more....George skiied alot and I planned the next quilt which will be Jamie and Jeff's wedding quilt, called "Road to California." I will post a picture of the plan tonight. Jeff wants me to blog it like I did Laura and Rob's but Jamie wants to be surprised. I'll let them work it out.

In the meantime, Becky and I have been very busy working on the baby quilt. More on that later!

Have a great Thursday. I'm back........!!!

Where have I been????

I haven't posted for the longest time but tonight my cousin, Vicky Sierra called me and we talked about quilts. I mentioned I had this blog and it then occurred to me that I had not posted Laura and Rob's finished quilt so here it is!

It's hell having a disagreement with your quilt

After three weeks of sullen silence and uncooperative piecing, the quilt and I have struck a compromise. You see, I wanted this multicolored strip border and the quilt kept insisting on a very complicated 48 piece log cabin star. I just knew I didn't have the energy for the stars, especially since I hope to finish this by Thanksgiving so I can give it to the Bride and Groom then (thanks, guys, for being so patient!). So after placing one multicolored strip border on (and it just didn't sing guys),I finally gave in and made one of the intricate stars. My friend, Phyllis stopped over and mulled over the dilemna with me and then my loving spouse came home and once he had dinner started, threw the star into the space where the border and body meet and voila! Magic!

So here is a picture of that result. I only have to make three more stars and can still use the strip borders. I am a happy (quilting) camper tonight. Time for bed!

There's a hole in the quilt!

Good morning Campers!

Here I am back on line after a summer of NO QUILTING and lots of exciting news to report. First off, I am happy to tell you all that George and I will be grandparents for the first time in Spring 2011. Daughter Jamie and her husband Jeff are expecting. We are over the moon! And just when you thought life couldn't get any better, Daughter Becky and her sweetheart Todd got engaged this past weekend. Our blessing overflow! We are twice over the moon now. Can life get any better, I ask you?

As you know from my previous posts, we are having an art quilt exhibition at the Museum and since I have the opportunity to talk to lots of quilters/shoppers who visit the exhibition and then the Museum Shop, I printed out Laura and Rob's quilt so that I may share what I am working on. Well, the other day, I was looking at the print out of the quilt and noticed that one square is in upside down. So last night, after my hour swim at the YMCA pool, I sat on the porch and ripped out the square and turned it around. As I was giving that area a nice press when finished, lo and behold - I found another square in backwards! So glad I caught these two oop's before I went any further.

After making the necessary repairs, I started cutting out the fabric for the borders (or corners, however you want to look at it). Once again, I was so grateful for the gift of the rotary cutter and other necessary equipment from Pam Allmendinger, my friend and sister (I would say sister wife as she is married to my first husband, Mark, but that sounds too much like BIG LOVE). The cutting went so smoothly and quick! Now I am ready to start stitching! Ironically Mark called me as I was cutting fabric (and listening to the President on the radio, announcing the end of the Iraq war - God, please make it true!) He wanted to know if I had any clue as to when Becky's wedding would be! I think he will need to go to the source there! We had a nice conversation and I was able to ask him to thank Pam again for the rotary cutter stuff.

More later. Have a super first of September day!